VIOS server and DS4800.

[jprabaker]

OK, another post...

I've got 2 VIO servers running 1.3.0.1. Both with one 2Gps fibre card. We are having problems seeing them on the ds4800. The brocade switches see the WWNS after running a cfgdev, but when our storage guy tries to see them on the controller he can't find the wwns. He suggested there may be a problem with the adapters being configured as look back as the partitions were installed without the fibre cables wired into the switch, just with the default plug... We've tried "rmdev -dl fcs0 -R" & a config manager, but to no avail. Again, brand new kit with fresh installs!

The VIOS servers are running on a p570, a couple of firmware releases down from current. I'm no storage expert & have no previous experience of DS4800. I'm used to DS8000's attaching to p590s/595s - so much more straight forward!

If anyone else has seen this then I'd love to know what the cure is! Otherwise a sledge hammer re-install & setup of the VIO servers before calling it into IBM...


Thanks,
John

 

[mag007]

After running cfgmgr, does the adapter show in 'Avaliable state' when you run lsdev -Cc adapter?

Are there any errors on your error report? If not, try running 'diag' against your fibercard, and see if you get any failures.

Also, it never hurts to call IBM. I am sure you or your company pays a lot of money for HW/SW support ;-)

 

[DukeSSD]

1.3.0.1 is up to date, sounds like the switch has not been zoned or has v old firmware.
Mag007, NO, use the vio padmin commands / shell instead of the AIX commands / environment if you need to rely on the output...
VIO is based on AIX (is AIX underneath) but it is NOT AIX!

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infoc....jsp?topic=/iphb1/iphb1_vios_commandslist.htm

 

[mag007]

Erp, forgot it was a VIO server.

Have to get out of that mentality...

 

[DukeSSD]

I know the problem - oh you want a snap, must be a defect because after running snap or snap -general I have to go to oem_setup to get the snap from /tmp/ibmsupt.... no you don't, the vio snap is copied to /home/padmin... Oh yeah, sorry, stuck in the AIX mind set.... nightmare, we'll get used to it in time.

 

[p5wizard]

Don't you need to install DS4000 drivers (RDAC) on VIOS in order to connect it to DS4000 series?

That's what oem_setup_env is for I believe.


HTH,

p5wizard

 

[jprabaker]

I believe we need the following:

devices.fcp.disk.array - 5.3.0.61
devices.pci.df1000f7.com - 5.3.0.52
devices.pci.df1000f7.rte - 5.3.0.30
devices.pci.df1000f9.rte - 5.3.0.30
devices.pci.df1000fa.rte - 5.3.0.50

1.3.0.1 gets us to this level.

Switches have been zoned and are running a fairly recent firmware.

 

[jprabaker]

I've now got all my fibre cards up and running on AIX partitions for simpllicity. After Zoning on the brocade switches, I find that only HBA's that are routed though a particular bank of ports on one switch work. Both switches are 16 ports. Both switches see the WWNs on any port. When going into the Storage Manager client and trying to "add host", I only get the wwns listed that are routed through the first bank on the second switch.

All of the storage was cabled up and commisioned by an internal IBM storage expert who has commissioned plenty of DS4000 series with no problems. He has told me that both switches see both controllers so we should be in business.

Unfortuantly we've got issues validating our Hardware cover, which should be resolved by Monday with a bit of luck...

In the meantime, what should I expect to see on the AIX partition? I presume I should see 2 dac & dar devices, but should I see 2 luns, one for each path?

 

[DukeSSD]

You should see one dac, two dars and it will depend on your sdd how many luns you see, if your multipath sdd is correct you should only see one instance of each lun.
If your pathing is correct and you don't have the correct sdd software loaded you might see each lun on each adapter. Tell your "internal IBM storage expert" to do his / her job!
Sounds like the "first switch" still is not configured / zoned correctly.

 

[jprabaker]

Hi Duke,

My understanding of the kit is that we don't require the sdd software, as the ds4000 don't provide load balanced multipathing, just active/standby paths. Hence the only software required is the filesets I've listed above, which are part of the BOS. Are there some other mpio filessets required for our configuration?

On the system, I see 2 dac devices, dac0 & dac1, but only one dar device, dar0. From memory, the dacs are the controllers and the dars are the paths to the controllers...?

On Friday I brought up an AIX partition with 4 4gps fibre cards in. 2 are plugged into the top switch first bank, and the other 2 in the bottom switch first bank.

I then zoned them myself through the brocade web admin utility - only the 2 fibres plugged into the bottom switch were recognised within the Storage Agent Client.

 

[DukeSSD]

AIX includes MPIO and you seem to have the fibre adapter device drivers covered. cfgmgr -v will tell you if you have any missing.

Sorry, you are right, one dar, two dacs. dar: disk array router, dac: disk array controller.

If the switches can see all four cards but the disk array can only see the cards attached to the bottom switch then you either need to check the zoning on the top switch or the connection from the top switch switch to the disks.

 

[jprabaker]

Was a zoning issue in he end. Our engineer had selected the wrong WWN numbers for the connections into the top switch. Thanks Duke, you were right all along!