## 14.8 Remote Support Access (inbound) 

IBM took many necessary steps to provide secure network access for the Management Console. The client can define how and when the IBM SSR can connect to the Management Console. When remote support access is configured, IBM Support can connect to the Management Console to start problem analysis and data gathering. This process enables data to be analyzed as fast as possible with an action plan that is created for an onsite IBM SSR, if needed. 

Having inbound access enabled can greatly reduce the problem resolution time by not waiting for the SSR to arrive onsite to gather problem data and upload it to IBM. With the DS8900, inbound connectivity options are available to the client: 

GLYPH<SM590000> External Assist On-Site Gateway 

GLYPH<SM590000> Embedded remote access feature 

The remote support access connection cannot be used to send support data to IBM. 

## 14.8.1 Assist On-site 

The support data offload always uses the Call Home feature. 

Assist On-site (AOS) is an IBM remote access solution. The IBM DS8000 support uses the Port-Forwarding feature to maintain the DS8000 with an IP-based maintenance tool. 

IBM Support encourages you to use Assist On-site as your remote access method. 

The remote access connection is secured with TLS 1.2. In addition, a mechanism is implemented so that the HMC only communicates network wise as outbound connection while you must specifically allow IBM to connect to the HMC at any time. You can compare this function to that of a modem that picks up incoming calls. The DS8900F documentation refers to this as an unattended service. 

The connection is under control of the DS8900F administrator at all time. Any DS8900F administrator can start and stop the AOS connection. 

For more information, see 14.8.4, “Support access management through the DS CLI and the Storage Management GUI” on page 469. 

When you prefer to have a centralized access point for IBM Support, then an Assist On-site Gateway might be the correct solution. With the AOS Gateway, install the AOS Software externally to a DS8900F HMC. You need to install the AOS software on a system you provide and maintain. IBM Support only provides the AOS software package. Through port-forwarding on an AOS Gateway, you can configure remote access to one or more DS8900s or other IBM Storage Systems. 

