HP 3PAR StoreServe Management Console (SSMC) Version 2.2 Upgrade

HP have released an upgrade for the StoreServe Management Console (SSMC) software for 3PAR storage arrays. The latest version is 2.2 and is available from the following link – https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=SSMC_CONSOLE

I’ve copied the info below from the HP portal, as you can see the list of improvements is quite lengthy. These enhancements to the product are welcome and demonstrate HP’s commitment to migrating from the traditional application to a web based management and reporting system.

With HP 3PAR ‘System Reporter’ (SR) now end of life the improvements to reporting in SSMC are a real necessity. While SR may look pretty ugly it is incredibly powerful when you know what you’re doing. The reporting functions in SSMC have a lot to live up to.

HP 3PAR SSMC Whitepaper – http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/4AA5-5832ENW.pdf?

HP 3PAR SSMC System Reporter Whitepaper – http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA5-0003ENW.pdf

 

What’s New:

HP 3PAR StoreServ 8000 and HP 3PAR StoreServ 20000 storage systems

  • Systems:
    • Drill-down with filtering on performance and device type capacity donuts

Dashboard:

  • DAR encryption (FIPS 140-2)
  • iSCSI VLAN tagging
  • Capacity display improvements

Block provisioning: 

  • Enhancements for
    • Adaptive flash cache
    • Priority optimization
    • Re-worked exports
    • Consistent capacity display for VV/VVset
    • Create similar
    • Several usability improvements

Federation: 

  • Support for multi-array bidirectional Peer Motion/Federation (A storage federation can be managed by a single SSMC instance only.)

File Persona:

  • Multiple NICs
  • Usage of the RCIP port for File
  • New antivirus vendors

Remote copy

  • Support for
  • NxM configurations
  • Async streaming
  • Create NxM configurations
  • Topology diagram
  • RC links performance
  • Peer persistence usability enhancements

Security:

  • LDAP changes

System reporter:

  • Alert thresholds using e-mail
  • Flash cache
  • Compare by
  • Export in PDF/CSV
  • HP 3PAR SSMC Excel Add-in
  • Several usability improvements

Miscellaneous:

  • 32 systems support
  • Japanese localization

 

Upgrade Process

I already have version 2.1 of SSMC deployed on a virtual machine therefore it was just a case of downloading the latest ISO from HP and running the installation wizard.

SSMC Install Splash Screen

SSMC Install Introduction

SSMC Install License Agreement

The installation process will detect an existing deployment and ask for confirmation before upgrading.

SSMC Install Previous Install Detected

The existing install will be removed and the upgraded version installed.

SSMC Install Removing Previous Install

The installation process will detect an existing configuration and the data (array IPs, credentials etc) and ask if you wish to preserve this information.

SSMC Install Previous SSMC Data Option

SSMC Pre-Installation Summary
SSMC Installing

Once installed the product will wait for the relevant service and website to become active.

SSMC Waiting for secure port to become ready

SSMC Important Firewall Information

SSMC Install Complete

SSMC Windows Service Status

 

Post Upgrade Tasks

Annoyingly I found the upgrade process cleared my SSL/TLS certificates and replaced them with default self-signed certificates. This is rather frustrating as previous versions of the software did not do this when upgrading.

If you find yourself in the same position or wish to know how to replace the self-signed SSL/TLS certificate with your own then please see my previous post on this topic – https://www.bytesizedalex.com/hp-3par-storeserv-management-console-ssmcssl-certificate-replacement/

I’m really excited to see the improvements HP have made to SSMC and have confidence they will continue to develop and enhance the platform. It is great to see them on community forums asking for feedback and responding to the needs and desires of the 3PAR administrators like myself.

 

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