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OpenSolaris 2009.06/StorageWorks Smart Array 6404 issue (CPQary3)

 
Gabriel O'Brien
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OpenSolaris 2009.06/StorageWorks Smart Array 6404 issue (CPQary3)

Here is a description of the problem we have encountered. I can provide more details if required but I'll start with an overview.

We're currently building a low cost NAS based on the following hardware and OpenSolaris 2009.06 (all latest patches) with the HP CPQary3 driver (v2.20):

- HP Proliant DL585G5
- HP StorageWorks Smart Array 6404 controller card
- 4 x HP StorageWorks MSA20 disk enclosures (configured as 48 x 750GB SATA "RAID-0")

Initially we deployed this system with 2 disk enclosures attached and have had no issues while we migrated the data from the old host to the new server. Once the data migration was completed we added the 2 older disk enclosures to the server (4 total).

This is where we have encountered an issue. Although all 48 disks are visible to the storage controller, the operating system only sees 24 disks. I initially suspected that the expansion module that turns the 6402 into a 6404 being detected properly but when I did a search of the BigAdmin HCL I see that the 6400EM (the expansion module itself) is explicitly compatible (http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/data/components/details/324.html). I'm wondering if there is a special incantation that I am not aware of that is required to make the additional 24 disks visible to the operating system. I have already performed a reconfigure boot as well as running 'drvconfig' and 'devfsadm' in an attempt to try everything I could think of.

I would like to confirm that all 4 channels are supported on the 6404 with Solaris. I'm fairly confident that this is not a hardware problem as I am able to see all 48 disks from a Linux rescue CD and was able to configure them without issues from the Option ROM at boot. Additionally if I swap the MSA20s connected to ports A2 and B2 with those connected to A1 and B1 I can see the other disks. I just can't see all 48 at once. I've considered attempting to migrate to FreeBSD but I'm not really comfortable with the stability of ZFS on 7.2 and I don't want to use 8.0 in a production environment yet. Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated. I suspect a driver bug or that this card isn't fully implemented in v2.20 but that's just a hunch based on the symptoms I have seen.

Let me know if there is anything else I can provide. Thanks in advance for your help.

cheers,
Gabriel