topic Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned) in Disk Enclosures

va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

stephen peng — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:39:59 GMT

dear all,
i've got a va7410's disk warning, M/D13's fault LED blinking, and following messages were show in armdsp -a output:
WARNING: The configuration of the subsystem is such that one or more drives has only a single path of access to it.
and the armdsp -t output are as following:
(addresses are 0 based)
Disk Controller paths to Encl Hard Assigned
Fru disks Addr Addr Addr
------- ------------------- ---- ---- --------
M/D1 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x6f 0x6f 0x6f
M/D2 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x70 0x70 0x70
M/D3 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x71 0x71 0x71
M/D4 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x72 0x72 0x72
M/D5 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x73 0x73 0x73
M/D6 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x74 0x74 0x74
M/D7 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x75 0x75 0x75
M/D9 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x77 0x77 0x77
M/D10 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x78 0x78 0x78
M/D11 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x79 0x79 0x79
M/D12 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x7a 0x7a 0x7a
M/D13 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x7b 0x7b 0x7b
M/D14 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J1)* 0x7c 0x7c 0x7c
M/D15 (M/C1.J1, M/C2.J2)* 0x6d 0x6d 0x6d

Note: "*" indicates the drive is physically present
in the specified enclosure.

"#" indicates that one or more addresses do not match the
enclosure address (Encl Addr).

===================================================
Drives Listed in Physical Loop Order
===================================================

M/C1.J1 M/C2.J2 M/C1.J2 M/C2.J2
------- ------- ------- -------
M/D4 M/D4 ------- -------
M/D3 M/D3 ------- -------
M/D2 M/D2 ------- -------
M/D1 M/D1 ------- -------
M/D10 M/D10 ------- -------
M/D9 M/D9 ------- -------
M/D7 M/D7 ------- -------
M/D6 M/D6 ------- -------
M/D5 M/D5 ------- -------
M/D15 M/D15 ------- -------
M/D14 M/D14 ------- -------
M/D13 M/D12 ------- -------
M/D12 M/D11 ------- -------
M/D11 ------- ------- -------
i replaced M/D13, but it remained the same. what could caused the problem? the backplane of the DS2405 disk enclosure? if so, how to replace it(procedure or demonstration)?

thanks for your reply!

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

tkc — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 00:26:43 GMT

what is the output of 'armdsp -a ?'

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

tkc — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 00:32:43 GMT

you can collect the va7410 log using logprn command :

#logprn -a -s mmddhhMM[yyyy] -t all -v > /tmp/logprn.txt

mmddhhMM[yyyy]
where:
mm = month (01-12)
dd = day (01-31)
hh = hour (01-23)
MM = minute (01-59)
yyyy = year (such as 2001), if not specified current year is used.

try gather 7 days of log.

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

stephen peng — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 00:59:04 GMT

hi,
you could read the armdsp -a outpur in attached file. and there was no output when i run logprn command, maybe the daemon did not configured well

thanks

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

Luk Vandenbussche — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:04:58 GMT

The status The array is SCRUBBING
means that the array is rebuilding.

This can take a while, depending on the total capacity of your array

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

tkc — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:18:22 GMT

It appeared to me the controller M/C2.J2 has lost the disk M/D13. We normally will wait for no activity (especially no rebuilding in progress) on the array before we replace the M/D13. Let's now wait for the balancing process to complete. It may take quite some time if the VA7410 is busy.

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

tkc — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:29:09 GMT

A piece of note. If you have lost a disk in the array, rebuilding process will kick in.
Rebuilding is a process of removing a failed disk from a Redundancy Group. If you added a disk into the array, balancing process will kick in. Balancing is a process of re-distributing data across the newly added disk. Since you have just replaced M/D13, it trigger the balancing process to start up and until the redistributing of data to the newly replaced M/D13 disk has completed, the operation in progress will still show balancing instead of none.

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

stephen peng — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:43:26 GMT

dear all,
i think i did not interpret the maintanance procedure so clearly.
when the problem took place, i full out M/D13, and the arry started to rebuild,and the warning messages i posted before disappeared. after the rebuilding finished, the status of the array were alright, no warning and no fault LED(though in the procedure of rebuilding, it said that hot spare is not redudant). and then i push a new disk info M/D13 slot, the array began balancing, and the fault lights of the array and the M/D13 were blinking. after the balancing finishing, the disk space was available in the array, everything seems ok but the fault lights and the warning messages appeared again:
WARNING: The configuration of the subsystem is such that one or more drives has only a single path of access to it.

so it is not a problem about scrubing or balancing, i think that it is a problem caused by the midplane. do you agree with that?

thanks

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

Luk Vandenbussche — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:51:10 GMT

Stephen

Optionally you can remove D13 again.
Let the array rebuild.
Add the disk in another slot (if possible)
So you can exclude if it is located to one slot only.

But it is strange that some host are working an a single path. I don't see a relation between an defective backplane, an error an one disk an a single path connection

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

stephen peng — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 03:24:50 GMT

Luk,
there is no blank slot in the array.

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

tkc — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 11:12:03 GMT

there is a possibility the backplane could be the culprit but i would leave that as the last option. either you try unplug the disk M/D13 again or replace it with another new disk. You don't have slot for M/D8 ?

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

Owen_15 — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:00:12 GMT

Hi Stephen,

I would attempt to try one more disk in slot M/D13 just in case your replacement disk was faulty again. I know it's a bit of a long shot, but the replacement of the midplane of the controller is a large change.

The midplace can definitely go faulty on one path to one disk and not on the others. There is bypass circuitry that will stop communication on the broken path out to the disk that will allow the rest of the loop to continue to operate.

As this is the midplane of the main controller, you need to be very careful about replacing this as it contains a little chip that holds the WWN of the array. This WWN is also stored in the controllers of the VA. When you plug the controllers back in with the new mid plane, it will go through a process of changing the WWN on the chip to what it was before, if this process fails, it will take on the WWN of the chip on the midplane, and it will not be the same. This will invalidate all your licensing which is tied to the WWN.

The main thing to remember when changing the mid plane, is to NOT remove the batteries from the controllers whilst you are completing the midplane replacement.

Hope this helps.
Regards
Owen

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

stephen peng — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:16:43 GMT

dear all,
i've replaced M/D13 twice,and slot 8 is just a fault slot, i am sure about this.

thank you

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

Ankit Kr Gupta — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:34:29 GMT

hi all,
i am also facing same problem with my VA7110. In my VA, disk 10 is faulty & giving same warning. If you or any one resolved this issue, plz tell me.

Ankit

Re: va7410 's single path warning(high points assigned)

Ankit Kr Gupta — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:44:17 GMT

my problem of this warning is resolved after reboot the VA.

Thanks
Ankit