Booting from the SAN using the Windows 2000 Platform

[rob2k]

We currently use IBM servers with EMC storage. The NT 4.0 OS has the ability and we use the feature of booting the OS from the SAN. However, with WIN2K when trying to get the OS to boot from the san an error message of inaccessible boot device is received. The HBA that we use is the LP8000 and everything is connected via fiber. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[comtec17]

I would suggest going to the EMC site and checking the compatibility matrix. This could be an Emulex Bios update or a system bios update.

 

[rob2k]

Thanks and it would appear that is was a bios upgrade need for the Emulex card in order to get it to boot via the SAN.

 

[Chris78]

Hi,

Here a Best Pratice to boot to Symmetrix from a Win2K :

step 1 : be sure of the zoning switch in case of FC-SW

step 2 : to got at less one disk (with acceptable size) map onto the FA and be sure that the lun masking is ok for this disk

step 3 : boot on a floppy disk

step 4 : run the lp6dutil Emulex tool

step 5 : select choice 5 = Maintenance

step 6 : select choice 1 = firmware

step 7 : installation of Fcode (co133a1.prg)

step 8 : installation of Boot bios (cb162a1.prg)

step 9 : boot of the serverr (remove the floppy disk of course)

step 10 : to set the LP8000 in FC-SW (point to point) : choice 4

step 11 : select the Bios Enable (to enable the hba to boot)

step 12 : select the boot lun

step 13 : select the binding mode : WWNP

step 14 : boot of the serveur (the windows2K CD must be in the CD-ROM drive)

step 15 : at the moment of the hba detection, press the F6 key then S then insert the diskette driver contains the Emulex driver

step 16 : after the driver loaded, select the following option "detection of Mass Storage"

step 17 : if Windows 2000 propose to repair a partition already existing (in case of the internal disk own a previous Windows2000 partition) select "install a new one"

step 18 : after the symmetrix lun displayed, select the format wanted (NTFS, FAT) and size the partition as desired

NB : the floppy disk must be bootable and must contain the following files : co133a1.prg and cg162a1.prg

 

[Telemorphix]

Also, don't forget that it's best to have local disk for the pagefile if using powerpath/ATF and dual fibre paths. The delay between fabric/fibre failure and ATF/powerpath trespassing the LUN can cause W2K to bluescreen.