MSA Storage Disks Upgrade

[rianui]

So, I have moved one cable to both slots that were unused before and restarted both times. I then captured lvmtab info each time. I have also noted that ioscan this two times shows one LOGICAL VOLUME under Description when I moved the cable from it's original position.

# ioscan -fnCdisk
Class     I  H/W Path       Driver   S/W State   H/W Type     Description
==========================================================================
disk      0  0/0/2/0.0.0.0  sdisk    CLAIMED     DEVICE       TEAC    DV-28E-C
                           /dev/dsk/c0t0d0   /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0
disk      1  0/1/1/0.0.0    sdisk    CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP 36.4GST336754LC
                           /dev/dsk/c2t0d0   /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0
disk      2  0/1/1/0.1.0    sdisk    CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP 36.4GST336754LC
                           /dev/dsk/c2t1d0   /dev/rdsk/c2t1d0
disk      3  0/4/1/0/4/0.0.0  sdisk    CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      LOGICAL VOLUME
                           /dev/dsk/c4t0d0   /dev/rdsk/c4t0d0

When I take "cable 2" back to it's original position, ioscan gives the output below.

# ioscan -fnCdisk
Class     I  H/W Path       Driver   S/W State   H/W Type     Description
==========================================================================
disk      0  0/0/2/0.0.0.0  sdisk    SCAN        DEVICE       TEAC    DV-28E-C
                           /dev/dsk/c0t0d0   /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0
disk      1  0/1/1/0.0.0    sdisk    SCAN        DEVICE       HP 36.4GST336754LC
                           /dev/dsk/c2t0d0   /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0
disk      2  0/1/1/0.1.0    sdisk    SCAN        DEVICE       HP 36.4GST336754LC
                           /dev/dsk/c2t1d0   /dev/rdsk/c2t1d0
disk      3  0/4/1/0/4/0.0.0  sdisk    SCAN        DEVICE       HP      LOGICAL VOLUME
                           /dev/dsk/c4t0d0   /dev/rdsk/c4t0d0
disk      4  0/4/1/0/5/0.0.0  sdisk    SCAN        DEVICE       HP      LOGICAL VOLUME
                           /dev/dsk/c5t0d0   /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0

See the results attached.

Regards,

Rianui

[Torsten.]

Please end the sautil output again.

[rianui]

Hi Torsten,

The client has closed for the day. Let me send it tomorrow.

Also, I have returned the cable to the original slot. Do you want me to run the command after changing the cables to the other slot?

Regards,

Rianui

[Torsten.]

yes.

Do the sautil scan command before get the sautil output.

[Torsten.]

Short summary:

At the beginning both cables were connected to a single HBA (the "A" connectors). Then one of the cables was removed.

So the HBA looses some disks of the mirrored RAID set.

While connecting the cable now to a "B" port, the second (independend) controller detects the disks as *another* RAID, but with too less disks and marked this "second" RAID as failed.


If you now connect the cable back to the "A" port, the controller will detect the disks as part of the existing RAID and merge the RAID together.

Once we have the status, we can decide how to proceed with the 2 new disks.


I still wonder how the RAID is used.


It is not under LVM control.

Maybe used as a plain disk?

# mount

may tell.

Maybe VxVM?

# vxdisk list

may tell.


The problem is:

The controller is able to extend the existing RAID, but the OS most likely cannot handle the growing "disk".

[rianui]

Hi Torsten,

So here is what I have done. Remember there are two SCSI cables connecting the disk enclosure to the rp3440 server. There are four ports on the single SCSI card (A1, A2, B1 and B2)One cable has been intact on port A2 and I have not moved it at all. Through this cable the volume with the production database/application is accessible. The second cable however is what I have moved around the remaining three SCSI slots on the card. Attached are three documents. One with "sautil" output from a single cable connected(port A2), the second with both cables connected (port A1 and A2) and the third with both cables connected (port A2 and B2).
I also noticed that when I connect both cables (A1&A2) "sautil /dev/ciss4" shows all the disks and even the two unassigned disks.

Regards,

Kamau

[rianui]

Hi Torsten,

Here is what I have done. Remember the rp3440 server connects to the disk array through two SCSI cables. The server has one card with four ports (A1,A2,B1&B2). One cable on A2 has been ijntact and I haven't moved this at all. Through this cable the client can access his database/application. The second cable is what I have moved around the other three ports. Attached are three documents, sautil_with_port_A2&A1, sautil_with_port_A2&B2, sautil_with_single_cable_A2. I noticed that when both cables are connected (A2 and A1) I can see all drives, even the two unconfigured disks. See attachments for more info.

Regards,

Rianui

[Torsten.]

This meets my assumption.

Cables must be connected to A1 and A2.

---------- PHYSICAL DRIVES ----------

Location       Ch   ID   Size           Status

External       1    0    36.4 GB        OK
External       1    1    36.4 GB        OK
External       1    2    36.4 GB        OK
External       1    3    36.4 GB        UNASSIGNED
External       1    4    36.4 GB        UNASSIGNED
External       2    0    36.4 GB        OK
External       2    1    36.4 GB        OK
External       2    2    36.4 GB        OK
External       2    3    36.4 GB        OK
External       2    4    36.4 GB        OK
External       2    5    36.4 GB        OK
External       2    8    36.4 GB        OK

---------- LOGICAL DRIVE 0 ----------

RAID Level      = 1+0
Size            = 173639 MB
Stripe Size     = 16 KB
Status          = RECOVERING

Connect the cables to A1 and A2 and let the RAID rebuild.

Following steps are:

- wait until RECOVERING has finished

- replace 2 batteries on the main controller inside the server

- while the server is off, pull disks from slots 4 and 5 (the new disks)

- relocate the disks from slots 13 and 14 to slots 4 and 5

Now you have 5 disks on the left, 5 disks on the right.

Put the new disks in slots 6 and 13.

Now you have 6 disks on the left, 6 disks on the right.

Power on the server.

The controller will balance the disk. Now the mirrors are on the left and on the right.

YOu can loose each side (each cable) now without data loss.

The question remains:

What to do with the new disks?

Refer to my previous thread - how the RAID is used now (plain disk access vs. VxVM etc ...)

[rianui]

The cable that is 'always' connected is on A2. The cable disconnected was on B1 and I moved it around. It is now on A1 next to A2.

[rianui]

A little confusing...... "relocate the disks from slots 13 and 14 to slots 4 and 5"

A. The enclosure had 10 disks before I added two more (disk 0-9). After adding mine there are two empty slots remaining. Even when one cable is disconnected, eight disks show light meaning they are being accessed actively while the last four disks (including the ones I added) show no activity.

Also, I cannot change the batteries now (availability) so I'll postpone that.

Regards,

Rianui