MSA1000 Firmware upgrade

[Jeff Tolly]

Performing an upgrade to 4.32 on the MSA1000

Loading Support software 6.51 first.

Have Compaq DL380 G2's with Support Paq 5.3

Will be upgrading to 7.1

Has anyone had any issues with this type of upgrade? Any comments on support paq 7.1?

Thank you,

Jeff

[Greg Carlson]

Jeff,
Regarding the MSA fw, what fw level are you at currently? Are you having any performance issues with it? Also do you have secure path installed? FW levels of the switch and HBA?

I would post in the proliant server section regarding the support paq question.

Ciao,
Greg

[Jeff Tolly]

Greg,

MSA1000 Firmware is 1.16
EMU 1.78
HBA 5.4.54.7
Compaq switch 2.1.9

Upgrade to

MSA1000 4.32
EMU 1.86
HBA 5.4.82.9
Compaq switch 2.6.0

We are in a standardized environment so we do not run the latest and greatest versions.

Yes, we are having performance issues and have problems with our MS Cluster not failing over correctly. Once we upgrade we can then turn towards MS for our cluster failover problem. Basically only a few resources failover and not all. We have to manually move them.

How do I check if Secure Path is installed?

Thank you,

Jeff

[Greg Carlson · Accepted solution]

Jeff,

With your EMU at 1.78, we need to verify if the chipset on the EMU is capable of the fw upgrade to 1.86.
Refer to this document:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/products/storageworks/msa1000/Upgrading_MSA1000.pdf

I would also do the MSA fw upgrade from 1.16 to 2.38 and then from 2.38 to 4.32. 1.16 is not a supported fw level any more.

Install the HBA driver from the MSA software support CD 6.51.02 which you can download from here: (MSA fw is also located here)
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/softwaredrivers/msa1000/index.html

Finally you can verify that SecurePath is installed by checking all systems connected to the MSA for raidisk.sys driver which is the filter driver for SecurePath. If you have it, post the version, most likely you'll need to upgrade that as well to 4.0c

You can find the option to upgrade 3.1b SP to 4.0 here:
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storageworks/softwaredrivers/msa1000/v238.html

Ciao,
Greg

[Jeff Tolly]

Yes, will be checking the chip on the card first before doing anything.

Is there an article to refer to concerning the 1.16 to 2.38 to 4.32?

Do not have SecurePath installed. If I was to what article and version should I install with?

Thank you,

Jeff

[Greg Carlson]

Jeff,

There aren't any articles that I'm aware of suggesting to perform the FW upgrade in two steps. I think it is risky to jump too many fw levels all in one flash. Even going from 2.38 to 4.32 is two levels in its own..

As for SecurePath, Are you running with single or dual controllers? If you have dual controllers then you need SecurePath 4.0c WW or MPIO to manage failover between the two paths. If you have two paths, you need the multipath software installed to manage the failover.

SecurePath Link:
http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/sanworks/secure-path/spwin.html

MPIO:
http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/21829.html

Ciao,
Greg

[Jeff Tolly]

We are running a single controller.

Plus or minus on running a single? I wasn't here when they were purchased but my guess it was an economic decision vs. redundancy/failover.

We have seven arrays for the one controller.

[Greg Carlson]

Jeff,

If you have just a single controller, then Securepath and MPIO are useless. There is no performance improvement on the MSA1000 for having dual controllers because you are not able to load balance the two controllers. They operate strictly active/standby. So if you lose one path, it will fail over to the other controller without losing connection to the SAN.

If it is a critical solution, then I would have the configuration upgraded to a multi-path solution so that if you lose an HBA or controller, you would still be up and running.

All part numbers are listed here:

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11033_na/11033_na.html

Step 3 â Choose Redundant MSA1000 System Options
MSA1000 Controller
218231-B22

256 MB Cache Modules for Controller (one additional for each controller)
254786-B21
HP StorageWorks Secure Path (appropriate model for the operating system)
NOTE: Redundant configurations require two Host Adapters per server, an additional controller and I/O, a MSA SAN Switch 2/8 or a MSA Hub 2/3 (for Windows or NetWare), and Secure Path software for each server. For Microsoft ProLiant Clusters, Secure Path software can be substituted with the ProLiant Clusters HA/F200 kit.
Mixing of the MSA Fibre Channel I/O Modular and the MSA SAN Switch 2/8 or the MSA Hub 2/3 is not supported. When configuring the MSA1000 for redundant controllers use either two MSA Fibre Channel I/O Modules, two MSA Hub 2/3s, or two MSA SAN Switch 2/8s.


MSA Fibre Channel I/O Module (Includes one 2 Gb SFP transceiver)
218960-B21
MSA SAN Switch 2/8 (integrated) (Includes four 2 Gb SFP transceivers)
288247-B21
MSA Hub 2/3 (integrated) (Includes two 2 Gb SFP transceivers)
286763-B21