Introduction

This guide describes how to prepare the BVQ Server, the BVQ Clients and the way to integrate the external systems. These has to be done before starting the BVQ installation. 
        

The actions to be performed are identified as follows:

• Required action
• Optional action

ToDo list

Overview BVQ HW / SW components

Verification of hardware and software requirements

In the online document BVQ supported environments you find an overview of the hardware requirements and supported operating systems.
Please check if your systems fullfill these requirements

BVQ Servers

Preparation of the Windows operating system

The following tests and adjustments should be made:

Check and unlock network connections 

BVQ Services require the network connections to communicate with each other, with BVQ Clients and  the external disk- and VMware systems.    

Please adjust the settings of any existing firewalls accordingly.

Please check any necessary network connection by using ping.

Overview: Network connections and ports

The following connections should or must be provided for each system:

Links / System	Standard TCP port	BVQ DB Server	BVQ Server	BVQ Client	Description
RDP to BVQ Client	3389	←	←	→	Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol for remote screen sessions
SSH to SVC System	22		→	→	Secure Shell to access the SVC CLI interface
WebService  to vCenter	443		→		Web service with HTTPS on VMware vCenter API
SMI provider to BNA	5989		→		SMI interface to Brocade Network Advisor
MongoDB	27017	←	→	→	Client to access the MongoDB service
BVQ Server Web UI	80		←	→	Client acces to BVQ Server Web UI
BVQ Server Grafana	3000		←	→	Cleint access to BVQ Grafana Dashbord Web UI
Internet	N/A	→	→	→	Connection to the Internet for remote maintenance or code-download

Overview: Network connections

Legend: - necessary connection,  - optional connection, → - outgoing connection, ← - incoming connection

Adjust disk storage configuration

BVQ Services require a different amount of disk storage capacity at different times for program files, program data  and log files. For the approximately required capacity, please refer to the relevant document under BVQ supported environments.    

To ensure that in case of a problem overflowing directories does not endanger the execution of other services, we recommend to distribute main directories on multiple partitions or drives.       

The following main Windows directories are used to a significant degree:

A significant use can also be expected for the following main directories on each system:     

Directory / system	BVQ DB Server	BVQ Server	BVQ Client
Program files
Program data
MongoDB Database

Overview: main directories per system

Adjust User Account Control (UAC)

UAC - User Account Control Windows 2008 R2, 2012, Vista, 7, 8:

Microsoft introduced Windows Vista User Account Control (UAC) in Windows platforms to avoid that all actions are performed with administrator privileges.  

For the installation of BVQ components it is recommended to set the UAC temporarily to 'Never notify' (reboot required).     
When finished, it can be reseted to the previously set level. 

Customize virus scanner

 During the installation of BVQ disable any virus scanner or other programs which vary from the basis Windows installation and might interfere with the installation.

The virus scanner on the BVQ server should be set so that the following directories are NOT searched:

Database Directory
%ProgramData%\SVA\BVQ\bvq-mongodb
%ProgramFiles%\SVA\BVQ\bvq-scanner
%ProgramFiles%\SVA\BVQ\bvq-scheduler

Note: Problems has been observed in context with the virus scanner 'Sophos', which could be relevant for others too.

Check time and time zone

The time and time zone of the BVQ systems have to be set properly.

Please check whether a NTP server is configured in Windows: it is strongly recommended to use a NTP server to synchronize all clocks of all systems (SVC nodes, Windows) .

Please check whether the time zone is set correctly: the time zone of all systems (SVC, Windows) have to be set to the same value.

Check Windows users

Locally managed users

The following users and groups are created during the BVQ installation on the BVQ server. This chapter does not contain any adjustments to be carried out here and just provides an overview.   

Often the username 'BVQ' is shared for the BVQ Service and DB user. In this case, the name of the BVQ Server may not be 'BVQ' as both the server and the user name are managed in the same Windows namespace .

Users managed by active directory

If a domain registration is used, the database and the BVQ User must be created in advance on the AD server.
The following table provides an overview of the required users and their user groups in active directory.

Additional required software

The following overview shows which software is required on the BVQ systems:

Software / System	BVQ DB Server	BVQ Server	BVQ Client
Java Runtime Environment
Microsoft Excel 2016
PuTTY
PDF Reader
Remote Screenshare

Overview: additionally required software per system

Legend: - required software,  - optional software

BVQ installation packages

Java Runtime Environment (JRE)

An Oracle Java Runtime Environment version 1.8.x 64 bit with most current patches has to be installed as the main system JRE on the BVQ server, database server and the clients.

The installed version of Java and the existence of the java.exe in the system path can be checked by using the following command:

C:\>java -version
java version "1.8.0_xx"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_xx)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build xx, mixed mode)

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel 2016 or later has to be installed on the BVQ Server to be able to create advanced BVQ Reports with that. BVQ Excel based reports are connected to the BVQ Server's REST endpoint via MS PowerQuery, which is embedded in Excel since version 2016. You can automate the creation of such Reports by using MS Powershell and Windows Scheduler. Please ask your BVQ Support Partner for more information.

PuTTY (optional)

Remote Screenshare (optional)

IBM Spectrum virtualize (SVC), Storwize & Flash systems

The following checks and adjustments should be made to the SVC / Storwize systems:

Configuration of SVC user

For the communication of the BVQ SVC Scanner with the SVC CLI a user account on each SVC is mandatory, which should be at least member of the group 'Administrator'.

Please create such a user. We recommend that to give that user the following name: bvq

The user authentication can be only done via password SSH key pair  authentication is no longer supported by BVQ)
 

• Creation of an SVC user with password for BVQ with SVC CLI:
  

  svctask mkuser -name bvq -usergrp Administrator -password P@ssw0rd

• Creation of the BVQ user with SVC Web GUI:
  1. Please Browse with a web browser to the following URL: https://<cluster ip address>/gui#users-users
  2. Log in with a user in the group SecurityAdmin (superuser)
  3. Click on 'Create User" and fill in the following dialogue as following
  4. If you have chosen an authentication via SSH key pair, you can upload the public key in this dialogue.

^*Unfortunately, the performance monitoring of an SVC / Storwize cluster without the permission level 'Administrator' is not possible so far as for copying the performance statistics files from the other nodes into the config node the CLI command svctask cpdumps is mandatory. This is the only administrator-level command, which uses the BVQ SVC scanner. For all other commands (svcinfo lsxxx) the permission level 'monitor' would be sufficient. 

Check SSH access for free sessions

The number of simultaneously opened SSH sessions is limited in the SVC/Storwize to 10 sessions for SVC Code < v7.5 (32 sessions >v7.5) . If the sessions are used by other applications, it should be ensured that for a short time up to 3 SSH sessions are simultaneously required for the communication with the BVQ SVC Scanner.
 

Check time and time zone

The time and the time zone of the SVC/Storwize systems have to be set correctly.

 Please check if an NTP server is configured: we strongly recommend to use an NTP server to synchronize the time of all systems (SVC Nodes, Windows). 

CLI command for setting an NTP server:
svctask chcluster -ntpip <IP address of NTP Server> ### Example: svctask chcluster -ntpip 9.20.165.16

 Please check whether the time zone is set correctly: the time zones of all systems (SVC, Windows) should be set to the same value. 

CLI command for setting the time zone (here Europe/Berlin):
svctask settimezone -timezone 360 ### Timezone 360: Europe/Berlin !!!

 At the end please check  whether  the expected time is actually displayed.

CLI command for showing the cluster time:
svqueryclock ### Check the cluster's current date and time

Check performance statistics interval

The SVC performance statistics are generated regularly (in intervals) by the SVC and picked up by the BVQ SVC Scanner. BVQ supports all intervals possible in the SVC (1min to 60min). We recommend to set the time interval to 5 minutes. If a closer monitoring should be necessary, the interval can also be reduced to 1 minute.

Check the interval time set in the SVC / Storwize. Example:

svcinfo lssystem | while read key value; do [[ "$key" =~ ^(statistics_status|statistics_frequency)$ ]] && echo "$key $value"; done
statistics_status on
statistics_frequency 5

Set the statistics interval time:

svctask startstats -interval 5 ### Set SVC Perf Statistics Interval (possible values 1-60)

 Clear old performance statistic files on all nodes. It is not certain that they were created at the same point in time or they may contain no longer existing nodes.

svcinfo lsnode -nohdr | while read id rest ; do svctask cleardumps -prefix /dumps/iostats $id ; done

Configure a Unified Storwize V7000

The V7000u system consists of 2 levels:

1. The upper level provides a file service gateway (file nodes)
2. The lower level consists of a V7000 (storage nodes)

The administration of a V7000u is usually done by using the IP addresses of the file service gateways. CLI commands are tunneled through that layer to the underlying V7000. Unfortunately, the performance statistics of the V7000 cannot be downloaded from this upper level . Hence cluster IP addresses have to be assigned to the underlying V7000.

Check whether a cluster IP address is set there on the V7000u:

lssystemip
cluster_id       cluster_name location port_id IP_address   subnet_mask   gateway       IP_address_6 prefix_6 gateway_6
00000200A080006A swv1blk      local    1       9.20.136.5 255.255.255.0 9.20.136.1
00000200A080006A swv1blk      local    2

If necessary, set a cluster IP address on the V7000u:

chsystemip -clusterip 9.20.136.5 -gw 9.20.136.1 -mask 255.255.255.0 -port 1

Similar to a usual V7000 the BVQ SVC Scanner has be configured  to access this IP address.

VMware vCenter systems

VMware vCenter user

For the operation of BVQ VMware Scanner, a user is required for the operation of the BVQ VMware Scanner, who should at least have read-only access to the VMware vCenter system.

Please create this user before installing the VMware BVQ Scanner. We recommend to name the user as follows: 'bvq'

VMware vCenter statistic settings

With BVQ version 5.6 it will be possible to scan performance data for VMware objects (virtual machines, ESX hosts, etc.) within BVQ. The following statistics settings are required:

1. Log in to the vCenter web client (https://DNS_or_IP_of_vCenter_server) with an administrative user
2. Navigate to the vCenter settings
   
   Select: vCenter → Configure tab → Settings - General  → Statistics
3. To collect VMware performance data for BVQ the 5 minutes interval duration must be set to statistics level 3 - You can check the current settings in the table (screenshot shows correct configuration)
4. To modify click "Edit" top right
5. Within the next dialogue you can set the statistics level to 3 within the drop down menu
   
   Tip: Check the required database size required by configuring the physical hosts & virtual machines. Depending on the selected configuration, this will show you an estimate of the db size (filesystem space required on the vCenter server).
   Maybe you have to modify the vCenter filesystem size to collect/save the additional performance data.
6. Click OK to save the settings
7. Check the changes within the overview table (see 2.) →  5 minutes interval duration must be set to statistics level 3

VMware vCenter configuration settings

With BVQ version 5.6 it will be possible to scan performance data for VMware objects (virtual machines, ESX hosts, etc.) within BVQ. The following configuration settings are required:

1. Log in to the vCenter web client (https://DNS_or_IP_of_vCenter_server) with an administrative user
2. Navigate to the vCenter settings
   
   Select: vCenter (1) → Configure tab (2) → Settings - Advanced settings (3) → Edit (4)
3. Use the Search field and search for config.vpxd.stats.maxQueryMetrics and check if value is set to -1 (5)
4. If the setting is missing / not found use the lower area of the edit window to add this setting (6):
   • Name: config.vpxd.stats.maxQueryMetrics
   • Value: -1

Brocade SAN Scanner

Important Requirement: a separate system/server is needed to run the Brocade SMI Scanner

Brocade SAN Switch user

For the operation of BVQ Brocade SAN Scanner, a user is required on the SAN core switch.
The user should at least have "Operator role" and AOR (Areas of Responsibility) =All Fabrics, All Hosts.

Example:

Please create this user before installing the BVQ Brocade SAN Scanner. We recommend to name the user as follows: 'bvq'

Gather information for BVQ Scanner configuration

BVQ scanners need the following information to be configured for each System.

In addition to the BVQ licensed IBM Spectrum virtualize systems (SVC), BVQ Scanners should also be configured for each BVQ supported backend system behind them. Such Systems are already covered by your BVQ license and can be added without additional cost, but be aware to have them included in your BVQ license key file.

For each IBM storage system:

• Cluster IP address or hostname
• Cluster user ID and password (Administrator privileged)

For a VMware vCenter system:

• vCenter IP address or hostname
• vCenter user domain
• vCenter user ID and password (read-only privileged)