Dell PowerStore

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: powerstore

Overview

This collector monitors Dell PowerStore storage arrays via the PowerStore REST API.

It collects metrics for the following components:

• Cluster Capacity — physical and logical space usage, efficiency ratios (data reduction, snapshot savings, thin provisioning)
• Appliance Performance — IOPS, bandwidth, latency, CPU utilization, and space usage per appliance
• Volume Performance — IOPS, bandwidth, latency, provisioned/used space, and thin savings per volume
• Node Performance — IOPS, bandwidth, latency, and current login count per node
• FC Port Performance — IOPS, bandwidth, latency, and link status per Fibre Channel port
• Ethernet Port Performance — bytes/packets rate, error rates, and link status per Ethernet port
• File System Performance — IOPS, bandwidth, and latency per file system
• Hardware Health — component-level status counts (fans, PSUs, drives, batteries, nodes) by health state (OK, degraded, failed, unknown)
• Active Alerts — count of currently active alerts by severity (critical, major, minor, info)
• Drive Wear — SSD endurance remaining percentage per drive
• NAS Server Status — operational status counts (started, stopped, degraded, unknown)
• Replication — data remaining, data transferred, and transfer rate across appliances

The collector uses the PowerStore REST API (/api/rest/* endpoints) to fetch data. Authentication uses HTTP Basic Auth — the collector calls /api/rest/login_session to obtain a session cookie and a DELL-EMC-TOKEN CSRF token, which are reused for subsequent requests. Sessions are automatically refreshed on HTTP 403 (token expiry).

Discovery runs on startup and then every 5 collection cycles to refresh the hardware inventory, appliances, volumes, nodes, ports, file systems, and NAS servers.

Performance and space metrics are collected via the /api/rest/metrics/generate endpoint using the PowerStore metrics generation API. The collector requests Five_Mins interval data for performance metrics and One_Day for cluster space metrics, taking the most recent data point.

Discovery API calls use pagination (2000 items per page, HTTP 206 for partial results). Performance metrics for different entities are collected concurrently (up to 10 parallel API calls).

This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

A user account on the PowerStore array is required. Any role with API read access is sufficient (e.g., the built-in Operator role). The account does not need write permissions.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

The collector does not auto-detect PowerStore arrays. You must configure the management IP address, username, and password explicitly.

Limits

The collector makes multiple API calls per collection cycle: discovery calls (once every 5 cycles) plus per-entity metrics calls (appliances, volumes, nodes, ports, file systems, drives, and replication — one API call per entity). With many volumes or ports, the number of API calls scales linearly. The default 30-second collection interval provides ample headroom.

Performance Impact

The PowerStore REST API is lightweight and read-only. The collector uses the metrics generation API which returns pre-aggregated data, imposing minimal load on the array. Session tokens and CSRF tokens are cached across collection cycles.

Setup

You can configure the powerstore collector in two ways:

:::important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

:::

Prerequisites

PowerStore API access

1. A user account on the PowerStore array with at least read-only access. The built-in Operator role is sufficient.
2. Network connectivity from the Netdata Agent to the PowerStore management IP (HTTPS, port 443).
3. The PowerStore management REST API must be accessible (enabled by default).

TLS certificate

PowerStore arrays typically use self-signed TLS certificates. You will likely need to set tls_skip_verify: yes in the configuration, or provide the array’s CA certificate via tls_ca.

Configuration

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every, autodetection_retry.

via UI

Configure the powerstore collector from the Netdata web interface:

1. Go to Nodes.
2. Select the node where you want the powerstore data-collection job to run and click the :gear: (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
3. The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
4. In the Search box, type powerstore (or scroll the list) to locate the powerstore collector.
5. Click the + next to the powerstore collector to add a new job.
6. Fill in the job fields, then click Test to verify the configuration and Submit to save.
   • Test runs the job with the provided settings and shows whether data can be collected.
   • If it fails, an error message appears with details (for example, connection refused, timeout, or command execution errors), so you can adjust and retest.

via File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/powerstore.conf.

The file format is YAML. Generally, the structure is:

update_every: 1
autodetection_retry: 0
jobs:
  - name: some_name1
  - name: some_name2

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/powerstore.conf

Examples

Basic

A minimal configuration connecting to a PowerStore array with a self-signed certificate.

jobs:
  - name: ps-lab
    url: https://10.0.0.1
    username: monitor
    password: monitor123
    tls_skip_verify: yes

With volume filtering

Monitor only production volumes, excluding temporary and test volumes.

jobs:
  - name: ps-prod
    url: https://10.0.0.1
    username: monitor
    password: monitor123
    tls_skip_verify: yes
    volume_selector: "prod-* !*-temp !*-test"

Multi-instance

Note: When you define multiple jobs, their names must be unique.

Monitoring multiple PowerStore arrays.

jobs:
  - name: ps-site-a
    url: https://10.0.0.1
    username: monitor
    password: monitor123
    tls_skip_verify: yes

  - name: ps-site-b
    url: https://10.0.0.2
    username: monitor
    password: monitor456
    tls_skip_verify: yes

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

Per Dell PowerStore instance

These metrics refer to the entire monitored PowerStore cluster.

This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

Per appliance

These metrics refer to individual PowerStore appliances.

Labels:

Metrics:

Per volume

These metrics refer to individual PowerStore volumes. Volumes can be filtered using the volume_selector configuration option.

Labels:

Metrics:

Per node

These metrics refer to individual PowerStore nodes within an appliance.

Labels:

Metrics:

Per fc port

These metrics refer to individual Fibre Channel ports used for host connectivity.

Labels:

Metrics:

Per ethernet port

These metrics refer to individual Ethernet ports (management and iSCSI connectivity).

Labels:

Metrics:

Per file system

These metrics refer to individual file systems (NFS/SMB shares).

Labels:

Metrics:

Per drive

These metrics refer to individual physical drives (SSDs).

Labels:

Metrics:

Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the powerstore collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn’t working.

• Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that’s not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

  cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/
  

• Switch to the netdata user.

  sudo -u netdata -s
  

• Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

  ./go.d.plugin -d -m powerstore
  

  To debug a specific job:

  ./go.d.plugin -d -m powerstore -j jobName
  

Getting Logs

If you’re encountering problems with the powerstore collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

• Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
• Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep powerstore

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector’s name:

grep powerstore /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named “netdata” (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep powerstore

Authentication failure

If the collector fails with login failed:

1. Verify the username and password are correct.
2. Ensure the user account has at least Operator role privileges.
3. Check that the account is not locked or expired on the array.

Connection refused or timeout

If the collector fails with connection errors:

1. Verify the url points to the management IP of the PowerStore array.
2. Ensure HTTPS port 443 is reachable from the Netdata Agent host.
3. If using a firewall, allow outbound HTTPS to the array.
4. Try increasing timeout if the array is on a high-latency link.

TLS certificate errors

PowerStore arrays ship with self-signed certificates. If you see TLS errors:

1. Set tls_skip_verify: yes in the configuration (most common solution).
2. Alternatively, export the array’s certificate and provide it via tls_ca.

HTTP 403 errors

PowerStore returns HTTP 403 when the session/CSRF token is stale. The collector automatically re-authenticates on 403, but if you see persistent 403 errors:

1. Verify the user account still has API access.
2. Check if the array’s security policy has been changed to restrict API access.
3. Ensure no IP-based access controls are blocking the Netdata Agent host.