T&LT Broke with STORport and SAN

[Derek_31]

v3.5 of the Tape and Library tools seems to have broken when used in conjunction with the STORport FCA driver under Windows Server 2003. When it does the hardware scan it finds all of the devices, but then hangs forever during the scan.

Replacing the FCA drivers with the latest SCSIport version resolves the problem.

Does HP plan on making a STORport compatible version of the tape tools?

[David Ruska]

Derek,

Can you clarify what the specific LTT symptoms are with this driver?

Also, do you have an HP tape library connected to an HBA running this driver?

I'm only aware of the Storport driver for the Emulex and Qlogic FC HBAs, and the only HBA listed as supported in our Enterprise Backup Solutions (EBS) compatability matrix (www.hp.com/go/ebs) is the Emulex LP982. For that HBA, it states that only the FC Port (not Storport) driver is supported.

If you could carify which HBA you have, and with which products you are using it with, that would help us.

Dave R
HP Engineering

[Derek_31]

FCA2101, MSL5030. During the initial hardware scan it finds all of the hardware but never completes the scan..it just keeps scanning forever.

When is HP going to support all of their HBAs and STORport for backup? Doesn't seem like rocket science to fully support products they sell...just a matter of testing.

[David Ruska]

Derek,

Thanks for the additional information.

As I understand it, you have the win2k3 with the FCA2101 HBA, connected to an MSL5030, and you are using the storport driver for this HBA.

The storport driver support for win2k3 appears to be new with the August 04 EBS matrix (no storstor support listed in July).

Assuming you have version 5-1.02a5 of the FCA2101 storport driver, and running either HP Data Protector or Legato Networker as your backup app, then that configuration is supported now.

I could not find any known issues for the LTT hang problem you reported, so I have reported it to the LTT team.

If you could also send a quick message to ltt_team@hp.com, that will allow them to reply back to you if they have any additional questions, or would like to request the eventlog from LTT.

Regards,
Dave R
HP Engineering

[Derek_31]

Thanks. It is a consistent problem that I've experienced between two different SANs, all with the same hardware.

Do you know when CommVault Galaxy is going to be certified for STORport?

[David Ruska]

Derek,

The additional information helps.

You mention two different setups. Are these both otherwise working (including backup apps)?

We are going to see if we can reproduce the problem here. Let us know what CPU hardware you have, and which ISV app(s), so we can duplicate your config as closely as possible.

I noticed your email in the LTT_mailbox, so the team should be getting back to you. There's an eventlog file (EventLog.ltt) in the LTT logs subfolder. If you could email that to the team after the hang (just kill the process), it might show where the scan is getting hung up. LTT sends a message to the driver during its scan, to ask for the list of devices discovered.

[SteveBxxx]

I had this exact same problem also, reported it to the LTT team (hadn't seen this thread at the time), they replied it's a known problem.

I'm using FCA2101 with 5-1.02a5 driver that is on the HP website, plus the latest Microsoft Storport driver from KB838894.

2 further oddities I have:

(1)After LTT hangs, if I reboot server, W2003 closes down but then hangs forever without rebooting (has to be powered off and on).

(2) The Microsoft ntbackup also does not work correctly, sees the drive and mounts tape OK, gets to "rewinding tape," but then hangs forever (didn't bother to report this to MS as I thought I'd wait for the LTT resolution first).

Needless to say, using Miniport driver instead of Storport driver, everything works fine.

I'd be interested in any comment / feedback, as we'd like to get the Storport working.

Steve

[BarnabyArnott]

I have been having a beast of a time with the same issue:
FCA2214 using STORport 9.0.1.18 from HP's support site. I didn't note any restrictions on SAN hardware with this driver.
HP DL360 G4p
HP SW SAN switch 4/8 f/w v.5.0.1b
MSA1500 fw 6.86
NS E1200 (fw?) to MSL6060 fw 5.13 w/2 drives

I am trying to upgrade the library firmware and had the same symptoms in L&TT 4.1:
-scan hangs after detecting devices - doesn't complete (dialog shows outstanding I/O for xxx seconds)
-cannot stop HP_LTT.exe process running under my user account
-Windows shutdown hangs after all messages clear and sits at a grey background until I hit the power button.

Additonal info:
Install of STORport driver states old version unknown, even when reinstalling the same version.

Does that help? This is two years on and still seem to have the same problem.

Cheers, Barnaby

[Terry Peterson_1]

Dopo aver aggiornato il firmaware dei sistemi DL360 G3 (con il firmware upgrade CD versione 7.70) ed i driver windows (Windows 2003 support package versione 7.70), abbiamo aggiornato HP Library & tapeTools alla versione 4.2 SR1.

Dopo aver lanciato lâ utility, questa ha correttamente riconosciuto i dispositivi ma non ha mai fermato la scansione. Ogni tentativo di fermarla è stato inutile e neanche il kill del processo è stato in grado di rimuoverla dalla memoria centrale (HP_LTT.EXE presente come processo in memoria con unâ occupazione fissa di circa 16MB).

Per ripristinare le condizioni normali di funzionamento è stato necessario togliere lâ alimentazione al server in quanto il normale shutdown non è stato in grado di far chiudere regolarmente il sistema (sistema fermo con schermo grigio dopo aver chiuso tutti i processi in foreground).

Quali sono i passi corretti per risolvere questo problema ?

[Torsten.]

Hi,

it may be better to open your own thread and ask your question in english.

[Terry Peterson_1]

You are absolutely right regarding the English. I was posting too fast to have noticed the cut and paste from my Tech support guy. Please excuse me.
Here is what I wanted to say, and I believe a new thread is not needed as it directly relates to the previous posts.
After updating the firmware of our DL360 G3 systems using Windows 2003 support package version 7.70, and the HP Library and Tape Tools to vs 4.21 SR1 â Data Protector 5.5 and upon relaunch the devices were recognized but the scanning never stops. Every attempt to stop the application or kill the process HP_LTT.EXE fails. In order to restore to normal operation, it was necessary to do a hard reset of the hardware as the normal shutdown procedure hangs the system with a gray screen. Does anybody have a solution to this? I saw within this forum that replacing the FCA drivers with the latest SCSIport version resolves this problem, but is the latest STORport FCA driver under Windows compatible. BTW we were forced to use the Windows drivers as the HP drivers would not recognize the devices after we updated all the firmware and service packages applicable to the recent versioning.
We also tried to relaunch the LTT exe with â o skipscan but with no solution to the hang.

win2k3 with the FCA2300 HBA, Data Protector 5.5, EVA3000 FC, connected to an MSL5030, and using the storport driver for this HBA due to HP driver not functioning. The problem is evident only on the two cluster setups using the Qlogic FC to the EVA3K. Previous to the firmware updates all was fine.

Installed STORPORT.SYS
Microsoft Storage Port Driver
5.2.3790.1830 (srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
*********************************
HP StorageWorksDate: 2/23/2007
Time: 13:42:59
*********************************
Operating System: "Microsoft Windows 2003"

QlogicVer.exe Version: --- hp2300 Smart Component Not Installed ---
QlScsiPortVer.exe Version: --- Qlogic ScsiPort Smart Component Not Installed ---
QlStorPortVer.exe: Version "1.4.0.0" of the version file was found.

Qlogic StorPort Section *
---------------------------
Qlogic StorPort:: Version "9.1.3.16" of the driver was found.
Registry Parameters for ql2300 Driver:
UseSameNN=0 throttle=16
ql2300 Inf(s) Found:
oem19.inf oem20.inf
oem30.inf oem31.inf
oem32.inf oem33.inf
oem39.inf
ResetBus: [0]
MaximumSGList: [65]
NumberOfRequests: [150]
Configuration Type: * All Modes Supported *

[LTT Team]

Hello Terry,

Please apply the hotfix found at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916048. When checking the storport driver version we noticed that this patch hasnt been applied. Due to problem describled in the article, LTT hangs during hardware scan. Applying this fix should resolve the issue.

Also, Using Windowsâ Storport driver and Library and Tape Tools (L&TT) with an Interface Controller/Network Storage Router (NSR) that has an active fibre LUN target mapped to the host that L&TT is using, creates an issue where the L&TT hardware scan will hard lock the system. Installing the Storport compatible INF file or disabling the fibre LUN target on the IC/NSR will workaround the issue.

Regards
LTT Support

[Terry Peterson_1]

I tried to install the required hotfix , but still have problems. The HBA board is locked and unable to connect to the SAN and the cluster node is unusable (for example, if you go to the device manager and ask for the properties of the Qlogic Fiber Channel Adapter, the applet locks without displaying the Resources tab)
Which is the way to unlock such a board ?
Best regards

[Terry Peterson_1]

Sorry to keep bugging this forum, but it is now becoming urgent to resolve this issue due to lack of failover availability. We found the sympton of the problem in that both mailclu1 and dbclu1 the HBA is not responding (we tried to run the L&TT software only on these as to not force a lock on our full cluster services. Thankfully for this precaution, as it seems that a software issue of the L&TT locked the HBAs on the two of four DL360G3 cluster machines and we must found a way to unlock it. Does not anybody have a solution, command line or service app, to unlock the HBA? A normal reboot does not solve the problem and the HBA do not respond. I would like to mind you that everything was fine in this reqard prior to implementing the HP L&TT team solution to upgrade all firmwares and associated drivers. Now we are looking at backtracking and downgrading to see if a resove is possible unless someone can tell us how to unlock these darn Qlogic 2300 HBA. This problem is evident through the support forums, and amoung various system configurations. Thank you please anyone.

[Richard Bickers]

Hi Terry. We weren't expecting your system to lock the drivers like that. We just gave you the MS standard patch for the StorPort drivers and advice if you have a LUN set up on your NSR.

We're trying to find out more about what form of lock up you may be having and if there's a way to unlock the HBA. We've not come across this before. It's very strange that a re-boot hasn't helped. If it's a hardware lock-up have you also tried power-cycling - maybe the software-only re-boot isn't resetting everything.

LTT isn't usually the cause of driver issues but can be the trigger because it uses diagnostic commands which are standard and *should* be supported - but not always as well tested by the driver writers as they should be.

I appreciate your need for urgency.

[LTT Team]

Terry,

We assure you that LTT doesnt lock the HBA and it is compatible with storport drivers. There is something which has gone wrong that needs to be identified.

We can backtrack and bring the system prior to patch installation state.

Uninstall LTT and the patch via "add\remove programs". Note, to remove the patch you would need to check "show windows update". Then reboot the server.

HBA locks can happen when there is an issue with the target device. Verifying them would be a good option.

Can you check EventViewer for messages?

Regards
LTT Support

[SteveBxxx]

When I had this problem, I also had exactly that symptom (HBA locked even across boot) albeit with Emulex HBA. I can't remember how I unlocked the HBA, probably via the boot menu, or maybe via a cold restart, maybe via the emulex lputil.
Installing the latest Microsoft Storport / Emulex drivers / version 5 (or 6) of the e1200 null driver definitely made the LTT problem go away. I think all 3 of these updates were necessary.

[Marino Meloni_1]

FYI here is the advisory form june 06 about this problem, hope you can found the solution here
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=130&prodSeriesId=254838&prodTypeId=12169&objectID=c00683746

marino