PowerScale Healthy Habits Checklist
PowerScale was created to service your most demanding business needs with ease of installation, management, and scalability. To
help ensure you get the most out of your investment, a list of suggested system checks broken-out by time period has been developed.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive but rather a foundation toward optimization of your PowerScale environment.
PowerScale Daily Checks
Storage infrastructure daily health checks are important to ensure the cluster is operating at optimal performance and capacity.
Minimal effort is required to make these checks which are aimed at becoming aware of alerts that point to an area of interest or
something requiring further investigation.
Category
Check Method Option(s)
Description / Recommendation
Health Score
CloudIQ, Alerts
Target a Health Score of 100.
Cluster Capacity
WebUI, CLI, MetadataIQ, InsightIQ,
CloudIQ, Alerts
Maintain a storage utilization below 90%.
Alerts and Events
WebUI, CLI, Alerts
Address all Hardware and Software Alerts as
they occur.
PowerScale Monthly Checks
Monthly health checks of the cluster ensure the environment is running at optimal performance and capacity, while at the same
time, provide an opportunity to evaluate against business level objectives.
Category
Check Method Option(s)
Description / Recommendation
Code Currency and Firmware OneFS isi healthcheck
Documentation
Current OneFS Patch
ioca -u <target code version>
SRS/Alerts/Events/Email
WebUI, CLI, SRS
Confirm that all alerting and notifications are
operating as planned.
Failed Drive Status
WebUI, CLI
Review drive status and ensure that all drives
that have SmartFailed have been replaced.
SyncIQ Review
WebUI, CLI
Review the SyncIQ configuration to ensure
RPO/RTO targets and required data is being
replicated as needed. Enable encryption if not
currently enabled.
© 2025 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Example: ioca -u 8.2.2 to get latest upgrade plan
SmartPools Review
WebUI, CLI
Review SmartPools settings and Node Pools
utilization to identify if tiering changes are
necessary.
Snapshot Review
WebUI, CLI
Identify snapshot utilization above 10% or any
single snapshot possessing excessive size.
[Ex. fsa snapshot]
Monitoring Tools
CloudIQ, InsightIQ
Confirm that all monitoring tools are continuing to
gather data from all storage devices.
Healthcheck Framework
CLI
Ensure the latest Healthcheck Framework
checks are installed and Healthcheck
Assessment is executed.
DSA/DTA
Isilon/PowerScale Alert
Subscription, Service360
Verify if DSA/DTA is applicable to your cluster
and if so, take immediate action.
(Dell Security Advisory/Dell
Technical Advisory)
DSA | DTA
PowerScale Quarterly Checks Cheat Sheet
Quarterly health checks of the cluster ensure the environment is running at optimal performance and capacity while at the same
time provide an opportunity to evaluate against broader business level objectives.
Category
Check Method Option(s)
Description / Recommendation
OneFS and Firmware Dell Technologies Support Site
Update Considerations (https://www.dell.com/support/home/)
LTS\Target Code Information
A review of later OneFS versions should occur to
determine if it is beneficial to upgrade to a newer
level. In addition to OneFS, node and drive
firmware should be considered. Obtain the latest
code information via the Dell EMC support site
and utilize the Dell EMC team for the upgrade
where possible.
OneFS Patch Updates Dell Technologies Support Site
(https://www.dell.com/support/home/)
Review the latest Roll-up Patches (RUPs) and
upgrade as needed.
Monitoring Tools
Updates
InsightIQ, MetadataIQ, CloudIQ, SRS
Review all monitoring tools to determine if
upgrades are needed.
Capacity Trending
InsightIQ, MetadataIQ, CloudIQ
Review Capacity growth trends to determine if
additional storage will be needed over the next 6
months.
2 | Dell EMC PowerScale Healthy Habits Checklist
© 2025 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
PowerScale Ongoing Best Practice Checks Cheat Sheet
Quarterly health checks of the cluster ensure the environment is running at optimal performance and capacity while at the same
time provide an opportunity to evaluate against broader business level objectives.
Category
Check Method Option(s)
Description / Recommendation
SyncIQ
WebUI, CLI
Consider utilizing Encryption for all SyncIQ
policies if you have not already done so.
IPMI
WebUI, CLI
IPMI provides improved management and
enables IT administrators to leverage remote
Power Management and Serial Console over
LAN.
RBAC
WebUI, CLI
Improve security of your PowerScale
environment by leveraging RBAC for
management and limiting access to key
configuration capabilities as needed.
Data Reduction (DRR) WebUI, CLI, MetadataIQ
Assisted Health and
Wellness Reviews
Ensure SmartDedupe is configured on /ifs and
Dedupe job is scheduled to run weekly.
(SmartDedupe is free for the latest generation of
PowerScale based nodes, contact your sales
team for a license)
Contact your Dell Sales Team for an annual health and wellness review
to ensure you are getting the best performance and efficiency
For additional information on how to easily access the most utilized Dell PowerScale, ECS, and ObjectScale platform
sources of information, visit the PowerScale/ECS Quick Reference Guide for Administrators.
3 | Dell EMC PowerScale Healthy Habits Checklist
© 2025 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.