Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays Hardware Release Notes |
This document contains important release information about Oracle’s Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays managed by Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM), Version 6.9.0. Read this document so that you are aware of issues or requirements that can affect the installation and operation of the array.
The release notes consist of the following sections:
Firmware version 7.80.xx.x delivered with CAM 6.9 adds these features to Sun Storage 2500-M2 arrays:
The Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays are a family of storage products that provide high-capacity, high-reliability storage in a compact configuration. The controller tray, with two controller modules, provides the interface between a data host and the disk drives. Three array models are offered:
The Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays are modular and rack-mountable in industry-standard cabinets. The arrays are scalable from a single controller tray configuration to a maximum configuration of one controller tray and three expansion trays. The maximum configuration creates a storage array configuration with a total of 48 drives attached behind the controllers.
Use the latest version of Sun Storage Common Array Manager to manage the arrays. See About the Management Software for more information.
Oracle’s Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM) software is a key component for the initial configuration and operation of Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays hardware. It is installed on a management host cabled to the array via out-of-band Ethernet. Note: In-band management is also supported.
To download CAM, follow the procedure in the section Downloading Patches and Updates. Then, review the latest Sun Storage Common Array Manager Quick Start Guide and Sun Storage Common Array Manager Installation and Setup Guide to begin installation. CAM documentation can be found here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/documentation/disk-device-194280.html
To download patches and updates from My Oracle Support, including the CAM management software, follow this procedure.
1. Sign in to My Oracle Support:
2. At the top of the page, click the Patches & Updates tab.
3. Search for software and patches in one of two ways:
a. Under the Patch Search section, click the Search tab.
b. In the Patch Name or Number field, enter the patch number. For example, 10272123 or 141474-01.
a. Under the Patch Search section, click the Search tab, and then click the Product or Family (Advanced Search) link.
b. Check Include all products in a family.
c. In the Product field, start typing the product name. For example, “Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM)”.
Select the product name when it appears.
d. In the Release field, expand the product name, check the release and patches you want to download, and then click Close.
4. Select the patch you want to download.
5. Click ReadMe for a patch description and installation instructions.
6. Click Download for a single patch, or Add to Plan to download a group of patches.
The software and hardware products that have been tested and qualified to work with Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays are described in the following sections. Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays require Sun Storage Common Array Manager, Version 6.8.0 (or higher) software.
The Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays firmware version 07.80.xx.xx (or higher) is installed on the array controllers prior to shipment and is also delivered with Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM), Version 6.9.0.
Firmware is bundled with the CAM software download package. To download CAM, follow the procedure in Downloading Patches and Updates.
TABLE 1 lists the disk capacity, form factor, spindle speed, interface type, interface speed, and tray capacity for supported SAS disk drives for the Sun Storage 2500-M2 arrays.
300-Gbyte 3.5" 15K-RPM SAS-2 drives
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600-Gbyte 3.5” 15K-RPM SAS-2 drives
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The Sun Storage 2530-M2 and 2540-M2 arrays can be expanded by adding Sun Storage 2501-M2 array expansion trays. To add capacity to an array, refer to the following Service Advisor procedures:
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Caution - To add trays with existing stored data, contact My Oracle Support for assistance to avoid data loss. |
TABLE 3 and TABLE 4 provide a summary of the data host requirements for the Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays. You must install multipathing software on each data host that communicates with the Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays. For additional information on multipathing software, see the following:
Note - Download RDAC multipathing drivers from My Oracle Support at https://support.oracle.com using keyword “RDAC” or “MPP”. See Downloading Patches and Updates for more information. |
Note - Single path data connections are not recommended. For more information, see Single Path Data Connections. |
Update 5[1] |
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RDAC version 09.03.0C02.0331 is included with Oracle VM 2.2.2. |
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See Device Mapper Multipath (DMMP) for the Linux Operating System. |
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The following tables list supported HBAs by interface type and operating system:
Generic HBAs[2] |
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Generic HBAs[3] |
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Oracle 3-Gbit HBAs (SAS-1)[4] |
Oracle 6-Gbit HBAs (SAS-2)[5] |
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Windows 2003 SP2[6] |
SG-XPCIE8SAS-E-Z[7] |
SG(X)-SAS6-EXT-Z[8] |
TABLE 10 lists supported HBA settings for SAS-1 HBA compatibility.
Configuration: Firmware 01.29.06.00-IT with NVDATA 2DC5, BIOS 6.28.00.00, FCode 1.00.49.
The following FC fabric and multilayer switches are compatible for connecting data hosts and the Sun Storage 2540-M2 array. See the release notes for your switch hardware for firmware support information.
Device Mapper (DM) is a generic framework for block devices provided by the Linux operating system. It supports concatenation, striping, snapshots, mirroring, and multipathing. The multipath function is provided by the combination of the kernel modules and user space tools.
The DMMP is supported on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) Version 11 and 11.1. The SLES installation must have components at or above the version levels shown in the following table before you install the DMMP.
To update a component, download the appropriate package from the Novell website at http://download.novell.com/patch/finder. The Novell publication, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Installation and Administration Guide, describes how to install and upgrade the operating system.
1. Use the media supplied by your operating system vendor to install SLES 11.
2. Install the errata kernel 2.6.27.29-0.1.
Refer to the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Installation and Administration Guide for the installation procedure.
3. To boot up to 2.6.27.29-0.1 kernel, reboot your system.
4. On the command line, enter rpm -qa |grep device-mapper, and check the system output to see if the correct level of the device mapper component is installed.
5. On the command line, enter rpm -qa |grep multipath-tools and check the system output to see if the correct level of the multipath tools is installed.
6. Update the configuration file /etc/multipath.conf.
See Setting Up the multipath.conf File for detailed information about the /etc/multipath.conf file.
7. On the command line, enter chkconfig multipathd on.
This command enables multipathd daemon when the system boots.
8. Edit the /etc/sysconfig/kernel file to add directive scsi_dh_rdac to the INITRD_MODULES section of the file.
9. Download the KMP package for scsi_dh_rdac for the SLES 11 architecture from the website http://forgeftp.novell.com/driver-process/staging/pub/update/lsi/sle11/common/, and install the package on the host.
10. Update the boot loader to point to the new initrd image, and reboot the host with the new initrd image.
The multipath.conf file is the configuration file for the multipath daemon, multipathd. The multipath.conf file overwrites the built-in configuration table for multipathd. Any line in the file whose first non-white-space character is # is considered a comment line. Empty lines are ignored.
All of the components required for DMMP are included in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) version 11.1 installation media. However, users might need to select the specific component based on the storage hardware type. By default, DMMP is disabled in SLES. You must follow the following steps to enable DMMP components on the host.
1. On the command line, type chkconfig multipath on.
The multipathd daemon is enabled with the system starts again.
2. Edit the /etc/sysconfig/kernel file to add the directive scsi_dh_rdac to the INITRD_MODULES section of the file.
3. Create a new initrd image using the following command to include scsi_dh_rdac into ram disk:
mkinitrd -i /boot/initrd-r -rdac -k /bootvmlinuz
4. Update the boot leader to point to the new initrd image, and reboot the host with the new initrd image.
Copy and rename the sample file located at /usr/share/doc/packages/multipath-tools/multipath.conf.synthetic to /etc/multipath.conf. Configuration changes are now accomplished by editing the new /etc/multipath.conf file. All entries for multipath devices are commented out initially. The configuration file is divided into five sections:
To determine the attributes of a multipath device, check the multipaths section of the /etc/multipath.conf file, then the devices section, then the defaults section. The model settings used for multipath devices are listed for each storage array and include matching vendor and product values. Add matching storage vendor and product values for each type of volume used in your storage array.
For each UTM LUN mapped to the host, include an entry in the blacklist section of the /etc/multipath.conf file. The entries should follow the pattern of the following example.
blacklist { device { vendor "*" product "Universal Xport" } }
The following examples show the devices section from the /etc/multipath.conf file. Be sure the vendor ID and the product ID for the Sun Storage 2500-M2 arrays are set as shown in the following examples:
devices { device { vendor "SUN" product "LCSM100_S" path_grouping_policy group_by_prio prio rdac getuid_callout "/lib/udev/scsi_id -g -u -d /dev/%n" polling_interval 5 path_checker rdac path_selector "round-robin 0" hardware_handler "1 rdac" failback immediate features "2 pg_init_retries 50" no_path_retry 30 rr_min_io 100 } }
devices { device { vendor "SUN" product "LCSM100_F" path_grouping_policy group_by_prio prio rdac getuid_callout "/lib/udev/scsi_id -g -u -d /dev/%n" polling_interval 5 path_checker rdac path_selector "round-robin 0" hardware_handler "1 rdac" failback immediate features "2 pg_init_retries 50" no_path_retry 30 rr_min_io 100 } }
The following table explains the attributes and values in the devices section of the /etc/multipath.conf file.
Multipath devices are created under /dev/ directory with the prefix dm-. These devices are the same as any other bock devices on the host. To list all of the multipath devices, run the multipath -ll command. The following example shows system output from the multipath -ll command for one of the multipath devices.
mpathp (3600a0b80005ab177000017544a8d6b92) dm-0 LSI,INF-01-00 [size=5.0G][features=3 queue_if_no_path pg_init_retries 50][hwhandler=1 rdac][rw] \_ round-robin 0 [prio=6][active] \_ 5:0:0:0 sdc 8:32 [active][ready] \_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][enabled] \_ 4:0:0:0 sdb 8:16 [active][ghost]
In this example, the multipath device node for this device is /dev/mapper/mpathp and /dev/dm-0. The following table lists some basic options and parameters for the multipath command.
The following are restrictions and known issues applicable to this product release.
In a single path data connection, a group of heterogeneous servers is connected to an array through a single connection. Although this connection is technically possible, there is no redundancy, and a connection failure will result in loss of access to the array.
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Caution - Because of the single point of failure, single path data connections are not recommended. |
Although SAS host ports are physically present on the Sun Storage 2540-M2 array controller tray, they are not for use, not supported, and are capped at the factory. FIGURE 1 shows the location of these ports. The Sun Storage 2540-M2 only supports Fibre Channel host connectivity.
FIGURE 1 SAS Host Ports on the 2540-M2
Bug 7042226 - SAS-2 HBA device booting is not supported using Phase 5++ HBA firmware. This restriction will be lifted with the Phase 10 HBA firmware.
Note - This problem does not occur in RHEL version 6.0 with kernel 2.6.33. |
Problem or Restriction: An I/O error occurs during an online controller firmware upgrade.
Workaround: To avoid this problem, quiesce the host I/O before the performing controller firmware upgrades. To recover from this problem, make sure that the host reports that it has optimal paths available to the storage array controllers, and then resume I/O.
Problem or Restriction: This problem occurs when a firmware download to the controller causes the controller to panic and reboot.
Workaround: Stop all I/O to the array before initiating the firmware download. Once the download is initiated, the controller automatically reboots, recovering the system.
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Caution - To avoid potential data loss, stop all I/O to the array before initiating the firmware download. |
Bug 7042297 - Before running a “make” on the RDAC driver, the following kernel packages are required:
Bug 7034078 - When booting a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 host mapped to volumes on a Sun Storage 2500-M2 array in a multipath configuration using DMMP, it is possible to receive excessive messages similar to the following:
Workaround - This is normal behavior on RHEL 6.0.
Bugs 7038184, 7028670, 7028672 - When booting an Oracle Linux 6.0 host mapped to volumes on Sun Storage 2500-M2 and 6780 arrays, it is possible to receive one of these messages:
“FIXME driver has no support for subenclosures (1)”
“FIXME driver has no support for subenclosures (3)”
“Failed to bind enclosure -19”
Workaround - This is a cosmetic issue with no impact to the I/O path. There is no workaround.
Bug 7014293 - When a SLES 11.1 host with smartd monitoring enabled is mapped to volumes on either a Sun Storage 2500-M2 or 6780 array, it is possible to receive “IO FAILURE” and “Illegal Request ASC/ASCQ” log events.
Workaround - Either disable smartd monitoring or disregard the messages. This is an issue with the host OS.
Problem or Restriction: This problem occurs when the DMMP failover driver is used with the RHEL version 6.0 OS. If you try to set up a Red Hat cluster with the DMMP failover driver, cluster startup might fail during the unfencing stage, where each host registers itself with the SCSI devices. The devices are in a Unit Attention state, which causes the SCSI registration command issued by the host during startup to fail. When the cluster manager (cman) service starts, the logs show that the nodes failed to unfence themselves, which causes the cluster startup to fail.
Workaround: To avoid this problem, do not use the DMMP failover driver with RHEL version 6.0. To recover from this problem, open a terminal window, and run:
where <device> is a SCSI device that is virtualized by the DMMP failover driver. Run this command on every /dev/sd device that the DMMP failover driver manages. It issues a Test Unit Ready command to clear the Unit Attention state and allow node registration on the device to succeed.
Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 with Native Cluster
Problem or Restriction: This problem occurs the first time a cluster is set up when the cluster.conf file does not have manually defined host keys. When the cluster.conf file was first defined to set up a cluster with SCSI reservation fencing, the cluster services were started on the nodes. With SCSI reservation fencing, the hosts try to generate and register a key on the clustered devices as part of the cluster manager's startup. The cluster manager service (cman) fails to start, and the key cannot be zero error message appears in the host log.
Workaround: To avoid this problem, use only power fencing. Do not use SCSI reservation fencing. To recover from this problem, change to manually defined host keys, and restart the cluster services.
Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Native Cluster
Problem or Restriction: This problem occurs during an attempt to transfer a cluster service manually when a client is connected using NFSv4. The Global File System (GFS) 2 mount points failed to unmount, which caused the Red Hat Cluster Suite Services to go to the Failed state. The mount point, and all other mount points exported from the same virtual IP address, becomes inaccessible.
Workaround: To avoid this problem, configure the cluster nodes to not allow mount requests from NFS version 4 (NFSv4) clients. To recover from this problem, restart the failed service on the node that previously owned it.
Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 6.0
Problem or Restriction: This problem occurs during an online controller firmware upgrade. The controller is not responding quickly enough to a host read or write to satisfy the host. After 30 seconds, the host sends a command to abort the I/O. The I/O aborts, and then starts again successfully.
Workaround: Quiesce the host I/O before performing the controller firmware upgrade. To recover from this problem, either reset the server, or wait until the host returns an I/O error.
Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 6.0 with kernel 2.6.32.
Red Hat Bugzilla Number: 620391
Note - This problem does not occur in Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 6.0 with kernel 2.6.33. |
Problem or Restriction: This problem occurs under situations of heavy stress when storage arrays take longer than expected to return the status of a read or write. The storage array must be sufficiently stressed that the controller response is more than 30 seconds, at which time a command is issued to abort if no response is received. The abort will be retried indefinitely even when the abort is successful. The application either times out or hangs indefinitely on the read or write that is being aborted. The messages file reports the aborts, and resets might occur on the LUN, the host, or the bus.
Factors effecting controller response include Remote Volume Mirroring, the controller state, the number of attached hosts, and the total throughput.
Workaround: To recover from this problem, reset the power on the server.
Product documentation for Sun Storage 2500-M2 Arrays is available at:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/documentation/oracle-unified-ss-193371.html
Product documentation for Sun Storage Common Array Manager is available at:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/documentation/disk-device-194280.html
These web sites provide additional resources: