Dell Unity™ Family Configuring SupportAssist

Configure SupportAssist on a new system

Prerequisites

NOTE:Do not use this procedure if the system has not been initialized (universal key is not present). Use the Configure SupportAssist when the Unity system is not initialized procedure instead.

Unity operating environment (OE) version is 5.3 or later.
System is initialized (universal key is present).
If your IT environment requires the storage system to connect through a proxy server, verify that the proxy server is of type HTTP, configured, and operating normally before continuing.
NOTE:SOCKS proxy server is not supported.
At least one DNS server must be configured on the storage system.
Unrestricted network access to Support Center backend (esrs3-core.emc.com) over the Internet using HTTPS.
Network traffic over ports 443 and 8443 is required for SupportAssist functionality and is required for remote support personnel to perform many break/fix tasks using SupportAssist.
For Connect through a Gateway server type connectivity:
- Network traffic (HTTPS) must be permitted on port 9443 between the Unity system and the Secure Connect Gateway server.
- The Secure Connect Gateway server operating environment must be version 5.12 or later.
- At least one Secure Connect Gateway server is up and operating normally.
If remote access using SSH is required, ensure that ports 22 and 8443 are open on the storage system.

About this task

To configure the initial setup of SupportAssist, do the following:

Steps

If you are using the Initial Configuration wizard and the SupportAssist step is reached and SupportAssist information is shown, go to step 5. If you are using Unisphere because the SupportAssist step was previously skipped and not enabled through the Initial Configuration wizard, go to step 2.
Select the Settings icon.
The Settings window appears.
Select Support Configuration.
From the drop down list under Support Configuration, select SupportAssist.
Information related to SupportAssist appears.
Click Configure.
The Configure SupportAssist wizard appears showing the SupportAssist License Agreement information.
Select Accept license agreement, to accept the terms of the SupportAssist End User License Agreement (EULA), then click Next.
The SupportAssist EULA must be accepted to enable and configure SupportAssist.
NOTE:Once the license agreement is accepted, it does not appear again.

Connection Type information appears.

Specify the appropriate SupportAssist connectivity options that you prefer to use.

Option	Description
Connect Directly	Sets up the storage system to use a secure connection between the storage system and Dell services. NOTE:Selected by default.
Connect through a Gateway server	The storage system can be managed together with other storage systems by a Secure Connect Gateway. NOTE:This option requires that at a minimum of one separate customer-supplied server running Secure Connect Gateway (version 5.12 or later) is configured and operating. (Required) Specify the Primary gateway address of the Secure Connect Gateway server that is used to connect to Dell services and ensure that port 9443 is open between the Secure Connect Gateway server and the storage system. (Optional) Specify a Secondary gateway address for SupportAssist High Availability (HA). The second gateway should be configured in the same SupportAssist HA cluster as the Primary gateway address.
Inbound connectivity for remote access	Allows both outbound and inbound traffic for remote service. If not selected, only outbound traffic is allowed for remote service. NOTE:Selected by default.
RSC (Remote Service Credentials - Recommended) NOTE:This option does not appear in Unisphere in Unity OE version 5.5 or later.	Allows authorized Dell Technologies service personnel to authenticate without a password exchange with the system administrator to securely troubleshoot your system remotely. NOTE: In Unity OE version 5.3.x or 5.4.x, this option is disabled by default. Before this option can be selected, Inbound connectivity for remote access must be selected. In Unity OE version 5.5 or later, when the Inbound connectivity for remote access option is selected and SupportAssist is enabled, this option is enabled by default. The RSC option is disabled when clearing the Inbound connectivity for remote access option.

Once the appropriate SupportAssist connectivity options have been selected, click Next to continue.
Network Check information appears.
Do one of the following:

NOTE:In Unity OE version 5.5 or later, the Use Global Proxy Settings checkbox is only applicable to the Connect directly option for SupportAssist.
- Leave the Use Global Proxy Settings checkbox cleared. It is not selected by default.
- Select Use Global Proxy Settings.
  NOTE:If selected, the configured global proxy server settings display under the checkbox and are used for the SupportAssist connection. However, if the current global proxy server type is SOCKS, an error appears. SupportAssist does not support a SOCKS proxy server. To proceed, the global proxy server should be configured for HTTP instead or not used if possible.
Click Next to run a Network check to validate the network readiness for the SupportAssist configuration.
When the network check passes successfully, Verify Contact Information appears.
Ensure that the applicable contact information is complete and accurate.

NOTE:The required contact information at a minimum must be specified to continue to configure or modify SupportAssist.
Click Verify.
Review Configuration information appears.
Check that the SupportAssist selections and the previous related operation results are correct.
If the Review Configuration information is correct, click Finish.
The SupportAssist connectivity should be enabled after a few minutes and Results information appears to show a success message. Also, the Send system data collected by SupportAssist to APEX AIOps Observability check box is selected (enabled) by default.
Do one of the following:
- Leave the Send system data collected by SupportAssist to APEX AIOps Observability check box selected.
- Clear the check box to disable sending data to APEX AIOps Observability (not recommended).
NOTE:APEX AIOps Observability can be enabled or disabled after completing the SupportAssist configuration from Settings > Support Configuration > APEX AIOps Observability.
Click Close to close the wizard.

Next steps

Always test connectivity after configuring SupportAssist. This process checks that the connection is working and causes Dell to recognize the system. Click Test in one of the following locations:

System > Service under SupportAssist
Settings > Support Configuration > SupportAssist

NOTE:If the Status has not changed after 10 minutes (the time it should take to test connectivity and update status), contact Support. To update status from Unknown, click Refresh.

If you must change (reprovision) the SupportAssist configuration information, select Change. The Configure SupportAssist wizard appears in which you can make changes.

NOTE:For Unity with an operating system version 5.4 or later, or that has been upgraded from version 5.3 to version 5.4, if both the Inbound connectivity for remote access and the RSC (Remote Secure Credentials) options were previously selected, the RSC (Remote Secure Credentials) option does not appear again.