hp-ux disk configuration question

[Prokopets]

Hi everyone!
I have strange situation on my rx7640 box: there's fabric installed hp-ux, but it's installed on one disk, second is passive. I tried to make raid1 using saconfig, but got this message:
=====
# ll ci*
crw-rw-rw- 1 bin bin 18 0x040000 Sep 19 21:02 ciss4
# saconfig /dev/ciss4

******************** SmartArray RAID Controller /dev/ciss4 ********************

Auto-Fail Missing Disks at Boot = disabled
Cache Configuration Status = cache NOT configured
Cache Ratio = N/A

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

No physical drive detected

# saconfig /dev/ciss4 -N

******************** SmartArray RAID Controller /dev/ciss4 ********************

Auto-Fail Missing Disks at Boot = disabled
Cache Configuration Status = cache NOT configured
Cache Ratio = N/A

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

No physical drive detected

=====

So, two drives are connected somehow not through the smartarray. I tried to look in ioscan and got this:
=====
# ioscan -fnC disk
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
=======================================================================
disk 0 1/0/0/3/0.6.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HP 146 GHUS153014VL3800
/dev/dsk/c0t6d0 /dev/dsk/c0t6d0s2 /dev/rdsk/c0t6d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t6d0s2
/dev/dsk/c0t6d0s1 /dev/dsk/c0t6d0s3 /dev/rdsk/c0t6d0s1 /dev/rdsk/c0t6d0s3
disk 1 1/0/0/3/1.2.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE Optiarc DVD RW AD-5200A
/dev/dsk/c1t2d0 /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0
disk 2 1/0/1/1/0/4/1.6.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HP 146 GHUS153014VL3800
/dev/dsk/c3t6d0 /dev/rdsk/c3t6d0
# ioscan
1/0/12/1 slot PCI Slot
1/0/12/1/0 ba PCItoPCI Bridge
1/0/12/1/0/4/0 ext_bus PCI-X SmartArray 6402 RAID Controller
1/0/14 ba Local PCI-X Bus Adapter (12ee)
1/0/14/1 slot PCI Slot
=====

So i can't understand two things: 1) how are the disks connected to server? 2) is there any way to use raid1 on smartarray without reinstalling hp-ux and losing information on disks (without Mirror\UX)?

[Steven E. Protter · Accepted solution]

Shalom,

Without mirror/ux the way to do raid1 in this scenario is with the smart array controller. I'll also assume you are not using vxvm which lets you do software raid on the root(boot) partition.

hardware raid is superior anyway taking a burden off the system.

Its possible that the disks involved do not exist. EMS and the system do sometimes connect the disk array itself on LUN0 only as an actual disk. Since its not a real disk this scenario can be triggered.

So I'd do a physical disk count of local disks, making sure the little green lights are lit. Replace any hot swaps that are not lit.

It is also possible that there is a problem with the smart array card, but if this were the case the system probably would not boot.

If you are able to locate physically all disks that show up on ioscan then you are beyond the scope of this post.

To question 2. I don't think reinstalling the OS would be helpful. If there are two disks with information on them an you boot the system and hit F8 at the console and configure hardware raid, data loss is likely. If there is not valuable data on both disks then determining what is there, resolving th problem logically will accomplish your goal without loss of data and re-installation of the OS.

SEP

[TTr]

The two internal disks are NOT connected to the SA6402, they are connected to the built-in core i/o.
Take a look at the "Internal Disk Devices for the Server" section of
http://docs.hp.com/en/AB312-9010A/ch01s01.html#babcjcde
I don't know if the internal disks can be wired on to the 6402 controller in this server or they are plugged in directly on the system board.

[Lester Dias]

Hi,

Yes TTr is correct. The internal disks are hard wired to the core I/O which is, in the case of the rx76xx systems, split over the MP/scsi (path 1/0/0/3/0) and lan/scsi (path 1/0/1/1/0/4/1) cards. The lan/scsi is located in slot 8 of the right hand PCI cage. This cage is wired to cell 1. The 6402 with path 1/0/12/1/0... I would guess is in PCI slot 3. You would need to connect disks externally to this. To mirror the internal disks it would have to be software - LVM or vxvm.

[Prokopets]

Thanks four your information gentlemen! Software mirror is not an option... I'll try to make a boot-from-san configuration in this case :(