Using SYMCLI in offline mode or SYMCLI simulator

SYMCLI is the most widely used EMC symmetrix administration tool and the same is found more comfortable by most of the admins. For practicing symcli commands there is no symcli simulator available (AFAIK) and of course we can not simply try commands in production .. šŸ˜‰Ā  (unless we know all the changes it can make in the production). Those who wants to get familiar with symcli, can use symcli in offline mode (can be called symcli simulator ?? ). I have seen many searching for a simulator and myself had gone for some searches in the beginning to be frank. But SYMCLI offline mode is only with limited functionality . We will not be able to make configurationĀ  changes (device creation, mappingĀ  etc..) ,

For running SYMCLI in running in offline mode, we should have Solution Enabler installed in your desktop/laptop and should have a valid symapi_db.bin file (can be taken from production environment). We can download the solution enabler from support.emc.com . Here in this example I have used SE Ā V7.5.0.7.

First we have to install the Solution Enabler in your desktop. SE installation is very easy and is similar to any other software installation. We can select the base version for installation.

1

2

Once the installation is completed we have to copy the symapi_db.bin file to C:\Program Files\EMC\SYMAPI\db directory.

3

Now we have to set the below values to the environmental variables SYMCLI_DB and SYMCLI_OFFLINE .

set SYMCLI_DB=c:\Program Files\EMC\SYMAPI\db\symapi_db.bin
set SYMCLI_OFFLINE=1

Once done, we can start running symcli commands by changing directory to c:\Program Files\EMC\SYMCLI\bin

4

5

As mentioned earlier we have limited functionality with offline mode . Below slide shows symconfigure and symmask commands giving error.

6

Hope this will be helpful for those who are interested in having a symcli simulator.

This onlineĀ Size ConverterĀ will help you converting the size inĀ Cylinders to GB/MB and viceversa for device creation etc…

Enjoy symcli.. šŸ™‚

endnote

This entry was posted in EMC, Symmetrix, VMAX and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

18 Responses to Using SYMCLI in offline mode or SYMCLI simulator

  1. Paul Jose says:

    Very helpful. I Was in search for a simulator. Thanks for sharing.

  2. even i did not know that .. šŸ™‚ really helpful !!!

  3. hi can you share the .bin file or upload it somewhere many thanks. I am a student and trying to learn storage on my own and if you can do this it will help me a lot.

    • Vipin V.K says:

      Hi Mohammad,
      Thank you for reading my post and I am very glad to know the content was useful for you.
      I am very sorry to say ‘ I can’t share the bin file’. Not many of the customers will share the file as it will include their configuration information, which will be confidential.
      You may try a Google search for symapi.bin download. I believe you will surely get it from some FTP sites.

  4. Alok says:

    Hello Vipin,
    Thanks a lot for the post. I am still searching for symapi_db.bin through GOOGLE. however, not able to find any sample file.
    It would be your great help if you could locate me any ftp site where I can get any sample file. I have invested several hours to find the file but no luck…
    Thank you very much for your kind consideration in this regard.

  5. sachin says:

    Hi vipin,

    Could you please upload symapi_db.bin file?

    Thanks in advance !!

  6. mboth says:

    Good post. Alok/Sachin, you can found original symapi_db at your production environment.

  7. Rohit says:

    For windows 7 only supported version for SE is 7.4 and when I installed that to my surprise I am unable to see a folder named as SYMAPI inside EMC directory only SYCLI was created , pls help me on this .

  8. Pingback: Trouble finding the number of Cylinders..? Converters for you | Vipin V.K

  9. Storage_Learner says:

    Hi Vipin,

    Thanks for sharing !
    Can you share the SE to [email protected]?

  10. Dipesh Kumar says:

    Hi i am getting following error as i tried it with SE V7.5.0.7. ,v7.5.0.0 , v8.03.0. i copied symapi_db.bin & set the variables as well

    but it is throwing following error when i am running command

    “the symapi data base file cannot be use because it was written by a version of symapi that is no longer supported”

    please help.

    • admin says:

      Hi Dipesh,

      As the error says, the management server from which you have collected the db file may be running a very old version of SE. Try collecting the db file from any system which is running a recent version of SE.

  11. hari says:

    Hi There,

    I have tried but getting error as no device is found
    installed 7.6 and symapi_db set

    Thanks in advance

    • admin says:

      Hi Hari,

      It could probably be the issue with the SYMAPI DB you are using.

    • AK says:

      Might be with the server from which you have copied / downloaded the symapi_db.bin file.

      For SE versions 8.x (VMAX 100k/200K/400K/ AllFlash and above), before you copy the current (running) version of symapi_db.bin file, do the below:
      symcfg discover
      symcfg sync -local

      Note that some commands like *symconfigure* will NOT work with the offline mode on older SE versions (anything less than 8.x), essentially VMAX1/SE / 10K/20K/40K models.

      Once the above is done, copy that file (or use “mv” on Unix hosts) and complete the remainder of trials using the instructions by Vipin here.

Comments here...