The Hitachi Storage Viewer Data Collector is a centralized and remotely managed data collection mechanism. This Java application is responsible for interfacing with backup servers and storage arrays to gather information related to storage backup/recovery and capacity management.

The Data Collector continuously collects data and sends this data, using an http or https connection, to the Hitachi Storage Viewer Data Receiver. This Data Receiver runs on the Hitachi Storage Viewer Portal Server and stores the data it receives in the Storage Viewer Reporting Database.

The Data Collector obtains all of its monitoring rules from a Data Collector Configuration file. Passwords configured for policies in the Data Collector are encrypted prior to insertion into the database. They are decrypted in local Data Collector memory immediately prior to use. This configuration file resides in the Reporting Database in XML format. When the Data Collector first starts, it downloads this file from the Reporting Database. The Data Collector uses this file to determine the list of backup servers, hosts, or storage arrays that are to be monitored and included in its data collection process.

Hitachi Storage Viewer for Capacity provides end-to-end storage capacity reporting from the hosts to the storage arrays. The Capacity Manager Data Collector is a software component that is responsible for interfacing with one or more storage arrays for information related to the capacity management environment. In most cases, the Capacity Manager Data Collector module can reside on any server within your network that is Java 1.7 compatible and, where applicable, has a working copy of the specific storage array command line utilities already installed. The exception is EMC Symmetrix, which requires the Capacity Manager Data Collector to reside on the server that manages the arrays.

Hitachi Storage Viewer for Backup provides comprehensive reporting of major backup software environments. The Storage Viewer for Backup Data Collector interfaces with each of the supported backup and recovery software systems to extract meta-data about the underlying backup and recovery environment such as backup job details and tape inventory information. The Storage Viewer for Backup Data Collector can run on any standalone server, the Portal Server or any backup server for all backup solutions other than Symantec NetBackup.

Hitachi Storage Viewer for Virtual Servers provides views for monitoring storage utilization in a virtualized environment, enabling efficient capacity allocation and forecasting. Storage used by virtual machines is mapped to the actual storage array down to the file system level. Reports offer insight into storage that potentially could be reclaimed. In addition, performance statistics aid in identifying potential contention issues that impact overall performance. Performance can be monitored for Virtual Machines, Datastores, and Physical Disks. A Data Collector can collect data from Virtual Center (vCenter) or from specific ESX servers that are not managed by vCenter. See Storage Viewer for Virtual Servers Data Collection Requirements.

The entire Hitachi Storage Viewer architecture, consisting of multiple Data Collectors pushing relevant information about the backup and storage environments to a centralized Hitachi Storage Viewer Portal Server, was designed for deployment within a globally managed services environment. In a managed services environment, many customers can be supported through deployment of specific Data Collectors in the customer’s data center that interface securely over the Internet with the managed service provider’s Portal Server. Each customer in this managed services environment is isolated to their specific content when their information in the Hitachi Storage Viewer Portal Server is viewed through a web browser.