DL180 g6 running Open-E RAID Software - Cache Controller Failure

[Beau-CSD]

Hello,

I've recently taken over as IT Director at a small school district for someone that unexpectedly passed away.  I'm currently the only full-time IT person at the school.

When in the CLI for my Open-E RAID software, setting the target to the controller results in a message that the cache has failed and must be replaced so no configuration changes are allowed.  I discovered this when replacing a failed drive and the new drive never synced up.  Shortly thereafter a second drive came out of sync.  Out of 7 installed drives, 5 are blinking and 2 are solid green lights, one of which was the one that was put in as a replacement.

I checked in the CLI to see the hardware info and verified that it's running an HP Smart Array P410.  If I replace this P410 with a new one, would that essentially solve the problem without causing any new issues?  Just as a clarification, this is a software raid running from a separate boot device that is not located within any of the drives allocated to the RAID.  If so, I'll move forward with that.  Otherwise, I'll have to figure out what my other options are.

[Jimmy Vance]

What is generating the error, the Smart Array controller, or something else?  If it is the Smart Array controller, you can simply relpace the cache module.

[Beau-CSD]

The error only appears when attempting to target the controller from within the Open-E CLI after I have gone into the extended options console and selected the HP Smart Array.  The error indicates that it is specifically the cache that has failed.  I did some research based on your recommendation and found the following info from this quick guide for the P410:

http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04111713.pdf

Upgrade Options HP Optional Upgrades

• HP 512MB P-Series Battery Backed Write Cache Upgrade 462967-B21
• HP 650 mAh P-Series Battery NOTE: To enable BBWC on the 256MB cache. 462969-B21
• HP 512MB Flash Backed Write Cache 534916-B21
• HP 1GB Flash Backed Cache 534562-B21

I'd obviously like the higher end cache module - would there be any issue if it's being upgraded from a lower end module? I'd like to just be able to power the unit off, remove the old cache module, install the new module, and power it back on if what you're saying is correct.  The entire network is backed up via DPM to a separate RAID altogether that is not running Open-E, for what it's worth.

Thank you for your help.  If you truly feel confident with this recommendation I would be happy to give the solution a try with kudos if everything works out.

[Jimmy Vance]

Yes, you can use one of the larger cache modules on the P410. I'm not familar wit any Open-e products. When you boot the system, the P410 shoud ID during POST, if there is an issue with the cache module it will be reported during POST.