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 Command Device in VSM Resource Group for Ops Center Probe Communication

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Nikhil Ayare's profile image
Nikhil Ayare posted 06-13-2026 22:56

Hello Experts,

I am looking for clarification regarding Command Device placement for Ops Center Probe communication on a VSP 5000 series storage system.

Environment:

  • VSP F5200
  • Ops Center Probe running on a Red Hat Linux VM
  • VMware ESXi environment
  • In-band communication using a Command Device
  • Fibre Channel connectivity

Current configuration:

  • The host group used by the ESXi host is created under a Virtual Storage Machine (VSM) resource group.
  • The Command Device currently resides in meta_resource.

While reviewing the Virtual Storage Platform Family CCI User and Reference Guide, I found that resource group isolation applies to resources within each resource group, and the only explicit requirement I could find for a Command Device to reside in meta_resource is related to GAD pair operations.

Based on the documentation, I could not find any statement indicating that a Command Device used for CCI/Ops Center Probe must reside in meta_resource.

My questions are:

  1. Is a Command Device used by Ops Center Probe fully supported when it resides within a VSM resource group?
  2. Has anyone successfully configured Ops Center Probe using a Command Device located in a VSM resource group rather than meta_resource?
  3. Is there any best-practice recommendation to keep both the host group and Command Device within the same resource group?
  4. Are there any limitations, caveats, or required settings when using a Command Device from a VSM resource group for in-band communication?

Any guidance or field experience would be greatly appreciated.

Robert Trujillo's profile image
Robert Trujillo posted 06-23-2026 14:29  Best Answer

Hi Nikhil! 

Welcome to the Hitachi Vantara Community. 

The short answers:

1) No.

2) Unknown.

3) Yes, if one is using the Command Device to manage the replication pairs only in that VSM, otherwise they should reside in the meta resource.

4) Yes, see below.

While some uses of Command Devices can make use of a Command Device in a VSM (manual pair or raidcom operations for example),

but for the purpose of performance monitoring using an Analyzer Probe, a meta resource is required for the following reasons as stated on page 154 of the Hitachi Ops Center Analyzer Installation and Configuration Guide:

"Select Access Type 2, 3, or 4 on RAID Agent to collect the virtual storage machine capacity
data and view it in the VSM Summary report in Analyzer detail view. If you select Access
Type 1 on RAID Agent, the report will not show the virtual storage machine capacity details."

If you try to use a VSM Command Device the following applies, which means the probe may not retrieve all details or even fail. From page 95 of the CCI installation and Configuration Guide (regarding Command Devices):

"Note: If you want to use the virtual storage machine specified on the second or subsequent line of HORCM_VCMD, you must use the command options (for example, -s or -u ). If you omit these command options, the virtual storage machine specified on the first line is used. If you specify a virtual storage machine whose serial number is not specified in HORCM_VCMD using the command option (-s or -u ), the EX_ENOUNT error occurs."

The Probe has no function for specifying a particular VSM instance in its query commands.

In summary: a Command Device in the meta resource can access performance information for all LDEVs in any resource or VSM. 

A Command Device in a VSM can only access the LDEVs in that VSM and there is no way to tell the probe to use a VSM instance number (like there is in a manual raidcom or pair command),

Hope that helps.