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Re: StorageWorks MSA 50 loss of all disks

 
Gavin Watt 2
Occasional Contributor

StorageWorks MSA 50 loss of all disks

Hello

I'm not sure if this is a problem with disks, the external disk array, the disk array controller, the server or a combination.

Server: Proliant DL385 G1
External disk array: StorageWorks MSA 50
Disk array controller: SmartArray P600
Server operating system: Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP2

On 2 occasions now (2 weeks apart) all 6 disks in a StorageWorks MSA 50 have become inaccessible resulting in a loss of service due to a SQL server being unable to access the disks. The StorageWorks MSA 50 is fitted with 6 x 73gb 15k SAS drives. When the problem occurs there are no lights lit on the disks indicating any sort of fault. There is power to the StorageWorks MSA 50 but the drives are inaccessible.

The 6 disks are configured as 2 volumes: one 2 disk RAID 1 volume and one 4 disk RAID 1+0 volume.

When rebooting the server the P600 SmartArray controller reports "logical disks disabled due to possible data loss". Pressing F2 and accepting the data loss re-enables the drives and the server successfully boots and the disks are accessible.

So far I have been unable to determine the cause of the problem.
The 8.60 firmware maintenance CD and 8:30 support pack have been applied to the server so the drives, bios and firmware are up to date.

The HP Array Configuration Utility and HP Insight Diagnostics have been run and no problems have been detected.

I can understand one disk failing but not all 6.

Although the server is several years old, the external disk array, the disk array controller and the disks are only 1 month old.

Has anyone seen this before or got any suggestions?

Best wishes

Gavin.
5 REPLIES 5
Patrick Terlisten
Honored Contributor

Re: StorageWorks MSA 50 loss of all disks

Hello Gavin,

this sound like a general problem with you configuration. Are there any helpful messages in the event log of the servers, maybe of the insight agents? You should log a call at HP to determine the main cause for the failure.

Please check the cabling, reseat the controller etc.

Best regards,
Patrick
Best regards,
Patrick
Oliver Gica
New Member

Re: StorageWorks MSA 50 loss of all disks

Hi Gavin,

We have encountered this problem also...and the real problem here is the power supply of MSA-50 is failing!

Enable your HP Event Notifier Configuration and set to email all errors of the server which attaches the MSA-50...and you'll notice that the MSA-50 power supply are failing via the event notification.

What i noticed is that the power supply of the MSA-50 goes into a state of amber and green...with this state the array controller would disable the array and BAM! your disk subsystem are offline.

Man, i've been trying get hold of someone having the same problems as me...ever since we bought the MSA-50 last Dec. 2007 we have been having problems with these power supply every 3-months or so...our warranty was just extended but we have more than 10 replacements of these power supplies....

Hope you could relate what i feel when these problems occur!

regards.
Gavin Watt 2
Occasional Contributor

Re: StorageWorks MSA 50 loss of all disks

Hi Oliver

Very interesting.
I will investigate further and take a closer look at the power supplies.

Does your MSA 50 have 1 or 2 power supplies?
Our MSA 50 has 2 power supplies attached to separate power socket strips (not sure if on same phase though).

Many thanks for taking the time to respond to my post.

Gavin.
Oliver Gica
New Member

Re: StorageWorks MSA 50 loss of all disks

Hi Gavin,

Yup, we have 2 power supplies as this is designed for redundancy...

Check your HP Integrated Management Log for power supply failures.

Our config:

DL360 G5 where MSA-50 is attached and with 5 disk arrays in RAID-5 using P600 controller.
We have done the following:

Previously...
PS1 - attached to 5000w AVR
PS2 - attached to HP R5500 VA UPS

Current as modified by our supplier...
PS1 - attached to HP R5500 VA UPS
PS2 - attached to HP R5500 VA UPS

These are all housed inside HP Rack 10642 G2 Pallet Rack, with 2 other DL360 G5 and a ML110 G3. None of the other machines have encountered a single power supply problem since we acquired them.

regards.
Oliver Gica
New Member

Re: StorageWorks MSA 50 loss of all disks

If i may add...HP have also replaced everything from:

power supply (more than 10 times!)
mid plane (1 time)
back plane (1 time)
whole enclosure (1 time)
increase warranty to additional 1 year...

SAME PROBLEM...power supply failure causing the P600 controller to disable itself!

Hope i'm heard.