PRTG Manual: Dell PowerVault MDi Physical Disk Sensor
The Dell PowerVault MDi Physical Disk sensor monitors a physical disk on a Dell PowerVault system.
The sensor supports Dell PowerVault MD3000i, MD3420, MD3620i, MD3000f, MD3620f, or MD3820i. It might work with other models, too.
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
- Dutch: Dell PowerVault MDi Fysieke Schijf
- French: Dell PowerVault MDi disque physique
- German: Dell PowerVault MDi Physikalischer Datenträger
- Japanese: Dell PowerVault MDi 物理ディスク
- Portuguese: Disco físico Dell PowerVault MDi
- Russian: Физический диск Dell PowerVault MDi
- Simplified Chinese: Dell PowerVault MDi 物理磁盘
- Spanish: Disco físico Dell PowerVault MDi
- This sensor has a high performance impact. Use it with care. We recommend that you use no more than 200 sensors of this sensor type on each probe.
- This sensor requires Dell Modular Disk Storage Manager on the probe system. See the Knowledge Base: Where do I find the Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager for use with my MDi SAN?
- This sensor requires the IP address of the storage area network (SAN) defined in the settings of the parent device.
- This sensor only supports devices with one drawer of hard-drives. Multiple drawers are not supported and prevent sensor creation.
- This sensor supports the IPv6 protocol.
- This sensor works with Dell PowerVault MD3000i, MD3420, MD3620i, MD3000f, MD3620f, or MD3820i, and might support other models.
- This sensor uses lookups to determine the status values of one or more channels. This means that possible states are defined in a lookup file. You can change the behavior of a channel by editing the lookup file that the channel uses. For details, see section Define Lookups.
You cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.
Requirement |
Description |
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Dell Modular Disk Storage Manager |
This sensor requires the installation of the Dell Modular Disk Storage Manager program. You must install it on the probe system (on every cluster node, if on a cluster probe). For details about setup, see section More below.
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The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the settings that are required to create the sensor. You can change nearly all settings on the sensor's Settings tab after creation.
The settings that you select in the Add Sensor dialog are valid for all sensors that you create when you finish the dialog.
Sensor Settings
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Disk |
Select the physical disks that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each physical disk that you select.
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Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Sensor Name |
Enter a name to identify the sensor. |
Parent Tags |
Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.
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Tags |
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
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Priority |
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority ( |
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address/DNS Name of the parent device. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Physical Disk |
Shows the physical disk that this sensor monitors.
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Result Handling |
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
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Setting |
Description |
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Primary Channel |
Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
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Graph Type |
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
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Stack Unit |
This setting is only visible if you enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so. |
By default, all of the following settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.
For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.
Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Scanning Interval |
Select a scanning interval from the dropdown list. The scanning interval determines the amount of time that the sensor waits between two scans. Choose from:
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If a Sensor Query Fails |
Select the number of scanning intervals that the sensor has time to reach and to check a device again if a sensor query fails. Depending on the option that you select, the sensor can try to reach and to check a device again several times before the sensor shows the Down status. This can avoid false alarms if the monitored device only has temporary issues. For previous scanning intervals with failed requests, the sensor shows the Warning status. Choose from:
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Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Schedule |
Select a schedule from the list. You can use schedules to monitor during a certain time span (days or hours) every week. Choose from:
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Maintenance Window |
Select if you want to set up a one-time maintenance window. During a maintenance window, monitoring stops for the selected object and all child objects. They show the Paused status instead. Choose between:
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Maintenance Begins |
This setting is only visible if you enable Set up a one-time maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the start date and time of the one-time maintenance window. |
Maintenance Ends |
This setting is only visible if you enable Set up a one-time maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the end date and time of the one-time maintenance window. |
Dependency Type |
Select a dependency type. You can use dependencies to pause monitoring for an object depending on the status of a different object. You can choose from:
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Dependency |
This setting is only visible if you enable Select a sensor above. Click |
Dependency Delay (Sec.) |
This setting is only visible if you select Select a sensor above. Define a time span in seconds for the dependency delay. After the master sensor for this dependency returns to the Up status, PRTG additionally delays the monitoring of the dependent objects by the time span you define. This can prevent false alarms, for example, after a server restart or to give systems more time for all services to start. Enter an integer value.
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Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
User Group Access |
Define the user groups that have access to the sensor. You see a table with user groups and group access rights. The table contains all user groups in your setup. For each user group, you can choose from the following group access rights:
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Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Which channel units are available depends on the sensor type and the available parameters. If no configurable channels are available, this field shows No configurable channels.
Setting |
Description |
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Channel Unit Types |
For each type of channel, select the unit in which PRTG displays the data. If you define this setting on probe, group, or device level, you can inherit these settings to all sensors underneath. You can set units for the following channel types (if available):
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Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the monitored device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
The sensor shows the status and mode of the physical disk in the channels as reported in the Modular Disk Storage Manager. Status and mode combined indicate the particular status of a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller physical disk. The table below provides you with the status description according to the Dell documentation:
Status Channel |
Mode Channel |
Description |
---|---|---|
Up status: Optimal |
Unassigned |
The physical disk in the indicated slot is unused and available to be configured |
Assigned |
The physical disk in the indicated slot is configured as part of a disk group |
|
Hot Spare Standby |
The physical disk in the indicated slot is configured as a hot spare |
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Hot Spare In Use |
The physical disk in the indicated slot is in use as a hot spare within a disk group |
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Down status: Failed |
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The physical disk in the indicated slot has failed because of an unrecoverable error, an incorrect drive type or drive size, or by its operational state being set to failed |
Up status: Replaced |
Assigned |
The physical disk in the indicated slot has been replaced and is ready to be, or is actively being, configured into a disk group |
Down status: Pending Failure |
|
A Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) error has been detected on the physical disk in the indicated slot |
Warning status: None |
None |
The indicated slot is empty, or the array cannot detect the physical disk |
Down status: Undefined |
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Knowledge Base
Where do I find the Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Manager for use with my MDi SAN?
What security features does PRTG include?
For more information about sensor settings, see the following sections: