RedHat Linux and EVA4000 host mode

[R. Verkerk]

Hello,

I recently installed an EVA4000 XCS 5.xx and RedHat 4.x with the qlogic failover driver. We set it to Qlogic failover.
We see some strange error messages on the console of the Linux machine. I will import them on monday.
Questions:
- On the EVA4000 how has the "host mode" to be set for this system. Does it have to be linux or does it have to be solaris or whatever. that is not in the README file of the Qlogic drivers.
- How do we have to set the failover modes of the virtual disks on the EVA4000. For instance "Failover A"

greetings,

Robert Verkerk

[Paul Henderson_2]

Don't know about the 4000, but on the 3000, there is no host mode for linux, and the manual says to choose Solaris instead. This works fine with RedHat, both Enterprise 3 and 4.

Can't help with the failover... have only single ported HBAs.

[Anthony Martin_1]

Hi Robert,
Assuming you are running XCS 5.028 or better, then set the host mode to Linux.
Set the failover mode to "Failover A failback"

If your running XCS 5.020 (older revision), you will need to read this advisory
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=PSD_OI050525_CW01&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

The failover/failback part is due to the qlogic driver being used.

Regards
Anthony

[R. Verkerk]

Hi,
I am running XCS 5.110..
Qlogic driver: hp_qla2x00src-8.01.03p5-21

We have Hostmode as "linux" and set units to "failover A".

This is what we see in the messages file of linux:

Jul 31 02:10:18 RACK001-ENCLOSURE001-1 kernel: qla2x00_combine_by_lunid: Found a controller path 0x0 - lun 0
Jul 31 02:10:18 RACK001-ENCLOSURE001-1 kernel: qla2x00_combine_by_lunid lun = 0 does not support ALUA

So what does it mean? Is this a real error? or yust informational?
This keeps popping up.

greetings,

Robert Verkerk.

[Anthony Martin_1]

Hi Robert,
Ensure that all FC HBAs have BIOS v1.45
Turn off all load balancing on the driver

>Jul 31 02:10:18 RACK001-ENCLOSURE001-1 kernel: qla2x00_combine_by_lunid: Found a controller path 0x0 - lun 0
>Jul 31 02:10:18 RACK001-ENCLOSURE001-1 kernel: qla2x00_combine_by_lunid lun = 0 does not support ALUA
This means that LUN 0 does not support Asymmetric Logical Unit Addressing. This again in a benign message as the INQUIRY data returned from a controller device is slightly different than the data returned by a normal disk.

ALUA - Assymetrical Logical Unit Access.
The draft spec T10 SPC-3 can be found here:
(ftp://ftp.t10.org/t10/drafts/spc3/spc3r18.pdf)

If the FC BIOS is v1.45 and load balancing on the QLogic driver is turned off, then the message should go away.

There are other parts that may effect my recommendations, but we should wait until after the changes have been made.

Cheers
Anthony

[R. Verkerk]

Hello,

My problem is away. I did not do the recommended settings. We need failover!
I found that on one controller a path to the switch was bad. It kept saying: "An excessive number of link errors were detected on a host Fibre Channel port" of one controller.
After reseating my fibre cables and transceivers all is OK. No more errors are seen.
Thank you..
p.s. how can I online see what the bios version is? is it in /var/logs/messages?

greetings,

Robbert Verkerk

[Anthony Martin_1 · Accepted solution]

Hi Robert,
There is no easy way to see the firmware version of the QLogic card from Linux.
I normally install the HP SanSurfer program.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=315739&prodNameId=315741&swEnvOID=2025&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=co-37523-1

It allows you to see the traffic going down the HBA, as well as being able to change some BIOS parameters and update the firmware.
I recommend this program if you have any server attached to a SAN.

Regards
Anthony

[R. Verkerk]

Hello,

I installed SANsurfer, but I get nowhere with it.

now I type SANsurfer and it gets right back with the prompt. No error, but also no window.
What am I doing wrong??

This was my installation:
# rpm --install hp_sansurfer-2.00.30b78-1.x86_64.rpm
Preparing to install...
Extracting the JRE from the installer archive...
Unpacking the JRE...
Extracting the installation resources from the installer archive...
Configuring the installer for this system's environment...
Launching installer...
Preparing SILENT Mode Installation...
============================================
SANsurfer FC HBA Manager V2.0.30 (created with InstallAnywhere by Macrovision)
--------------------------------------------
============================================
Installing...
-------------
[==================|==================|=====
[------------------|------------------|-
Installation Complete.
Creating /usr/sbin/SANsurfer link
Stopping qlremote agent services
Starting qlremote agent service
#
# export DISPLAY="x.y.z.n:0.0"
# /usr/SANsurfer
# NO screen

greetings,

Robert Verkerk

[Tom O'Toole]

You should be able to use dmesg to see the firmware rev of the cards during initialization.

[R. Verkerk]

Hello,

I have to use SANsurfer to see the firmware versions online. I can't see them with dmesg. I can see which driver version it is using.
This is the output of dmesg:

scsi0 : qla2xxx
qla2300 0000:06:01.0:
QLogic Fibre Channel HBA Driver: 8.01.03-p5-fo
QLogic QLA2312 -
ISP2312: PCI-X (100 MHz) @ 0000:06:01.0 hdma+, host#=0, fw=3.03.18 IPX
scsi: unknown device type 12
Vendor: HP Model: HSV200 Rev: 5110
Type: RAID ANSI SCSI revision: 05
qla2300 0000:06:01.0: scsi(0:0:0:0): Enabled tagged queuing, queue depth 16.
Vendor: HP Model: HSV200 Rev: 5110
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 05
qla2300 0000:06:01.0: scsi(0:0:0:1): Enabled tagged queuing, queue depth 16.


greetings,

Robert Verkerk