Administering the SPARCstorage Array

This section explains how to use DiskSuite Tool to:

• Enable and disable NVRAM

• Flush and purge NVRAM

• Reserve and release disks

• Start and stop disks

DiskSuite Tool provides an integrated solution for working with SPARCstorage Arrays, enabling you to view the physical layout of the SPARCstorage Array hardware, and to perform various administrative tasks. You must use the DiskSuite Tool Disk View window to perform these tasks; DiskSuite does not provide equivalent command line utilities. To administer a SPARCstorage Array from the command line, use the ssaadm(1M) command.

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Caution -

Use this functionality with care. It provides a powerful way to manage the SPARCstorage Array. As a minimum precaution, you should have a current backup of your data before using DiskSuite Tool in this way.

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Preliminary Information For Enabling and Disabling NVRAM

• Fast writes can be configured: at the controller level, in which case fast writes are set for all drives in the SPARCstorage Array; at the tray level, affecting all drives in a single tray; or at the drive level, setting fast write for that individual drive.

• When fast write is enabled, it is saved as part of the SPARCstorage Array's configuration--across power cycles.

• If the NVRAM battery is low, missing, or has failed, the menus will be disabled, because fast write is disabled on the controller under these conditions.

• Before enabling fast write, quiesce all I/O to the controller, tray, or disk. Be sure that no I/O is active on metadevices that exist on disks within a SPARCstorage Array. In particular, insure that ownership of any diskset metadevices has been released since an implicit I/O stream exists while ownership of a diskset is maintained. Refer to "Working With Disksets" for details of taking and releasing ownership of a diskset.

How to Enable NVRAM on a Controller, Tray, or Disk (DiskSuite Tool)

1. Make sure you have met the prerequisites ("Prerequisites for Managing the System") and have read the preliminary information ("Preliminary Information For Enabling and Disabling NVRAM").

2. Refer to "How to Stop a Disk (DiskSuite Tool)" to quiesce all I/O.

   Be sure that no I/O is active on metadevices defined that exist on disks within a SPARCstorage Array. In particular, ensure that ownership of any diskset metadevices has been released since an implicit I/O stream exists while ownership of a diskset is maintained.

3. Click Disk View.

   The Disk View window appears.

4. In the Disk View window, select a controller, tray, or individual disk or disks.

5. Choose Fast Write from the Object menu, then choose Enable.

6. A Fast Write dialog box appears, reminding you that all I/O to the object should be stopped. Click Continue.

7. A confirmation appears, indicating that fast write has been enabled. Click OK.

8. Refer to "How to Start a Disk (DiskSuite Tool)" to restart the disks.

How to Enable NVRAM For Synchronous Writes on a Controller, Tray, or Disk (DiskSuite Tool)

This procedure enables fast writes for synchronous writes only. To enable fast writes for "all" writes, use the previous procedure.

1. Make sure you have met the prerequisites ("Prerequisites for Managing the System") and have read the preliminary information ("Preliminary Information For Enabling and Disabling NVRAM").

2. Refer to "How to Stop a Disk (DiskSuite Tool)" to quiesce all I/O.

   Be sure that no I/O is active on metadevices that exist on disks within a SPARCstorage Array. In particular, ensure that ownership of any diskset metadevices has been released since an implicit I/O stream exists while ownership of a diskset is maintained.

3. Click Disk View.

   The Disk View window appears.

4. In the Disk View window, select a controller, tray, or individual disk or disks.

5. Choose Fast Write from the Object menu, then choose Synchronous.

6. A Fast Write dialog box appears, reminding you that all I/O to the object should be stopped. Click Continue.

7. A confirmation appears, indicating that fast write for synchronous writes has been enabled. Click OK.

8. Refer to "How to Start a Disk (DiskSuite Tool)" to restart the disks.

How to Disable NVRAM on a Controller, Tray, or Disk (DiskSuite Tool)

1. Make sure you have met the prerequisites ("Prerequisites for Managing the System") and have read the preliminary information ("Preliminary Information For Enabling and Disabling NVRAM").

2. Click Disk View.

   The Disk View window appears.

3. In the Disk View window, select a controller, tray, or individual disk or disks.

4. Choose Fast Write from the Object menu, then choose Disable.

5. A confirmation appears, indicating that fast write has been disabled. Click OK.

Preliminary Information for Purging and Flushing NVRAM Data

• The flush option flushes any outstanding writes from NVRAM to the disk drive.

• If you get an error while flushing data, you must purge the data. Purging data "throws away" any outstanding writes in NVRAM.

• Purging fast write data should be performed with caution, and only when a drive has failed, as it could result in the loss of data.

• If the NVRAM battery is low, missing, or has failed, the menus will be disabled, because the NVRAM is non-functional and data there would be lost.

How to Flush Outstanding Writes From NVRAM (DiskSuite Tool)

This task flushes out all outstanding writes for the selected controller (and all disks), tray (and all disks in that tray), or individual disk(s), from the NVRAM to disk.

1. Make sure you have met the prerequisites ("Prerequisites for Managing the System") and have read the preliminary information ("Preliminary Information for Purging and Flushing NVRAM Data").

2. Click Disk View.

   The Disk View window appears.

3. In the Disk View window, select a controller, tray, or individual disk or disks.

4. Choose Sync NVRAM from the Object menu.

5. A confirmation dialog box appears, indicating the NVRAM will be synced. Click OK.

How to Purge Fast Write Data NVRAM (DiskSuite Tool)

Use this task only if you can no longer access the SPARCstorage Array, such as when a drive has failed. If you can access drives in the SPARCstorage Array, refer to "How to Flush Outstanding Writes From NVRAM (DiskSuite Tool)". Purging fast write data gets rid of any outstanding writes.

1. Make sure you have met the prerequisites ("Prerequisites for Managing the System") and have read the preliminary information ("Preliminary Information for Purging and Flushing NVRAM Data").

2. Click Disk View.

   The Disk View window appears.

3. In the Disk View window, select a controller, tray, or disk and display the object's pop-up menu.

4. Select Purge NVRAM. A confirmation dialog box appears, indicating that the NVRAM will be purged. Click Purge.

Preliminary Information for Reserving and Releasing Disks

• In a diskset configuration, with a SPARCstorage Array connected to more than one host, it might be necessary for a single host to reserve individual drives, or all the drives in the array. When the issuing host reserves a drive or drives, no other host can use those drives until the issuing host releases them.

• If DiskSuite Tool is run on a host other than the host issuing the reserve command, a status of "Reserved" is shown for those disks in the Information window, and a "lock" icon appears under the disks in the Disk View canvas. However, the host issuing the reservation will not see a lock icon.

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Note -

This functionality is currently available only for SPARC systems using SPARCstorage Array disks.

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How to Reserve a Disk for Host Exclusive Use (DiskSuite Tool)

1. Make sure you have met the prerequisites ("Prerequisites for Managing the System") and have read the preliminary information ("Preliminary Information for Reserving and Releasing Disks").

2. Click Disk View.

   The Disk View window appears.

3. Select a controller, tray, or single disk and choose Reserve Disks from the Object menu.

4. A confirmation dialog box appears, indicating the disk reservation. Click OK.

   There is no visual indication that the disk has been reserved. However, if DiskSuite Tool is run on a host other than the host issuing the reserve command, a status of "Reserved" is shown for those disks in the Information window, and a "lock" icon appears in the Disk View canvas.

How to Release a Disk Reserved by Host (DiskSuite Tool)

1. Make sure you have met the prerequisites ("Prerequisites for Managing the System") and have read the preliminary information ("Preliminary Information for Reserving and Releasing Disks").

2. Click Disk View.

   The Disk View window appears.

3. Select a controller, tray, or single disk and choose Release Disks from the Object menu.

4. A confirmation dialog box appears, indicating the disk release. Click OK.

Preliminary Information for Stopping and Starting Disks

• DiskSuite supports starting and stopping not only SPARCstorage Array disks, but non-SPARCstorage Array (SCSI) disks as well.

• If a SPARCstorage Array disk is spun down, a "down arrow" appears beneath the disk on the Disk View canvas. The Disk Information window also shows the disk's status. (Currently, the Disk View window does not display a "down arrow" for a non-SPARCstorage Array (SCSI) disk. Any I/O performed on a non-SPARCstorage Array disk automatically spins up that disk.)

• Stopping a disk is usually performed as part of a sequence of steps when performing hardware maintenance. Normally you would not stop a disk on its own.

• You can spin down a single SPARCstorage Array tray to replace a disk without having to power down the entire SPARCstorage Array.

• Currently, DiskSuite does not generate an event notification when stopping or starting a disk. This means that if you are running multiple instances of DiskSuite Tool on the same host, stopping or starting a disk in one DiskSuite Tool will not update the other instance. To avoid this potential problem, do not run multiple instances of DiskSuite Tool on the same host when stopping and starting disks.

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Caution -

The ssaadm(1M) command does not generate an event notification for DiskSuite when used to start and stop a disk. For this reason, do not use DiskSuite Tool and ssaadm(1M) together when stopping and starting disks. Doing so could cause DiskSuite Tool to display a disk`s status incorrectly. Always use one or the other to both stop and start a disk.

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How to Stop a Disk (DiskSuite Tool)

Prerequisites for Stopping a Disk (SPARCstorage Array)

Because SPARCstorage Array disks are in trays, to stop one disk you should stop all disks in the tray to ensure proper shutdown. This involves:

• Unmounting file systems on the disks in the tray

• Stopping all database processes accessing the disks in the tray

• Stopping all other processes accessing the disks in the tray

• Stopping the disks

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Note -

Stopping the disk also causes a sync_cache to flush outstanding writes in NVRAM.

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1. Make sure you have met the prerequisites ("Prerequisites for Managing the System") and have read the preliminary information ("Preliminary Information for Stopping and Starting Disks").

2. Check for other DiskSuite objects on the affected controller, disk, or tray.

   In the Disk View window, display the controller. Display the controller's Info window and select Device Mappings to view which objects (metadevices, hot spares, state database replicas) might be using the physical device(s).

3. Stop all access to the disk.

   For example, unmount any file systems associated with the disk, or stop all I/O to a database using the disk.

4. In the Disk View window, select a controller, tray, or single disk and choose Stop Disks from the Object menu.

5. A Stop Disk dialog box appears, reminding you that all I/O to the disk should be stopped. Click Continue.

6. The system notifies you when the disk is stopped. Click OK.

   For a SPARCstorage Array, a down arrow appears beneath each disk that is stopped, indicating that the disk is spun down. If you stop a SCSI disk, no down arrow appears.

How to Start a Disk (DiskSuite Tool)

1. Make sure you have met the prerequisites ("Prerequisites for Managing the System") and have read the preliminary information ("Preliminary Information for Stopping and Starting Disks").

2. Click Disk View.

   The Disk View window appears. SPARCstorage Array disks that are spun down appear on the canvas with a down arrow beneath the disk.

3. Select a controller, to start all disks connected to it, or select individual disks using Control-click.

   You can also select multiple controllers using Control-click.

4. Choose Start Disks from the Object menu.

5. The system notifies you when the disk is started. Click OK.

   For a SPARCstorage Array disk, the down arrow disappears from beneath the disk, indicating it has spun up. There is no indication for a SCSI disk.