Roles and Responsibilities for Dell-Managed APEX Data Storage Services User Guide
- June 3, 2024
- Dell
Table of Contents
Roles and Responsibilities for Dell-Managed APEX Data Storage Services
Colocation and On-Premises Deployments
Revision history
Table 1. Document revision history
| Date | Document revision | Description of changes |
|---|---|---|
| July 2022 | A01 | Updated the document title. Updated the Roles and |
responsibilities section.
May 2022| A00| Initial release.
Roles and responsibilities
The Roles and Responsibilities for Dell-Managed APEX Data Storage Services guide describes the different levels of roles and responsibilities for Dell and Dell customers. This guide supplements the Service Offering Description for APEX Data Storage Services which governs the Dell offering.
General services
The purpose of the following information is to coordinate and perform the
required activities and processes to deliver the listed services. Dell is
responsible for the ongoing management of the technology that is used to
deliver the APEX services.
Dell’s Cross Competency Services are structured in three levels by separating
daily operational duties; for example, separating management and executive
responsibilities.
Roles and responsibilities
The following information coordinates the activities that are required to deliver and maintain your APEX services.
Table 2. Operational tasks and responsibilities
| Task | Dell Technologies | Customer |
|---|---|---|
| Event monitoring | ● Monitor 24×7 controlled environments; for example, |
alerts, thresholds, and trend analysis.
● Review and evaluate non-automatic incoming alerts and perform system health checks.
● Maintain technical and operational procedures and work instructions.
| ● Review progress and results.
Incident management| ● Ticket, qualify, and manage incidents through the
Dell service management ticket portal.
● Track call resolution, including dispatch, assignment, and status, to resolution and closure, including third–party interface.
● Maintain technical and operational procedures and work instructions.
| ● Review progress and results.
● Security incident management.
Problem management| ● Provide an Incident Report for Dell- owned problems.
● Maintain technical and operational procedures and work instructions.
| ● Review progress and results.
Task| Dell Technologies| Customer
---|---|---
Change management| ● Provide customer access to view change records.
● Initiate change requests through a change control process within the Dell Service Management Ticket Portal.
● Implement Dell-responsible approved changes.
● Perform system changes to resolve incidents.
● Coordinate and support software and code upgrades.
● Maintain technical and operational procedures and work instructions.
| ● Select the fixed monthly change
and maintenance window for system updates.
● Request capacity addition and/or removal within the Dell portal.
Security operations| ● Implement and maintain Dell hardening strategy and
controls.| ● Review progress and results.
Access management| ● Manage access to the Dell-controlled environment and
update passwords per Dell security requirements.
● Maintain technical and operational procedures and work instructions.
| ● Maintain remote connectivity.
The following tables indicate roles and responsibilities performed by the Customer’s and Dell’s management personnel. These tasks are typically performed on a weekly or monthly cadence unless otherwise noted for special circumstances.
Table 3. Cross competency tasks and responsibilities
| Task | Dell Technologies | Customer |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity management | ● Provide capacity management reports using CloudIQ. |
● Upgrade and increase capacity based on demand and customer-provided forecast usage into the customer environment.
● Maintain technical and operational procedures and work instructions.
| ● Maintain customer-owned capacity management processes and policies.
● Provide capacity forecasts of at least six-months based on business needs to Dell.
Continuous improvement| ● Review alerts, thresholds, product, and code changes for each new product update.
● Recommend any changes for alerts, thresholds, technical procedures, process procedures, and standard configurations.
● Review published DTA, DSA, and FCO notifications.
● Assess impact and recommend any changes or upgrades based on DTA, DSA, and FCO notifications.
| ● Review progress and results.
Account management| ● Establish the customer governance model.
● Provide ongoing focus on
service performance and delivery accomplishments.
● Provide oversight of end-to-end environment code currency and
| ● Review progress and results.
Task| Dell Technologies| Customer
---|---|---
| security patching per service requirements.
● Provide primary customer point-of- contact (POC) for any service inquiries, incident notifications, and support requests.
● Provide ongoing management and mitigation of risks, issues, escalations, and disputes.
|
Performance management| ● Ticket Queue Management: incidents, changes, and
requests monitored, escalated, and updates completed
● Performance Dashboard with: incidents, changes, and requests status presented in the Dell Service Management Portal.
● Escalation Management: issues managed to resolution and status reported.
● Monthly Service Performance Target Report: incidents, changes, requests presented in the Dell Service Management Portal.
| ● Review progress and results.
Incident management| ● Technical and leader bridge calls managed, and
status reported.
● Service Restored: analyzed, tested, implemented, and status reported in the Dell Service Management Portal.
| ● Review progress and results.
Problem management| ● Incident report published. Sev1 at the discretion of
Dell.
● Corrective action items tracked to completion.
| ● Review progress and results.
Change management| ● Assess risk, prioritize, and schedule change requests
and status viewable in the Dell Service Management Portal.
● Changes coordinated, completed, and status viewable in the Dell Service Management Portal.
| ● Review progress and results.
Request management| ● Analyze requests and associated scheduled change
requests and status viewable in the Dell Service Management Portal.
● Request activities coordinated, fulfilled, and status viewable in the Dell Service Management Portal.
| ● Review progress and results.
Service management ticketing portal| ● Provision, manage, and troubleshoot
account in the Dell Service Management Ticket Portal.
● Execute operational monitoring and reporting.
| ● Review progress and results.
Self-service ticketing capacity| ● Add, modify, or remove customer accounts
after initial delivery of owner account.| ● Add, modify, or remove user
accounts after initial delivery of owner account.
Task| Dell Technologies| Customer
---|---|---
Supplementary capacity| ● Provide self-service user training.
● Provision, manage, and troubleshoot single sign-on integration.
| ● Review progress and results.
APEX Data Storage Services provide consumption of block and file storage as-a-service by customers. The model of operation is based on division of management responsibilities between Dell, the service provider, and the customer, the service consumer
Table 4. Block storage service tasks and responsibilities
| Task | Dell Technologies | Customer |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 – Day 1: Installation and configuration | ● Coordinate the install and |
post-install of a new array to make production ready, including cluster install and deployment.
● Access verification—APEX Console, Cloud IQ, and System UI.
● Access support assist.
● Configuration of the Settings page; for example, changing the DNS server.
● Colocation: Site readiness, including power, HVAC, network, and space.
| ● On-Premises: Site readiness, including, power, HVAC, network, and
space.
Day 2: Operation| ● Coordinate and support code upgrades (NDU).
● Add, remove, or evacuate an appliance from the GUI.
● Access support assist.
● Configure the Settings page; for example, changing the DNS server.
● Configure (create) protection policies.
● Initial vCenter setup.
● Configure CHAP.
● Migrate volumes.
● Modify the storage protection policy.
● CLI access.
● Shared replication and import tasks. Dell works with you as needed.
● Gather support materials from the GUI.
● SSH management.
● D@RE encryption key backups.
● Power down a cluster or appliance.
● On-Premises : Show or make available audit events.
● Colocation : Show or make available audit event.
| ● Create volumes, manual snapshots, and create or refresh clones.
● Add a host, host group, or expand a host group and add additional hosts.
● Delete volumes, independent of snapshots.
● Delete volumes, thin clones, and snapshots.
● Modify the volume name or description.
● Expand the volume size.
● Map volumes to the host and host groups.
● Create and expand host and host groups.
● Decommission hosts and delete host groups.
● Create or delete volume groups.
● Unmap volumes from the host.
● Provide or change the logical unit number.
● Apply protection policies, snaps, or replication.
● Set the volume performance policy.
● Add or remove objects from the Watchlist.
● Change protection policies on volumes and VGs.
● Modify the performance policy for a volume.
● View and acknowledge or unacknowledge alerts and jobs.
● Full vCenter control, including
api, rest, vcenter, and GET/POST/ PATCH/DELETE operations.
| Task | Dell Technologies | Customer |
|---|---|---|
| ● Shared replication and import tasks. You work with Dell as needed. |
● Restore volumes and VGs from snapshots.
Fabric| ● Coordinate install and post-install of new switch to make production ready.
● Manage switch fabric administration.
● Create and modify zones and zonesets.
● Configure switch backup and restore.
● Schedule and coordinate switch code upgrades.
| ● Coordinate install and post-install of new switch to make production ready.
● Manage switch fabric administration.
● Create and modify zones and zonesets.
Table 5. File storage service tasks and responsibilities
| Task | Dell Technologies | Customer |
|---|---|---|
| Day 0 – Day 1: Installation and configuration | ● Coordinate install and |
post-install of new cluster to make production ready.
● Access verification—APEX Console, Cloud IQ, and System UI.
● Access Support Assist.
● Colocation : Site readiness, including power, HVAC, network, and space.
| ● On-premises: Site readiness, including power, HVAC, network, and
space.
Day 2: Operation| Data protocols
● Turn on the SMB service and configure Server settings.
● Turn on the NFS Export service and configure Global and Zone settings.
● Turn on the S3 service and configure Global settings.
● Turn on the HTTP service and configure settings.
● Turn on the FTP service and configure settings.
● Manage S3 keys.
● Setup HDFS Virtual Racks.
| Data protocols
● CRUD SMB Shares.
● CRUD NFS Exports.
● Setup NFS Aliases and configure NFS Export settings.
● CRUD S3 Buckets and configure Zone settings.
● Turn on the HDFS service and setup proxy users.
Data management and protection
● Turn on the Snapshot service and configure settings.
● Turn on the SyncIQ service and configure settings.
● Manage the SyncIQ service and target certificates.
● Enable Antivirus services and manage reports.
● Enable the NDMP service and configure settings.
● Create SmartPools and configure settings.
● Create CloudPools and configure settings.
● Configure SmartDedupe settings.
| Data management and protection
● Managed snapshots.
● CRUD snapshot schedules.
● Configure SyncIQ performance rules.
● Configure SyncIQ replication policies.
● Monitor SyncIQ replication jobs.
● Manage SyncIQ replication reports.
● View SyncIQ targets on the local cluster.
● CRUD SmartPools and CloudPools tiering policies.
● CRUD Quotas for directories, users, and groups.
● Configure SmartQuota reports and notifications.
● CRUD directories and set permissions.
| Task | Dell Technologies | Customer |
|---|---|---|
| ● Schedule deduplication jobs and report results. |
● Configure SmartLock WORM domains.
● Edit filesystem level settings (access time tracking and character encoding).
|
Access and security
● CRUD PowerScale access zones.
● Configure authentication providers.
● Manage local and filesystem users.
● Manage local groups and roles.
● Configure ACL policy settings.
● CLI access.
| Access and security
● Manage AD and LDAP users.
● View groups.
● Setup file filters and allow or deny writes.
● UI and API access.
Cluster management
● Configure general settings (email notifications, NTP, date and time, SNMP, and remote support).
● Configure events and alerts thresholds.
● Configure networking (external and internal, DNS, and SmartConnect load balancing).
● Manage hardware (cluster, nodes, and drives).
● Manage and schedule jobs.
● Monitor and view job reports and events.
● Configure auditing and log forwarding.
● Configure diagnostics (Gather and Netlogger).
● Manage licensing.
● Schedule and execute HealthChecks.
● Patch and upgrade the OS and firmware.
|
Deployment services
Deployment services include host, block, volume, and file-share
configurations.
During the initial installation, Dell connects up to four hosts and provisions
up to five block volumes for APEX Block Services. Dell also provisions up to
five file shares for APEX File Services. Customers are responsible for
connecting and configuring additional hosts, file shares, or block volumes as
needed.
Audit and compliance
Dell maintains evidence of access to the system that can be provided upon request. Except to the extent otherwise required under applicable law, all other records, audit, or compliance management or requirements are the sole responsibility of the Customer.
Managed services for storage
Dell offers a managed service, which provides Customer assistance in the management of current storage technologies. This service includes proactive monitoring and management within the limitations of the infrastructure technology. The Customer maintains sole access to the data stored on the storage technology.