Pinned topic How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage


We have V7000 setup with
1) 35nos. 600GB SAS drives
2) 3nos. mdisks each with 11 member drives (mdisk creation was done thru CLI since GUI does not allow beyond 8 HDDs in a mdisk). These 3nos. mdisk form a storage pool.
3) remaining 2nos. HDDs have been configured as spare.
We continuously get the following warning messages :-
"Array/Mdisk 17 not protected by sufficient spares"
Unable to figure out why this message keeps coming since we have configured 2 spares and as per v7k theory all spares are global spares.
Also spare goal all mdisk is 1
Any input will be greatly appreciated. Storage is in production now.
Attached GUI pics for refernce
Thanks
Sriram Iyer
Attachments
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Re: How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage
2012-08-29T19:25:32ZThis is the accepted answer. This is the accepted answer.
Take a look at this V7000 Redbook
In Chapter 7.1.2 there is an explaination about presets and spares in a chain. -
Re: How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage
2012-08-30T05:37:27ZThis is the accepted answer. This is the accepted answer.
I went through that section of redbook. It seems v7000 allocates spares on chain basis.
So the reason for "array/mdisk not protected by sufficient spares" message could be spares are in a different chain and my mdisk is in another chain. -
Re: How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage
2012-09-07T07:48:27ZThis is the accepted answer. This is the accepted answer.
- SriramIyer-StorageSSR
- 2012-08-30T05:37:27Z
I went through that section of redbook. It seems v7000 allocates spares on chain basis.
So the reason for "array/mdisk not protected by sufficient spares" message could be spares are in a different chain and my mdisk is in another chain.
As soon as I provisioned a spare drive in the chain containing the mdisk reporting "insufficient spare" issue got resolved.
To summarize :
1) The 5nos. expansions below V7000 control enclosure form chain 1. These expansions are connected to node canister SAS port 1.
2) The 4nos. expansions above V7000 control enclosure plus V7000 control enclosure form chain 2. These expansions are connected to node canister SAS port 2.
So, spare HDD in chain 2 cannot provide protection to mdisk in chain 1.
Ensure sufficient spares are configured in both the chains.
Thanks -
Re: How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage
2014-03-17T02:49:42ZThis is the accepted answer. This is the accepted answer.
- SriramIyer-StorageSSR
- 2012-09-07T07:52:08Z
ensure spare drives are provisioned in both the chainsHi, how may I ask did you actually do this? Via the CLI? If so, what command?
Thanks
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Re: How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage
2014-03-17T08:52:10ZThis is the accepted answer. This is the accepted answer.
- JamesI
- 2014-03-17T02:49:42Z
Hi, how may I ask did you actually do this? Via the CLI? If so, what command?
Thanks
Hi Jamesl, please clarify what information do u want..
Are u looking for commands for spare creation or mdisk creation ?
Thanks
Sriram Iyer
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Re: How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage
2014-03-17T09:14:14ZThis is the accepted answer. This is the accepted answer.
- Sriram_Iyer_1988
- 2014-03-17T08:52:10Z
Hi Jamesl, please clarify what information do u want..
Are u looking for commands for spare creation or mdisk creation ?
Thanks
Sriram Iyer
Hi Sriram,
Thanks for your reply. I know how to create mdisks via CLI.
I have set a couple disks as spares in the GUI - but get the same error occurring as per the messages in this post.
I need to set a drive as a hotspare for all mdisks (all same size drives) which I assume I do via the CLI but don't know the command to do this.
Cheers
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Re: How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage
2014-03-17T09:45:40ZThis is the accepted answer. This is the accepted answer.
- JamesI
- 2014-03-17T09:14:14Z
Hi Sriram,
Thanks for your reply. I know how to create mdisks via CLI.
I have set a couple disks as spares in the GUI - but get the same error occurring as per the messages in this post.
I need to set a drive as a hotspare for all mdisks (all same size drives) which I assume I do via the CLI but don't know the command to do this.
Cheers
Hi Jamesl
Since the storage has only 1 type of disk, u need to check the chain diagram only for resolving the issue..
Most probably your mdisk throwing the "insufficient spare message" is in one chain and both your spare disks are in other chain..
Would u mind sharing the snap file of V7000 for better clarity.. ?
Thanks
Sriram Iyer
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Re: How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage
2014-03-17T10:38:50ZThis is the accepted answer. This is the accepted answer.
- Sriram_Iyer_1988
- 2014-03-17T09:45:40Z
Hi Jamesl
Since the storage has only 1 type of disk, u need to check the chain diagram only for resolving the issue..
Most probably your mdisk throwing the "insufficient spare message" is in one chain and both your spare disks are in other chain..
Would u mind sharing the snap file of V7000 for better clarity.. ?
Thanks
Sriram Iyer
Hi,
I should be more specific, there are 2 types of disks - 300GB SAS and 200GB SSD's. There is one control and one expansion enclosure. I have several Mdisks and pools created, SAS and SSD are spread over both enclosures. Need to assign 1 x SAS disk (in control enclosure slot 24) and 1 x SSD disk (in expansion enclosure slot 24) as hot spares for their respective disk type for all Mdisks. Setting as spare in GUI I get this message. Don't know how to tell it to be part of what I'm assuming is chain #1 (as only 1 expansion enclosure)
Thanks
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Re: How does Storwize V7000 provide hot spare coverage
2014-03-17T14:15:04ZThis is the accepted answer. This is the accepted answer.
- JamesI
- 2014-03-17T10:38:50Z
Hi,
I should be more specific, there are 2 types of disks - 300GB SAS and 200GB SSD's. There is one control and one expansion enclosure. I have several Mdisks and pools created, SAS and SSD are spread over both enclosures. Need to assign 1 x SAS disk (in control enclosure slot 24) and 1 x SSD disk (in expansion enclosure slot 24) as hot spares for their respective disk type for all Mdisks. Setting as spare in GUI I get this message. Don't know how to tell it to be part of what I'm assuming is chain #1 (as only 1 expansion enclosure)
Thanks
Hi Jamesl
You can get chain details from GUI or command "lssasfabric".
In your case we have 1 controller and 1 expansion. If properly cabled as per installation guide then expansion will be in chain 1 and controller will be in chain 2.
Since you have SAS disks and SSD disks spread across both enclosures, you will need to assign 1xSAS and 1xSSD as spare from controller and 1xSAS and 1xSSD as spare from expansion.
This will ensure both types of spares are available in both chains and mdisks will no longer report "insufficient spares" message.
Things would have been easier for you had all SSDs been in controller and all SAS disks been in expansion. In that case 1 spare from each enclosure would have been sufficient.
Thanks
Sriram Iyer