Adding new disk on bay 9 of RX6600

[Syedfurquan]

Hello All,

I have a RX6600 server having 8 disks populated from bay-1 -bay8. Now I have a requirement of adding 2 more disks and I can see more 8 ports are availaible from bay9-bay16.

I checked ioscan -fn and can see a smart array controller SAS HBA card as follows:

ext_bus     1  0/6/0/0/0/0/1/0/0/0      ciss           CLAIMED     INTERFACE    PCIe SAS SmartArray P400 RAID Controller
                              /dev/ciss1

Can I add another 2 disks on bay9 and bay10 or I will be needing another smart array controller card to detect it? Attached is the ioscan -fn O/P for reference.

Any help is very much appreciated.

Regards,

[Torsten.]

From quickspec:

When a second core PCI-Express P400 RAID controller is required to support disks 9 through 16, it will be installed in slot #4, leaving two available PCI-Express slots and four available PCI-X slots. Second core controller cannot be factory configured for RAID (unless it is done through Factory Express). Please see rx6600 Ordering Guide for factory configuration details.

You either need a second P400 or a second 8-port sas controller.

[Syedfurquan]

Hi Torsten,

Thanks for the reply. It means to add new disks from bay 9; I need either P400 smart array controller or 8 port SAS Controller.

P400 can be added on slot 4

SAS controller on slot 2 but on slot 2 lan card is already there so can we move SAS card to slot 3 or lan card to slot 3?

Regards,

[Holger G · Accepted solution]

Hi Syedfurquan,

as of the provided ioscan output you currently have a PCI-Express Backplane and a PCI-Express 8-port Smart Array (P400) Serial Attached SCSI Controller in slot 3, which is a valid configuration option.

If you choose an extra PCI-X 8 port Serial Attached SCSI card to support the disk slots 9-16, it will be installed in the reserved PCI-X core I/O slot (slot 1), which is still empty in your system.
If you choose an extra PCI-Express card, it will be installed in slot #4.

See also the related information in the HP Integrity rx6600 Server QuickSpecs:
Click here to access HP Integrity rx6600 Server QuickSpecs

PCI-Express Backplane:
...
If a PCI Express 8 port Smart Array (P400, supports only internal connection to SAS disks) Serial Attached SCSI controller (supported with HP UX, OpenVMS, Windows, and Linux) is chosen, or if a PCI Express 16 port (8 internal ports and 8 external ports) Smart Array (P800) Serial Attached SCSI controller (for Windows and Linux only, also supports connection to external SAS disks) is chosen, the PCI X Core I/O slot remains empty and the PCI Express controller is installed in slot #3.

Each port of a Serial Attached SCSI card can be connected to a Serial Attached SCSI hard disk drive. When more than eight hard disk drives are required, a second 8 port Serial Attached SCSI card must be ordered. If a PCI-X card is chosen, it will be installed in the reserved PCI-X core I/O slot. If a PCI-Express card is chosen, it will be installed in slot #4.

...
HP-UX and OpenVMS based systems with PCI-Express Backplane:
These systems have the two choices for Core I/O controller; the HP PCI-X 8 Internal Port Serial Attached SCSI host bus adapter or the HP PCI-Express 8 Internal Port Smart Array (P400) Serial Attached SCSI controller.

Kind Regards

Holger

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[Syedfurquan]

Hello Holger,

Thank you very much for explaining the configuration for adding new disks on bay9-bay 16 on RX6600. As per your post I understood as below and correct me if I ma wrong.

If I used PCI-Express card for creating teh disks in RAID volume I need to install it on slot 4

If I go with PCI-X core I/O slot I can used it on slot 1.

I have one more server RX3600 and I was thinking all the 8 disks on this serevr are on the same bay so I can add them without any issue, but now today when I addedd the new disks the disks are not detected separately, it is detecting in the same already created RAID volume. Could you please help me; DO I need one more PCI-X core/ PCI-Expreess to use other disks on slots 1,3,4,&8 which is free right now. Attached is teh ioscan and sasutil O/P from RX3600 for the reference.

Many thnks in advance for all the support.

Regards,

[Syedfurquan]

HI,

Also please help me in getting the part number for PCI-X core I/O slot SAS HBA for both RX3600 and RX6600.

Regards,

[Holger G]

Hi Syedfurquan,

the rx3600 uses like your rx6600 a PCI-Express 8-port Smart Array (P400) Serial Attached SCSI Controller in slot 3.
As each port of that card can be connected to a disk drive, all eight disks in an rx3600 can be connected to that single P400 controller.
No additional controller is needed.

The sautil output shows four disks, used in two different RAID 1+0 volumes:

---- SAS/SATA DEVICE SUMMARY -------------------------------------------------
  Location  Ct Enc Bay       WWID           Type        Capacity Status
  internal  1I   1   2  0x5000c5000b81a5d1  DISK       146.8 GB  OK
  internal  2I   1   7  0x5000cca00062ad91  DISK       146.8 GB  OK
  internal  2I   1   6  0x500000e119a957c2  DISK       146.8 GB  OK
  internal  2I   1   5  0x5000c50005d699a1  DISK       146.8 GB  OK

It seems as both internal SAS cables are connected, as we see 1I (bays 1-4) and 2I (bays 5-8).
So in general, if you add any other disks, this should shows up in that list.
However, the P400 controller has very old firmware (2.08). If you install additional disks online, and they do not show up in sautil, it might be related to old firmware or driver. You may reboot the server to check this.

The part number for the HP PCI-X 8 Internal Port Serial Attached SCSI host bus adapter (which would be installed in slot 1) is: 435709-001 

Kind Regards

Holger

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[Syedfurquan]

Hi Holger,

Once again many thanks for your reply. I tried adding new disks on bay 1 and bay 4 and it is detecting in teh sautil o/p showing taht disk as unassigned. But in ioscan -fnC disk o/p only 2 Logical volume with 4 disks is showing there.

My requirement here is I want to add  new disk on bay 1 & 3 without RAID. Can I add these 2 disks on RX3600 and use LVM mirroring to mirror the disk.

Also the part number 435709-001  is showing for RX3600 not for RX6600. I need it for RX6600.

Appreciate everyone for all their support in advance.

Regards,

[Torsten.]

The P400 smart array controller works with logical drives (LUNs) only.

You could create a LUN0 per disk, but this makes no sense at all.

A hardware mirror is much better than a LVM mirror in this case.

[Syedfurquan]

Hello All,

Appreciate if any one can help me in getting the part number for RX6600

1.      PCI-O SAS HBA Card

2.     PCI Express P400 smart array controller

Regards,

[Holger G]

Hi Syedfurquan,

the previously provided part number 435709-001 for the PCI-X SAS HBA is valid even for the HP Integrity rx6600 server.

So part numbers are:
1. PCI-X SAS HBA Card: 435709-001
2. PCI Express P400 smart array controller: 405832-001

Kind Regards

Holger

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