HSG80 Cache Battery

[Neil Bailie]

Hi, I have to setup a StorageWorks with 2 HSG80's; HSGTOP and HSGBOT (from the CLI). I also have 2 cache memory modules (bottom left and bottom right of the StorageWorks). When I first got the unit it had one cache battery which had expired so I ordered in 2 new batteries.

Now that I have 2 batteries rather than 1, Iâ m not 100% sure on their setup. Each memory module has a cable that splits into 2 (Y cable), should only one of the connections on the Y go into the battery? So each cache module is plugged into a different battery?

How do I know which HSG80 uses which cache memory module? What am I meant to do with the other connection to each battery that is left over? Iâ ve noticed a shutdown button.

Sorry if these questions appear stupid, but Iâ m new to all of this!!

Thanks for a

[Uwe Zessin · Accepted solution]

Neil,
let me see if I understand you correctly. The controllers and other components are mounted in a BA-370 enclosure that can fit up to 24 StorageWorks disk drives, right?

The left cache module below the EMU belongs to the top controller (A). The right cache module below the PVA belongs to the bottom controller (B).

There are carriers with one cache battery or with two cache batteries embedded (one or two external connectors). For two controllers you either need two single carriers or one double.

The two connectors of the Y-cable are meant to enable a hot-swap of the cache battery. It is not intended to provide additional capacity.

[Neil Bailie]

Thanks for such a quick reply. Looks like i've ordered the wrong type of batteries, as i've now 2 batteries, each with 2 connections.

After i've run FRUTIL one of the batteries is failing to charge within 10 hours. Could i be doing something wrong to cause this? The sytem is not yet in production so i've been powering it down to change the batteries.

Thanks for the help.

Neil

[Uwe Zessin]

Neil,
it is a bit hard to diagnose remotely. What was the exact error message? Was there a sticker on the package that says up to which date the battery can be installed? These things should not be stored too long without use.

On the later MA-based batteries it is possible to remove a little blade so one could look at the date on the cell pack itself, but here I am afraid one would have to open the SBB carrier. I haven't seen one for some time now, but I beleive the screws are protected by warranty labels and I doubt you have the propper tools so using a secrew driver will leave ugly scratch marks.

I suggest you ask your local support channel for help.

[Neil Bailie]

Thanks again for your help with this. The error i am getting with the batteries is as follows:
%CER--HSGTOP>--07-APR-2004 00:28:13-- Cache battery declared failed due to not-
becoming fully charged in 10 hours

Is there anything I need to do when replacing a battery other than RUN FRUTIL that could potentially cause a battery to fail with this error?

Thanks for the help.

Neil

[Uwe Zessin]

Hello Neil,
I have never seen that message before. It looks like a bad battery to me. On the other hand, you could try and swap the batteries to see if the problem is in the charger electronic of the cache module.

[Neil Bailie]

Hi, I tried replacing the cache units but had no more success than with the original ones.

On about 3 of the 10 occasions that i've tried replacing the batteries 1 has charged successfully (i've tried it on both of the cache units), however when i've then swapped over the failed HSG to a different battery and then run FRUTIL, the working battery also appears to discharge and then i end up with 2 fail batteries.

The fact that i've ordered in 6 batteries all of which have at some point failed makes me think i am doing something wrong, anything further ideas?

[Uwe Zessin]

Hello Neil,
I am afraid I cannot follow all your tries unless you have a matrix :-(

What do you mean by 'failed HSG'?

[Mike Naime]

This could also be an EMU problem. It may be reporting the state incorrectly.

In the past when I got in a pair of T-5 configs (4 HSG's in 2 cabinets) I would sometimes see the batteries not fully charging after the first 24 hours. Your same message. After we tried swapping batteries around, we tried re-seating the EMU's. That seemed to fix the problems.