topic BL465c Boot From SAN Problem in BladeSystem - General

BL465c Boot From SAN Problem

knolen — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:24:06 GMT

I am having a problem with migrating the boot partition from the local drives to a SAN on a BL465c. So far this is what I have done. First, I created a LUN and presented it to the host. I created a software mirror with the local drives and the LUN and synced the data. After the data was synched up I then rebooted the server, configured the boot order to use the Qlogic cards first and went into Fast!Util to enable the BIOS on one HBA. I also enabled Selectable Boot and choose the LUN to boot from. Now, when the server tries to boot the system hangs after displaying "Attemtping to Boot From Hard Drie (C:)". Upon rebooting the server a message is shown during the POST that says a Critical Error occured prior to this startup.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what I have done wrong?

Also, if anyone has a better way to migrate from using local drives to SAN, please let me know.

Thanks.

Re: BL465c Boot From SAN Problem

TTr — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:13:29 GMT

I don't know the specifics but generally speaking your SAN LUN is a simple data copy of your C drive. It is still a non-bootable disk.

Re: BL465c Boot From SAN Problem

Stefan Fischer — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:49:17 GMT

Did you found any solution? I am facing the same problem on BL460c with LPe1104 Emulex HBA on Symmetrix Array.

Re: BL465c Boot From SAN Problem

knolen — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:37:58 GMT

I never did find a good solution for moving an existing server from booting from local to booting from SAN.

I was able to do a fresh install to a LUN without a problem and it ran great.

Re: BL465c Boot From SAN Problem

karim h — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:37:58 GMT

I don't know the nature of your SAN but here are some general troubleshooting steps

1. Confirm that the boot LUN is presented as LUN 0 to the host (in the Array management software)

2. Ensure that you are running a certified/validated configuration (e.g. if you use Clariion or DMX, EMC E-lab will tell you what FC HBA, fabric switch, MPIO, Storport boot from SAN etc firmware/software/driver combination you should use) You may need to upgrade multiple components

3. Try fixing the port speed to 2gb or 4gbps through the Qlogic BIOS

4. Ensure the the Qlogic card is set to Point to Point and not FC Loop within the Qlogic BIOS screen - most came out of the factory as FC Loop

5. Ensure that the hosts HBAs are zoned correctly to the target Array

6. If you use VirtualConnect, in the server profile enable "Show fibre channel boot paramaters" set port 1 and 2, Primary and Secondary to the WWPN of the target storage array on which the boot LUN resides

7. Ensure that the boot controller order precedence in the server BIOS is set to the Qlogic cards and not the onboard smart array controller

Re: BL465c Boot From SAN Problem

karim h — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:41:20 GMT

Also, a better way to migrate a system onto the SAN would be to use a system imaging product like ShadowProtect or Backup Exec System Recovery. ShadowProtect is generally a little more reliable.

You will need to take a block copy of the OS from the source, then boot the target machine with the equivalent amount of storage or more, and then do a hardware independent restore of the OS and inject the correct FC HBA and storport drivers into the image.