VMware vSphere 5.0 brought in a considerable number of storage related improvements. One of these is VASA, which stands for VMware APIs for Storage Awareness – in which VMware yet again manages to place an acronym (API) inside an acronym (someone needs to send Grammar Girl down there to beat them up). But I digress…
VASA improves VMware vSphere’s ability to monitor and automate storage related operations. The VASA Provider delivers information about storage topology, capabilities, and state, as well as events and alerts to VMware. The VASA Provider is a standard vSphere management plug-in that is deployed once on each vCenter server to interact with VMware APIs for Storage Awareness.
You will of course need a VMware vCenter and an ESXi server both running version 5.0. Your XIV can be a Generation2 running 10.2.2 or 10.2.4 firmware or an XIV Gen3.
You can download the installation instructions for the IBM VASA provider here.
You can download the release notes for the IBM VASA provider here.
You can download the IBM VASA provider itself here.
If none of these links work, then the IBM Fix Central page for every XIV related file is here.
So what does it do? Well according to Steve Foskett – not much (yet).
I am at the Melbourne Storage Symposium all this week, but I will write a post on my experiences with the provider as soon as I get back into my lab. Expect something in the next few days.
*** Updated March 14, 2012 with links to version 1.1.1 ***
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Hmm, I’m at 10.2.4a Level (Gen2) and all I get is this:
—————————————————————————————————————-
vasa_util add -i 172.2x.x.7x -u admin -p xxxxxxxx
…
Adding Storage System into VASA Provider…
The Firmware Level is:
The formart of firmware level is not valid!
C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\IBM Storage Provider for VMware VASA\bin>
—————————————————————————————————————-
Could this be a langue (Norwegian Locale on this server) releated error ?
The HHGttG style spelling-error (formart) is fun :-)
Curious. My lab machine is on that level too, I will try it out very soon. In the mean time suggest you place a service call.
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We are at 10.2.4.b (Gen2) and I get the same error:
Adding Storage System into VASA Provider…
The Firmware Level is:
The formart of firmware level is not valid!
btw: There is no hint in the Installguide that you have to run the command (vasa_util add…) with administrative privileges. If you run it without admin rights, you get this error:
Adding Storage System into VASA Provider…
Can’t get Firmware Level/Machine Serial Number from Storage Device
Do you know what kind of permissions are neccessary on the XIV? Is an account with “read only” permissions sufficient?
Maybe you could provide this feedback to the team/person who created the Installguide?
thanks
Hi Ronny.
It is a bug.
The VASA provider is querying a field that older machines do not have populated to learn the firmware update.
thanks for your feedback, Anthony!
Do you know if there will be an updated version in the near future?
thanks
The fix is written and I have tested it successfully! So this is goodness. Should be out soon.
I am still working on understanding what benefit the VASA provider actually provides… blog post hopefully very soon
Hi,
do you know where i can find the patch because i have the same problem?
thanks in advanced
//Magnus
The patch is with vmware for testing. Should be available in January once qualification is completed.
Thanks Anthony
Hi Anthony,
you´re information was very helpfull.
IBM published today IBM Storage Provider for VMware VASA, Version 1.1.1.
The bug seems to fix now. The installation works fine now.
thanks
Michael
Yes it does… I tested it as part of the beta program.
I have updated the blog post to change the links to point to version 1.1.1