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HP ML 370 G5 RAID5 harddisk LEDS

Question about the following setup:
HP ML 370 G5. Original 1 RAID 5 setup, 3 x 146 GB disks, array A, logical drive 1, works fine.
To gain extra capacity I added 3 more disks of 146 GB and created another RAID 5 setup. This array took some time building. I followed the progress with the array utility and now the background parity has finished and everything looks fine (array B). Data is stored on the disk.
The strange thing about this array B is I only see one green LED on the first disk. On the first array all 3 drive LEDs are green. So I have a total of 6 disks with only 4 showing a green LED (blinking on activity). The software says the array is fine. Has someone seen this behaviour or a solution to make all the LEDS act normal?

Member_2_231077

If it took a long time to build then you didn't create another array but added one or more of the disks to the current array and created a new logical disk on it. I suspect you only added one disk, you can check by opening the ACU, highlighting the controller in the left hand pane and post screenshots of both show logical and show physical radio buttons.

You can either delete the extra logical disk and then remove one disk from the aray (takes ages again and I think needs extra license to shring array) or just add the other disks to the corrent array (takes ages) and either expand the second array or delete it and create another one.

Array expansion and shrinking takes ages because it has to re-level the data across the changed number of disks and maintain parity while doing it, but data is safe and performance isn't hit much.

Jordie77

ASKER

@andyalder: thanks for your reply.
I've attached a screenshot of the array configuration physical view.
As you can see the ports differ (4 times port 2l, 2 times port 1).
All i did is select the three new drives and create a new raid5 array.
In the OS:
The C-disk represents array a and is 273 Gb, 10 GB free.
The E-disk represents array b and is 273 GB, 255 GB free.

array.JPG

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Member_2_231077

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Jordie77

ASKER

Anyone else has any suggestions?

Jordie77

ASKER

I thought maybe a firmware upgrade may help...

I contacted HP and they gave the following suggestions:

Suggestions:

I would suggest the following upgrade on the server:

1. The System BIOS Software from following web link:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=1121474&prodNameId=3279719&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-eda8b299fb3e48e4a181693126

2. Download firmware maintenance CD from the following web link and upgrade firmware revisions for all components including smart array P400 controller

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=1121474&prodNameId=3279719&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-a69a789f6bfc4b0fbe2d84c7c6

3. Download the Software - Support Pack from the following web link and upgrade drivers

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=1121474&prodNameId=3279719&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-866de15a91a04c84b109f844cc

Member_2_231077

That's standard for HP, they won't look further into the problem until it has latest firmware. Surprised they didn't say upgrade all the disk drive firmware as well. Something like the LEDs not coming on is so fundamental it's not likely to be fixed with a firmware upgrade since the LEDs all worked with the original firmware from 2007. I suspect one of the PSoCs on the disk backplane is faulty and although these are programmed they can't be firmware upgraded.

Jordie77

ASKER

@andyalder: Thanks for your reply. Actually I had another chat with HP and they said the software would upgrade the disk firmware as well!
Of course I need to do this first and if the problem is not solved get back to HP.
I also ran an ADU diagnostics file and examaned that. The disks 5 and 6 are not listed in the report.
No errors are showing up in ADU.
The disks show up in the array config (screenshot previously attached), really strange.

Member_2_231077

The backplane supports dual ported disks but I don't think the firmware of the P400 fully supports that function, therefore if one of the PSoCs is a bit faulty it may be able to see the disks through the other chip. The P400 itself supports multiple disks on one SAS channel because the ML570 G4 supports 18 disks on a single P400 controller. The original plan I think was that you could have two P400s connected to the disk backplane so if one failed it would keep running; I'm pretty sure that hasn't been implimented except perhaps in HP's lab as mirroring the write cache between controllers would use a lot of resources. I think that's why you are getting different results with the ADU and ACU, one asks the chip what's directly attached to it and the other asks what it can see as an expander. I still think it may be just the second cable, I haven't tried using just one cable and seeing if I can see all the disks in the ACU.

The firmware update CD does update the disks but generally the CD is out of date almost as soon as it comes out. The worrying thing is that a firmware update may let the extra disks show properly if they have now implimented a method of seeing all disks through one cable but in that case it would be simply masking the underlying fault.

I'm afraid the first line support you will be talking to don't really understand SAS, they just solve their cases through reading scripts. I'd request a replacement backplane and cable although I would take the lid off and reseat both SAS cables first.

Jordie77

ASKER

The first 3 drives are indeed single port. The second three are dual port. But now something has changed! Suddenly the other 2 drives seem to be "waking up"! The leds are now blinking. It looks like data is replicated from disk 4 to disk 5 and 6 simultaneously. Of course that's just an optical view.
I'll keep you posted...

Jordie77

ASKER

Still the most activity is on disk 4. Trying to schedule system maintenance.

Member_2_231077

The activity is background parity checking. You probably created a file system on it which started the disks off, since background checking isn't done until te logical disk is written to for some reason. Then if there is no host activity for 15 seconds the controller starts checking the data on the disks against each other, so idle volumes on Smart Array Controllers actually show more disk activity sometimes than reasonably busy ones.

Jordie77

ASKER

Ok, thanks again!

Jordie77

ASKER

No objection, but solution not yet tested. Planning to do so in the next weeks.

Jordie77

ASKER

LED's are working ok now after all (all new disk).

Member_2_231077

Do the disks now show as bay:box in the ACU like they should or do they still show as SCSIxx ? If so what hardware was swapped to fix it?

Jordie77

ASKER

Yes, everything is ok now. See the attached screenshot. Strange thing is: no hardware has been replaced or firmware upgraded! Also when 1 select logocal drive 2 the blue leds are lightning up at all of the three new disks. Thanks again for your help and interest.
raidok.JPG