LH4 & 3Si NVRAM & Disk Config Mismatch

[Chris Hall_1]

Hello,

Got the above problem with an LH4 with a 3Si array controller. The controller is running 2 drives internal to LH4 and 6 drives in an expansion bay. All drives are 9Gb.

Tried the following, but to no avail:

1) Repalced 3Si array controller

2) Failed & "re-onlined" all drives

3) Tried to delete "wrong" config but not given the chance - we can only see 1 config!

Has anyone else seen this?

Help!!!!

[Theo Hill_1]

What the error means is that the array config on the HDD are different than the array config stored on the 3SI. You need to find out which is the correct one. Go into ctrl-m when booting. Go into view, then view/add/delete configuration. It should give you two options here; view disc and view nvram. View one of the two, see if the config looks good. If it doesn't don't save and go back and view the other. You may notice drives in failed status, this is ok. Save the config. After you have picked the correct config, you will now need to make sure the array is functioning. If there are drives off line, rebuild them if possible. If more than one drive is failed in an array, put all BUT one drive online, boot up and see if the data is valid, if everything is ok, rebuild the final drive, DO NOT FORCE IT BACK ONLINE.

[Chris Hall_1]

Theo,

That's the problem - we are not getting offered alternative configs!

We can only see 1 config.

However, we have now fixed this issue using the following method - remember that we replaced the array controller in step 1 of my original post.

1) Powerdown server & external array and remove 1 disk

2) power up - if we get NVRAM mismatch issue power down replace drive and repeat step 1 with another drive.

3) Once we received an error other than NVRAM mismatch, replaced that drive (i.e. fitted a brand new drive) and manually rebuilt the array (from the ctrl-m setup)

4) job done

Very long winded and frankly "pants" when compared to Compaq!

[Theo Hill_1]

it normally isn't that difficult. Just make sure you are up to date on system. Here is a link to the LH4 download page:

http://h20004.www2.hp.com/keeper_rnotes/bsdmatrix/matrix50450.html

Here is the link to the 3si controller updates:

http://h20004.www2.hp.com/keeper_rnotes/bsdmatrix/matrix62473.html

Also, HDD firmware is very important:

http://h20004.www2.hp.com/keeper_rnotes/bsdmatrix/matrix65146.html

[Brian Spisak]

Hi, I just wanted to add to this thread for those who do searches for this problem.

We had a very similar problem this morning when we replaced some failing pieces of our raid array on an LH 6000.

We were getting an error message about an unmatched config between disk(s) and NVRAM, and only had one profile in the NetRaid utility too.

To get this going again, I did a new configuration (even though the current configuration looked correct) and redid the mirror sets. After exiting with the correct configuration, the system booted normally.

Creating a new profile with the correct logical disk arrays is definitely a quick way to fix this problem.

-Brian Spisak.

[Theo Hill_1]

Brian, you are right. But the most important thing you forgot to put into your resolution, is that you can not initialize. If you re-setup the array, and initialize, all data will be lost. You can also try removing one HDD at a time form the system until the error clears up.