MSA 2012i Controller Failing Overnight

[james.vrx22]

Hi there,

We currently have a new MSA 2012i with 7 146GB drives in a RAID 5 configuration. We have set up two DL380 G5s to talk to the MSA.

The MSA only has one controller card with the two iSCSI ports in it and the Management port. The iSCSC ports are both on different subnets (as the documentation states) Both the DL380's can talk to both the iSCSI ports on the MSA (Failover)

The problem I have is that last night and the night before the MSA failed. I came into the office and its fans were going at full speed and the orange exclamation mark light was glowing.

I connected to the MSA Storage Management Utility and the following information was displayed:

"Local Storage Controller communication is slow - please wait

The management Controller cannot talk to the Storage Controller. The Storage Controller may be down or is busy. No current data avalible.
To regain communication:
Connect SMU to RAID Controller B by entering the IP Address of RAID Controller B into your browser address line."

The problem is I dont have a controller B installed at all.

Also one more thing to note from the screen is down the bottom under "Controller IP Address" Controller A has No_data next to it where it normally has the ip address.

The only way i can get the MSA up and running again is to switch it off manually and power it back on again.

After i restarted it i noticed this error was the last error before i restarted it:

"C 08-01 20:49:04 107 A225 Critical Error: Fault Type: Debug Except., Dbg Reg Num = 2 p1: 038B2B4 p2:038AD96 p3: 0354B18 p4:035E5FE CThr: VUS_REDRAW "

Any help would be much appreiciated!

I have also attached the screenshots it took.

[Peter_174_1]

Hi James

I was wondering if you have found a solution for this problem.
I have just installed the same MSA with a single controller and it has come up with the same error message on the SMU.

Regards

Peter

[james.vrx22]

Hi Peter,

I'm glad you asked beacause we did find the solution to the problem (worked with a HP tech)

There were a few things we tried, but ultimatly we found that the MSA2000 series are configured by default to run with dual controllers. I received the following instructions by email on how to change this setting:

1. Select Manage > General Config > System Configuration.
2. Click Advanced Options.
3. In the Change Independent Cache Performance Mode panel, select Enabled or
Disabled. The default is Disabled.
4. Click Enable/Disable Independent Cache Performance Mode.
The system automatically restarts both controllers, which takes several minutes to
complete. If ICPM is enabled, this is shown in each pageâ s System Panel and in the
Status Message panel on the Status Summary page.

The instructions detail how to get to the setting. you want to ENABLE the Independent Cache Performance Mode.

Let me know how you get on with it, i have some more emails on other things we were going to try.

Cheers
James

[Peter_174_1]

Hi James

Thanks very much for your help.

Enabling the independent cache mode has fixed my problem as well. The MSA has been running for 24 hours now without any problems.

The problem only appeared to start after I upgraded the controller firmware to "J210P03", which is the latest. Did HP mention anything about a new version coming out that may change this configuration issue?

Regards

Peter

[james.vrx22]

Hi Peter,

Our MSA came with the up to date firmware on it already, so hearing that it is the new firmware that is causing the problem is interesting. The HP tech did not say anything about the new firmware causing issues.

Interesting to note that on the HP downloads site they give you an option for a single controller MSA and a dual controller MSA. I wonder if they have stuffed up the firmware somehow??

I will let the HP tech the information you have just said and see what he comes back with.

Cheers
James

[IBaltay]

Hi,
this is the recommended firmware J210R10
this is minimum firmware J210R09
and
servers with Opteron or EM64T are not supported with B-series switches using firmware 2.x

[Uwe Zessin]

> the HP downloads site they give you an option for
> a single controller MSA and a dual controller MSA.

That is normal. In most cases, the same software appears through different links. But not always, so it is a good idea to follow _every_ link.

> I wonder if they have stuffed up the firmware somehow??

Unfortunately, the quality check process, if there is one, does not
find missing or bad links. Over the years I have found lots of bad ones :-(

-----

> servers with Opteron or EM64T are not supported with
> B-series switches using firmware 2.x

Doesn't apply as the thread is about the iSCSI version.

> the recommended firmware J210R10

I don't see it on HP's download pages. Is this a new one or is it hidden somewhere else?

[IBaltay]

Uwe,
yes it is the latest, and should be reachable via the local HP support representatives (not yet on the web) but recommended according to the compatibility matrix

[MarkusD]

Hello,

we have the same problem since last week.
HP Support said, we have to erease the Vdisk
and recreate it. There is no other fix (Level3-Support).

[Uwe Zessin]

Markus, is that a single-controller configuration, too?