5i contoller showing 3 physical drives but only 2 exist?

[Jeff Nyberg_1]

I have a DL360 G3 with two 36.4 GB drives. For some reason the Array Config utility is showing 3 physical drives. The worst part is that the mirror appears to be pointing at the drive that is failed (but that doesn't realy exist). I've tried removing the second drive and reseating it but the mirror doesn't try to rebuild on that drive.

I have upgraded the firmware on the machine and have gone to the newest support pack. I also cleared the NVRAM. None of these made any change.

My feeling is that I need to clear the array configuration but I haven't done that before and I don't want to lose the data on the one good drive. If someone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

Here is the "More Information" screen from the array config utility. Please note that I'm trying to get rid of the drive on "Port 2 SCSI ID 1" and configure the mirror to include the drive at "Port 1 SCSI ID 1" with the drive at "Port 1 SCSI ID 0" as the master(current good drive).

"Smart Array 5i Controller
Controller Smart Array 5i Controller
Bus Interface 64-Bit PCI
Controller Location Embedded

Hardware Revision B
Firmware Version 2.62
Rebuild Priority Low
Expand Priority Low
Current Surface Scan Delay 15 sec
Number of Arrays 1
Number of Logical Drives 1
Number of Physical Drives 3
Physical Drives Attached to Port 1 SCSI ID 0, 36.4 GB (Parallel SCSI)
SCSI ID 1, 36.4 GB (Parallel SCSI)

Physical Drives Attached to Port 2 SCSI ID 1, ( Failed ) (Parallel SCSI)

All Physical Drives Assigned No"

Please let me know if you have any questions that would clarify the situation.

Thanks in advance!
Jeff

[Steven Clementi]

Jeff:

Though I have never personally experienced this problem, I have seen it before here in the forums. I don't remember the fix and would have to look it up.

In the meantime, have you tried anything else? Since you can get into ACU, can you add the second drive as a hot spare to the array? That should make the failed drive rebuild onto the newly inserted HS. Just an idea and perhaps you rather wait to see if you can "fix" the issue first.


Steven

[Jeff Nyberg_1]

I've tried a couple different things in terms of moving drives around and such, but I really am looking to fix the issue more than work around it at this point. Thank you for the suggestion though.

Does anyone know if clearing the array configuration will in any way impact the data on the current good drive?

Thank you,
Jeff

[Steven Clementi]

As long as you do not clear the configuration while the drive is in the server, the data should not get touched.

If the drive is in the server and you clear the config, you effectively render the drive usless until you create a new array.


The array configuration is stored on the drives which allows you to move the drives around to different servers and subsystems and still be able to access the data. I do not think clearing the controller will help since the drive will just put back the info that is stored on it.

Do you have access to the OS? There is a command Line utility for Smart Array controllers which you might be able to use to "fix" the issue. Not sure of the commands though.


Steven

[Jeff Nyberg_1]

I do have access to the OS. I will look around for the command line features. Thanks for the pointer.

Jeff

[Terry Hutchings]

Were these drives previously installed in another server? I think the clue here is the drive showing as failed (and missing) is on port 2.

[e4services]

Your right Terry, as always. The drive is somehow been selected from Port 2. Could the cage be split (duplex)? So it is looking for a drive on port 2 from the other half of the cage? So the drive ID 1 was moved after the array was configured?

Here is something that has worked for us in the past: Remove the bootable drive from the RAID Controller. Connect it to the SCSI controller. See if the system boots. If so, now you can clear the current config and lose nothing

[Jeff Nyberg_1]

There is a good chance the drives were in a different server before my time here. I'll go ahead and try out the command line utility and if I have no luck there the next step will be to try attaching the drive directly to the SCSI port.

I will certainly update this post with whatever ends up fixing my issue.

Thanks for all the advice!

-Jeff

[ernst limbrunner]

hi

your raid 1 was originally split across two channels. your remaining disk remembers this and will only accept a replacement disk on position port 2 id 1.

if you have external storage the solution is simple. attach the storage box and put a disk in position id 1. after the rebuild you can move the disk to an internal position.

sorry: but this is the ONLY way to do it. there is no way to delete the memory of the remaining raid 1 disk without loosing data.

in other words: an array with a missing disk cannot be reconfigured as far as drive positions are concerned - to be more precise - you can move all disks but the failed one - as all disks remember the position of the failed disk. sounds complicated.

i showed this to my students in my "advanced scsi and raid" classes. these classes were only offered in germany and austria and no longer exist.

best regards from germany
ernesto

if you have a test server around with a split scsi channel just move your disks there until the rebuild is finished.
to make sure the os does not boot, insert a smart start cd and watch the rebuld while in array config utilty.

[SW Jones]

Realize this is old, but it is the exact problem I'm having. Any help?