hp Front Accessible NVMe Storage User Guide
- June 17, 2024
- HP
Table of Contents
hp Front Accessible NVMe Storage
Product Information
Specifications
- Product Name: FANS (Front-Accessible NVMe Storage)
- Utility Application for NVMe Enclosure Units
Summary
Front-Accessible NVMe Storage (FANS) is a utility application for NVMe
Enclosure units. FANS provide a unified interface for drive status monitoring,
drive ejection, RAID information for inserted NVMe drives, and notifications
of drive events that are configurable.
Legal Information
Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other
countries. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. NVMe is a registered trademark of NVM
Express. Confidential computer software. A valid license from HP is required
for possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.211 and 12.212,
Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical
Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under the
vendor’s standard commercial license. The information contained herein is
subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and
services are outlined in the express warranty statements accompanying such
products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an
additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors
or omissions contained herein.
First Edition: August 2023
Document Part Number: N63125-001
Third-party software notice
Third-party source code and licenses are redistributed, if required, with
HP Anyware Remote System Controller Software.
Product Usage Instructions
Getting Started
NOTE : RAID is defined as a redundant array of independent disks or a
redundant array of inexpensive disks.
Supported Operating Systems
The following table describes the operating systems supported by FANS.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Operating systems | Supported operating systems |
Software Overview
The FANS software has two components:
- Background service: Watches system events about NVMe Enclosure drives and sends them to the client for display to the user.
- Graphical client: Provides the display and control interface.
Starting FANS
Starting FANS Overview
After FANS is installed, both the service and the graphical client
automatically start every time the computer starts. To use FANS, both the
service and the client must be running. NOTE: The client does not start if the
service is not running. However, you can run the service without the client.
Graphical Client
Follow the steps in this section to start the FANS client manually:
- Search for the application name in the OS search bar. On Windows, the application is called HP Front-Accessible NVMe Monitoring. On Linux, it is called HP Front NVMe Monitor.
- After opening the application from the search bar, the FANS client icon appears in the system tray.
FAQ
-
Q: What is FANS?
A: FANS stands for Front-Accessible NVMe Storage. It is a utility application for NVMe Enclosure units that provides a unified interface for drive status monitoring, drive ejection, RAID information, and configurable drive event notifications. -
Q: Which operating systems are supported by FANS?
A: FANS is compatible with the operating systems listed in the supported operating systems table. -
Q: How do I start the FANS client manually?
-
A: To start the FANS client manually, search for the application name in the OS search bar. On Windows, it is called HP Front-Accessible NVMe Monitoring. On Linux, it is called HP Front NVMe Monitor. After opening the application, the FANS client icon will appear in the system tray.
SUMMARY
Front-Accessible NVMe Storage (FANS) is a utility application for NVMe
Enclosure units. FANS provide a unified interface for drive status monitoring,
drive ejection, RAID information for inserted NVMe drives, and notifications
of drive events that are configurable.
Legal information
© Copyright 2023 HP Development Company, L.P.
Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other
countries. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. NVMe is a registered trademark of NVM
Express.
Confidential computer software. A valid license from HP is required for
possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.211 and 12.212, Commercial
Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for
Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under the vendor’s
standard commercial license. The information contained herein is subject to
change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are
outlined in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and
services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional
warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or
omissions contained herein.
First Edition: August 2023
Document Part Number: N63125-001
Third-party software notice
Third-party source code and licenses are redistributed, if required, with HP
Anyware Remote System Controller Software.
Getting started
Front-Accessible NVMe Storage (FANS) is a utility application for NVMe
Enclosure units. FANS provide a unified interface for drive status monitoring,
drive ejection, RAID information for any inserted NVMe® drives, and
configurable notifications of drive events.
NOTE : RAID is defined as a redundant array of independent disks or a
redundant array of inexpensive disks.
Supported operating systems
The following table describes the operating systems supported by FANS.
Table 1-1 FANS Compatibility
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Operating systems | Windows® 10 / Windows 11 |
Linux® Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa) / 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish)
Software overview
The FANS software has two components.
- Background service: Watches for system events of NVMe Enclosure drives and sends them to the client for displaying to the user.
- Graphical client: Provides the display and control interface.
Starting FANS
You can open FANS by restarting the computer after installation or by searching for HP Front Accessible NVMe Monitoring through the Windows search function after installation. After opening, you can find FANS in your system tray.
Starting FANS overview
After FANS is installed, both the service and the graphical client
automatically start every time the computer starts. To use FANS, both the
service and the client must be running.
NOTE : The client does not start if the service is not running. However,
you can run the service without the client.
Graphical client
Follow the steps in this section to start the FANS client manually.
- Search for the application name in the OS search bar. On Windows, the application is called HP Front-Accessible NVMe Monitoring. On Linux, it is called HP Front NVMe Monitor.
- After opening the application from the search bar, the FANS client icon appears in the system tray. Select this icon to open the user interface.
Background service
To start the service manually, follow the steps for your operating system.
Windows
Follow these steps to start the service manually in Windows.
- Search Services in the Windows search bar and open the services app that appears.
- Right-click the service named Front NVMe Monitoring Service to see the context menu:
- Start: Select this option to start the service.
- Restart: Select this option to restart the service if it is already running.
Linux
Follow this step to start the client manually in Linux.
- Run the following command from a terminal: sudo system ctl start hp-fans.
Quitting FANS
This chapter describes how to quit FANS manually.
Background service
To quit the FANS service manually, follow the steps for your operating
system.
Windows
Follow these steps to quit the FANS service manually in Windows.
- From the services app, find the service. For more information, see Background service on page 2.
- Right-click the service and select Stop. You can also left-click the service to select it and select Stop Services in the services app.
Linux
Follow these steps to quit the FANS service manually in Linux.
- Run the following command from a terminal: sudo system ctl stop hp-fans.
Graphical client
Follow this step to quit the client manually.
- To manually quit the client, right-click the FANS icon in the system tray, and then select Quit. This action stops the FANS client process and removes the FANS icon from the system tray.
FANS user interface
This chapter describes the elements in the FANS user interface that monitor and control the utility. The following diagram and table illustrate these elements.
Table 4-1 FANS user interface
| Number | Element | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Refresh button | This button starts a rescan of the NVMe Enclosure and any |
RAIDs that include drives inside the QX enclosure. FANS usually detects
changes dynamically, but in case it ever stalls, use this button.
2| Pop-out & anchor-back button| If FANS is in the system tray, this button
opens FANS in its own window. This feature allows you to interact with other
applications without having the FANS user interface automatically hide. Use
this button to drag the FANS window around (resizing is not available). If
FANS is already in its own window, use this button to anchor the app back to
the system tray.
3| Notification settings| Use the settings tab to customize the notifications
that you receive from the FANS application.
Number| Element| Description
---|---|---
4| About & help page| The about page includes the version number of the FANS
application and a link to this user guide.
5| Drive array tile| Displays information for a drive array, which is an array
of physical drives where one or more RAID volumes can exist. RAID volume
refers to the storage partition created on the array, or some subset of it.
NOTE: The more general term RAID refers to the combined concept of drive arrays and RAID volumes. Some RAID providers might not distinguish between drive arrays and RAID volumes. They might only consider RAID as a concept.
6| Drive array identifier| This label assigns each drive array a number that identifies it.
NOTE: In Windows Storage Spaces, a drive array is a storage pool.
7| Drive array status indicator| No physical LED indicates the drive array status. The drive array status has only two colors. Green indicates an array with healthy RAID volumes, and red indicates that at least one of the RAID volumes has encountered a RAID fault. This status includes warnings and errors that result in an unhealthy status. You can hover over the status indicator to see a tool tip that shows the status as text.
NOTE: RAID faults are resolved through the RAID provider. FANS monitors the status of RAID volumes but you cannot use it to resolve issues.
8| Drive array/RAID provider| This element shows the software that provides
the RAID capability. Some examples of such software include VROC, Windows
Storage Spaces, Linux MD, and Linux LVM.
9| RAID volume| The first line in the RAID volume box lists the RAID volume
label. The second line lists the RAID volume type, which signifies what kind
of data redundancy the RAID volume has. For example, RAID 1 is a mirror-
redundancy.
NOTE: In Windows Storage Spaces, the RAID volume is a storage space.
10| Model numbers of RAID drives| This element displays the model number of
each drive in the RAID.
11| Slot numbers of RAID drives| This element displays the slot number of each
front NVMe drive in the RAID. For drives that are not front NVMe drives, the
message Internal is shown instead of the slot number.
12| Front NVMe drive tile| This element displays information about the drive,
such as the eject button for the drive. The position of this
tile correlates to the position of the drive in the NVMe Enclosure. For example, a drive in the top right of the NVMe Enclosure displays in the top- right tile of this application.
13| Drive model number| This element displays the model number of the drive in
the slot.
Number| Element| Description
---|---|---
14| Drive tile slot number| This element displays the slot number of each
front NVMe drive. In the NVMe Enclosure the top-left slot is numbered 1, the
top-right is slot 2, the bottom-left is slot 3, and the bottom-right is slot
4. In the other NVMe Enclosure, the left slot is slot 1, and the right slot is
slot 2.
15| Drive status indicator| The colored circle represents the status of the
physical LED on the NVMe Enclosure. The status circle in the user interface is
the same color as the physical LED. The message to the left of the status
circle also shows the status.
Status colors key:
● Green: Healthy. The status message shows Drive is Present.
● White: Ejected. The status message shows Safe to Remove Drive.
● Red: Warning or error. Includes SMART critical warnings. The status message shows Drive Warning if there is a warning, or Drive Unhealthy for more serious errors.
16| Left tile: Volume letter (Windows) / Mountpoint (Linux)
Right tile: Drive array label
| On Windows, if the drive is formatted with volumes, this element displays those volumes’ drive letters. On Linux, if the drive has mounted partitions, those mountpoints are displayed. On either OS, if the drive is a member
of a drive array, this element displays that drive array number. If the drive is not formatted with a volume or a member of a drive array, this label is blank.
17| Eject button| Selecting this button ejects the drive, and makes it safe to
remove. Always select this button before removing a drive to prevent loss of
data. You are not able to eject your OS drive, or any drive in a RAID. The
former would instantly crash your machine, and the latter would degrade RAID
redundancy or data availability.
18| System tray icon| This element is the icon for FANS. When the application
is not open, clicking this icon opens the user interface of the app. The icon
has a status circle that reflects the status of the front NVMe drives and
RAIDs that the app monitors. If every drive and drive array is healthy, the
status circle on the icon is green. If at least one of the drives or drive
arrays has a warning or is unhealthy, the status circle is red.
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