[TUTORIAL] maxView Storage Manager with Proxmox

[dmox]

Hi,
I am trying to arrange some management/monitoring for my Adaptec RAID 8805 controller. Therefore I installed the latest maxView Storage Manager on an Ubuntu (18.04.2) VM. Unfortunately, the software does not show any information about my controller.

It seems that the topic has received little attention in recent times. All I could find was this post, lastly updated 2013. Back in these times the software was called Adaptec Storage Manager. And there are no Wiki articles still living covering the topic. Every link referencing them is dead, respectively pointing to a nonexisting site.

I am not sure if it is even possible/the correct way to run the software on a VM. According to this post the Storage Manager is installed on PVE itself, correct me if I'm wrong.

Hopefully somebody has successfully installed the software and can provide me some hints to do the same.

Thank you very much. Kind regards.

------

UPDATE: my recent post shows how I solved the problem.

 

[LnxBil]

I am not sure if it is even possible/the correct way to run the software on a VM. According to this post the Storage Manager is installed on PVE itself, correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, you have to run it inside of the PVE host (direct hardware access) or in an LX(C) container if you passthrough/bind-mount the controlling device, if it exists. I haven't used an Adaptec RAID controller for many years, so I do not know if and how it works.

For other raid monitoring devices, often you can just install the CLI binary and run it without any problems, at least that is what we do with e.g. the MegaCLI, hpsacucli or the amcli tools.

 

[dmox]

Yes, you have to run it inside of the PVE host (direct hardware access) or in an LX(C) container if you passthrough/bind-mount the controlling device, if it exists. I haven't used an Adaptec RAID controller for many years, so I do not know if and how it works.

For other raid monitoring devices, often you can just install the CLI binary and run it without any problems, at least that is what we do with e.g. the MegaCLI, hpsacucli or the amcli tools.

@LnxBil thanks for your answer. I would prefer the LXC solution but does this even work? The corresponding wiki article mentions that the PVE host does not have access to the device any more when it is passed to the VM/container.

 

[LnxBil]

PVE host does not have access to the device any more when it is passed to the VM/container.

For passthrough, this is infact true, but providing access to a device file is different.

Why do you want to access it from the host and the guest? The idea is that you only have to access it from the guest if you only want to have some reporting capability. The container solution is only viable if you do not get it to work directly on PVE due to only rpm packages or library mismatches. At least for the tools I tried, you can just extract the rpm and run the cli tools manually. Yet I've never tried to get some web frontend running, which also comes with some tools. I just use the cli tools for the storage to get the status of disks behind hardware raid. For monitoring I usually use some nagios/icinga plugins.

 

[dmox]

For passthrough, this is infact true, but providing access to a device file is different.

Ok the alternative of a device file sounds good. But I am not aware of how to use it. According to some research this would be a special file that acts like an interface on the LXC between the RAID controller and the application that wants to make use of it. I guess this is not existing out of the box? If so, how can I create and mount such a device file?

Why do you want to access it from the host and the guest? The idea is that you only have to access it from the guest if you only want to have some reporting capability. The container solution is only viable if you do not get it to work directly on PVE due to only rpm packages or library mismatches. At least for the tools I tried, you can just extract the rpm and run the cli tools manually. Yet I've never tried to get some web frontend running, which also comes with some tools. I just use the cli tools for the storage to get the status of disks behind hardware raid. For monitoring I usually use some nagios/icinga plugins.

That's exactly what I would prefer. I am using Icinga2 and it would be sufficient if I get the desired RAID monitoring information by command line tools. So it should be working ootb if I install the maxView Storage Manager v3.00.23488 for Linux x64 directly on my PVE server and afterwards I use something the Adaptec RAID monitoring plugin for my Icinga2 instance?

@LnxBil btw thank you very much for your help. Kind regards.

 

[LnxBil]

I guess this is not existing out of the box? If so, how can I create and mount such a device file?

In the old days, you had to create that file, but nowadays, if should already be there if the driver provides and interface for the RAID controller. Again: I have no idea if the adaptec does that or not. If not, the solution will not work :-/

So it should be working ootb if I install the maxView Storage Manager v3.00.23488 for Linux x64 directly on my PVE server and afterwards I use something the Adaptec RAID monitoring plugin for my Icinga2 instance?

Oh boy ... 1 GB download for a CLI tool .... nice job Adaptec, but at least the page names Debian explicitly, so it'll work on PVE too. Just download, try to find the portion of that big file you really need and try.

 

[dmox]

In the old days, you had to create that file, but nowadays, if should already be there if the driver provides and interface for the RAID controller. Again: I have no idea if the adaptec does that or not. If not, the solution will not work :-/

Ok, could you provide me an example of how such a device file should look like for a RAID controller you are using? I want to try out the LXC solution before installing any additional software on my PVE server. And an example might help me a lot.

Oh boy ... 1 GB download for a CLI tool .... nice job Adaptec, but at least the page names Debian explicitly, so it'll work on PVE too. Just download, try to find the portion of that big file you really need and try.

Indeed, huge overhead. I think the main part of this file is the web frontend software (tomcat, JavaEE app, etc.). I'll give this a try as second.

 

[LnxBil]

Indeed, huge overhead. I think the main part of this file is the web frontend software (tomcat, JavaEE app, etc.). I'll give this a try as second.

There is also this (german link, but command and its output is english):
https://www.ionos.de/hilfe/server-c...ingebautem-adaptec-controller-administrieren/

 

[dmox]

So sum it up: I installed maxView Storage Manager directly on my Proxmox VE host. Therefore I downloaded the latest version for linux from the Microsemi website: https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/support/raid/sas_raid/asr-8805/ and unpacked the archive. Afterwards one can simply install the software via the .deb file in the subfolder manager: dpkg -i StorMan-3.01-23531_amd64.deb
During the installation you'll be asked if you want to use the standalone variant. I declined this, to be able to access the webinterface from LAN. If the installation was successful your maxView Storage Manager is accessible via https://<PVE-IP>:8443. The software uses PAM for authentication so I was able to login with the local admin account.

 

[soup]

I had asked this earlier this week... here is my post link https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/adaptec-71605-maxview-storage-manager.117983/

I have setup my adaptec 71605 with a raid 10 with the controller and then installed proxmox 7.2. It see's me drives no problem. I have done many installed with proxmox and love it. I like to setup a Windows vm and run the storage manager to view it and mange with on windows vm. I have done the adapter 9260 with megaraid monitor and it works great. But can't see to get the right way to make this one work. Please help some one. I have downloaded lots of drivers no luck yet.

ok it turns out the the linux driver for the asr-8805 will work with this nothing on the 71605 drivers would work. Got this from the dmox member post this is what he wrote on link https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/maxview-storage-manager-with-proxmox.51819/ I only installed the deb and that was it. Then I installed the windows maxview storage manager version on the VM and it works fine. Thank you so much dmox I took a chance that it would work and it did. Btw the driver I downloaded was maxView Storage Manager v3.07.23850 for Linux x64 from link https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/speed/raid/storage_manager/msm_linux_x64_v3_07_23850_tgz.php

what dmox wrote
So sum it up: I installed maxView Storage Manager directly on my Proxmox VE host. Therefore I downloaded the latest version for linux from the Microsemi website: https://storage.microsemi.com/en-us/support/raid/sas_raid/asr-8805/ and unpacked the archive. Afterwards one can simply install the software via the .deb file in the subfolder manager: dpkg -i StorMan-3.01-23531_amd64.deb
During the installation you'll be asked if you want to use the standalone variant. I declined this, to be able to access the webinterface from LAN. If the installation was successful your maxView Storage Manager is accessible via https://<PVE-IP>:8443. The software uses PAM for authentication so I was able to login with the local admin account.

 

[muggi]

I get this error when I connect from a VM (that is installed on Proxmox) with Window 11 (with firewall disabled) to the PRoxmox ipadress where I installed the AACRAID.deb and Maxview deb.
Of course I also installed the Maxview on the VM.
I have the Adaptec 8405e SAs controller.
It works fine with maxview directly if i put the raidcontroller in another pc just with win 11.

What did i do wrong, as it says, nor reachable ?
When promptet to login to the web interface of Maxview , i used root/****** , which the login for the proxmox

 

[muggi]

can add, the same error is there from a Linux Vm, using Firefox.

Could it be a Router/port issue ?

 

[muggi]

See update in next reply, as these below errors are fixed:

----------------------------------
hmm, tried to install the maxview (Deb) in terminal on the proxmox, but got these error.. gotta look into i tomorrow

root@pve01:~# dpkg -i /media/usb-drive/raid/StorMan-3.07-23980_amd64.deb
(Reading database ... 46370 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../StorMan-3.07-23980_amd64.deb ...
Stopping maxView Storage Manager WebServer      [ OK ]
Stopping maxView Storage Manager Redfish Server [ OK ]

maxView Storage Manager
Version 3.07

Unpacking storman (3.07-23980) over (3.07-23980) ...


Uninstall completed successfully.
Setting up storman (3.07-23980) ...
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 26: cd: /usr/StorMan: No such file or directory
tar (child): JRE-LIN64.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 28: cd: /usr/StorMan: No such file or directory
tar (child): apache-tomcat.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 87: cd: /usr/StorMan: No such file or directory
tar (child): RedfishServer.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 107: netstat: command not found
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 136: cd: /usr/StorMan: No such file or directory
tar (child): esx-arcconf.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

Do you want to install maxView in Standalone Mode: [default: no]:no
mv: cannot move '/tmp/pmc_custom_ports' to '/usr/StorMan/config/cim_ports': No such file or directory
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 283: /usr/StorMan/config/cim_ports: No such file or directory
mv: cannot move '/tmp/tmp_server.properties' to '/usr/StorMan/config/server.properties': No such file or directory
chmod: cannot access '/usr/StorMan/arcconf': No such file or directory
chmod: cannot access '/usr/StorMan/aus-snmpd': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat '/usr/StorMan/stor_tomcat': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat '/usr/StorMan/stor_tomcat.debian': No such file or directory
chmod: cannot access '/etc/init.d/stor_tomcat': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat '/usr/StorMan/stor_redfishserver': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat '/usr/StorMan/stor_redfishserver.debian': No such file or directory
chmod: cannot access '/etc/init.d/stor_redfishserver': No such file or directory
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 568: cd: /usr/StorMan: No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat 'help': No such file or directory
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 569: cd: /usr/StorMan: No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat 'maxView_Help.war': No such file or directory
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 589: /usr/StorMan/StorMan.desktop: No such file or directory
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 590: /usr/StorMan/StorMan.desktop: No such file or directory
mv: cannot move '/tmp/StorMan.desktop' to '/usr/StorMan/StorMan.desktop': No such file or directory
warning: Desktop icon can't be placed since there is no Desktop available for current user
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 658: ./stor_redfishserver: No such file or directory
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 668: ./stor_tomcat: No such file or directory

Installation completed successfully.
root@pve01:~#

 

[muggi]

Update:

seems like I should uninstall "storman" before installing it again, and now it works:
root@pve01:~# dpkg -r storman
(Reading database ... 46367 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing storman (3.07-23980) ...


Uninstall completed successfully.
root@pve01:~# ls /media/usb-drive/
autorun.inf boot bootmgr bootmgr.efi efi raid setup.exe sources support 'System Volume Information'
root@pve01:~# ls /media/usb-drive/raid
aacraid.deb aacraid.tgz StorMan-3.07-23980_amd64.deb StorMan_3.07-23980_ppc64el.deb StorMan-3.07-23980.ppc64le.bin StorMan-3.07-23980.x86_64.bin
root@pve01:~# dpkg -i /media/usb-drive/raid/StorMan-3.07-23980_amd64.deb
Selecting previously unselected package storman.
(Reading database ... 45512 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../StorMan-3.07-23980_amd64.deb ...

maxView Storage Manager
Version 3.07

Unpacking storman (3.07-23980) ...
Setting up storman (3.07-23980) ...
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 54: netstat: command not found
/var/lib/dpkg/info/storman.postinst: line 107: netstat: command not found

Do you want to install maxView in Standalone Mode: [default: no]:no
warning: Desktop icon can't be placed since there is no Desktop available for current user
Starting maxView Storage Manager Redfish Server [ OK ]
Starting maxView Storage Manager WebServer [ OK ]

Installation completed successfully.
root@pve01:~# ^C
root@pve01:~#