Adding new Host to existing EVA 6000 - Platform kit? Drivers?

[Frank Andrews]

Ok, so I seem to be all set apart from the issue of obtaining MS KB911030.

The servers won't have the cluster service loaded until next week, by another engineer, so I may have to make that him aware of it and see if SP2 is acceptable.

I assume its safe to build these servers to a basebuild level, unclustered and without MS KB911030, just to get the storage presented?

Thanks again

[Mike Bollman_1]

Yes, you can do the base OS install/SAN config. Keep in mind you can only present the LUNS to one system at a time without clustering running.

[Frank Andrews]

Michael, you've been brilliant so far, the server bullds went well and I presented the storage successfully. I still haven't obtained the other MS patch you mentioned and don't wish to apply SP2, so I'll work on obtaining that patch.

The only issue I have with the servers I built is that when the Fibre card drivers were installed, they detected the EVA controllers but I dont have drivers for them.

Basically now after doing a cold boot and logging in, Windows 'Detects New hardware' and prompts for drivers. I can't exactly remember what it detects (its in my notes back at site) but I think it detects "Storage Works XCS controller". I know the old platform kit method used to install drivers for these, but doing this manual method of HBA/Storport/patches etc doesn't seen to have put the appropriate drivers on. How did you resolve this on your clusters?

Thanks

[Mike Bollman_1]

If you have installed your MPIO Full Feature 2.01.00 driver you should be good. If Windows pops up and detects hardware tell it to load driver automagically.


I have attached a screenshot from one of my servers to show you how it will appear in device manager.

[Frank Andrews]

Mmmm I thought I had installed the correct driver, I selected the "automatic" option when windows prompted for drivers for the EVA controllers but it doesn't find them.
I had installed the driver from the file

I think the driver I installed was -

Type: Driver - Storage Controllers - FC HBA
Version: 5-1.20a7 Storport (23 Jan 2007)
Operating System(s): Microsoft Windows Server 2003
File name: BFS_120a7_32.exe (242 KB)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=1809835&prodNameId=1143949&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=co-46344-1

How do I know if I installed the full featured version or not?

[Frank Andrews]

To add to this, I wondered if you could advise about an EVA5000 that I have to work on soon.

In this case the firmware is slightly dated and I'm certain it won't support MPIO. I believe it could be firmware 3.020 or slightly higher. I think the original servers attached to this EVA were built with Platform Kit 3.0F and I believe they use Secure Path 4.0c

What is the method to install the latest drivers/secure path for my HP FC2142SR 4GB PCI-e cards?

Do I repeat the previous method but replace MPIO with secure path?

[Frank Andrews]

Damn, just realised you advised about the full feature MPIO driver, not the HBA driver! My MPIO driver is

HpMpioDSMForEVA4000_EVA6000_EVA8000_v2.01.00_Kit.zip

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18964&prodSeriesId=421492&prodNameId=421494&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=co-45033-1

Im sure this is the one you specified? Is it posible for me to install it incorrectly so the EVA drivers aren't loaded?

[Mike Bollman_1]

1) you have the correct driver installed
2) EVA5000 is a different animal, first you need to determine exactly what your vcs code level is. There are two branches in the code, active/passive (3.x vcs)and active/active (4.x vcs). You can use either the basic MPIO driver or secure path, but note there are different versions of mpio depending on your code level. Personally I generally run securepath on EVA5k's and MPIO on EVA8K's. Unless I am connecting a host to both types and then I run the two versions of MPIO. Find your version and then lets go from there. FYI...secure path is still 4.0c, but is now at SP2-9. below is the link for win2k3.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=1825351&prodTypeId=18964&prodSeriesId=315586&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=1005

Your driver install is the same, unless you are running Win2k and not Win2k3. Let me know if win2k and I can give you specifics.

3) In my earlier post I advised for you to install the driver for the HBA, reboot and then install the MPIO driver. I've seen the pop-up you are describing before, but its never been an issue. I just tell it to grab the driver and off it goes, I may hit never ask again...not sure. I should be building another SAN node either tomorrow or Monday. I will pay close attention to exactly what it says.

Let me know if you need anything else and Ill do my best.

You might want to also take a look at the following HP SAN Design Guide document.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=SupportManual&locale=en_US&docIndexId=179911&taskId=101&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=406734

it is quite thorough and gives you all the details on versions/interactions.

One last thing, if your EVA5k is really at 3.020 you need to schedule getting that bumped to 3.028 and the associated disk firmware. There are/were quite a few bugs in 3.020 as I recall. In addition I don't believe that level is officially supported any longer. You can go to the 4.x code, but that is a major upgrade and has quite a few host side impacts as well. Personally I would just stick with 3.x until you upgrade the 5k to an 8k.

Good luck

Mike B.

[Frank Andrews]

EVA 5000 -

I'm pretty sure the EVA5000 was originaly on 3.020 and then was upgraded to 3.028 due to an incident which involved HP. I'm aware of the fact that an upgrade to 4.x code has major implications and can mean the hosts all need their software upgrading, I'm pretty sure the client didn't have this done. I should be gaining access to this EVA today, continuing next week.

Is this the method I should follow for host installation? -

Install -
HBAnywhere
storport HBA driver (5-1.20a7)
reboot
install the storport hotfix (MS KB916048)
reboot
secure path 4.0c
patch secure path to SP2-9
MS KB911030

I've been on the Windows Secure Path downloads page and I'm a little confused by the choices.
I realise i need secure path 4.0c and to apply SP2-9, but is 4.0c actually available for download?

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=1825351&prodTypeId=18964&prodSeriesId=315586&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=1005

The page seems to be a list of patches? On this page I can see "spwin40c_web.zip" which appears to be the 4.0c base install, but on its prereq's it implies that it needs "Secure Path V4.0, V4.0A, V4.0B for Windows". Is this correct or can I download "spwin40c_web.zip" and install that on a new system and then patch it? The client was supposed to be supplying original secure path media, but I've not seen it yet. Also I seem to recall Secure path is licensed? Do I need a product key? (sorry about these basic questions, I've not installed securepath for over 2 years!).

[Frank Andrews]

On this EVA5000 project, I also have a quirky job to do with their backup server. It currently connects directly to the fibre and they also have an MSL6000 (I think) which is connected to the fibre with a NSR. This is working fine, but they also need this backup system to connect to a seperate EVA6000 to back that up. The seperate EVA6000 also has a similar backup device (MSL6000) with a NSR. The plan is that we remove the current HBAs from the backup server and add 2 x dual port HBAs to it. Two ports will then be reconnected to the current EVA5000 and two ports will be connected to the EVA6000 fibre. The server will then continue to backup existing clients on the EVA5000 and a new single client on the EVA6000.

Currently this server is using secure path to connect to the EVA5000, I believe it is possible to continue using secure path for the EVA5000 but also add MPIO to connect to the EVA6000 (this is what an account manager told me, but I'm not sure if I should remove secure path and use basic MPIO for the 5000 and full MPIO for the connections to the 6000?)

I believe this work will involve reconfiguring the switches to accept the new fibre hosts (the new HBAs will have new WWN IDs so the switches may need to be re-zoned, depending on how they were configured before). Also some re-configuration of the NSRs needs to be done, I need to check on this, I've not worked on NSRs before.

[Frank Andrews]

EVA6000-

I'm pretty sure I did tag the option (don't notify me to install this driver again) for the "Storage Works XCS controller" detected issue, but after cold boots/shutdowns it was still prompting for this driver. Do you think this will affect functionality if I ignore or even disable this driver in device manager?

[Mike Bollman_1]

Regarding install procedure for EVA5K, yes if the host is win2k3 then use the same storport driver and storport hotfix. You only need the MS KB 911030 if it is going to be a cluster node.

As far as secure path goes I think, but I am not 100%, that the available downloads are just the updates. I seem to recall that I had to install 4.0b first and then I could upgrade to 4.0c and then to 4.0c sp2-9. Try it and see though. If you do not meet the pre-reqs the installer will tell you.

The link you posted has the new "patches", but like I said above I am fairly certian you need the base 4.0 or 4.0b install first.

Regarding licenses, yes it is a "licensed" product, but it does not require a key. It is more of an honor system with you and HP.

[Mike Bollman_1]

I'm not sure what you mean by backing up the EVA6000. Are you wanting to mount snaps of the LUNS on the 6000 to your backup server and back that up? Or are you just wanting to backup the hosts that have luns on that server? I use Veritas Netbackup and my "SAN nodes" back them selves up as SAN media servers over the fiber directly to tape. I also have other nodes that are attached to the SAN, but we back them up via regular media servers. This is due to the licensing costs of veritas SAN media licenses.

If you want to attach any server to both a 5k and a 6k you do not "have" to have 2 separate HBA's, or 2 sets in your example. However, if you do that is fine. If you are going to go the dual - dual port route I would cross zone the cards.

Like so:
port 1 card 1 connect to EVA5K
port 2 card 1 connect to EVA6K
port 1 card 2 connect to EVA5K
port 2 card 2 connect to EVA6K

The reason I would do this is because dual-port cards can and do fail. Although this is a very rare event.

As far as secure path with mpio FF or mpio Basic with mpio FF, that is up to you. I personally have done both. However, the last couple of hosts I have tried to connect to both would not work with secure path and mpio FF at the same time. I never did figure out why as it has worked just fine in the past. I literally just did this setup on Tuesday this week and tried using secure path 4.02c sp2-5 and sp2-9 w/mpio FF. The host already had secure path so I just added mpio, but no dice. The server would not fully boot with both EVA's presented. In the end I pulled the secure path and installed mpio basic. However, this overwrote the DSM driver and I had to reinstall mpio FF. Once I did that everything worked like a champ. Point is it might take a little experimentation on your part to find what works best for you.

As far as zoning is concerned, it depends. If there are no zones defined now it will just work, hopefully that is not the case here. It should not be a big deal though, just create new zones for the new HBA's and zone in the devices you want them to see.

On NSR config, I'm not sure. I have not worked with the MSL6000, only the ESL712e, L700, L180. On the L180/700 there is no selective presentation, but there is on the ESL712. If the MLS has CommandView tape and uses selective tape presentation then yes, you will need to modify the tape nsr config.

[Mike Bollman_1]

EVA6000:

honestly I'm not sure what will happen if you ignore it. I am finishing the OS install on a new SAN node this morning, but I will be offsite all afternoon. It will probably be Monday morning before I get to the SAN setup piece. Once I get that done I will let you know what the pop-up says and how I get around it. Like I said in the past it has never been a real big issue.

[Frank Andrews]

Secure Path - The client is going to send their original media on to site on monday so I can install and patch it hopefully

[Frank Andrews]

EVA6000 - driver prompt issue.

I just checked my notes and the device driver that it kept prompting for was "HP HSV200 SCSI ARRAY DEVICE".

I've just built another two identical servers but this time for the EVA5000.
For these two I've built them with the Fibre HBAs in place before starting smart start. At this point in time I've smart start'd (7.7), installed 2003 Enterprise and applied SP1. When looking in device manager is lists an extra item compared to when I did the other servers - an object called "Emulex PLUS" appears and inside it is a device called "ElxPlus". Any ideas if this is a bad thing or not?

I'll do the HBAanywhere/HBA drivers/patch etc on monday and being working on presenting the EVA storage to these servers and then see if I again receive prompts for the EVA controller drivers or not.

[Frank Andrews]

Backup - I do understand your thoughts on the dual/dual port zoning, this was my plan for them, but I'll tackle this all later, I need to assess the backup server/tape device and see how its configured.

I think I'll look in to that later and maybe start a different thread or this one will become too busy :)

[Frank Andrews]

VSS -

I'd like to know your thoughts on this.

The client has previous clusters which which I believe use VSS but I'm not allowed to access them due to their security policy.

On the new clusters I have -

c:\ local OS
d:\ DVD
f:\ SQL_DATA (500GB from EVA)
g:\ SQL_BACKUP (500GB from EVA)
h:\ SQL_LOGS (200GB from EVA)
q:\ Quorum (1GB from EVA)

I believe they use VSS to replicate from SQL_DATA to SQL_BACKUP and then data protector takes backups from SQL_BACKUP to tape.

I've never used or configured VSS before, do you have any thoughts on this? I believe it may need HP drivers also?

Thanks again!

[Uwe Zessin]

> I believe it may need HP drivers also?

Yes, the array vendor needs to provide a "VSS hardware provider":
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/vdsvsshard/index.html

[Frank Andrews]

Michael, did you go back to site to do your client implementation? I'm back on site today and am going to again try to resolve the "Storage Works XCS controller" driver issue.

[Frank Andrews]

HSV Controller driver issue:

I resolved this now, see this thread -
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1118856

[Mike Bollman_1]

so you installing the HBA driver resolved it for you? Or was it the PSP?

I went through my new server last night and never did see the pop-up message. I have seen it before, but it has never been an issue.

weird

[Frank Andrews]

I didnt actually re-install the HBA, but I used the info on the thread mentioned above to download a different HBA driver, I expanded the files from the driver and then when Windows requested a HSV controller driver I entered the path to those expanded files. Therefore this particular HBA driver is more complete than the one I originally installed.

[Mike Bollman_1]

so it sounds like you installed the SCSIminiport drive vs. the storport driver then to get it working.

Not sure why that was giving you an issue. I have over 100 servers running storport driver with no issue. Very weird.

oh well, sorry I couldn't be of more assistance on that piece.

[Frank Andrews]

Just to be clear, I'm still using the Storport driver you recommended. The HSV driver issue was resolved by expanding another HBA driver to a folder (but not installing the driver) and when Windows prompted for the HSV Controller driver I pointed it at the new driver folder.

This other driver bascially contained many more files and within those it includes drivers for the HSV controllers.