RHEL5.4 HPAE312A Loop Down

[papoon]

Redhat confirmed us that EL 5.4 QL2xxx driver has been being loaded. However, the local server node in SANSurfer shows "Loop Down" and the port LED (RED GREEN YELLOW) is flashing. Please entlighten

[Matti_Kurkela]

"Enlighten" is a good word here :)

"Loop Down" indicates the QL2xxx card is not seeing any light coming in from the fibre.

What's on the other end of the fibre? Does it have any LEDs or other status information?

The LED patterns of QLogic HBAs are pretty complex. You really should find the documentation for your card and print out the LED pattern table for your reference.

If all the 3 LEDs on the QL2xxx card are flashing one by one, that means "Firmware error" according to QLogic documentation.

If they are all flashing together, the card is powered on and the card firmware has been succesfully initialized, but the card is not seeing any light from the fibre.

This might mean the fibre connectors are miswired at some point. They should be like this (the arrows indicate the direction of light):

TX -> fibre -> RX
RX <- fibre <- TX

MK

[papoon]

Hi MK,

Many thanks for your precious advice. I checked the LED patterns is flashing altogether. When I checked the port status "switchshow" command on both Fibre switches, it indicates "In Sync". Let me check the fibre connection. To your expertise, do you think if the fibre damage can cause this problem?

[Matti_Kurkela]

A damaged fibre is a very likely cause for such a problem.

If only the fibre that goes from the switch TX to the server's RX is broken, the switch sees light from the server and thinks everything is OK. But the server sees nothing from the switch...

MK

[Ragu_3]

Kink in the fiber, you will have no luck even if you straighten it. Check for pin-prick marks on the media, most likely a sliding obstructionist!