Understanding System Manager

System Manager enables you to manage storage systems and storage objects, such as disks, volumes, and aggregates. System Manager is a web-based graphical management interface to manage common functions related to storage systems from a Web browser.

You can use System Manager to manage storage systems and HA configurations running the following versions of Data ONTAP:

•	Data ONTAP 7.3.x (starting from 7.3.7)

•	Data ONTAP 8.0 or later in the 8.0 release family operating in 7-Mode

•	Data ONTAP 8.1 or later in the 8.1 release family operating in 7-Mode

Note: In the Data ONTAP 8.x operating in 7-Mode product name, the term 7-Mode signifies that the 8.x release has the same features and functionality found in the prior Data ONTAP 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3 release families.

You can also use System Manager to manage V-Series systems.

System Manager enables you to perform many common tasks such as the following:

•	Configure and manage storage objects, such as disks, aggregates, volumes, qtrees, and quotas.

•	Configure protocols, such as CIFS and NFS, and provision file sharing.

•	Configure protocols such as FC and iSCSI for block access.

•	Verify and configure network configuration settings in the storage systems.

•	Create and manage vFiler units.

•	Set up and manage SnapMirror relationships.

•	Manage HA configurations and perform takeover and giveback operations.

Note: System Manager replaces FilerView as the tool to manage storage systems running Data ONTAP 8.1 or later.

Next Topic

Storage resource management

You can use System Manager to manage the resources of your storage system.

Storage system discovery

The Discover Storage Systems dialog box lists all the storage systems discovered by System Manager. You can use this dialog box to discover storage systems or a high-availability pair on a network subnet and add them to the list of managed systems.

Credential caching

You can cache (save) your storage system server login and password information for future System Manager sessions.

System logging

System logging is an essential tool for application troubleshooting. It is helpful to enable system logging so that if there is a problem with an application, the problem can be located. You can enable System Manager logging at runtime without modifying the application binary.

Window layout customization

System Manager enables you to customize the window layout. By customizing the windows, you can control which data is viewable or how it is displayed.

Access to your favorite topics

You can quickly access a particular subject that you often look up by bookmarking topics in the Favorites tab of the Help system.

Icons used in the application interface

You can view the icons in the interface to get quick information about systems and operations, and to open other windows such as the application Help.

Support for troubleshooting issues in System Manager

If you encounter any issues when using the System Manager application, you can create a support bundle that includes your system configuration data and log files. You can send this bundle to technical support to help troubleshoot the issues.

Creating a support bundle

You can create a support bundle from System Manager and send it to technical support to analyze and resolve issues with System Manager.

Uploading a support bundle

After you generate the support bundle, you must upload the support bundle to the NetApp Support Site to send this bundle to technical support to help troubleshoot the issues.

Supportability Dashboard

You can use the Supportability Dashboard to access product documentation and AutoSupport tools, download software, and visit sites such as the Community and NetApp University for additional information.

What the network configuration checker is

The network configuration checker tool verifies the network configuration settings in the /etc/rc files with the active configuration settings in the storage systems managed by System Manager.

Synchronization of active and persistent values

Running network commands only from the command-line interface results in differences between the active and persistent values in the etc/rc files. However, the network changes can be updated on storage systems on reboot only if the etc/rc files are synchronously updated with the commands or values.

What the etc/rc file format is

The etc/rc files consist of a sequence of commands that are executed in a particular order which determines the format of these files.

Related tasks

Discovering storage systems