IT Infrastructure Insights

The Value of Data Integration

Jul 09, 2019

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Data Integration – Improve Efficiency and Productivity 

Sometimes “less is more”, but more can also be better when done correctly.  Putting more data on a screen does not always make the data more valuable.  However, when the right information is presented on a single screen, it can greatly enhance both productivity and efficiency.   Visual One5 is specifically designed to provide more, making you better.

More Data Options means having the ability to see information related to a single subject, such as current storage usage, health, or trends across all storage, network and physical hosts within a data center.  These options provide you with the ability to see and correlate data from the different data sources, but also the ability to select which data is relevant based on the specific analysis being performed.

Data Integration gives you the ability to see data from a host, SAN switch and storage array to gain visibility into how mapping is being done as well as to see both performance and error trends across the infrastructure on a single screen. With data integration, you can save hours or even days of data collection and organization you would need in order to see the trends and statistics at the component level. Now you can take action quickly based on visual integrated information.

Customized Data Views  allow you to select the specific data elements needed in order to perform the relevant analysis in a timely fashion.  Visual One surfaces the data fields most appropriate for each use case and also allows all users to customize their default view as well as dynamically adjust their default view on-demand.

These are the three main features Visual One5 introduced to enhance the user experience and to assist in the collection and organization of information needed on a single display within the application.

The Enterprise Storage Summary is designed to show 4 pieces of information that will give corporate executives a quick view of their storage infrastructure.    The main items shown on this chart are:

  • Space usage – both used and allocated at an enterprise and device level view
  • Performance – what the overall enterprise performance is as well as the individual array performance
  • Health – health rating across all arrays and highest alert level on reach array
  • Maintenance – when end of maintenance occurs for individual storage arrays

The high-level summary along with the detailed component level summary allow customers to quickly identify and take action upon this single screen.

Having the data from a host perspective on what and how it is connected to other components within the infrastructure is one of the many examples of data center integration within Visual One.  The Host Analysis above shows host ports, SAN switch zones/ports all the way through to the storage array ports.  You can see errors for each port within the infrastructure and each port can be selected with trends viewed independently for each port on the host and the storage array.

The host/LUN Performance Detail shows the detail analysis down to the LUN level for a host.  This includes the read and write workload for each LUN and the individual latency for each LUN mapped host.  When combined with the previous chart, this information is incredibly useful to see performance at the individual LUN level.  In the host/LUN Performance chart above we see a collection of LUNs where latency is greater than 1ms, but these LUNs have slightly lower workload than the LUNs where latency is well under 1ms.  This is exactly the trend we would want to see, and this screen can be valuable for targeting the specific logical resource affected and the physical resources serving each host.

Not only are port errors tracked by port, but so is the type of error that the SAN switch is seeing on its ports.  This can be useful as many network errors are created during normal maintenance activities, while others are indications of significant error conditions.  This Port Error chart allows you to see all errors by type and in relative relationship to one another.

In conclusion, Visual One5 was specifically designed to provide the information that will make you more productive and efficient.

Visual One V5 created 25% more horizontal landscape within the browser to allow the data fields you need to be easily accessed. These data fields are customizable by each user, thereby enhancing the experience for all levels of the IT organization.