Mike Taylor
asked on
Help with EMC VNX5400
Hi, i am new to the Storage world so hopefully i can explain while keeping things as basic as possible....
I have a vnx5400 with 6 additional arrays (Shelves) which has moved datacenters.. This has resulted in the cabling and the order of the disk shelves not being noted prior to removal so now it has been re-installed into a rack without the same configuration as before (Also Possibly missing 4 disks from 1 shelf)
As a result the storage pools are showing offline and i am unable to access storage, Is it possible to force the storage online?
If not, is it possible to wipe everything and setup as a new storage array (Factory reset the VNX while not loosing any licensing ect as we have no other backup of this data and config)
Ideally we would like to save the 40TB of data but if not possible we are happy to wipe and setup as a new out of the box vnx.
Side note: I would be happy to pay a fee for any assistance or if someone is confident they could save the data and get the volumes back online.. if not i would also pay a fee for someone to setup as a new out of the box system (While preserving any licensing that is on there
We have unisphere access (Web GUI) and cli access, we also have access to the control station.
However we have no warranty or active service contract in place with Dell EMC
Thanks
I have a vnx5400 with 6 additional arrays (Shelves) which has moved datacenters.. This has resulted in the cabling and the order of the disk shelves not being noted prior to removal so now it has been re-installed into a rack without the same configuration as before (Also Possibly missing 4 disks from 1 shelf)
As a result the storage pools are showing offline and i am unable to access storage, Is it possible to force the storage online?
If not, is it possible to wipe everything and setup as a new storage array (Factory reset the VNX while not loosing any licensing ect as we have no other backup of this data and config)
Ideally we would like to save the 40TB of data but if not possible we are happy to wipe and setup as a new out of the box vnx.
Side note: I would be happy to pay a fee for any assistance or if someone is confident they could save the data and get the volumes back online.. if not i would also pay a fee for someone to setup as a new out of the box system (While preserving any licensing that is on there
We have unisphere access (Web GUI) and cli access, we also have access to the control station.
However we have no warranty or active service contract in place with Dell EMC
Thanks
hopefully you have the disks 0-3 in the vnx5400 installed 
When moving this is the procedure I use
Photograph the front and the back noting all cable locations.
remove and label all drives and put in a cushioned container.
label all devices and the order they are in. Another Picture
unplug cables and put in another labeled box
remove from rack and transport to new location
using the pictures taken earlier Install in rack, connect cables, and insert the labeled drives
When moving this is the procedure I use
Photograph the front and the back noting all cable locations.
remove and label all drives and put in a cushioned container.
label all devices and the order they are in. Another Picture
unplug cables and put in another labeled box
remove from rack and transport to new location
using the pictures taken earlier Install in rack, connect cables, and insert the labeled drives
ASKER
Hi,
Thank you for taking time to help out.
Unfortunately Arnold it is not under service or warranty, Is there a way i can track down the config file to potentially identify how it was connected or is it possible to force the volumes online.. Failing that how difficult would it be to remove the offline pool so i can create a new pool using the same disk shelf's?
Yes the flare and all the flash drives, the possible missing drives are from one of the standard 3.5 inch KTN-STL4 shelf.
In total there are 6 KTN-STL4 shelf's full of drives (5 of which are definitely untouched, the 6th may have up to 4 missing 3.5 inch drives)
Right now when i login to Unisphere it shows the pool as offline and if i enter engineering mode i am unable to delete the pool.
In hindsight i should have logged everything down like David suggests.
Thank you for taking time to help out.
Unfortunately Arnold it is not under service or warranty, Is there a way i can track down the config file to potentially identify how it was connected or is it possible to force the volumes online.. Failing that how difficult would it be to remove the offline pool so i can create a new pool using the same disk shelf's?
Yes the flare and all the flash drives, the possible missing drives are from one of the standard 3.5 inch KTN-STL4 shelf.
In total there are 6 KTN-STL4 shelf's full of drives (5 of which are definitely untouched, the 6th may have up to 4 missing 3.5 inch drives)
Right now when i login to Unisphere it shows the pool as offline and if i enter engineering mode i am unable to delete the pool.
In hindsight i should have logged everything down like David suggests.
If not mistaken, through the interface, you can see while the volume is offlibe which drives are members and their status.
I hink this is a way connecting each shelf at a time to restore members.
The processor shelf connects to two other shelfs
6 shelfs each has two possible per processor.connection.
Are they already racked?
I hink this is a way connecting each shelf at a time to restore members.
The processor shelf connects to two other shelfs
6 shelfs each has two possible per processor.connection.
Are they already racked?
It may be possible to delete the pool if you physically remove all the member disks.
( found that at https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/99001d/force_delecting_storage_pools_on_an_emc_vnx_5300/ - can't access the EMC doc of course )
( found that at https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/99001d/force_delecting_storage_pools_on_an_emc_vnx_5300/ - can't access the EMC doc of course )
ASKER
Arnold, Yes they are already racked, when i go to the pool it only shows what disks are connected so for example if i connect 2 shelf's it will show those disks, if i connect all 6 it will show all 6 shelf disks but still says offline but It does not seem to show the missing disks, just the active ones.
andyalder, That link gives hope as ive not tried to delete everything on the disks (Apart from flare) - Ideally i would like to avoid this but if it means i have to do this in order to use the vnx again then i suppose im willing to go down that route and delete the 40tb pool.
Sidenote: I would be willing to pay a fee and provide remote access to an expert to potentially help resolve this if that could be an option?
andyalder, That link gives hope as ive not tried to delete everything on the disks (Apart from flare) - Ideally i would like to avoid this but if it means i have to do this in order to use the vnx again then i suppose im willing to go down that route and delete the 40tb pool.
Sidenote: I would be willing to pay a fee and provide remote access to an expert to potentially help resolve this if that could be an option?
I am not sure what your response means.
It should tell you what makes the volume and whether the five or four missing disks were or are not needed.
The volume definition, raid type, member disks and their status
The issue is complex. Presumably you did not if prompted made changes to the volume.
In a situation such as yours and whether the data on it is of value, is to reach out to Dell on whether this is salvageable.
To reassemble the volume potentially by reading, rebuilding the configuration based on drive config versus based on the controller based saved info.
The call might cost you nothing, or nominal that might be deducted from the total if you wish to proceed with them , but if I were in your place, I would at least explore with the situation as it is now whether the data is salvageable.
It should tell you what makes the volume and whether the five or four missing disks were or are not needed.
The volume definition, raid type, member disks and their status
The issue is complex. Presumably you did not if prompted made changes to the volume.
In a situation such as yours and whether the data on it is of value, is to reach out to Dell on whether this is salvageable.
To reassemble the volume potentially by reading, rebuilding the configuration based on drive config versus based on the controller based saved info.
The call might cost you nothing, or nominal that might be deducted from the total if you wish to proceed with them , but if I were in your place, I would at least explore with the situation as it is now whether the data is salvageable.
ASKER
Hi Arnold,
I will give them a call tomorrow, Hopefully they will help if possible, after all this cost a lot of money a couple years back so its not like they have not had their moneys worth!
This is not in production at the moment due to current state and contains a lot of backups that we would like to save, if not we will re-initialize the vnx as a new setup and use it for backups.
If anyone has further suggestions please feel free to contribute as im not sure what dell will say based on no warranty and support is no longer active, they might ask for a fee that makes it unfeasible to rescue the data therefore the only option would be to somehow delete everything and start again.
I will give them a call tomorrow, Hopefully they will help if possible, after all this cost a lot of money a couple years back so its not like they have not had their moneys worth!
This is not in production at the moment due to current state and contains a lot of backups that we would like to save, if not we will re-initialize the vnx as a new setup and use it for backups.
If anyone has further suggestions please feel free to contribute as im not sure what dell will say based on no warranty and support is no longer active, they might ask for a fee that makes it unfeasible to rescue the data therefore the only option would be to somehow delete everything and start again.
If Dell won't help or want too much then a 3rd party maintenance company that specialises in storage such as https://iscgroupllc.com/en/contact-us/ can probably sort it out for you (they bought out NCE Europe who we used to use for storage we couldn't handle in-house).
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The sheld with the four/five drives where the flare is installed unless these are the missing drives
The config might help identify how the shelves were connected.