MSA 2040 - Dusting and Cleaning

[StephenWagner7]

Hello Community,

Had a question here... While I have extensive experience disasembling and cleaning servers, other MSA disk arrays, etc... I've been wanting to take my MSA 2040 offline and give it a good dusting/cleaning.

I've never actually disassembled an MSA 2040 before. I'm not concerned about the power supplies, and controllers, but I do see a sticker on the top towards the front stating "Warranty void if seal broken". This sticker leads me to this post...

By removing the controllers, PSUs, and disks, can I get access to every component and crevas to dust this puppy out, or am I limited. I'm getting the feeling that sticker may prevent me from getting access to the midplane part of the array.

As always, I know I'm not supposed to cause fans to rev from airflow.

Anyone have any advice?

Cheers

[Ian Vaughan]

Hmmm,

Given that the unit is optimised for front to back air flow I don't think you will go too far wrong with compressed air through the front (not that I'm endorsing it but have you seen the YouTube videos using Garden Leaf Blowers for this :-O ) and Henry or one of his industrial vacuum friends at the back to catch the dust, fluff and cruft that flies out.

There is a school of thought that says that you shouldn't disassemble the components as that potentially exposes the connectors that are usually seated together and haven't been exposed to dust contamination. However, I too would be slightly wary of turning the exhaust fans into wind turbines so I would at least remove those :-)

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers

Ian

(Hope that helps - please give kudos if it does)

[StephenWagner7]

I'm just thinking that because of that sticker, there's probably going to be spaces I won't be able to get to, to clean. I was a bit surprised when I saw my first unit that had that sticker, traditionally we've been allowed to rip apart equipment to clean/mod/fix, I guess we don't want to let the little MSA gremlins out of their cage. If we open the case and let them see the outside world, they may want to stop transporting our data! :)

[StephenWagner7]

I just wanted to post an update!!!

I finally had some downtime when I was relocating my MSA2040 and Servers. Decided to take the time and do some cleaning. Some important notes before I get in to detail...

1) Always do a proper shutdown.

2) When removing controllers, I noticed a light flashing inside of them when removed. This occured for a minute or two. I'm assuming it was writing cache to the flash module.

3) I don't know if I'm right on this, but when removing controllers, don't remove both on the same power down. (Example: Power down, remove controller A, insert controller A, power on, shutdown, remove controller B, insert controller B, power on).

Again, I'm not sure if point 3 above is needed, but I did this as a precaution because of the flashing light that was no doubt powered by the supercapacitor.

Anyways!

Cleaning the MSA2040 is super easy! When a controller is moved, it's very simple to shoot a can of compressed air in to the front, and sides, effectively cleaning out the entire controller very well!

The power supplies once removed, are also very easy to clean. Easy access from front/back, and vents in the side. MAKE SURE you do not let the fan freely rotate if shooting compressed air in to it. After removing the PSUs, I used a plastic rod to stop the fan from freely rotating, and shot compressed air through it.

Very nice on the internal design of the unit!