IBM CIM Agent for DS Open API FAQ

Resolving The Problem

What is a CIM agent?

The IBM CIM agent for DS Open API is a service that provides an open standard application programming interface (API) for managing the IBM ESS and DS storage systems. CIM stands for Common Information Model; it is an object model used to represent distributed systems, and is maintained by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). Other key terms are WBEM and SMI-S. WBEM stands for Web Based Enterprise Management; it defines the protocols and API's used to access the CIM object model. SMI-S stands for Storage Management Initiative Specification; it defines how CIM and WBEM should be used to represent and manage storage devices and networks and is maintained by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). SNIA also manages the Conformance Testing Program (CTP) which is used to certify a CIM agent's conformance to SMI-S (SNIA generally refers to CIM agents as "providers"). The 5.1 CIM agent has passed CTP for SMI-S 1.0.3, the 5.2 CIM agent has passed CTP for SMI-S 1.1.0 and the 5.3/5.4 CIM agents have passed CTP for SMI-S1.2. The CIM agent is sometimes referred to as a CIMOM, which stands for CIM Object Manager. Technically, the CIMOM is just one component of the CIM agent.

For more information, please refer to www.dmtf.org and www.snia.org.

I want to install a CIM agent. What level of firmware is required on my ESS or DS storage system?

Later DS8000 microcode levels have a embedded CIM agent available. If available, the embedded CIM agent is the recommended CIM agent for the firmware of your device. See later sections in this FAQ to determine if your device firmware contains a embedded CIM agent.

Please refer to the IBM CIM agent for DS Open API Compatibility Matrix http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ssg1S1002714. These contain the minimum firmware levels that the CIM agent should work with. However it does not mean that these are necessarily the recommended firmware levels in an ideal environment. Please refer to the IBM System Storage support page http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/brandmain?brandind=5345868 for the firmware level recommended by the storage device. If you are using Tivoli TotalStorage Productivity Center, refer to their support page http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/storage/software/tpc/. If you are using Tivoli Storage Manager, refer to the TSM requirements documents http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=3043&context=SSRUS7&uid=swg21254826&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

Should I upgrade to the latest CIM agent?

Please refer to your user applications documentation to see which version is recommended. TPC users can refer to the following matrix http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=597&uid=ssg1S1003019. TSM users can refer to the following requirements documents http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=3043&context=SSRUS7&uid=swg21254826&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en or the TSM general support page http://www.ibm.com/software/sysmgmt/products/support/IBMTivoliStorageManagerforAdvancedCopyServices.html

I heard that the CIM agent is now embedded on the Hardware Master Console (HMC) of the DS8000. How do I use it?

Enabling DS8000 CIM Agent on DS8000 bundles 6.2.400.64, 6.2.400.66, 6.2.400.76, and 6.2.410.30 requires assistance from IBM Technical Support. Please refer here before enabling. http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=1118&context=STC4NKB&dc=D600&uid=ssg1S1003071&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

Starting with Release 2.4 (Bundle 6.2.400.64) of the DS8000, the CIM agent was embedded into the HMC. Up to Release 4 (Bundle 62.0.175.0) by default, it comes disabled. In order to use the CIM agent, you must contact IBM support to have the CIM agent enabled. Additionally, you must download the dscimcli tool and install it on a separate server, i.e. your TPC server or laptop, to configure the CIM agent. dscimcli is a small utility that runs on the same platforms that the proxy CIM agent runs on, but does not consume a lot of CPU or memory, so it should be able to run on any reasonable server or laptop. You can download the dscimcli tool at the download site for the version of CIM agent that is running on the HMC. Please refer to the install documentation for more details
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=1118&context=STC4NKB&dc=DA400&uid=ssg1S7001583&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

Since CIM agent in DS8000 release 4.1 and 4.2 is embedded CIMOM which has been pre-configured and integrated with device management application, some of the dscimcli operations will not be supported any longer. Those operations include mkdev, rmdev, lsuser, mkuser, rmuser, chuser, for more details, please take the following link as reference.
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=1118&context=STC4NKB&dc=DB500&uid=ssg1S1003474&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

Release 4.1 (bundle 64.1.16.0) and later by default the CIM agent is enabled and configured.

Below is a table of the released DS8000 firmware bundles and which version of CIM agent is bundled with it.

DS8000 Bundle version	IBM CIM Agent for DS Open API version
6.2.400.64	5.2.1.75
6.2.400.66	5.2.1.75
6.2.400.76	5.2.1.78
6.2.410.30	5.2.1.93
62.42.77.0	5.2.1.118
62.42.83.0	5.2.1.125*
63.0.102.0	5.3.0.110
63.1.32.0	5.3.0.139
63.1.46.0	5.3.0.147
64.0.175.0	5.4.0.84**
64.1.16.0	5.4.1.554
64.20.139.0	5.4.2.58
64.21.14.0	5.4.2.63
64.21.27.0	5.4.2.68
64.25.9.0	5.4.2.63
64.30.78.0	5.4.3.52
75.0.158.0	5.5.0.6

* The embedded 5.2.1.125 CIM agent is equivalent to the 5.2.1.139 Proxy.

** The embedded 5.4.0.84 CIM agent is equivalent to the 5.4.0.86 Proxy.

Can the 5.2.1 or newer CIM agent be installed on a proxy server?

Yes, the 5.2.1 thru 5.4.0 CIM agents can be installed on a separate proxy server. In order to install the CIM agent on a proxy server, please refer to the download page to download the latest level.

How many ESS/DS8000 devices can my proxy CIM Agent manage?

Since the CIM agent occupies memory proportional to the configuration it is managing, there are practical limitations for the number of devices and objects (i.e. volumes) the CIM agent can handle. The amount of configuration that a CIM agent can handle greatly varies based on system specifications and workload. As a general rule of thumb, for both the 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 CIM agents, the maximum recommended configuration is 10 storage devices or 10,000 volumes, whichever comes first per CIM agent. TPC users refer to the following website
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=1133&context=SS8JB5&context=SSWQP2&dc=DA4A10&uid=swg27008710&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

Do I need to install ESSCLI and or DSCLI prior to installing the CIM Agent?

DSCLI is not required for any version of the CIM agent.

The 5.1 version of the CIM agent requires that ESSCLI is installed prior to installation in order to manage legacy ESS devices. Please refer to the install documentation for more details.

The 5.2.1, 5.3 and 5.4 versions of the CIM agent do not require ESSCLI.

What are the hardware requirements for a CIM Agent installation?

Minimum hardware requirements can be found in the appropriate "DS Open Application Programming Interface 5.X Reference: Installation and Configuration Guide", They can be found here:

http://www.ibm.com/support/search.wss?rs=1118&tc=STC4NKB&dc=DA400+DB300+DA100+DA110+DA120+DB100+DA700+DA450+DA300&dtm

Refer to the chapter labeled "CIM agent installation requirements".

TPC Customers, refer to the below link for sizing recommendations.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=1133&context=SS8JB5&context=SSWQP2&dc=DA4A10&uid=swg27008710&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

When considering hardware requirements for your implementation, the above requirements and recommendations are just a starting point. You must also consider all applications that will share the hardware with the CIM agent and grow the hardware requirements as required.

What platform do I install the CIM Agent on when using a Proxy server?

The supported platforms for the 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 version of the CIM agent are: Win2003, RedHat Advanced Server 3.0, SLES 9 and AIX 5.3.

The supported platforms for the 5.1 version of the CIM agent are: Win2000, Win2003, RedHat Advanced Server 3.0, AIX 5.1, AIX 5.2 ,and AIX 5.3

Is VMWare a supported environment?

Yes, the 5.2.1, 5.3 and 5.4 versions of the CIM agent are supported on Win2003, RedHat Advanced Server 3.0 and SLES 9 running on VMWare ESX Server.

Note: Recommended minimum memory for VMWare containers is 2GB.

I have Director installed on my Windows 2003 Server. Can I install a 5.2.x or 5.3 CIM agent?

The 5.2.x and 5.3 CIM agents currently cannot install on a Windows server when Director is running. Below are instructions for temporarily shutting down Director while the CIM agent is installing.

1) Right-click My Computer -> Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services and stop IBM Director WMI CIM Server and IBM Director Agent CIM Listener

2) Install the CIM agent. In the step where you set the ports, you must choose something other than 5988 and 5989 (Note the port selected for later use). The CIM agent will allow you to specify 5988 and 5989 because Director is stopped, but if you use those ports, Director will not work when it is restarted.

3) Go back to Services and start the Director services that you stopped in step 1

4) Verify Director is still working by going to C:\Program Files\Common Files\IBM\icc\cimom\bin and running the following command, making sure it gives output that looks similar to the following:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\IBM\icc\cimom\bin>CLI ei -n root/ibmsd IBM_DirectorAgent
path= IBMPSG_DirectorAgent.IdentifyingNumber="520161208 520000000",Name="IBM Director Core Services",ProductName="IBM Director Core Services",Vendor="IBM",Version="5.20"

//Instance of Class IBMPSG_DirectorAgent
instance of class IBMPSG_DirectorAgent
{
uint16 Architecture = 1;
string BuildNumber = "V7YT44AUS";
string Caption;
string Description;
string ElementName;
string IdentifyingNumber = "520161208 520000000";
datetime InstallDate;
string Name = "IBM Director Core Services";
uint16 OperationalStatus[];
string ProductName = "IBM Director Core Services";
string Status = "OK";
string StatusDescriptions[];
string UniqueSystemID = "7f0e55ea49b40374";
string Vendor = "IBM";
string Version = "5.20";
};


Note:
When configuring the CIM agent with the dscimcli utility, you will need to use the -s parameter to specify the IP and (non-default) port the CIM agent was configured to listen on.

For example, instead of
dscimcli -u superuser:passw0rd mkdev [CIM agent IP] -type ds -user admin -password admin
you would instead use
dscimcli -s https://[CIM agent IP]:[port] -u superuser:passw0rd mkdev [DS device IP] -type ds -user admin -password admin
or
dscimcli -s http://[CIM agent IP]:[port] -u superuser:passw0rd mkdev [DS device IP] -type ds -user admin -password admin
if the secure port was not configured.

I Have Firewalls between my proxy CIM agent and my storage devices and/or between my CIM agent and my CIM client. What information do I need to support this configuration?

• Firewall between CIM agent and storage device

The CIM agent and DS storage devices communicate with each other on ports 1750 and 1755.

• Firewall between CIM agent and CIM client

The CIM agent listens for requests from CIM Clients on ports 5988 and/or 5989 unless configured differently during the installation time. The CIM agent will also send indications from any free port to the port the CIM client registered it would be listening on.

There are many versions of the 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 CIM agents. How do I know which version I have?

If you have a proxy CIM agent the simplest way is to look at the contents of

/path to CIM agent home directory/config/provider.version.


On a Linux platform the default location is '/opt/IBM/dsagent/config/provider.version'.

On a Windows platform the default location is 'Program Files/IBM/dsagent/config/provider.version'


The version of the CIM agent is also stored in the CIM class IBMTSDS_ObjectManager, property "Version". Using the Pegasus CLI utility provided with a proxy installation or the DSCIMCLI package (if you have an embedded CIM agent), you will see output like below.

C:\Program Files\IBM\dsagent> CLI ei -n root/ibm -l [IP address of CIM agent]:[port] -s -niq

On a proxy CIM agent: CLI ei -n root/ibm -l localhost:5989 -s -niq
On a server with the DSCIMCLI package: CLI ei -n root/ibm -l [DS 8K HMC IP]:6989 -s -niq

IBMTSDS_ObjectManager
path= IBMTSDS_ObjectManager.CreationClassName="IBMTSDS_ObjectManager",Name="IBMTSDS:9.47.82.51",SystemCreationClassName="IBMTSDS_StorageManagementSystem",SystemName="IBMTSDS:9.47.82.51"

//Instance of Class IBMTSDS_ObjectManager
instance of class IBMTSDS_ObjectManager
{
string Caption;
datetime InstallDate;
string StatusDescriptions[];
string Status;
uint16 HealthState;
uint16 EnabledState = 5;
string OtherEnabledState;
uint16 RequestedState = 12;
uint16 EnabledDefault = 2;
datetime TimeOfLastStateChange;
string PrimaryOwnerName;
string PrimaryOwnerContact;
string StartMode;
boolean Started;
boolean GatherStatisticalData = TRUE;
string SystemCreationClassName = "IBMTSDS_StorageManagementSystem";
string SystemName = "IBMTSDS:9.47.82.51";
string CreationClassName = "IBMTSDS_ObjectManager";
string Name = "IBMTSDS:9.47.82.51";
string ElementName = "DS Open API CIM Server";
string Description = "CIMOM for the DS Open API";
string Version = "5.2.1.110";
uint16 OperationalStatus[] = {2};
};


If you have an embedded CIM agent you can also look up your CIM agent version based on the firmware level of your DS8K. You will find this information on the CIM FAQ located here.

http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=1118&context=STC4NKB&dc=DB500&uid=ssg1S1003070&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

Will DSCIMCLI utility still be required to configure R41 (or above) embedded CIM agent?

Yes, as you've already known, CIM agent in DS8000 release 4.1 and 4.2 only have embedded version which has been pre-configured and integrated with device management application, thus it'll be functional without carrying out any configuration. But sometimes users may want to tweak CIM agent's configuration like communication port or log granularity, in that case DSCIMCLI is required in order to accomplish that target.

Nowadays DSCIMCLI utility's primary goal is to provide configuration management support and to collect logs. The DSCIMCLI commands can be issued from both HMC and external hosts.

The command to collect logs via DSCIMCLI command is as below:

dscimcli {-s {protocol}://{IPAddress}:{portnumber}} {-u username} {-p password} collectlog [-d directoryname] (default: DSAGENT_HOME)