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Re: Nike 20 Replace One 5 Drive Partition

 
Ken Martin_1
Occasional Advisor

Nike 20 Replace One 5 Drive Partition

I have a D270 with a Nike 20 array with 20 4GB drives setup as 4 Raid-5 partitions running under HP/UX 10.20.

What I would like to know, knowing that certain drives hold the "firmware code" for the Nike controllers I what to replace all 5 drives in group 3 (3A to 3E) with 9GB drives.

What would be the best approach to ensure any Nike "firmware code" is replaced?

What would be the best steps to follow for the entire process for HP/UX?

Thanks...

7 REPLIES 7
Pete Randall
Outstanding Contributor

Re: Nike 20 Replace One 5 Drive Partition

Ken,

Having personally tripped over replacing the wrong drive, I would recommend placing a hardware call with HP. Better safe that sorry.

Pete

Pete
Ken Martin_1
Occasional Advisor

Re: Nike 20 Replace One 5 Drive Partition

Pete,

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately that is not an option at this time.

Kind of on my own on this one.

Ken
Jamie Willard_2
Frequent Advisor

Re: Nike 20 Replace One 5 Drive Partition

0A 0B 0C 0D 3A

These are the 5 drives that contain Flair micro-code. You will only have a problem if you try to boot without any Flair drives. You will not have a problem replacing drives as long as you use the NIKE menu system to bind and unbind the drives properly. When you rebind the LUN, the Flair micro-code will be copied onto 3A.

Another suggestion is to do this with the NIKE HOT. The MOD20's only access's the Flair code on boot-up. Also note that it only needs 1 Flair disk (don't pull all 5 HOT, as it will probably crash) in any of those 5 positions to boot.
Brian M Rawlings
Honored Contributor

Re: Nike 20 Replace One 5 Drive Partition

Jamie nailed it. The 'flare' code is super-redundant, and is complete on each of the five drives mentioned. As long as even one of those drives is in the array, all is well.

Unbind the LUN comprised of the five drives you want to replace (which will wipe the data, obviously). Yank the five drives out, one at a time (wait in between for a few seconds, to give the array time to log the removal). Put in the five 9GB drives. They should all show up as UNB (unbound), you hope. If they are recognized, go ahead and bind them into a LUN, and off you go.

Your one serious headache might be, is your current Flare code high enough to run 9GB drives? To know that, you need to know if you have the older "Sauna" Storage Processor, or the newer "SP620" model. Firmware and Flare code are different for each.

To tell which you have, check your PROM version. It should be 7.97, 7.99 or 8.02 for the older "Sauna" SP. Other PROM versions (starting with the number 1) are for the SP620 SP.

For "Sauna" SP, the latest Flare code (firmware) release was 9.26.07, and the PROM code the SP required to run this Flare code was 8.02.

I'm not sure what the latest PROM and Flare levels are for the "SP620", the last I know of are 9.55.01 Flare code and PROM code 1.73 (required for 9.55.01).

I hope you don't need to upgrade, this is very old stuff, I don't know anywhere besides HP that you could get it, if even from them. You can always just try it, if it can't run a 9GB drive, it will not let you bind them into a LUN, probably won't even recognize them as working drives.

Also, very important, check your patches. Before downloading newer PROM and Flare code, you will want at least PHKL_11086 and PHKL_17468 for 10.20.

Regards, --bmr
We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin)
Ken Martin_1
Occasional Advisor

Re: Nike 20 Replace One 5 Drive Partition

Thanks for all the information.

He is the info on the Nike controllers.

SP-A Microcode 8.57
PROM 1.73

SP-B Microcode 8.57
PROM 1.57 (different?)

Opinions?

If you think it is do-able and you suggest doing it HOT I guess the logical steps would be:

1) Shut down processes using that volume.

2) Dump via fbackup entire volume to tape.

3) In HP/UX remove Logical Volume?

4) Unbind partition via Nike SP

5) Slowly replace drives

6) Bind partition via Nike SP

7) Rebuild Loginal Volume in HP/UX

8) Restore data from tape

9) Enable processes using the partition

Any others?

Brian M Rawlings
Honored Contributor

Re: Nike 20 Replace One 5 Drive Partition

Definately remove the LV, and you will probably need to remove the VG as well. This is because, when a VG is created, it has a default "max PE per PV" which is based on the existing number of PEs (physical extents). If you didn't increase this metric manually when you created your VG, in all likelihood it will not be large enough for the new, larger drives (and their more than 2x PEs over the existing PE sizes).

Do a forums search for "max PE per PV ", and you'll see what I mean... this crops up a lot when people merely try to extend a VG to include a new, larger, drive.

It may work, or it may not. The figure is set to something more than the current size, but seems to be too small for a 2x new drive. I know it fails regularly if VG is built on 4GB drives, and you try to extend with an 18GB... maybe 9GB (8.8GB is what a Nike 9GB shows up as) will work, but, why risk it? Rebuild the VG, is my suggestion.

As to the Flare code mismatch, that can happen. It hasn't bothered you yet, but if it is possible to bring the 1.57 up to 1.73, I would suggest it before adding the 9GB drives. I think it is possible to copy Flare code from one SP to the other, rather than a complete load from a file... but I may just be thinking of AutoRAID 12H arrays.

Check with HP on getting this up to snuff, if you're on maintenance. They'll do it for free, it is why you keep these old monsters on support (if it is). I believe that you'll be fine with 1.73 and 9GB drives, but the 1.57 may not recognize it. That would be most peculiar... one SP would see the new drives & make a LUN, the other wouldn't. A bad situation, if it happens.

Regards, --bmr

PS: I'm curious why you never assign points. Are you opposed to the practice, or just unaware of the 'reward' system we use around here? Some people believe it isn't a good idea, and I'd be interested in the logic, if you feel that way, and would care to reply. Later... --bmr
We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin)
Jamie Willard_2
Frequent Advisor

Re: Nike 20 Replace One 5 Drive Partition

(NOTE: these are the minimum REVS)
For the SP620 contollers, the minimum Rev for 9GB drives is 8.58 with a PROM code of 1.57

For 18GB drives on the SP620, its 9.55.01 with a PROM code of 1.73

The SP (Suana) controller's minimum Rev for 9GB drives is 9.25.00 with a PROM code of 8.02 (this will also support 18's).


As for copying the Firmware from 1 SP to the other, that is only on the MOD12 and MOD12H. To update the firmware on your MOD20, you will need it connected to a system. The system will then need to boot to the NIKEARRY utility in ODE. This utility will then update the firmware on all your drives as well as the Flare and PROM code. Getting ahold of this utility is a whole new game. HP can do it for you. If your not under support, then I would reccomend contacting some third party resellers. A few of them have the ability to bring this to current REV.

I myself am curious as to what will happen if you reboot this MOD20. Having different firmware REV's on each controller is something I'm going to have to try in my lab.

Hope this helps