topic Re: MSA2012i Expansion problems in HPE EVA Storage

MSA2012i Expansion problems

Netelligent — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:33:30 GMT

Hello I have a MSA 2012i iSCSI Dual Controller SAN. 12 SATA drives in a RAID10 config.

I added a AJ750A - MSA2000 3.5 Dual I/O Controller 12 Enclosure to this live system so I could add more hard drive and some spare dirves.

Everything worked fine when adding the enclosure and the first set of drive. I was able to expand my array with 4 additional disk and 4 standby disk. Now I want to add another 4 disks to the array ( I can only expand 4 at a time according to the HP control panel )

When I try to add the remain 4 dirve into the live array I get :

"You can not expand a virtual disk to greater than 16 drives for this RAID level."

Anyone come accross this before ?

Re: MSA2012i Expansion problems

Johan Guldmyr — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:48:47 GMT

Hello,

no I didn't know about that limitation.
Have you looked into firmwares? Maybe in a newer one they have increased this limit?

Re: MSA2012i Expansion problems

Netelligent — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:46:40 GMT

Here are the versions of everything runnning:

Current Storage Controller Code Version J210P23

Current Storage Controller Loader Code Version 15.010

Current Memory Controller FPGA Code Version F300R22

Current Management Controller Code Version W421P31

Current Management Controller Loader Code Version 12.013

Current Expander Controller Code Version 3206 Current CPLD Version 27

Enclosure WWN Address Manufacturer Model Revision

500c0ff0d722153c 0:31 HP SPS Chassis 3023

500c0ff0d722153c 0:159 HP SPS Chassis 2029

The error message as image is attached.

Re: MSA2012i Expansion problems

Sebastian.Koehler — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:31:05 GMT

As usual, the error message is right. I've attached a screenshot of the MSA2000 reference guide. This is a known limitation of the MSA2000. Building 2x RAID10 with 16 drives each would perform better than a single 32 drive RAID10 anyway. Keep in mind that a single Vdisk is handled by a single MSA controller only.

Regards,

Sebastian

Re: MSA2012i Expansion problems

Johan Guldmyr — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:33:58 GMT

Good find :)

Why would two 16 disk RAID10 be better than one 32 disk RAID10?

Re: MSA2012i Expansion problems

Sebastian.Koehler — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:42:07 GMT

Because this single 32 disk Vdisk is only accessible trough one of your MSA controllers. If you have two Vdisks, the processing power can be spread on both controllers and you could use all available host ports. You need might need to specify the owning controller during Vdisk creation.

Regards,
Sebastian

Re: MSA2012i Expansion problems

John Kufrovich — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:46:04 GMT

Unrelated to your question but please update the IOM FW on the shelf.

Re: MSA2012i Expansion problems

Netelligent — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:42:40 GMT

I dont see where there IOM FW is installed. Clarification?