Overview of the AutoSupport feature

The AutoSupport feature monitors the storage system's operations and sends automatic messages to technical support to alert it to potential system problems. If necessary, technical support contacts you at the e-mail address that you specify to help resolve a potential system problem.

The following list outlines facts you should know about AutoSupport:

•	The autosupport feature is enabled by default on the storage system.

AutoSupport is enabled by default when you configure your storage system for the first time. AutoSupport begins sending messages to technical support 24 hours after AutoSupport is enabled. You can cut short the 24-hour period by upgrading or reverting the system, modifying the AutoSupport configuration, or changing the time of the system to be outside of the 24-hour period.

Note: You can disable AutoSupport at any time by turning off the autosupport.enable option, but you should leave it enabled. Enabling AutoSupport can significantly help speed problem determination and resolution should a problem occur on your storage system.

Although AutoSupport messages to technical support are enabled by default, you need to set the correct options and have a valid mail host to have messages sent to your internal support organization.

•	AutoSupport messages are generated:

•	When events occur on the storage system that require corrective action from the system administrator or technical support

•	When the storage system reboots

•	When you initiate a test message using the autosupport.doit option

•	Once a week, between 12:00 a.m. and 1 a.m. Sunday

Three AutoSupport messages are generated during this time: The first, the weekly AutoSupport message, provides the same system information as regular AutoSupport messages. The second, the performance AutoSupport message, provides technical support with comprehensive performance information about your storage system for the preceding week. The performance message can be quite large, so by default it is sent only to technical support. The third, the NetApp Health Trigger (NHT) message, provides information about any failed disk drives. If no drives failed during the past week, no weekly drive NHT message is sent. By default, the drive NHT message is sent only to technical support.

•	The system can send AutoSupport messages by SMTP, HTTP, or HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Sockets Layer). HTTPS is the default, and you should use it whenever possible.

•	If an AutoSupport message cannot be sent successfully, an SNMP trap is generated.

For more information about AutoSupport, see the NOW site.