HP rx2800i2 and SAS SSD

[max.jarvis@se.com]

Hello... we have an rx2800i2 using SAS SSDs, about 10 years old. The SSDs are 2.5 inch Seagate Pulsars (100GB). One of them has failed and I have replaced it with the smallest SSD I could find, a Seagate Nytro 3350 (960GB). When I try to mount the new SSD in OpenVMS, it says it is OFFLINE and I can't get past that. The command I'm using is MOU DKA200 /FOREIGN. Anybody got any helpful ideas please?

Should have mentioned, this is OpenVMS 8.4.

[pocketprobe]

If you have support from VSI, I'd suggest filing a ticket with them.
Was the disk prior in a hardware RAID in your machine?
Was it in a shadow set?
Are you trying to mount a disk that hasn't yet been initialized?
The supported filesystems for a foreign mount is surprisingly small, what the returned error when trying to mount gives would be quite helpful here.

[max.jarvis@se.com]

Hi pocketprobe, thanks for the reply. The SSD I'm trying to mount is brand new, never been in a machine before. So not part of a RAID or a shadow set.

The SH DEV DKAnnn command just says the disk is Offline, no error code other than the word Offline,
The MOU DKAnnn:/FOREIGN command says 'device is not in configuration or not available'

YES, I am trying to mount a disk that hasn't been initialised! I didn't realise disks needed to be initialised and I don't know how to do it, any help would be appreciated. Thanks again.

[pocketprobe]

Hi Max,
If the drive has never been used I will assume it's either completely blank, or formatted as NTFS which wouldn't be supported by MOUNT /FOREIGN.

My question about RAID or being in a Shadow set was about the prior disk. The command you are looking for is INITIALIZE but there are plenty of parameters required to have the disk setup the way you need. If you are attempting to restore a backup from tape where you were backing up the complete disk this step may be a moot point.

[arne_v]

Usually a new disk is:

$ INIT DKAnnn: label
$ MOUNT/SYS DKAnnn: label

Be careful with init - it has a bad impact on old content!

[max.jarvis@se.com]

Ah. INIT DKAnnn: label dies with %INIT-F-DEVOFFLINE, device is not in configuration or is not available. Maybe the new SSD is a dud? Will try it tomorrow in a different server, just to make sure it's not a server fault. I'm wondering about server firmware; our servers were bought in 2013 or 2014 and have never had a firmware update. Maybe they can't handle a SAS disk of that size? The new one is 960GB, the old ones are 100GB. Maybe a different version of SAS? The new one says 12 GB/S, the old ones say 6 GB/S.

Added in 9 minutes 27 seconds:
New SSD is visible to server to some extent: when I load it into the slot its orange LED comes on for quite a few seconds, and MCR SYSMAN IO AUTO finds it.

[pocketprobe]

You may have to schedule some downtime to have it play nice with the disk. Out of curiosity does
$ SHOW DEV DKA200/FULL
give any hints?

[sms]

Code: Select all

> [...] I didn't realise disks needed to be initialised [...]

   I didn't, either.  I still don't.  I know nothing, and I can't easily
run a test at the moment, but I would not expect MOUNT /FOREIGN on a
working, virgin disk to fail with OFFLINE (which I associate with a
low-level hardware problem).

> [...] completely blank, or formatted as NTFS which wouldn't be
> supported by MOUNT /FOREIGN.

   That sounds wrong to me.  What does "FOREIGN" mean to you?  That
would mean that BACKUP /PHYSICAL would be useless for a non-VMS disk
structure, and, as HELP BACKUP /PHYSICAL says:

BACKUP

  /PHYSICAL

     Specifies that BACKUP is to ignore any volume structure on the
     input device and is to process the volume in terms of physical
     blocks. [...]

   I also know nothing about the SAS disk adapter in an/your rx2800i2,
but I'd be talking to that gizmo to see what it says about your
new/virgin/OFFLINE disk.  If the adapter doesn't know about, or like, a
disk, then I'd expect that there'd be precious little which VMS could do
with it.

Added in 10 minutes 6 seconds:

Code: Select all

> [...] Seagate Nytro 3350 [...]

   As you said, that's an SSD.  Is that supported?  (By the adapter?  By
VMS?)

      https://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/datasheets/pdfs/
nytro-3050-sas-ssd-DS2101-2206US-en_CA.pdf

   On the bright side:

      Seagate Nytro 3050 & 2050 models are formatted to 512 bytes per
      block at time of manufacturing. [...]

      https://www.seagate.com/content/dam/seagate/migrated-assets/
www-content/support-content/enterprise-storage/solid-state-drives/
nytro-2050/_shared/files/203241500_C.pdf

Added in 6 hours 17 minutes 3 seconds:

Code: Select all

> [...] I can't easily run a test at the moment, [...]

   But, on an rx2600 with VMS on DKA0:, and HP-UX on DKA100:

REX $ show devi d
Device                  Device           Error   Volume          Free  Trans Mnt
 Name                   Status           Count    Label         Blocks Count Cnt
REX$DKA0:               Mounted              0 VMS084REX      46419888   647   1
REX$DKA100:             Online               0
[...]

   Note that DKA100: is "Online".

REX $ mount /noass /over = iden DKA100:
%MOUNT-F-NOHOMEBLK, Files-11 home block not found on volume
-MOUNT-I-VOLIDENT, label = '............', owner = '............', format = '...
.........'

REX $ mount /foreign /noass /over = iden DKA100:
%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED,  mounted on _REX$DKA100:

REX $ dump /byte /hexa /widt = 80 /block = (star: 64, end: 64) DKA100:


Dump of device DKA100: on 23-MAY-2024 18:55:28.27

Logical block number 64 (00000040), 512 (0200) bytes

 00 20 08 02 00 31 32 31 30 58 55 50 48 90 58 EB ëX.HPUX0121... . 000000
 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F8 00 00 00 00 02 .....ø.......... 000010
 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 E7 00 0F 9F C0 Ã...ç........... 000020
 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 06 00 01 ................ 000030
 00 49 46 45 5F 34 36 41 49 9D 2A C4 34 29 00 80 ..)4Ã*.IA64_EFI. 000040
 00 00 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 32 33 54 41 46 00 00 ..FAT32   ...... 000050
[...]

   Yup.  HP-UX.  Not a virgin, but not VMS.  I'd expect a virgin to have
more zeros, but I wouldn't expect it to be "Offline", unless it had some
good reason (other than virginity).  (These disks are SCA SCSI
(spinning) in the front bays, so no exotic hardware.)

[max.jarvis@se.com]

We've also tried the new SSD in another rx2800i2, and in an rx2660. In all cases MCR SYSMAN IO AUTO find the SSD, the SSD orange light comes on for a while then goes out, and SHO DEV DKA shows the SSD as OFFLINE. I'm beginning to suspect this SSD is not supported by the rx2800i2 controller. In the rx2800i2 manual there's a statement that the maximum disk size is 2400GB, which I took to mean 2400GB per disk. But maybe it means 2400GB total for the 8 possible disks, that is, maximum 300GB per disk. This disk (SSD) is 960GB. I think a call to our support provider will be the next stop. Thanks everybody for your suggestions.

[sms]

Code: Select all

> We've also tried the new SSD in another rx2800i2, and in an rx2660.
> [...]

   What's the disk adapter?  Are you configuring RAID sets, or just
using the individual disks as disks, or what?

      Shell> devices

   I have a seldom-used rx2660 with an LSI SAS1068, and my notes say
that there's a CFGGEN utility on the HP IPF Offline Diagnostic and
Utilities CD.  I seem to have found it at
fsX:\EFI\HP\TOOLS\IO_CARDS\SAS\ (on the diagnostics CD/DVD?).

   "DKA200" sounds to me like a simple disk.  My DKA1 RAID (IM) volume
comprises my DKA100 and DKA200 (both ST9146802SS, so 146GB).  In any
case, the adapter diagnostics might say more about what's happening than
VMS could know.

> [...] But maybe it means 2400GB total for the 8 possible disks, that
> is, maximum 300GB per disk. [...]

   Sounds unlikely to me, but I know nothing, and my supply of 2.5-inch
SAS disks is limited to those 146GB (rotating) models.