smart array P400 problem on dl380

[Frank Van Damme]

I have a bit of trouble with said raid controller. We use it in a DL380 G5 running Debian Linux which has 8 drive bays, all with 146 GB SAS drives in them. hpacucli shows the array as failed, but the physical drives as OK:

=> physicaldrive all show

Smart Array P400 in Slot 1

array A (Failed)

physicaldrive 1I:1:0 (port 1I:box 1:bay 0, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:0 (port 1I:box 1:bay 0, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:0 (port 1I:box 1:bay 0, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:0 (port 1I:box 1:bay 0, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:5 (port 1I:box 1:bay 5, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:6 (port 1I:box 1:bay 6, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:7 (port 1I:box 1:bay 7, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:8 (port 1I:box 1:bay 8, SAS, 146 GB, OK, active spare)

Notice that there would be 4 drives in bay 0?? Seems impossible to me - they even show the same serial number when you enter "pd all show detail". I can only spot a problem on a drive (except the "array failed" message) through the command line interface by running "diag" and searching through the text file.

I also looked at the web interface ("cpqacuxe"), there's a link "status alerts" which shows a couple of errors:

299 SAS Array A with Spare has failed. To correct this problem, check the data and power connections to the physical drives or replace the failed drive. For more information, generate a diagnostics report under the Diagnostics tab.
274 0 MB 1-Port SAS Drive at Port 1I : Box 1 : Bay 0 is bad or missing.

cpqacuxe also clearly shows a drive in error.

So I'm wondering: why this difference between the web interface and the command line interface, and is there a command in hpacucli for getting all the status alerts? I'd like to get this kind of information through command line for practical reasons. cpqacuxe also shows 4 drives as being in bay 0, btw. Could this be a bug in a driver, firmware or management tool?

I believe the array failed over to the spare drive for good reason though; although the amber light doens't shine, I can hear a ticking noise coming from one of the drives.

[Ali]

HI Frank,

GUI based utility provide comprehensive report and include error reporting.

communication with harddrive is fine and SMART technology didn't report any problem. hence LED status did not change.

drive failure due to physical damage/ bad block sometime does not indicate failue and OS utility like CHKDSK /f use to identify the fault.

Smart array controller has slient feature called Dynamic sector repair but that does not work if you have too much physical problem with the hard drive.

generate the Offline ADU report suing smartstart CD and send it to HP for analysis.

thanks,
Aftab

[Ali]

HP insight diagnostic on selected hard drive is another option to check for h/w failure.

Controller and drive firmware also sometime caused this kind of failure