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Solaris 8 2/02 Release Notes Supplement for Sun Hardware

AP 2.3.1 on Sun Enterprise Servers

This section contains the release notes for Alternate Pathing (AP) 2.3.1 on Sun Enterprise 3x00, 4x00, 5x00, 6x00, and 10000 servers.

AP enables you to define and control alternate physical paths to peripheral devices, adding increased availability and a level of fault recovery to your server. If a physical path to a device becomes unavailable, an alternate path can be used. For more information, see the Sun Enterprise Server AP 2.3.1 User Guide in the AnswerBook2 Alternate Pathing 2.3.1 Collection.

Future AP Support

AP multipath I/O technology is being retired in favor of the newer, more scalable technologies presented by Sun StorEdge Traffic Manager and IPMP.

These modern technologies present better overall multipath solutions, with refined, user-friendly interfaces that are well integrated with Solaris. IPMP also provides true automatic switching for networks upon error detection.

If you use AP for its I/O multipath capabilities, you are encouraged to unconfigure your AP installations, and begin utilizing these newer technologies for I/O multipath control.

All 3 technologies are available during the Solaris 8 timeframe. However, be advised that AP will no longer be available in Solaris 9.

Installation Issues

If you are upgrading from Solaris 2.6 or Solaris 7 software to Solaris 8 software and have AP 2.1 or AP 2.2 on your system, you must upgrade to AP 2.3 or AP 2.3.1. The following sections include references to a volume manager because most systems have one installed.

Note –

AP 2.3.1 installation is Solaris operating environment specific. If you have already installed AP 2.3.1 on your system and choose to upgrade your operating system at a later date, you must follow the upgrade procedure to remove the AP 2.3.1 software using pkgrm and re-install AP 2.3.1.

This section contains an overview of the entire upgrade process, which requires you to use several sections from different publications. You should ensure that you have the following publications before you start the upgrade:

Note –

Before attempting an upgrade, verify that your volume manager supports the Solaris 8 software.

Caution – Caution –

You must follow the sequence given here to successfully complete the upgrade.

In general, you will perform the following tasks:

Specifically, you must perform the following tasks:

  1. Read “Performing an Upgrade of AP” in the Solaris 8 2/02 Sun Hardware Platform Guide.

  2. Commit any uncommitted AP metadevices (see Step 1 in “To Upgrade to AP 2.3.1” in the Solaris 8 2/02 Sun Hardware Platform Guide).

  3. Unconfigure your volume manager using the documentation provided by the specific vendor.

    Note –

    With regard to AP, no additional steps need to be taken to do this other than those recommended by the manufacturer to unconfigure the volume manager.

    Caution – Caution –

    When the volume manager has been unconfigured and you are instructed to install the new operating environment, stop at that point and remove your previous version of AP. Do not install Solaris 8 software at this time.

  4. Remove the current AP configuration using “Remove the current AP configuration.” of the Solaris 8 2/02 Sun Hardware Platform Guide.

  5. Upgrade to Solaris 8 using “Upgrade the Solaris operating environment (if applicable) now” in the Solaris 8 2/02 Sun Hardware Platform Guide.

  6. Upgrade to AP 2.3.1 using instructions in the Solaris 8 2/02 Sun Hardware Platform Guide.

  7. Install your volume manager according to your manufacturer's instructions.

When upgrading AP 2.3.1, unless both paths are accessible when you run ap_upgrade_begin, ap_upgrade_finish completes but is unable to recreate your path groups. No error message appears.

General Issues

This section contains general issues that involve AP on Sun Enterprise servers. Read this section before you attempt to install or configure AP.

Note –

If you are upgrading to AP 2.3.1 on all Sun Enterprise 10000 domains, then you can safely remove the SUNWapssp package software from the SSP workstation using pkgrm. If, however, any domain will remain at an earlier version of AP, then you must not remove the AP software on the SSP workstation. In either case, leaving AP software on SSP workstations has no effect on AP 2.3.1.

Supported Devices

The following devices are supported by the AP software on Sun Enterprise servers:

The following table lists the devices supported in each release:

Table 4–1 AP Support Matrix

AP Version 

Solaris Release 

NICs 

Disk Controllers 

Storage Products 

 

 

ge 

hme 

le 

nf 

bf 

hi 

qe 

qfe 

vge 

 

 

2.0 

2.5.1 

 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

 

pln/soc 

SSA 

2.0.1 

2.5.1 

 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

X 

 

pln/soc,  

sf/socal 

SSA,  

A5000 

2.1 

2.6 

X 

X 

X 

X 

 

 

X 

X 

X 

pln/soc,  

sf/soc 

SSA,  

A5000 

2.2 

7 

X 

X 

X 

X 

 

 

X 

X 

 

pln/soc,  

sf/socal,  

fp/qlc* 

SSA,  

A5000 

 

 

 

 

2.3 

 

 

 

 

2.6 

X 

X 

X 

X 

 

 

X 

X 

X 

pln/soc,  

sf/socal 

SSA,  

A5000,  

7 

X 

X 

X 

X 

 

 

X 

X 

 

pln/soc,  

sf/socal,  

fp/qlc 

SSA,  

A5000,  

T3§ 

8 

X 

X 

X 

X 

 

 

 

X 

 

pln/soc,  

sf/socal,  

fp/qlc 

SSA,  

A5000, T3§ 

2.3.1 

8 

X 

X 

X 

X 

 

 

 

X 

 

pln/soc,  

sf/socal,  

fp/qlc 

SSA,  

A5000, T3 

* - fp/qlc support for AP 2.2 requires a patch for Solaris 7 (included in Solaris 7 11/99) and for AP 2.2. Refer to http://www.sunsolve.com for more information.

- fp/qlc support requires Solaris 7 11/99 or Solaris 8. 

§ - AP 2.3 has not been optimized for Sun StorEdge T3 support.  

SunFDDI and Gigabit Ethernet Devices

AP 2.3.1 validation tests were performed on SunFDDI/S (revision 7.0) and Gigabit Ethernet (revision 2.0). If you install either of these devices, you must use the revision level that was tested, unless a higher revision level exists. In addition, you must install all of the available patches for these devices. Refer to http://www.sunsolve.sun.com for more information about the patches.

Sun StorEdge A3000

The Sun StorEdge A3000 supports failover capabilities that are similar to those provided by AP 2.3.1. Because of this, AP 2.3.1 does not support the Sun StorEdge A3000. See that product's documentation for more information about its failover support.

Sun StorEdge A5000

AP 2.3.1 supports the Sun StorEdge A5000 for this release.

Sun StorEdge A7000

AP 2.3.1 does not support the Sun StorEdge A7000 for this release.

Sun StorEdge T3

AP 2.3.1 supports the Sun StorEdge T3 in a path optimized AP configuration with this release. Path optimization refers to the efficient distribution of I/O traffic for the T3.

Software Compatibility

The following lists includes the possible combinations of AP and Solaris software you can install on a Sun Enterprise server.

Note –

AP does not support DR model 3.0, which runs on Sun Enterprise 10000 domains running the Solaris 8 2/02 operating environment. AP does support DR model 2.0 on Sun Enterprise 10000 domains. For details on the multipathing software compatible with DR model 3.0, refer to the SSP 3.5 Installation Guide and Release Notes.

AP Patches

Check the SunSolve website on a regular basis for any AP patches that may be available, and apply the recommended patches:

http://sunsolve.Sun.com

Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) Issues

The DR Attach operation can complete without the controller being immediately accessible to AP. You must verify that the physical device is present before switching to the new controller using apconfig.

A Sun Enterprise 10000 server running the Solaris 2.6 operating environment requires Patch 106284-02 for AP 2.3.1 to run correctly with the dr_daemon.

Boot Disk Issues

AP 2.3.1 provides support for only one alternately pathed boot disk plus a mirror disk per domain.

In order to fix inconsistencies in boot recovery behavior, device aliases for the boot disk are not supported.

Boot recovery is architecture generic in AP 2.3.1. Boot recovery works on Sun Fire as well as Starfire platforms.

IPMP Issues

IPMP/AP path groups are not supported for this release.

Sun Fibre Channel Port Driver (qlc/fp) Issues

A SENA device that uses the qlc/fp drivers is considered a different physical device than a SENA device that uses the socal/sf stack. SENA devices do not support mixed configurations where qlc/fp and socal/sf drivers service a single SENA device. Therefore, the two devices cannot be combined in an AP metadevice.

Revising the firmware on a physical SENA device using socal/sf drivers to use qlc/fp drivers for your Fibre Channel controllers is the same as replacing the hardware with a different type of controller. (The converse is also true.) You must unconfigure Alternate Pathing on such controllers before you revise the firmware. For example: 


# apdisk -d sf:0 
# apdb -C

Revise the SENA firmware.

After you have performed the revision, recreate your pathgroups using the new device names, for example: 


# apdisk -c -pfp:0 -a fp:1
# apdb -C

Caution – Caution –

If you change firmware without unconfiguring AP, file systems available from the new alternately-pathed controllers may not be accessible. If those file systems are required during boot, your system can become unbootable.

AP Documentation Locations

Documentation for AP 2.0 and 2.0.1 can be found in their respective collections under Hardware -> Enterprise Servers at docs.sun.com.

AP 2.1 and 2.2, however, are in the Hardware -> Solaris on Sun Hardware AnswerBook collection at docs.sun.com.

AP 2.3 and 2.3.1 are in their own collections under Hardware -> Enterprise Servers.

Known Bugs/RFEs

Panic while switching unplumbed metanetwork. (BugID 4361968)

Fixed Bugs

This section contains the synopses and Sun BugID number of the more important bugs that have been fixed since the AP 2.3 release (Solaris 8). This list does not include all of the fixed bugs.

(RFE) An immediate switch of path using AP after DR configure forces it into a `T' state. (BugID 4265982)

(RFE) AP handling for individual target failure, FC hubs/fabric, and daisy chaining. (BugID 4276330)

(RFE) Hang on Sun Enterprise 3500 with mirrored internal disk pull out with AP and sds. (BugID 4297492)

Read/write errors during ctrl failover with Sun StorEdge T3 Array partner group or 2x2 expansion. (BugID 4342963)

Multiple ".probe" execution causes LUNs on UNIX host to fail with ENODEV. (BugID 4347014)

ENXIO from Sun StorEdge T3 ONLINE Master immediately after .probe initiated ctlr failure. (BugID 4347016)

Other Bugs

This section contains the synopses and Sun BugID number of the more important bugs that have been discovered regarding AP 2.3.1 and the Solaris 8 operating environment. This list does not include all bugs.

Other Fixed Bugs

ssd: Serial Number Should Be Obtained From the Unit Serial Number Page (Bug ID 4295457)

Description: AP depends on Sun Device ID functions; specifically ddi_devid_compare(). Any device that AP supports must adequately interface with the Sun Device ID. This leads to a direct dependency on the resolution of Sun BugID 4295457. Thus, there is a dependency on three separate patches:

Solution: You can obtain these patches from SunSolve at: http://sunsolve.sun.com

qfe Driver Does Not Respond With DL_OK_ACK To a DL_ENABMULTI_REQ Primitive (Bug ID 4241749)

Systems running the Solaris 7 operating environment using qfe controllers should install patch 107743-06, to prevent system hangs when switching pathgroups with qfe controllers in them.

Solution: You can obtain Patch 107743-06 from SunSolve at: http://sunsolve.sun.com