SAN Performance Analysis Tool

• US 20150074463A1
• Filed: 03/25/2014
• Published: 03/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Jacoby, Robert B., Arnold, Howard Earnest
• Granted Patent: US 9,454,423 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method and information handling system (IHS) for improving system performance in a storage area network. An embodiment of the present invention begins by obtaining diagnostic data for the storage area network by asking a user one or more questions and storing results to the one or more questions. Next, test data is obtained by running one or more testing modules on at least one component of the storage area network. A performance analysis of the storage area network is executed, including the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data. Then, one or more performance issues and one or more action plans for resolution are identified based upon the analysis. Finally, a report to one or more users is provided including the one or more identified performance issues and the one or more action plans.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for improving system performance in a storage area network, the method comprising:

obtaining diagnostic data for the storage area network by asking a user one or more questions and storing results to the one or more questions;

obtaining test data by running one or more testing modules on at least one component of the storage area network;

executing a performance analysis of the storage area network, including the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data;

identifying one or more performance issues and one or more action plans for resolution based upon the analysis; and

providing a report to one or more users including the one or more identified performance issues and the one or more action plans.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the at least one component includes at least one of:

a server, network interface card (NIC), network adapter, network controller, switch, array, storage group, interconnect, volume, computer-implemented network stack, and computer-implemented application.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data comprises at least one of:

configuration information; and

environmental information.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data includes diagnostic logfile data based upon at least one of one or more hardware characteristics and one or more software characteristics of the storage area network.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data includes at least one of:

performance characteristic, bug footprint, hardware issue, environmental problem, software issue, network problem, and configuration problem.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more performance issues include one or more potential performance issues.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein:

the obtained diagnostic data includes at least one of;

a performance characteristic, hardware characteristic, software characteristic, environmental characteristic, configuration characteristic, and network characteristic;

the obtained test data includes at least one of;

a performance characteristic, hardware characteristic, software characteristic, environmental characteristic, configuration characteristic, and network characteristic;

the one or more identified performance issues include an issue with at least one of;

a hardware component, hardware module, hardware configuration, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, configuration condition, firmware, firmware version, software configuration, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, load balancing, performance characteristics, host side, and storage device configuration; and

the one or more action plans include an action plan to correct or update at least one of;

a hardware component, hardware module, hardware configuration, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, configuration condition, firmware, firmware version, software configuration, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, load balancing, performance characteristics, host side, and storage device configuration.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the analysis includes a performance analysis, wherein:

the obtained diagnostic data includes at least one of a hardware, software, and network characteristic that includes at least one of;

flow control information, write speed, read speed, number of reads, number of requests, number of writes, number of full stripe writes, number of partial stripe writes, percentage of full stripe writes, percentage of partial stripe writes, number of poorly aligned reads, number of poorly aligned writes, percentage of poorly aligned reads, percentage of poorly aligned writes, latency, input size, output size, number of faults, number of retransmits, number of transfers, number of packet errors, transaction frequency, cache utilization, input/output (IO) wait state data, length of waits, number of waits, and network throughput;

the obtained test data includes at least one of a hardware, software, and network characteristic that includes at least one of;

flow control information, write speed, read speed, number of reads, number of requests, number of writes, number of full stripe writes, number of partial stripe writes, percentage of full stripe writes, percentage of partial stripe writes, number of poorly aligned reads, number of poorly aligned writes, percentage of poorly aligned reads, percentage of poorly aligned writes, latency, input size, output size, number of faults, number of retransmits, number of transfers, number of packet errors, transaction frequency, cache utilization, input/output (IO) wait state data, length of waits, number of waits, and network throughput;

the one or more identified performance issues include an issue with at least one of;

a hardware component, hardware module, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, firmware, firmware version, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, load balancing, performance characteristics, host side, and storage device configuration; and

the one or more action plans include an action plan to update or correct at least one of;

a hardware component, hardware module, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, firmware, firmware version, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, load balancing, performance characteristics, host side, and storage device configuration.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating a high, medium, or low risk score indicator with the storage area network based upon the performance analysis.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating a high-plus, high, high-minus, medium-plus, medium, medium-minus, low-plus, low, or low-minus risk score indicator with the storage area network based upon the performance analysis.

11. An information handling system (IHS) comprising:

a data module configured to obtain diagnostic data for a storage area network by asking a user one or more questions and storing results to the one or more questions;

the data module further configured to obtain test data by running one or more testing modules on at least one component of the storage area network;

a computing module communicatively coupled to the data module and configured to execute a performance analysis of the storage area network, including the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data;

the computing module further configured to identify one or more performance issues and one or more action plans for resolution based upon the analysis; and

a display module configured to provide a report to one or more users including the one or more identified performance issues and the one or more action plans.

12. The IHS of claim 11 wherein the at least one component includes at least one of:

a server, network interface card (NIC), network adapter, network controller, switch, array, storage group, interconnect, volume, computer-implemented network stack, and computer-implemented application.

13. The IHS of claim 11 wherein at least one of the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data comprises at least one of:

configuration information; and

environmental information.

14. The IHS of claim 11 wherein at least one of the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data includes diagnostic logfile data based upon at least one of one or more hardware characteristics and one or more software characteristics of the storage area network.

15. The IHS of claim 11 wherein at least one of the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data includes at least one of:

a performance characteristic, bug footprint, hardware issue, environmental problem, software issue, network problem, and configuration problem.

16. The IHS of claim 11 wherein the one or more performance issues include one or more potential performance issues.

17. The IHS of claim 11 wherein:

the obtained diagnostic data includes at least one of;

a performance characteristic, hardware characteristic, software characteristic, environmental characteristic, configuration characteristic, and network characteristic;

the obtained test data includes at least one of;

a performance characteristic, hardware characteristic, software characteristic, environmental characteristic, configuration characteristic, and network characteristic;

the one or more identified performance issues include an issue with at least one of;

a hardware component, hardware module, hardware configuration, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, configuration condition, firmware, firmware version, software configuration, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, load balancing, performance characteristics, host side, and storage device configuration; and

the one or more action plans include an action plan to correct or update at least one of;

a hardware component, hardware module, hardware configuration, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, configuration condition, firmware, firmware version, software configuration, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, load balancing, performance characteristics, host side, and storage device configuration.

18. The IHS of claim 11 wherein the analysis includes a performance analysis, wherein:

the obtained diagnostic data includes at least one of;

a hardware, software, and network characteristic that includes at least one of;

a flow control information, write speed, read speed, number of reads, number of requests, number of writes, number of full stripe writes, number of partial stripe writes, percentage of full stripe writes, percentage of partial stripe writes, number of poorly aligned reads, number of poorly aligned writes, percentage of poorly aligned reads, percentage of poorly aligned writes, latency, input size, output size, number of faults, number of retransmits, number of transfers, number of packet errors, transaction frequency, cache utilization, input/output (IO) wait state data, length of waits, number of waits, and network throughput;

the obtained test data includes at least one of;

a hardware, software, and network characteristic that includes at least one of;

a flow control information, write speed, read speed, number of reads, number of requests, number of writes, number of full stripe writes, number of partial stripe writes, percentage of full stripe writes, percentage of partial stripe writes, number of poorly aligned reads, number of poorly aligned writes, percentage of poorly aligned reads, percentage of poorly aligned writes, latency, input size, output size, number of faults, number of retransmits, number of transfers, number of packet errors, transaction frequency, cache utilization, input/output (IO) wait state data, length of waits, number of waits, and network throughput;

the one or more identified performance issues include an issue with at least one of;

a hardware component, hardware module, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, firmware, firmware version, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, load balancing, performance characteristics, host side, and storage device configuration; and

the one or more action plans include an action plan to update or correct at least one of;

a hardware component, hardware module, hardware interconnect, environmental condition, firmware, firmware version, memory, disk space, network connectivity, network configuration, load balancing, performance characteristics, host side, and storage device configuration.

19. The IHS of claim 11 further comprising:

associating a high, medium, or low risk score indicator with the storage area network based upon the performance analysis.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when loaded and executed by a processor coupled to an apparatus, causes the apparatus to:

obtain diagnostic data for a storage area network by asking a user one or more questions and storing results to the one or more questions;

obtain test data by running one or more testing modules on at least one component of the storage area network;

execute a performance analysis of the storage area network, including the obtained diagnostic data and the obtained test data;

identify one or more performance issues and one or more action plans for resolution based upon the analysis; and

provide a report to one or more users including the one or more identified performance issues and the one or more action plans.