Topology Use Cases
IO’s topology engine excels in answering questions about your data center and how all of your monitored pieces of infrastructure are related to each other.
In addition to the Topology Views already discussed, several new views have been added to IO the 6.8.3 release.
They are designed to answer specific questions:
Where do my configured storage volumes reside in my physical storage?
The Compute to Configured Storage view looks at the storage volumes configured in your hosts (e.g., vCenter DataStores) and attempts to look up the corresponding volume entities in the configured storage array integrations. If storage volumes are configured in a host, IO assumes the connected storage arrays allows access to the given host.
To use this view, you must have configured integrations related to the host and storage array entities of interest (e.g., VMware vSphere and Pure FlashArray).
Note
In this view and the views that follow, we have listed examples of what might be shown. There could be more or less detail depending upon what is deployed in your environment.
What hosts are allowed to access my storage volumes?
The Storage to Configured Compute view inspects the configuration of your storage arrays and attempts to identify the host entities that are allowed to access their volumes. This view does not however validate that identified hosts are actively using storage volumes. For example, an ESX Host may be allowed to access multiple volume, but is only actively using one of them. If you want to ensure the host is configured to use the volume use the “Where do my configured storage volumes reside in my physical storage?” use case given above.
To use this view, you must have configured integrations related to the host and storage array entities of interest (e.g., VMware vSphere and Pure FlashArray).
What is the zoned path of a host to my storage array?
The FibreChannel Zoned Storage view leverages the zoning information captured by IO's Fibre Channel switch integrations (Brocade SAN and/or Cisco SAN integrations) to identify the source and destination.
To use this view, you must have configured one or more of the SAN switch integrations that are connected to storage ports of the array(s) in question.
What is the Fibre Channel path to my storage?
The FibreChannel Path to Storage view looks at a host entity and attempts to identify the paths that it could take to access configured storage volumes. For example, if you select an ESX VM entity, this view will outline all of the possible ways that VM might reach the storage array to access a particular storage volume. This topology attempts to map through the FibreChannel logical fabrics and can result in large topologies. It is suggested you only use this topology if you need fabric details. If you only need zoning information or storage array components look to either the Compute to Configured Storage or FibreChannel Zoned Storage views.
This topology view examines monitored Fibre Channel logical fabrics that can result in very large topologies. It is suggested you only use this topology view if you need fabric details. If you only need zoning information or storage array component information, try out one of these views: "Where do my configured storage volumes reside in my physical storage?" or "What is the Zoned path of a host to my storage array?".
To use this view, you must have configured one or more of the SAN switch integrations that are connected to storage ports of the array(s) in question.
Where do I run/execute?
The Compute Resources view identifies the specific components (e.g., the ESX VM and UCS blade and/or chassis) of a host, which is part of an Application entity, is running.
The level of granularity depends on which host integrations are configured.
What else is similar to this entity?
This topology view, Logically Equivalent Entities, identifies entities discovered by other integrations which are logically equivalent to, or offers another perspective on the same entity. For example, an ESX Host and UCS Blade are consider logically equivalent if they have the same configured WWN.
How can I see which storage volumes are set up for replication and the volumes to which they replicate?
This topology view, Replication, only available for Dell EMC PowerMax volumes for now, identifies how two storage arrays are connected for volume replication.
