MSA1000 Fails Cluster Validation

[Kevin Stout]

Hello,

I am trying to build a Hyper-V failover cluster, using 3 DL380 G5’s and a MSA1000.

The cluster validation fails with the error no support for persistent reservations.

The MSA1000 is running FW5.20, and it only has 1 controller, and 1 switch.

Anyone have any experience with this? Or any ideas what to try? I’ve been banging my head against this for days with no success.

Best Regards,
Kevin Stout

[Bruno J. Melo]

Hi,

The Cluster architecture in Windows 2008 has been changed to support SPC-3. Which is the latest standard specification for SCSI commands, interfaces and operation of SCSI devices. So in order for the Cluster Service to work, you'll need a SPC-3 compliant hardware, at least on what persistent reservations is concerned.

MSA1000 controllers support Persistent Reservations on your current firmware version. But it doesn't support Microsoft MPIO which also is necessary. (Multipath is necessary in Windows 2008 cluster configurations) What you'll need to do is to add a second controller and upgrade/migrate both controllers firmware to v7.0 Active/Active configuration.
Please note that this procedure only reversible at the cost of losing all your configuration, LUNS and data.

You should read this:
http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00865820/c00865820.pdf´

http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01393147/c01393147.pdf

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/13c0a922-6097-4f34-ac64-18820094128b1033.mspx?mfr=true

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;943984

[Kevin Stout]

Okay, so Microsoft MPIO (or is it the HP Full Featured DSM 3.00) does not support FW 5.20, so I have to buy a second controller and us FW 7.0 or higher?

There is no possible work around with HP MPIO Basic DSM? Or is it that W2k8 MPIO does not support this, even in compatibility mode?

Thanks for the links, but I had actually read all of these already, and I was not able to grok this chain of events.

[Bruno J. Melo]

Hi again Kevin,

HP Full Featured DSM is HP's implementation of the Microsoft MPIO architecture for that specific disk array. DSM stands for Device Specific Module.

In this case, as it is explained in the Release Notes, it only works with Active/Active configurations in Windows 2008, hence Dual Controller configuration and FW upgrade.

HTH

[Kevin Stout]

Ah okay.

So only the Full Feateaured DSM works on w2k8, and the FF DSM only supports FW 7 and higher.

Any possiblity that this status will change in the future? e.g. Basic DSM support for win2k8 or single controller support for the full featured DSM?

[Bruno J. Melo · Accepted solution]

That's it.
I don't think so, since that storage system was retired a few months ago. But you can always call HP support to confirm.

If you search HP Support software downloads for multipath software for MSAs you'll eventually get here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DriverDownload.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=421495&taskId=135&prodTypeId=18964&prodSeriesId=421492〈=en&cc=us

When you select the OS Windows 2008 x64 (because you aim for Hyper-V) you only get the Full Featured DSM...

HTH

Regards,

BJM