What are the required part numbers for upgrading an MSA 2040 to an MSA 2050/2052??

[Tom Lyczko]

HPE tech support is being its usual unhelpful bureaucratic self.

I politely requested information about the required part numbers to buy for the purpose of upgrading an iSCSI MSA 2040 to a 2050/2052 and they told I could not get this information without paying for it to their consulting department.

This is poor customer service....I have many times received parts information from HP support departments.

Does anyone reading this forum have the ability to tell me where I should find this information about what to buy toward upgrading this SAN?? It should not be anything difficult, yet it is.

My understanding is that the physical controller arrays have to be replaced, while the physical enclosure itself remains the same. We already have iSCSI SFPs installed.

I also asked about documentation of the upgrade procedure in case there is more information beyond the PDF I found.

Thank you, Tom

[arun_r]

Hi Tom,

Chassis and controllers needs to be procured. Details in quickspecs.

SFP modules of MSA 2040 and MSA 2050 are identical as per quickspecs.

MSA 2040 quickspecs page 29:

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00008276enw

MSA 2050 quickspecs page 21:

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00008276enw

MSA 2050 controller - Part number: 876127-001

The only upgrade document that I could find is listed below:

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/Getdocument.aspx?docname=a00015116enw

You may consider booting with just MSA 2050 controllers with out any hard drives installed in the chassis to ensure that the controllers are at latest firmware version VL270.

Note: Linear vdisks to Virtual Pool migration is not supported.

MSA 2050 supports only virtual pools.

[Tom Lyczko]

This is very helpful!! Thank you!!

One can't upgrade a 2040 to a 2052??

How do I know if I have virtual pools and not linear vdisks??

[arun_r]

Tom,

MSA 2040 supports both linear vdisks and virtual pools.

MSA 2050 supports only virtual pools

Data in place upgrade is not supported from MSA 2040 to MSA 2052 when MSA 2040 has linear vdisks.

Run the below mentioned command to find out the type of configuration _ Linear or Virtual

show pools

Please refer page 28 of the upgrade guide:

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/Getdocument.aspx?docname=a00015116enw

[Tom Lyczko]

I did this, I get this output, I guess this means pools are used, hence no issues should occur.

login as: manage
Using keyboard-interactive authentication.
Password:

HP MSA Storage MSA 2040 SAN
System Name: MSA 2040 SAN
System Location: HFMC
Version: GL225P002-02
# show pools
Name Serial Number Class Total Size Avail Snap Size
OverCommit Disk Groups Volumes Low Thresh Mid Thresh High Thresh
Sec Fmt Health Reason Action
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A 00c0ff274ab400009b4c975701000000 Virtual 5990.8GB 425.5GB 0B
Enabled 2 2 25.00 % 50.00 % 96.41 %
512n OK
B 00c0ff275c630000b44c975701000000 Virtual 4791.7GB 320.7GB 0B
Enabled 2 2 25.00 % 50.00 % 95.51 %
512n OK
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Success: Command completed successfully. (2019-08-09 08:52:35)

# I must ascertain if it is financially feasible to buy the controllers to perform this upgrade.

Since virtual pools are in use and we are not changing protocols, we are keeping iSCSI, on first glance it seems possible that we should be able to simply power down, remove disks, put in the new controllers, reboot without disks and update firmware, power down, put the disks back in, turn the SAN on again..

I will re-read the documentation many more times again.

Are the 2050 and 2052 controllers the same??

Or a different part number for a 2052 controller??

Controllers are expen$ive!!

[SUBHAJIT KHANBARMAN_1]

Please find the Quickspec link for MSA 2050 and you need to refer Page no 4 to get all controller product IDs,

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00008276enw

Also please find the Quickspec link for MSA 2052 and you need to refer Page no 3 to get all controller product IDs,

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00008277enw

No both controller product ID are not same but part numbers same

You can take the product ID and search from the below link to get the part numbers,

https://partsurfer.hpe.com/search.aspx

You can also refer below links to get all part numbers for MSA 2050 and MSA 2052,

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-a00017813en_us

https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-a00017835en_us

Hope this helps!
Regards
Subhajit

I am an HPE employee

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!

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[arun_r]

The command output indicates that virtual pools are being used.

Please follow the complete proedure listed in the document for the upgrade.

MSA 2050 and MSA 2052 models use same controllers.

MSA 2052 model comes with 2 X SSD drives.

[Tom Lyczko]

First I have to be able to even buy the new controllers, this will be next year sometime or even the year after if I must wait that long.

The documentation is good but it mentions changing the array enclosure. What is the difference between the array enclosure and the chassis?? My understanding is that only the controllers need to be changed and the part containing the disks does not change.

Are these cables inside the chassis?? Are these necessary for an iSCSI SAN?? "If you are moving to MSA 2050/2052 SAS controllers, you will need to purchase cables with HD mini-SAS (SFF 8644 connector) connectors for connection to the MSA 2050/2052 SAS host ports."

Thank you for all your help so far, Tom

[SUBHAJIT KHANBARMAN_1]

Controller Enclosure can be called as Array Enclosure or Array head or Chassis.

In your case you need to buy both Chassis and Controllers because MSA 2040 Chassis will not support MSA 2050 controllers.

All details covered inside upgrade document,

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/Getdocument.aspx?docname=a00015116enw

Now coming to your other query, "Are these cables inside the chassis?? Are these necessary for an iSCSI SAN?? "If you are moving to MSA 2050/2052 SAS controllers, you will need to purchase cables with HD mini-SAS (SFF 8644 connector) connectors for connection to the MSA 2050/2052 SAS host ports."

Ans: This is not applicable for your case as this is applicable if you want to move to SAS interface. Your requirement is iSCSI which is different protocol than SAS

Hope this helps!
Regards
Subhajit

I am an HPE employee

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!

************************************************************************

[arun_r]

Hi Tom,

I apologize for the confusion.

As mentioned by Subhajit, the controller enclosure (chassis) also needs to be replaced as MSA 2050 supports a different model chassis.

[Tom Lyczko]

Replacement parts needed: one (1) 2050/2052 chassis and two (2) 2050/2052 controllers??

Still perhaps less expensive than buying new hardware...

[arun_r]

Yes. You are correct.

Purcahsing the  appropriate bundle package listed in page 4 of MSA 2050 quickspecs sheet would be the best option:

https://h20195.www2.hpe.com/v2/getdocument.aspx?docname=a00008276enw

You could reuse the hard drives and any attached compatible disk enclosures this way.

[Tom Lyczko]

I looked at the list. It appears the same as buying a new one.

The below is $11400.

If I use this can I effectively put all my 2040 disks into it without losing anything???

Buying this is essentially a replacement.

HPE MSA 2050 SAN Dual Controller SFF Storage Q1J01A
NOTE: Includes an SFF Array Chassis, two MSA 2050 SAN controllers, two AC power supplies, two .7m PDU cords (IEC C14), one rack-mount kit..

[arun_r]

The product Q1J01A should allow you to perform data in place upgrade provided you have SFF hard drives in controller enclosure.

[SUBHAJIT KHANBARMAN_1]

@Tom Lyczko ......Yes your understanding is correct.........you require One 2050/2052 chassis and two 2050/2052 controllers.

You can use existing drives which you were using in MSA 2040 and that will save your cost. Provided all drives are supported with MSA 2050 otherwise you can't use any unsupported drives in MSA 2050 from MSA 2040

MSA 2040 and MSA 2050 both are different but still you have option to move your existing data from MSA 2040 to MSA 2050 with applied conditions.

If you really want to discuss about your specific requirement then it's consultancy job for which you need to contact HPE. This is public forum and limited information can only be shared to give you idea only.

Hope this helps!
Regards
Subhajit

I am an HPE employee

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!

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[Tom Lyczko]

OIC!! Thank you!! I don't know when I will actually pursue this but I am happy to have all this information for planning ahead. By the time we are ready to replace the 2040, the appropriate model will probably be an MSA 200500 model costing $111,000 thanks to the tariffs.

[SUBHAJIT KHANBARMAN_1]

Can you please help us to understand if the issue got resolved or not?

If issue got resolved then how?

Also request you to mark the forum as resolved if there is no more outstanding query from your end on this issue.

This will help for everyone who are all following your forum.

Hope this helps!
Regards
Subhajit

I am an HPE employee

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!

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