FLEX Tools

The FLEX tools powershell module contains various tools that can be used on HERNIS FLEX servers.

Features

Watchdog:

• Support for starting the HERNIS FLEX Watchdog (Start-FlexWatchdog)
• Support for stopping the HERNIS FLEX Watchdog (Stop-FlexWatchdog)
• Support for getting the HERNIS FLEX Watchdog module list (Get-FlexModuleList)
• Support for getting single HERNIS FLEX Watchdog modules (Get-FlexModuleByName)
• Support for getting the HERNIS FLEX Watchdog (Get-FlexWatchdog)
• Support for checking if the HERNIS FLEX Watchdog is running (Get-FlexWatchdogRunning)
• Support for starting HERNIS FLEX Watchdog Modules (Start-FlexModule)
• Support for stopping HERNIS FLEX Watchdog Modules (Stop-FlexModule)
• Support for setting HERNIS FLEX Module startup (Automatic/Manual) (Set-FlexModuleStartup)

Debugging:

• Support for enabling debugging features (Set-FlexModuleDebugMode)

SNMP:

• Support for checking if the Windows SNMP service is responding (Test-WindowsSnmp)
• Support for checking if the LSI RAID SNMP extension agent is responding (Test-LsiRaidSnmp)
• Support for info from the LSI RAID SNMP extension agent (Get-LsiRaidInfoFromSnmp)

Performance:

• Support for checking the time spent in GC for FLEX modules (Get-TimeInGC)

Installation of the PowerShell script on the HERNIS FLEX Server:

- Open the following folder: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules
- Make a folder named FlexTools
- Copy FlexTools.psm1 to the FlexTools folder
- Start a new PowerShell terminal window.
- Use the exported functions.
- In some cases you might have to run: Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

NOTE: Just replace the files and restart any PowerShell windows if the script is already installed.

Debugging module crashes in HERNIS FLEX:

Version 1.3 of the FLEX Tools script has support for enabling crash debugging features for FLEX modules using the Set-FlexModuleDebugMode function. The function has two parameters to enable debugging features in Windows, the -CrashDump and the -HeapDebugging parameters.

The -CrashDump parameter is used the enable/disable automatic generation of crash dumps when the specified module (specified by the -ModuleName parameter) crashes. The crash dumps are saved in c:\Dumps\ModuleName and the script defaults too a maximum of 5 dumps per module (-DumpCount).

The -HeapDebugging parameter toggles additional debugging flags in Windows. The flags are:

• Heap tail checking
• Heap free checking
• Heap parameter checking
• User mode stack trace database
• Heap tagging by DLL
• System critical breaks
• Page heap (full page heap)

Example:

NOTE The -HeapDebugging feature can have a performace and memory ussage impact on the module, only use this for debugging purposes and disable the feature after you have finished debugging the module.