topic Re: MSA 1000 and switch problem in MSA Storage

MSA 1000 and switch problem

CA1096861 — Fri, 22 Oct 2004 05:52:46 GMT

We have an MSA 1000 with 2 internal MSA 1000 Fabric Switch 6 that has been in production for almost 2 years, we have 4 server connected to switch 1 now I tray to connect server 5 to switch 2, but I can’t see it in the Array Configuration Utility I can only see switch 1. server 5 is a DL380 G4 with vmware ESX server ver. 2.5 beta

Dose any one have an idea what that the problem is

Re: MSA 1000 and switch problem

BR820489 — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 00:41:13 GMT

Hi,

If you only have one controller in the MSA, and two switches, this will never work. the second switch is for the second controller, and even then it is in a active/standby mode. So, if you wnat to make use of two switches in the MSA with one controller, then you have to cascade the two internal switches together. Take a fiber cable and connect the one switch to the other. Then your fifth server will be able to talk to MSA controller 1.

Regards,

Fernando

Re: MSA 1000 and switch problem

CA1096861 — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 01:40:11 GMT

Hi Fernando

I have 2 controllers in my msa1000, I don' know if it is in a active/standby mode, how can i see that ?

Re: MSA 1000 and switch problem

Uwe Zessin — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 01:45:22 GMT

It is in active/standby mode. That's the only mode it can work for now. You can easily check this if you connect a terminal emulator to a controller and then run a command:

> show this_controller
> show other_controller

Apart from that, if you have two controllers, you cannot connect some servers to Controller_1 and other servers to Controller_2 in single-path mode.

Reason is that due to the active/standby mode all logical disks are maintained by one controller at a time - you cannot divert them.

Re: MSA 1000 and switch problem

BR820489 — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 03:29:03 GMT

As Uwe said, the MSA is always in Active/standby, and it is not supported to connect some server to the one controller and some to the other. Each server needs to have to HBAs and Secure Path loaded.

Regards,

Fernando

Re: MSA 1000 and switch problem

Steven Clementi — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 21:39:51 GMT

If you feel like throwing yourself into an unsupported mode, you can always ISL the 2 switches and get more ports to talke to controller 1. Again "***UNSUPPORTED***", but doable.

the MSASAN Switch 6 has 5 external ports/1 internal. The MSA SAN Switch 8 has 7 external/1 internal. It sounds like you need an upgrade.

Steven

Re: MSA 1000 and switch problem

Uwe Zessin — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 13:24:08 GMT

According to the "MSA1000 SAN Configuration Guide" (16WN-0702A-WWEN) from June 2002, you were allowed to put a second Fabric Switch 6 into the MSA1000 and cascade them, provided that the second controller slot is left empty.

Re: MSA 1000 and switch problem

Steven Clementi — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 13:27:38 GMT

Exactly.