EVA loop connection lost + disk failure after replacing disk

[A. J. Stuivenberg_1]

I've had a strange thing. In an EVA3000 2c2d there was a 146,8 Gb FC disk failing in enc 2 bay 13. We replaced it with an 146,8 Gb FC disk partnr 300590-001 bd14658225. At that instance loop A failed. I manually tried to reenable loop A, but that caused loop B to fail...the system wouldn't let both loops work. After a few hours another disk failed, this time enc 1 bay 13. I pulled out the replaced disk (enc2b13), and the other disk (enc1b13) went to status normal. However, this disk wasn't part of the diskgroup anymore and it had to be regrouped.
The second disk (again a brand new one) i tried also caused this problem, same type and manuf. disk again!!! The third disk (again brand new, same type/manuf.) was added succesfully, the system accepted the disk. Of course everything was carefully executed, waiting for the SAN to level out first. Took us 4 days but at least there was no datacorruption. VCS 3.014. Has anyone seen this before?

P.S. This thread has been moved from Disk to Storage Area Networks (SAN) (Enterprise). - Hp Forum Moderator

[Ivan Ferreira]

Problems like this may be caused by an oudated FC disk firware. You should ensure that the disks that you have are having the current firmware version.

[Richard Perez]

Several things
-do you have automatic disk grouping enabled?
-did you check/upgrade the firmware of the new disk?

Moreover, 3.014 isn't supported then you should upgrade ASAP

Regards

[Mike Reznak]

Hi,

or the disk firmware might be newer than supported in VCS 3.014.

Mike

[A. J. Stuivenberg_1]

The disks used were all of the latest, correct firmware. They were all of the same manufacturer (same BD number). One was produced in may, one in august and one in september of this year. There were NO differences between these three. The one produced in august was the one that didn't fail. (if this one had failed too,you all would have a point....but it didn't! Why?!?)

About VCS, you're correct. We are trying to get this done (together with other firmware like disks and HBA's plus an upgrade of the SMA) this weekend by HP.
Maybe that is the cause, but what i really want to know if there's someone else with the same experience? This could potentially be disasterous for the data! (what if both loops had failed?)

[Robert Dobalina]

There are instances where disks can disrupt the loops and your VCS is vulnerable for those effects. This is regardless of whether the disks are grouped or not. You need to be at a higher version. 3020 support ends this year so you would want 3025 or 3028. There is no real reason to wait for leveling to finish as it is a background task.