The Call Home feature sends non-sensitive data from your VAST Cluster to VAST support server to enable us to provide proactive analysis and fast response on critical issues.
The collected data is sent by HTTPS to a VAST Data AWS S3 bucket that we maintain for this purpose. For details, see the VAST Data Security Guidelines.
Call home collects the following data:
Logs which are collected into compressed bundles at a configurable interval (call home bundles).
Metrics data objects that are converted into CSV files and uploaded for analysis.
Heartbeats, a small set of metrics collected from the cluster and used to monitor cluster health.
Call home bundles are sent over HTTPS via port 443. There is an option to use a proxy server. If you need to configure firewall rules in order to enable outbound traffic on port 443, see How to Allow Vast CallHome and Support Web Pages Through a Firewall.
The previous call home bundle file on each node is overwritten when you create a new one, unless you choose the option to create an aggregated call home bundle. Aggregated call home bundles contain all data from all nodes included, are saved on the management CNode and are not overwritten.
Follow these steps to:
Complete your call home settings. This is the only way we can ever know that the data we collect from your VAST Cluster is yours!
Run our test to make sure that your VMS can send call home bundles. If needed, set up firewall rules to allow the VMS to send call home bundles.
Making Call Home Settings via VAST Web UI
Making Call Home Settings via VAST CLI
Making Call Home Settings via VAST Web UI
From the left navigation menu, select Settings and then Call Home.
Complete the General Setup fields:
Customer
Your customer name.
Site
The name of the site where the cluster is installed.
Location
The location of the site.
Max upload concurrency
The maximum number of parts of a file to upload simultaneously to the AWS S3 bucket.
Valid values: A positive integer, 1 or higher
Default: 1
Max upload bandwidth
The maximum upload bandwidth (in bytes) for call home bundles.
Complete the Intervals Setup fields:
Log frequency (minutes)
The interval (in minutes) to send system state data to the support server. If disabled, no system state data is sent.
Bundle frequency (minutes)
The interval (in minutes) to send VMS metadata and metrics to the support server. If disabled, no VMS metadata and metrics is not sent.
Luna frequency (hours)
The interval (in hours) to send Luna results to the support server. If disabled, no Luna data is sent.
Enabled
When enabled, VAST Cluster sends alerts to the support server.
Under Proxy Setup, enter proxy server details if you would like the data to be sent through your own proxy server.
Optionally, make Misc settings:
Verify SSL
Enables SSL verification. Disable if, for example, you are sending the call home data through a proxy server that does not have an SSL certificate recognized by VAST Cluster. VAST Cluster recognizes SSL certificates from a large range of widely recognized certificate authorities (CAs). VAST Cluster may not recognize an SSL certificate signed by your own in-house CA.
Prod mode
Sets the production support server as the destination for call home bundles. It's essential to enable this setting.
Support channel
Enables VAST Data Support to run remote call home bundle collection commands on the cluster.
Obfuscated
Obfuscates data in call home bundles, metrics and heartbeats. The following types of information are replaced with a non-reversible hash: file and directory names, IP addresses, host names, user names, passwords, MAC addresses.
Aggregated
Saves an aggregated call home bundle file on the management CNode.
Upload via VMS
Uploads a non-aggregated call home bundle via VMS. Otherwise, the upload is done from each node.
Note
For aggregated call home bundles, the upload is always via VMS.
Enabling this option requires a proxy to be set up.
Compress Method
Sets the compression method used to compress call home bundles:
zstd (default)
gzip
AWS S3 Access Key
Sets the S3 access key to upload the bundle to an S3 bucket.
Note
When configuring call home, leave this field empty. This setting is used for support bundle uploads.
AWS S3 Secret Key
Sets the S3 secret key to upload the bundle to an S3 bucket.
AWS S3 Bucket Name
Specifies the name of the S3 bucket key to which to upload the bundle.
AWS S3 Bucket Subdirectory
Specifies the S3 bucket prefix for the bundle upload.
When configuring call home, leave the following fields empty. These settings are used for support bundle uploads:
AWS S3 Access Key
Sets the S3 access key to upload the bundle to an S3 bucket.
AWS S3 Secret Key
Sets the S3 secret key to upload the bundle to an S3 bucket.
AWS S3 Bucket Name
Specifies the name of the S3 bucket key to which to upload the bundle.
AWS S3 Bucket Subdirectory
Specifies the S3 bucket prefix for the bundle upload.
(Optional) Use the Cloud settings to register the cluster with VAST Uplink. For more information, see Registering the Cluster with Uplink.
Do either of the following:
Click Save to save the settings.
Click Save & Test Call Home to save the settings and to send a test call home bundle.
To check that the test call home bundle was sent successfully:
Go to the Activities page (open the menu again and select Activities). Find a task named send_interactive_callhome. When the task is done, its status should change to Completed and its log should record Callhome bundle sent.
Contact VAST Support and check that the test call home message was received in our #support slack channel.
If the call home bundle is not sent successfully, you may need to set up firewall rules to allow the call home bundle to be sent.
Making Call Home Settings via VAST CLI
To make call home settings via VAST CLI, use the following commands.
Tip
For full CLI command syntax, including VAST arguments, enter the command at the CLI prompt in the <command> <subcommand> format provided in the table, followed by ?.
Task | Command |
|---|---|
Display call home settings |
|
Modify call home settings |
|
Send a test call home bundle |
|