SSA adapter and disk

[brc009]

Yesturday have upgraded from scsi to SSA - have 6 disks but cannot get the loop working correctly - disks two and three continually flash and if you look in the diags you see

disk A B
6 5
5 4
4 3
????????????
3 2
2 1
1 0

There is obviously a broken link but after 32 hrs i cannot sort it - please help me get some sleep.
Thx

 

[Chapter11]

Give us more detail as to what your disks are in (internal bays, a 7133, or so on), and how you have them cabled up.

 

[DSMARWAY]

How have you physically inserted your disks in the SSA CAB
I guess you are just using 1 loop i.e. from A1 into 1 out of 8 into A2 , if different specify

Do you have any flashing lights on the SSA card(S) are your cables in correctly.
what type of SSA card are you using ?

 

[mgosling]

Also, make sure you don't have more than two spaces (ie empty slots) in a line and that you don't have one next to the loop connection back to the SSA card.

Ie, assuming you've got a simple setup as suggested by DSMARWAY then make sure the disks are in bays 1,2,4,5,7 & 8 or similar. Try keeping the spaces away from bays 4 and 5, as without looking at the wiring you may not be able to tell if there's any loop cables attached to these disks.

 

[brc009]

Ok sorry not very much info. Right the adapter is IBM SSA 160 Serial Raid Adapter - the drives are 9.1GB SSA. The server is a RS6000 F50.

The drives slot into a 6 port backplane so I have no spaces, the actual full message on the link verification (diag) is
B1 B2 Status
pdisk2 0 Good
pdisk1 1 Good
pdisk4 2 Good
pdisk0 3 Good
?????
pdisk3 1 Good
pdisk5 0 Good

 

[Chapter11]

It looks to me like the loop is broken, but at a point it really shouldn't be broken - somewhere along the ssa backplane in the F50.

I would try removing all the drives (rmdev -dl), then physically removing the drives. Check the cabinet area, drives, and connectors to see if there's something blocking contact. Then reinstall all of the drives, make sure to seat them solidly. If the problem continues, my best guess is there might be something wrong with the SSA backplane.

 

[brc009]

Have already done what you suggested , we go all the SSA cables and a new backplane sent from london, fitted them all and still have the same problem.

I have verified all the drives and this comes back OK. I any more info is needed please ask and maybe tell me how to get it as this is the first RS I have since stopping the old SCO server.

Cheers

 

[brc009]

Also have reinstalled the drivers and microcodes for drives and adapters, no change.

In diag - Link speed - Reads :
Speed Destination
ssa0:B1 20 pdisk2
pdisk2 20 pdisk1
pdisk1 20 pdisk4
pdisk4 20 pdisk0
pdisk0 00 ????
???? 00 pdisk3
pisk3 20 pdisk5
pdisk5 20 ssa0:B2

 

[edskolnik]

Call IBM hardware support and ask them.

 

[bi]

Can you explain what your cabling is? Such as: SSA0 A1 to J1 and SSA0 A2 to J16. I had a similar symptoms and it was bad cable design.

 

[brc009]

do you mean on the ssa card itself or on the backplane ?

I will open her up and have a look if you let me know

 

[brc009]

The backplane is wired as follows
J6 - j12 backplane
j5 - J11 Backplane
B-1

J13 - J14 Backplane
J12 - J13 Backplane
B2

The light on the ssa card channels b1 b2 is constantly on.

 

[2339]

I have a sugesstion - Disconnect all and disable all

Use one disk each to connect each loop and then add the disks physically one by one.

its good they pick nos incrementally - Now you did not say anything about what you intend to achieve with your connection -
1. Disks that mirror but are on two diffrent channels?
2. One channel to control all disks
3. do you intend to specify any form of Raid - eg parity?

Delete all and start from scratch.
Every connection needs a diagram - most do - so you'll be sure you are obeying all the rules.

After all done ,make sure you identify each disk annd there positions - Then make sure you dont have the identify disk set to on - Yuo must cancel it so the disks dont keep flashing(this is just by the side)

 

[AIX5L]

Hi ALL

Are their Errors in the Errorreport ?

Some SSA Rules

Loops can be made from 1-4,1-8,1-12,1-16,5-9,5-13,5-16,9-12,9-16,12-16

In each Loop the First and the Last Position must have a Disk.
Not more then 2 Dummys are allowed.

Ex: Loop A1:1 - A2:4: pdisk0 in 1,Dummy in 2,Dummy in 3,pdisk4 ind 4

Do not mix A and B Loop.
What are your Bypass Settings in Diag ?

Can you send an lsdev -Ccpdisk
lsdev -C | grep Enclosure
What kind of Disk, and Microcode you use ( lscfg -vl pdisk0 ) ?
Is the Light on the Disk Flashing ?

 

[Chapter11]

It looks like your loop is breaking between pdisk0 and pdisk3. Can you remove those, and see if the loop completes? If it does, you might have a defective drive, experiment with both to figure out which one is breaking the loop.

 

[brc009]

lsdev -Ccpdisk is

pdisk0 Available 30-60-P 9.1GB SSA F Physical Disk Drive
pdisk1 Available 30-60-P 9.1GB SSA F Physical Disk Drive
pdisk2 Available 30-60-P 9.1GB SSA F Physical Disk Drive
pdisk3 Available 30-60-P 9.1GB SSA F Physical Disk Drive
pdisk4 Available 30-60-P 9.1GB SSA F Physical Disk Drive
pdisk5 Available 30-60-P 9.1GB SSA F Physical Disk Drive

lscfg -vl pdisk0 is

Manufacturer IBM
Machine type and model DCHC090
Part Number 09L2213
ROS level and ID 9908
Serial Number 682535BA
EC Level F23981
Device Specific CUSHMA908
Device Specific 05J6446
Device Specific 99113

lsdev -C :grep Enclosure is

ses0 Available 10-60-00-15,0 Scsi Enclosure Servicesw Device

Yes pdisk 0 and pdisk3 are flashing

How do I remove and then add pdisk0 and pdisk3 to the loop ?

 

[brc009]

just noticed something, you say loops can be made from 1-4 and 1-8 , would this cause this problem , I have 6 disks with no dummys, the bay and backplane only hold 6 disks. How can I check this???

 

[brc009]

Link configuration is

link Port Device Location Port Link
ssa0 B1 20c
Pdisk2 30-60-p
Pdisk1 30-60-p
Pdisk4 30-60-p
Pdisk0 30-60-p
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Pdisk3 30-60-p
Pdisk5 30-60-p
20c B2 ssa0

Let me know if any more info would help
Thx

 

[brc009]

lscfg -vl ssa0 is

part number 09L5695
FRU Number 34L5388
Serial Number S0307405
EC Level F23699
Manufacturer IBM053
Ros Level and ID B300 0000
Loadable Microcode Level 05
Device Driver Label 00
Displayable Message SSA-ADAPTER
Device specific SDRAM=064
Device specific CACHE=00
Device specific UID=006094BE0000FDFE
Device specific P2-I6

 

[mgosling]

Just noticed something else. The lscfg -C | grep Enclosure gives ses0 Scsi Enclosure Services Device. Ours gives:

enclosure0 Available 00-00-5753 SSA Enclosure
enclosure1 Available 00-00-62FE SSA Enclosure
enclosure2 Available 00-00-63C1 SSA Enclosure
enclosure3 Available 00-00-26F6 SSA Enclosure

I've not seen the ses0 device type before. Is it true SSA?