On IA HP Integrity BL860c i4 blade I can not see second internal disk

[NavyYard]

Hi!

I am running HP-ux 11.31 OS on my integrity. I tried running "ioscan -fNnkC disk" I can not see both internal disk. SMH does not show them either.

I wanted to DRD / clone the OS loaded disk to the other internal disk but I can not see it.

 # ioscan -fNnkC disk
Class     I  H/W Path  Driver S/W State   H/W Type     Description
===================================================================
disk      1  64000/0xfa00/0x1  esdisk   CLAIMED     DEVICE       HP      LOGICAL VOLUME
                      /dev/disk/disk1      /dev/disk/disk1_p2   /dev/rdisk/disk1     /dev/rdisk/disk1_p2
                      /dev/disk/disk1_p1   /dev/disk/disk1_p3   /dev/rdisk/disk1_p1  /dev/rdisk/disk1_p3

How to I activate / see disk 2?

Can someone please shed some light on my issue?

Thanks

[Robert_Jewell]

What you are seeing is a logical volume that, likely, consists of both disks.  This volume is managed by the onboard SAS/SA controller.

I am not sure on the i4 models, but the i2 models utilize the Smart Array P410i as the built in controller.  To view your current configuration do the following:

# ioscan -fnkN

  > look for the controller with the /dev/cissX driver that the disk volume is attached to.  Likely you will see /dev/ciss0 and /dev/ciss1

# saconfig /dev/ciss0  (and/or /dev/ciss1)

 > you will then see all of the physical drives.

-Bob

[NavyYard]

Hi Bob!

with ioscan, I only see  /dev/ciss0.

Do I have to initialize the second disk at EFI level?

I have not used EFI so I could check it out before asking this question.

Please suggest if you have more info on this issue.

Thanks

[Robert_Jewell]

Post the output of:

 # saconfig /dev/ciss0

-Bob

[Patrick Wallek]

>>with ioscan, I only see  /dev/ciss0

This is not a disk.  It is your RAID controller.

[NavyYard]

Hi Bob!

Here is the output you asked for:

# saconfig /dev/ciss0

******************** SmartArray RAID Controller /dev/ciss0 ********************

Auto-Fail Missing Disks at Boot     = disabled

Cache Configuration Status             = cache enabled

Cache Ratio                                            = 100% Read / 0% Write

---------- PHYSICAL DRIVES ----------

Location  Ct Enc Bay       WWID           Size       Status

Internal  1I   1   1  0x5000cca00bc10625  146.8 GB   OK

Internal  1I   1   2  0x5000cca00bc19115  146.8 GB   OK

---------- LOGICAL DRIVE 0 ----------

Device File      = /dev/dsk/c0t0d0

RAID Level      = 1+0

Size                   = 139979 MB

Stripe Size      = 128 KB

Status              = OK

Participating Physical Drive(s):

Ct  Enc     Bay                                                             WWID

1I    1          1                                                                0x5000cca00bc10625

1I    1          2                                                                0x5000cca00bc19115

Participating Spare Drive(s):

None

#

Thanks

[NavyYard]

Additional info:

Also attaching sautil output in the file.

Thanks

[Holger G]

Hi,

as you can see, your two disk (Enc 1 Bay 1 and Enc 1 Bay 2) are part of a RAID 1+0 logical volume.
So you cannot access the individual disks, but just the logical volume (/dev/disk/disk1... or /dev/dsk/c0t0d0).

The internal disk of an HP Integrity BL8x0c i4 Server are attached to the internal PCIe SAS SmartArray P410i RAID Controller.
This RAID controller can be set to either RAID MODE or HBA MODE.
In your case it is set to RAID MODE, so the individual disks are not seen by the OS, but you have configured a RAID volume with these two disks being in a RAID 1+0.
If you want to see the individual disks at the OS level, you have to switch to HBA MODE using the saupdate command at EFI. Note that you would lose all data, if you switch between the modes.
So normally it should first be planned which mode wants to be used and then install the OS.

See also the HP Integrity BL860c i4, BL870c i4 & BL890c i4 Server Blade User Service Guide for further information.
You can download the manual at HP Support Center:
http://www.hp.com/go/hpsc
 -> search for BL860c i4
  -> choose "Manuals" at the left

Kind Regards

Holger

I am an HP employee.
Was this post useful? - You may click the KUDOS! Star.

[NavyYard]

Hi holger!

My EFI shell could not find saupdate comand in fs**:   

Any ideas?

Thanks

[Robert_Jewell]

You need to download the SAS IO Firmware Update package to get the utility.  The firmware and utility is placed on an EFI partition and then you can use it.  Might as well update your IO firmware if applicable while you are at it.

Try this link:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=3709945&prodSeriesId=5330436&prodNameId=5330437&swEnvOID=54&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-300ff32f7a8f49c79b842aa234

or go to www.hp.com/go/bizsupport

 - select Drivers and Downloads

 - Navigate to your server model

 - Select Cross Operating System, BIOS...

 - look for the firmware package.

The usage of saupdate is explained fairly well by the commands help/usage syntax.

Remember, by using saupdate to change your controller mode, you are going to lose the data/OS you have on your disks now.

-Bob

[Patrick Wallek]

If you change the way you use your disks a side-effect of this, other than completely wiping out your OS, is that you will NO LONGER have the protection of your disks being mirrored.  

As your system is configured now, if one of the disks were to fail your system would still function.  All you would have to do is replace the disk and rebuild the mirror (which may be automatic) and you would be protected again.

If you change your configuration so that you have the 2 disks seen separately by the OS, and have HP-UX installed on one, then that is a single point of failure.  If that disk fails, then your system WILL crash.  It will not matter if you use the 2nd disk as a DRD backup, your system will crash if the primary/only OS disk fails.

I would urge you to consider an alternative to changing your raid configuration.  If you really want an additional disk, to use DRD or for whatever purpose, purchase a 3rd disk to put into the system.  Then use that disk for whatever purpose you choose.  That way you will still have your OS on a set of mirrored disks and have the protection from hardware failure that gives you.

[NavyYard]

Hi!

Steps provided were prefect.

I ran "saupdate set_mode all hba -f" command to change it to HBA mode from RAIDmode.  All worked perfectly.

Thanks

[pancuz]

Just to add...

With latest smart array firmware - 6.22 or above (with new efi driver) ; option for mode change is displayed in ORCA menu. So, saupdate is not required for mode change any more. You can follow same steps to launch ORCA - "drvcfg -s ct drv" for a particular smart Array card and use mode change option from displayed menu . However, you are still at risk of losing data post a mode change.

[winters_liang]

the bl860c sas controller mode is RAID, disks RAID level is raid 1+0, so" HP      LOGICAL VOLUME: in "ioscan -fNnkC disk" display.

if you want see the disk2, you change the controller mode to HBA mode.

Backup the HPUX to Ignite server.

1. Download the sas controller the lastest firmware.

2.To configure a USB key for FAT32.

3. unzip firmware to USB key.

4.reboot bl860c to EFI

5.update the firmware and change controller to HBA mode

   commond in USB key

   a. fsX:> saupdate update all sandman_XXXXX.bin

   b. sfX:> saupdate set_mode  all  raid

6.reinstall the HPUX from Ignite server.

[Torsten.]

I would stay with the RAID mode.

So you have a mirrored bootdisk and you avoid the pain while replacing a bad disk in HBA mode ...

Consider to use a LUN from external storage as DRD target.

[Juha_E]

Hi,

I have an interesting situation: i4 blade with two 300 GB disks with following config:

- P410i controller in "RAID Mode"

- One Logical Drive ( 0 ) using the first disk ( RAID 0 displayed as the RAID level ?)

- Second drive in "UNASSIGNED" status

As I want to have the root disk mirrored the needed situation should have the Logical drive in RAID 1 .

I tried to modify the LUN so that it would include the second drive as a "spare" using the following command

/opt/raidsa/bin/saconfig /dev/ciss0 -A 0 -s 1I:1:1

Cannot add spare drive to logical drive 0 (in RAID 0)
saconfig (/dev/ciss0): Current driver state is READY

same not-working-situation when using "extend" the LUn with the following command:

fiopdev:/root # /opt/raidsa/bin/saconfig /dev/ciss0 -E 0 -p 1I:1:1
Batteries needed to perform operation
saconfig (/dev/ciss0): Current driver state is READY

( dont understand why the batteries are referred ?)

( partially understable as the raid changes are usually don efrom the [U]EFI when the system is not in use :-( )

So what is the procedure to have the root disk mirrored to the second drive ? Basically I dont understand why the servers has been configured in the factory using "RAID-0 with one drive" as there are two drives ?

[Torsten.]

Never seen this before. These systems came from factory either with smartarray in HBA mode or in RAID 1 mode.

Could you please sent the saconfig output?

example:

# saconfig /dev/ciss1

[Sharjeel Saleem]

Hi Folks,

One quick question.

Do I still need to configure logical drive (Raid 1+0) from ORCA or BIOS setup after changing array controller mode to RAID?

*I am doing fresh installation of HPUX v3 on BL870c i2 servers, i have changed HBA mode to RAID mode and trying to configure logical drive but after pressing F8 no logical drive creates.

Regards.

[Torsten.]

yes.
you need to use drvcfg -s to do this.

[Sharjeel Saleem]

Hi Torsten, Thank you for your feedback but when i ran cmd drvcfg -s and creates logical drive by pressing F8 to save the configuration, configuration not saving and logical drive didnt creates. Is there any license issue or what?

Regards,

[Torsten.]

try ESC 8

[Sharjeel Saleem]

Thx! :)