va7400 in Warning State

[Michele (Mike) Alberton]

Hi Folks !
I had a disk failure on my va7400 (73 GB 10K disk) on an HP-UX 11.00 rp7400, and after getting the replacement I found the array in a Warning state because of:

WARNING: The controller cannot retrieve some portion of host data.

WARNING: A rebuild operation failed.

WARNING: Some data in the device lacks redundancy, and is exposed to becoming unavailable if furth
er drive removals or failures occur.

OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS

The array is BALANCING.
The array is SCRUBBING.
The newly added drive has been included and the status is GOOD.

Does anybody know how to reset the array to a Normal state ?

I tried to reset it through Commandview, I switched it off and powercycled it, but the status does not change.

Thanks in advance !

Cheers,
Mike

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Mike,
attach 'armdsp -a' and 'armlog -e' zipped to your next reply
Eugeny

[Michele (Mike) Alberton]

Here it goes Eugeny.

I plugged in the drive (it was M/D9, we have a va7400 and a DS2400 with t.4 GB Drives) around May 8, 2003 9:55 AM, Event ID being 1,891.

I'm attaching the two logs, thanks !

Cheers,

Mike

[Michele (Mike) Alberton]

Hi, sorry for the typo (73.4 GB).
I just forgot to mention that Disk LEDs are all green, the DS LED is green while the disk array Amber LED is lit.

Mike

[Eugeny Brychkov · Accepted solution]

First of all some notes:
- default host port behavior = hpux, security is turned off. It's ok as soon as you have hpux only server(s) connected;
- firmware HP13 and battery 4.1 - ancient ones;
- midplane of DS2400 is 'unimplemented'. Possible cause: old firmware;
- frontend ports 1GB provate loop - ok as soon as VA is connected directly to the host (or using hubs, no switches);
- all disks installed are ST373405FC with firmware HP04 and only one this new M/D9 (same ST373405FC) with latest HP08 firmware;
- RAID0/1 policy used. With HP18 firmware you can move to AutoRAID mode and do not afraid about perfomance and reliability;
- alias is designed to simplify array identification. Looking to your VA alias I think it's simpler to use VA serial number... Can alias be simpler a little?

Action plan for you:
1. call HP and schedule upgrades (better during weekend);
2. backup all VA data;
3. upgrade CommandView to 1.06;
4. upgrade VA firmware to HP18 and battery firmware to 4.3;
5. upgrade all disks with latest HP08 firmware;
6. run applications and check data integrity. If needed - restore data.

After action plan will be implemented you need to check and monitor all these outputs ('armdsp -a' and 'armlog -e') to see if there're still warnings and suspicious events.
Then if you wish you can post them here again zipped for me to check
Eugeny

[Eugeny Brychkov]

I've read my post and feel that need to clarify my 'With HP18 firmware you can move to AutoRAID mode and do not afraid about perfomance and reliability' statement. I meant that old firmwares like HP13 and HP14 (better to say: prior HP16) were having issues with perfomance in AutoRAID mode and were not as stable as latest HP18 firmware
Eugeny

[Michele (Mike) Alberton]

Thanks Eugeny for all your inputs !

I'll check with HP to plan the activities you suggested.

Again, thanks !

Cheers,

Mike

[Michele (Mike) Alberton]

Hi Eugeny ...

The good news is that I'm now running my app on the va7400, but the bad one is that I had to reformat it. I've replaced the controllers and nothing helped. I had full access to data (I tested it with a dd), but the warning state did not go away.

I reformatted it, upgraded the firmware to HP17 .. and I'm crossing my fingers.

Just wanted you to know.

Thanks,
Mike