Configuring support assistance

You can configure either local or remote support assistance with the management GUI or the command-line interface.

Support assistance enables support personnel to access the system to complete troubleshooting and maintenance tasks. You can configure either local support assistance, where support personnel visit your site to fix problems with the system, or remote support assistance. Both local and remote support assistance uses secure connections to protect data exchange between the support center and system. More access controls can be added by the system administrator. The system supports both local and remote support assistance.Use local support assistance if you have restrictions that require on-site support only. Unlike other authentication methods, you can audit all actions that support personnel conduct on the system when local support assistance is configured.With remote support assistance, support personnel can visit on site and they can also access the system remotely through a secure connection from the support center. However, before you enable remote support assistance between the system and support, you first need to configure local support assistance. You cannot enable remote support assistance and use the Assist On-Site tool at the same time.

In addition, a service IP address must be configured before you set up remote support assistance. During system initialization, you can optionally set up a service IP address and remote support assistance. If you did not configure a service IP address, go to Settings > Network > Service IPs to configure a service IP for each node on the system. Optionally, you need to configure a proxy server if you use a firewall to protect your internal network.

Prerequisites

If you are configuring remote support assistance, the following prerequisites are required for all configurations:

If your system can be configured for direct access to the internet, request that your network administrator allow these connections:
  • 129.33.206.139 and 204.146.30.139 on port 22. These IP addresses and port are used to connect to support servers for remote support assistance.
  • 129.42.56.189, 129.42.54.189, and 129.42.60.189 on port 443. These IP addresses and port are used to upload support packages to support from the system.
  • 170.225.15.105, 170.225.15.104, 170.225.15.107, 129.35.224.105, 129.35.224.104, and 129.35.224.107 on port 22. These IP addresses and port are used to download software to the system from support.
  • A DNS server must be defined on your system. A DNS is required to upload support packages and to download software.
If your system is not configured to directly access the internet, or if you want to route traffic from multiple storage systems to the same place, you must configure a Remote Support Proxy server. You cannot upload support packages or download software with a Remote Support Proxy server.
  • Before you configure remote support assistance, the Remote Support Proxy server must be installed and configured separately.
  • During the setup for remote support assistance, specify the IP address and the port number for the proxy server on the Remote Support Centers page.

Using the management GUI

To configure support assistance, complete these steps:
  1. In the management GUI, select Settings > Support > Support Assistance > Set Up Support Assistance.
  2. Select one of these options:
    I want support personnel to work on-site only
    Select this option to configure local support assistance. Use this option if your system has certain restrictions that require on-site maintenance. If you select this option, click Finish to set up local support assistance.
    I want support personnel to access my system both on-site and remotely
    Select this option to configure remote support assistance. Use this option to allow support personnel to access your system through a secure connection from the support center. Secure remote assistance requires a valid service IP address, call home, and an optional proxy server if a firewall is used to protect your internal network. If you select this option, click Next to specify IP addresses for the support center and optional proxy server.
  3. If you selected to configure both local and remote support assistance, verify the pre-configured support centers. Optionally, enter the name, IP address, and port for the proxy server on the Remote Support Centers page. A proxy server is used by systems that do not directly access the internet or if traffic is routed from multiple storage systems to the same place.
  4. On the Remote Support Access Settings page, select one of these options to control when support personnel can access your system to conduct maintenance and fix problems:
    At Any Time
    Support personnel can access the system at any time. For this option, remote support session does not need to be started manually and sessions remain open continuously.
    On Permission Only
    The system administrator must grant permission to support personnel before they can access the system. For this option, remote support sessions need to be started manually and you can specify a maximum time that a session can be idle before the session is automatically closed.
  5. Click Finish.
  6. After you configure remote support assistance with permission only, you can start sessions between the support center and the system. On the Support Assistance page, select Start New Session and specify the number of minutes the session can be idle before the support user is logged off the system.

Using the command-line interface

To configure local support assistance, enter the following command:
chsra -enable
To configure remote support assistance, enter the following command:
chsra -remotesupport enable