Dell PowerVault ME4/ME5

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: powervault

Overview

This collector monitors Dell PowerVault ME4 and ME5 storage arrays via the Management Controller Interface (MCI) REST API.

It collects metrics for the following components:

• System Health — overall array health status
• Hardware Health — component-level status counts (controllers, drives, fans, PSUs, FRUs, ports) by health state (OK, degraded, fault, unknown)
• Controller Performance — IOPS, throughput, CPU load, write cache usage, forwarded commands, cumulative I/O and cache hit/miss statistics
• Volume Performance — IOPS, throughput, write cache usage, cumulative I/O, cache hit/miss statistics, storage tier distribution (SSD/SAS/SATA)
• Port I/O — cumulative read/write operations and data transferred per host port
• SAS PHY Errors — disparity errors, lost dwords, invalid dwords aggregated per port
• Pool Capacity — total and available bytes per storage pool
• Drive Metrics — temperature, power-on hours, SSD life remaining per drive
• Sensor Readings — temperature, voltage, current, and charge capacity per sensor

The collector uses the MCI REST API (/api/show/* and /api/show/*-statistics endpoints) to fetch data. Authentication uses a hash-based login (SHA-256 by default, MD5 for legacy firmware) — the collector hashes username_password, calls /api/login/<hash>, and uses the returned session key for subsequent requests.

Discovery runs on startup and then every 10 collection cycles to refresh the hardware inventory. Performance statistics (controllers, volumes, ports, PHY) are collected via concurrent API calls each cycle. Hardware health, drive metrics, sensor readings, pool capacity, and system health are computed from the cached discovery data without additional 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 PowerVault management controller is required. Any role with API read access is sufficient (e.g., the built-in monitor role). The account does not need write permissions.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

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

Limits

The collector makes approximately 14 API calls per collection cycle (10 for discovery when needed, 4 for statistics). With the default 30-second collection interval, this is well within the MCI API's capabilities. Each API call returns all entities of that type in a single response.

Performance Impact

The MCI API is lightweight and read-only. The collector's impact on the storage array is negligible. Session keys are reused across collection cycles and automatically refreshed on expiry (HTTP 401).

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 PowerVault ME4/ME5 instance

These metrics refer to the entire monitored PowerVault array.

This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
powervault.system_health	health	status
powervault.hw_health_controller	ok, degraded, fault, unknown	controllers
powervault.hw_health_drive	ok, degraded, fault, unknown	drives
powervault.hw_health_fan	ok, degraded, fault, unknown	fans
powervault.hw_health_psu	ok, degraded, fault, unknown	PSUs
powervault.hw_health_fru	ok, degraded, fault, unknown	FRUs
powervault.hw_health_port	ok, degraded, fault, unknown	ports

Per controller

These metrics refer to individual RAID controllers (typically controller_a and controller_b in a dual-controller configuration).

Labels:

Label	Description
controller	Controller durable ID (e.g., controller_a, controller_b).

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
powervault.controller_iops	iops	ops/s
powervault.controller_throughput	throughput	bytes/s
powervault.controller_cpu_load	cpu_load	percentage
powervault.controller_write_cache_used	write_cache_used	percentage
powervault.controller_forwarded_cmds	forwarded	commands
powervault.controller_io	read, written	bytes
powervault.controller_ops	read, write	ops
powervault.controller_cache_hits	read_hits, read_misses, write_hits, write_misses	hits

Per volume

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

Labels:

Label	Description
volume	Volume name (e.g., prod-db-01).

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
powervault.volume_iops	iops	ops/s
powervault.volume_throughput	throughput	bytes/s
powervault.volume_write_cache_percent	write_cache	percentage
powervault.volume_io	read, written	bytes
powervault.volume_ops	read, write	ops
powervault.volume_cache_hits	read_hits, read_misses, write_hits, write_misses	hits
powervault.volume_tier_distribution	ssd, sas, sata	percentage

Per port

These metrics refer to individual host ports (SAS/FC ports used for host connectivity).

Labels:

Label	Description
port	Port durable ID (e.g., hostport_A0).

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
powervault.port_io	read, written	bytes
powervault.port_ops	read, write	ops
powervault.phy_errors	disparity, lost_dwords, invalid_dwords	errors

Per pool

These metrics refer to individual storage pools (also known as disk groups or virtual pools).

Labels:

Label	Description
pool	Pool name (e.g., Pool-A).

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
powervault.pool_capacity	total, available	bytes

Per drive

These metrics refer to individual physical drives (HDDs and SSDs).

Labels:

Label	Description
drive	Drive location (e.g., 0.0 for enclosure 0, slot 0).

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
powervault.drive_temperature	temperature	Celsius
powervault.drive_power_on_hours	power_on_hours	hours
powervault.drive_ssd_life_left	life_left	percentage

Per sensor

These metrics refer to individual hardware sensors. Sensor types include temperature, voltage, current, and charge capacity (supercapacitor/battery backup units).

Labels:

Label	Description
sensor	Sensor durable ID (e.g., sensor_temp_ctrl_A.1).

Metrics:

Metric	Dimensions	Unit
powervault.sensor_temperature	temperature	Celsius
powervault.sensor_voltage	voltage	millivolts
powervault.sensor_current	current	milliamps
powervault.sensor_charge_capacity	charge_capacity	percentage

Alerts

There are no alerts configured by default for this integration.

Setup

You can configure the powervault collector in two ways:

Method	Best for	How to
UI	Fast setup without editing files	Go to Nodes → Configure this node → Collectors → Jobs, search for powervault, then click + to add a job.
File	If you prefer configuring via file, or need to automate deployments (e.g., with Ansible)	Edit go.d/powervault.conf and add a job.

important

UI configuration requires paid Netdata Cloud plan.

Prerequisites

PowerVault API access

1. A user account on the PowerVault management controller with at least read-only access. The built-in monitor role is sufficient.
2. Network connectivity from the Netdata Agent to the PowerVault management IP (HTTPS, port 443).
3. The management controller must have its REST API enabled (enabled by default on ME4/ME5).

TLS certificate

PowerVault controllers typically use self-signed TLS certificates. You will likely need to set tls_skip_verify: yes in the configuration, or provide the controller's CA certificate via tls_ca.

Configuration

Options

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

Config options

Group	Option	Description	Default	Required
Collection	update_every	Data collection interval (seconds).	30	no
	autodetection_retry	Autodetection retry interval (seconds). Set 0 to disable.	0	no
Target	url	PowerVault management controller URL.	https://127.0.0.1	yes
	timeout	HTTP request timeout (seconds).	30	no
HTTP Auth	username	Username for MCI API authentication.		yes
	password	Password for MCI API authentication.		yes
	auth_digest	Hash algorithm for authentication. Use sha256 (default) or md5 (legacy ME4 firmware < G280).	sha256	no
Filtering	volume_selector	Space-separated simple patterns to filter which volumes to monitor. Use * for wildcards, ! prefix to exclude. An empty value monitors all volumes.		no
TLS	tls_skip_verify	Skip TLS certificate and hostname verification (insecure, but often needed for self-signed certs on storage controllers).	no	no
	tls_ca	Path to CA bundle used to validate the server certificate.		no
	tls_cert	Path to client TLS certificate (for mTLS).		no
	tls_key	Path to client TLS private key (for mTLS).		no
Proxy	proxy_url	HTTP proxy URL.		no
	proxy_username	Username for proxy Basic HTTP authentication.		no
	proxy_password	Password for proxy Basic HTTP authentication.		no
Request	headers	Additional HTTP headers (one per line as key: value).		no
	not_follow_redirects	Do not follow HTTP redirects.	no	no
Virtual Node	vnode	Associates this data collection job with a Virtual Node.		no

via UI

Configure the powervault collector from the Netdata web interface:

1. Go to Nodes.
2. Select the node where you want the powervault data-collection job to run and click the ⚙ (Configure this node). That node will run the data collection.
3. The Collectors → Jobs view opens by default.
4. In the Search box, type powervault (or scroll the list) to locate the powervault collector.
5. Click the + next to the powervault 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/powervault.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/powervault.conf

Examples

Basic

A minimal configuration connecting to a PowerVault controller with a self-signed certificate.

Config

jobs:
  - name: pv-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.

Config

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

Legacy ME4 with MD5 auth

Connecting to an older ME4 controller that requires MD5 authentication (firmware before G280).

Config

jobs:
  - name: pv-legacy
    url: https://10.0.0.2
    username: manage
    password: manage123
    auth_digest: md5
    tls_skip_verify: yes

Multi-instance

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

Monitoring multiple PowerVault arrays.

Config

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

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

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 powervault 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 powervault

  To debug a specific job:

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

Getting Logs

If you're encountering problems with the powervault 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 powervault

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 powervault /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 powervault

Authentication failure

If the collector fails with login: authentication failed:

1. Verify the username and password are correct.
2. Check the auth_digest setting. ME4 firmware before G280 requires auth_digest: md5. ME5 and newer ME4 firmware use sha256 (the default).
3. Ensure the user account is not locked or expired on the controller.

Connection refused or timeout

If the collector fails with connection errors:

1. Verify the url points to the management controller IP (not a data port).
2. Ensure HTTPS port 443 is reachable from the Netdata Agent host.
3. If using a firewall, allow outbound HTTPS to the controller.
4. Try increasing timeout if the controller is on a high-latency link.

TLS certificate errors

PowerVault controllers 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 controller's certificate and provide it via tls_ca.