Archival Notice
This guide was written for legacy EMC Navisphere and Unisphere Host Agent deployments on Sun Solaris and Enterprise Linux. Please note that EMC storage platforms (CX, VNX, Clariion) have largely been superseded by modern Dell PowerStore and PowerMax platforms utilizing integrated host integration agents. Please refer to official vendor documentation for current host agent specifications.
When presenting storage LUNs from enterprise EMC SAN arrays (such as Clariion, VNX, or Symmetrix) to server operating systems, storage administrators rely on the Navisphere/Unisphere Host Agent. This daemon runs on the host operating system, inspects local HBA WWNs and IP addressing, and pushes registration data to the SAN management interface.
A frequent troubleshooting scenario occurs when a host agent is actively running, yet the SAN storage array continues to report the server as "Host Not Registered".
In this guide, I will walk you through a complete sysadmin troubleshooting session: analyzing host connectivity, verifying local hostname resolution, creating the required agentID.txt registration file, rebuilding host ID caches, and successfully registering the host.
Prerequisites
You will need a server running Solaris/Linux with root privileges, the EMC Navisphere/Unisphere Host Agent package installed (/opt/Navisphere), and network reachability to your SAN management processors.
Step 1: Analyzing Connectivity and Host Registration Errors
When a host fails to register in the SAN Unisphere dashboard, first verify that the agent daemon is running and that the server can successfully communicate with the SAN storage processors over port 6389.
# Verify Navisphere agent daemon status
ps -ef | grep -i navi
# Test TCP reachability to SAN Storage Processor A (10.12.7.65)
telnet 10.12.7.65 6389If telnet succeeds yet the SAN still displays "Host Not Registered", the issue lies in local hostname resolution or missing agent identification files.
Step 2: Verifying /etc/hosts Resolution
The Navisphere host agent relies on /etc/hosts to determine its own hostname and IP address before broadcasting registration packets. Ensure your server's IP address and hostname are explicitly declared.
# /etc/hosts
10.12.11.38 central-dc1-dbserver01.induslevel.com central-dc1-dbserver01Step 3: Creating the Required agentID.txt Registration File
If the host agent is installed but cannot determine how to identify itself to the SAN, you must create a dedicated agentID.txt configuration file inside the installation directory.
# Navigate to Navisphere installation directory
cd /opt/Navisphere
# Create case-sensitive agentID.txt file
cat > agentID.txt << "EOF"
central-dc1-dbserver01.induslevel.com
10.12.11.38
EOF
# Enforce secure permissions
chmod 644 agentID.txtCase Sensitivity
The filename agentID.txt is strictly case-sensitive. Naming the file agentid.txt or AgentID.txt will cause the Navisphere daemon to ignore it completely.
Step 4: Rebuilding Host ID Caches and Restarting Agent
When the Navisphere agent initializes, it caches host identification data inside HostIdFile.txt. If this cache is corrupted or contains outdated registration records, you must move the old cache file to force a rebuild.
# Locate and move corrupted HostIdFile cache
mv /etc/log/HostIdFile.txt /etc/log/HostIdFile.txt.oldRestart the Navisphere host agent daemon:
# Stop host agent
/etc/init.d/agent stop
# Start host agent
/etc/init.d/agent startVerifying the Rebuilt Cache
Once the service starts successfully, inspect the newly generated HostIdFile.txt to confirm that your server's hostname, IP address, and HBA WWNs are correctly populated:
cat /etc/log/HostIdFile.txtHost Registered Successfully
Your server is now fully registered in the SAN Unisphere dashboard! Storage administrators can now assign storage groups and present high-throughput LUNs to your host.
