HPE Storage Users Group

Real stupid upgrade to 2.1. It recognizes that you have 2.0 even asks if you want to preserve the IPs and arrays, yet when you launch it after the install it is a virgin install. Asks for new admin credentials and then has non of the previous data present. Not a good start for 2.1. I have new appreciation for the IMC every day

For those interested a quick overview of changes / enhancements.

http://h30507.www3.hp.com/t5/Around-the ... UKLCyhwZSA

SSMC still not wowing me. Far more productive in IMC, and the System Report functionality in SSMC is weak compared to what full current SR can do. And nothing I have been shown of future releases is changing my mind. SSMC is not designed for the power user. IMC filled a nice need for low end and mid level users that were not dedicated storage admins.

I see roughly 3 classes of users, dedicated high end storage admins that all they do all day is storage, these folks will likely live in CLI. Then you have the occasional to mid range users (SMB customers I think fit here) that wear many hats and will never spend enough time doing storage admin to learn any CLI. This audience will be perfect for SSMC. Then you have the mid range to more power user, someone that wears more than one hat but has a more complex storage environment, but is not a dedicated storage admin. That mid tier is where IMC and SR were a sweet spot, powerful tools that provide a lot of power and flexibility (sure not very pretty), but allow you to be very productive and get the job done efficiently. This audience I think will find SSMC a bit weak. I find my company fits this middle tier, my people do storage , virtualization and server hardware and find the IMC a very good tool and are frustrated by SSMC and intimidated by CLI.

I understand the 3par team is confined to using the "One View" framework, but there is still too much white space and missing details. I see us using IMC until it is no longer supported ona given platform.

Keep in mind there's much more to come in SSMC it just won't be delivered in a single release and IMC will continue in parallel so long as there are missing features in SSMC. System Reporter has been pretty static for a long time now, so this is actually an opportunity to increase functionality in the future.

Trust me I know I have been in some of the betas, which is why I make the statements I do, not sure I like where it is all going. Will not comment on anything specific I have seen that is not GA yet.

so what exactly do you find weak and missing?
Without decent and detailed criticism, HP can't improve either.
What should be changed to make the ssmc "tic" for you?

Edit: Typo, with -> without

_________________
The goal is to achieve the best results by following the clients wishes. If they want to have a house build upside down standing on its chimney, it's up to you to figure out how do it, while still making it usable.

Disclaimer - I work for HP
"as a vendor I usually try and stay out from user groups as I think there is some beauty in a community that is not polluted by vendors influence. Due to the tone and FUD in some posts in this thread I decided to make an exception."

- I waited some time to see if any other users reported an issue with the upgrade not keeping setting and we have seen over 200 upgrades and not been able to reproduce the problem in any of the supported configurations. I am happy to review the logs of this occurrence.

- The 2000 (that was shared in form of a PRIVATE email) users mentioned at the beginning of this posts are now 3000 and growing rapidly since 2.1 release

- It's clear the we now have an opening in our beta program for the next gen of SSMC testing, we are always looking for constructive feedback and strive to build the best possible interface. If you are interested let me know!

At any time if you have feedback or need help and clairification I am easily accessible via Twitter @ivaniannaccobe or LinkedIn

Thanks!

Ivan, appreciate you coming on here and posting, but I think it's a little unfair to use the word FUD, this is a 3par forum with all the members that I've seen, at least the regular ones being customers of yours and using the products day in and day out.

We are the real feedback, the people who are discussing the product amongst ourselves, not in the hope that hp will look in and take notes, but just to try and make our lives easier by choosing the best tools and working out how to make use of them in the best way possible.

The change from imc to ssmc is a massive one, the people on here, your customers, have been using the imc for years, we word be the first to say it has its issues, but we've learned how to deal with them, the tool is very powerful and offers a lot of information that you normally don't get to see in a GUI.

Ssmc is a big change, and so the people used to using the imc are possibly finding it difficult to make the transition, especially with it not being fully featured yet (ive not used 2.1 so hopefully this will have added things like created rc configs etc).

There are people in here who could give you some good feedback imo. I for one am not an administrator, I am an installation consultant, so use the tool mainly for initial configuration, and I'll admit, I am finding it difficult to find everything I would normally use and have continued to use the imc.

I guess it's like vmware moving from the full client to the web client, everyone who is used to the full client is having a real issue making the change to he web client, until now where they are forced to by vsphere 6. But even vmware are having the same issue of making the new tool fully featured, the web client has been out for years and yet still not all of their own products are integrated, you still need to use the full client to do the initial configuration, and also to use update manager.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time to post in here, but I feel you're seeing this thread as being totally negative, when it could provide you with valuable feedback from your power users.

David.

I stumbled on this thread while trying to get hold of the latest SSMC bits...and for what is worth I would love to get more insight and feedback in the development of the product, I will send you a private message . We have 6x7400 and been using both IMC and SSMC since January and it's has been working as a charm for us....just installing 2.1 so we can finally retire System Reporter now that we can schedule our reports! From my standpoint a make over of IMC and System Reporter was well overdue as they were really not up to par with what available today in the market; I also agree with the comments regarding the interfaces being so different, we went thru the same learning curve.

Hi David, agree with all that you wrote (my FUD reference was around the QA statement, in high insight I could of avoided that term); the shift in interfaces is huge and necessary. Reach out to me with a list of use cases that you are struggling with today and let's see how we can add them or improve them. The reason why I posted here was exactly to trigger this kind of feedback and reassure user that we are not just sticking our head in the ground.



I just sent you a note so we can follow up offline!