History of changes to software - ServeRAID

Resolving The Problem

Enhancements:

• The Windows code stack has been reworked to eliminate the need for the filter driver. If one piece of the code package is updated (driver, firmware, utilities, applications) under Windows, the other pieces must also be updated.
• There are other enhancements in individual components. Please see the change history of each individual component for change details.
  

Enhancements:

• Support for the IBM ServeRAID-8s SAS controller
• Support for the following operating systems:
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional for Intel x86 and EM64T
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 for Intel x86 and EM64T
  • Sun Solaris 10
  • VMWare 3.0

Enhancement:

• Support for the IBM ServeRAID-8k and ServeRAID-8k-l SAS controllers

Enhancements:

• Support for native OS authentication on Windows, Linux, Unix, and NetWare. With native authentication, you log into the ServeRAID Manager on local and remote systems using your standard network user name and password.
  
  Note: Native OS authentication replaces the Security Manager feature in the ServeRAID Manager agent. The Security Manager is no longer a part of the agent console.
  
  
• Support for the following features on network storage devices (enclosures):
  
  Note: These features require enclosure firmware level 2.15 or greater.
  • Logical drive migration wizard for expanding or migrating arrays
  • Improved ROM update wizard, featuring a common user interface for direct-attached and network-attached storage devices
  • Network management tools for configuring network details and Ethernet port settings
  • New right-click actions for direct access to configuration wizard options: Configure access-control list, Configure target information, Increase logical drive capacity

Enhancements:

• Support for native OS authentication on Windows, Linux, Unix, and NetWare. With native authentication, you log into the ServeRAID Manager on local and remote systems using your standard network user name and password.
  
  Note: Native OS authentication replaces the Security Manager feature in the ServeRAID Manager agent. The Security Manager is no longer a part of the agent console.
  
  
• Support for the following features on network storage devices (enclosures):
  
  Note: These features require enclosure firmware level 2.15 or greater.
  • Logical drive migration wizard for expanding or migrating arrays
  • Improved ROM update wizard, featuring a common user interface for direct-attached and network-attached storage devices
  • Network management tools for configuring network details and Ethernet port settings
  • New right-click actions for direct access to configuration wizard options: Configure access-control list, Configure target information, Increase logical drive capacity

• Support for the following operating systems:
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AS/ES/WS*
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AS/ES for EM64T*
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 AS/ES/WS*
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 with Service Pack 1 for Intel x86 and EM64T
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 for EM64T
  • Novell NetWare 6.5 with Service Pack 3
    *Out-of-box and current quarterly update
• Enhanced functionality in the ServeRAID Manager program:
  • Ability to manage FlashCopy backups of logical drive data on external storage enclosure
  • Fixed RAID Level-5 rebuild problem
  • Fixed notification problem for lost cache data
    

Note: This release first introduced with IBM Director 4.22.

• Support for dual-controller configurations of the IBM TotalStorage DS300 and DS400 external storage enclosures
• Enhanced functionality in the ServeRAID Manager program:
• Support for following features on dual-controller enclosures:
  • Fail over and fail back of storage between controllers
  • Ability to select and change the preferred owner of an array
  • Enclosure-wide actions: shutdown, restart, update images
  • Automatic detection of fibre channel initiator
• Support for the ServeRAID Manager program on the following operating systems:
• SCO UnixWare 7.1.3 and 7.1.4
• SCO OpenServer 5.0.6a and 5.0.7
• IBM OS/2 WARP Server for e-business
  
  Note: When using ServeRAID Manager version 8.10 with OS/2 or UnixWare as an operating system on a remote system, the version information will display as 7.10.

• Support for the IBM ServeRAID-8i SAS controller
• Support for the following operating systems:
  • Microsoft Windows:
    • Windows 2000 Server/Advanced Server
    • Windows Server 2003 Workstation/Server/Enterprise Server
    • Windows Server 2003 for EM64T
  • Linux:
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 AS/ES/WS*
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 AS/ES for EM64T*
    • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9*
    • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 for EM64T*
  • Netware:
    • Novell Netware 6.5 EP
    • *Out-of-box and current quarterly update or service pack
• Enhanced functionality in the ServeRAID Manager program:
  • Support for the following features on the IBM ServeRAID-8i controller:
    • RAID level-6 and RAID level-60 logical drives (in addition to standard RAID levels and volumes, including RAID-1E and 5EE)
    • FlashCopy backup of logical drive data
    • Copyback of logical drive data
    • Up to 512 KB stripe-unit size
    • Multiple dedicated hot spares
  • ROM Update wizard. Supports direct updates of ServeRAID controller software on local and remote systems
  • New action: Clear initialization method on ServeRAID-7t and ServeRAID-8i logical drives
    

• Fixed ECC errors in ServeRAID-5i with version 7.10.18 firmware
• Fixed error code:2807 on ServeRAID-7k during system reboot on IBM xSeries 346
• Increased timeout for commands on tape devices attached to a ServeRAID-7k
• Fixed ServeRAID-7k error LED not lighting when battery cable is unplugged
• Fixed file corruption on Raid level-5 logical drive after a logical drive migration and several rebuilds

• Support for the IBM ServeRAID-7k (39R8800 replaces 71P8642, field replacement unit (FRU) 71P8644) Ultra320 SCSI controller
• Support for new operating systems:
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES/WS 3 for Intel EM64T
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS/ES/WS 3 for AMD64 (SATA*)
  • SCO UnixWare 7.1.4
  • SUSE Linux Desktop 1.0
    *Previously SCSI only
• Two-CD distribution:
  • The bootable "IBM ServeRAID Support" CD contains device drivers and command-line programs for all supported operating systems.
  • The "IBM ServeRAID Applications" CD contains the ServeRAID Manager program.
• Enhanced functionality in the ServeRAID Manager:
  • Option to display physical device information in enclosure view format. This is the default view for systems with an attached storage enclosure.
  • Save support archive command. Your ServeRAID support representative can use the information in this archive file to diagnose problems with your system.
  • New tool bar buttons:
    • Start Task Manager
    • Open event log in a stand-alone viewe
• Fixed a problem with the ServeRAID-5i firmware that prevented detection of dead batteries
• Fixed a problem with the ServeRAID Manager SNMP software. It now allows email with security enabled
• Fixed a problem with the SCO OpenServer 5.07 device driver upgrade
• Fixed a problem with NetWare device driver reset
• Fixed a problem with the ServeRAID-6M that affected performance at high I/O loads

• Support for the IBM ServeRAID-7t SATA controller
• Support for new operating systems:
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for 64-Bit Extended Systems
  • Novell NetWare 6.5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3 for Intel and AMD 32-bit kernels
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3 for AMD 64-bit kernels
  • SUSE LINUX Professional 9.0 for Intel and AMD kernels
• Enhanced functionality in the ServeRAID Manager:
  • New user-interface look and feel, featuring the Enterprise view and Physical and Logical device views
  • Configuration wizard for ServeRAID-7t SATA controller
  • Support for new RAID types on the ServeRAID-7t controller:
  • Simple volume
  • RAID volume
  • Spanned volume
• The SNMP Trap Manager has been replaced by a new SNMP solution that supports "traps" and "gets" through use of a SNMP sub-agent. The new SNMP sub-agent integrates more closely with operating system-specific SNMP infrastructure.
  Note: See the ServeRAID User's Reference for installation and configuration instructions.
  
• AACCLI command-line tool for the ServeRAID-7t SATA controller, providing IPSSEND-like functionality.
• Fixed a problem with reporting Bad Stripe Table (BST) entries. Now, if a logical drive has a bad stripe, the ServeRAID Manager provides an alert at agent startup and then again every eight hours.
• Fixed a problem with partitioning logical drives under OpenServer 5.07.
• Fixed a problem with LSI PFA handling. To enable automatic PFA alerts, the MRIE field in the Information Exceptions Control mode page is monitored for any value other than 4 and changed accordingly.
• Fixed a problem with the ServeRAID-6M controller under SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 8 for AMD64; the controller no longer fails intermittently on systems with 6GB of memory.
• Fixed a problem that caused the device driver installation to fail under Microsoft Windows 2003 for AMD64.
• Fixed an intermittent POST hang problem when the ServeRAID-5i is forced to run at 33Mhz in x225 by a 33Mhz adapter in adjacent slot 5.
• Fixed a problem under SUSE LINUX 9.0 that prevented the operating system from locating the built-in ServeRAID driver during installation.
• Fixed a problem in the ServeRAID User's Reference manual concerning the Advanced BIOS settings. The description of the Mini-Configuration program now includes details about each advanced setting.

• Support for new operating systems:
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS2.1 for Intel 64-bit (Itanium) kernels
• Support for integrated RAID controllers (such as the LSI 1030) under SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 for AMD64.
• Fixed a problem that prevented the "IBM ServeRAID Support" CD from booting on systems with a nVidia video adapter.
• Fixed a problem with importing spanned array configurations.
• Fixed a problem with tape drive firmware updates.
• Fixed a problem that prevented the ServeRAID-6i controller from detecting drives under Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS2.1, Quarterly Update 2 (QU2).

• Support for the IBM ServeRAID-6i Ultra320 SCSI controller.
• Support for new operating systems:
  • Red Hat Linux 9.0
  • SCO UnitedLinux 4.0
  • SCO OpenServer 5.0.7
  • SuSE Linux Professional 8.1
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8
  • SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 64-bit Edition
  • Turbolinux Enterprise Server 8
• Support for 16 ServeRAID controllers on the Windows and Netware operating systems; and 12 ServeRAID controllers on all other supported operating systems.
• Enhanced functionality in the ServeRAID Manager:
  • New Task Scheduler and Task Manager in the ServeRAID Manager Agent. Use this feature to schedule lengthy operations at a convenient time, such as a logical drive migration or synchronization.
  • Display options on the Preferences menu. Use this feature to choose sorting criteria for objects in the SeveRAID Manager tree and to choose the disk capacity unit of measure (megabytes or gigabytes).
  • Ability to set remote access ports in the ServeRAID Manager Agent configuration file (RaidAgnt.pps). This option no longer appears on the Preferences menu.
  • Ability to enable and disable copy back. Use this feature to restore a logical drive to its original configuration after replacing a failed drive in an array.
  • Ability to rebuild a logical drive without first removing and reinserting the failed drive.
  • Ability to enable and disable unattended mode from the Controller menu. This option no longer appears on the Clustering actions menu.
• Support for new IPSSEND commands:
  • SET REBUILDRATE high, medium, low (DOS only)
  • GETCONFIG now displays FRU information
  • GETEVENT DDD displays defunct disk log
  • SET COPYBACK enables/disables copy back
  • GETBST displays Bad Stripe Table entries
• Fixed a problem with the ServeRAID software build procedure that failed to include the cluster driver software with the clustnt.img file on the "IBM ServeRAID Support" CD.
• Fixed a problem with the ServeRAID-3HB controller that caused performance to degrade when the battery backup cache failed.
• Fixed a problem with ServeRAID-4L and ServeRAID-4Lx controllers that resulted in a race condition when the BIOS and firmware tried to access flash memory at the same time. The system now polls the ROM BIOS before the firmware.

• Support for the new IBM ServeRAID-6M Ultra320 SCSI controller.
• Support for new operating systems:
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition for 64-bit Servers
  • SuSE Linux 8.0 64-Bit Edition
  • Red Hat Linux 8.0
• Support for SCO UnixWare (formerly Caldera UnixWare) and SCO Open Unix (formerly Caldera Open Unix)
• Enhanced functionality in the ServeRAID Manager:
  • New Email Notification Manager in the ServeRAID Manager Agent notifies users about system events.
  • Ability to initialize logical drives during Express or Custom configuration. This option no longer appears on the Preferences menu.
  • Ability to log warning and fatal events to the operating system event log on Windows and Unix systems. Use the ServeRAID Manager Agent to enable/disable event logging.
  • Simplified process for creating spanned arrays.
  • Reorganized some Action menu options for easier access to ServeRAID Manager functions.
• New 2 terabyte limit for logical drives.
• Support for RAID Level-5EE logical drives on ServeRAID-6M, ServerRAID-4L, ServerRAID-4Lx, ServeRAID-4M, and ServeRAID-4Mx controllers.
• (For Windows NT and Windows 2000 only) The failover device driver can no longer be used for installation. You must install the regular Windows device driver first; then, update using the failover driver.
• Fixed a problem with OS/2, which caused data corruption on shut down. To fix the problem, the new OS/2 driver implements
  a two-pass shutdown procedure. The first pass issues a firmware flush cache command. The second pass waits eight seconds for the firmware to complete the flush; then, shut down resumes.
• Fixed a problem with the SCO OpenServer device driver, which sometimes caused a controller reset. This problem occured
  when the driver detected a bad command ID from ips bcopy.
• Fixed a problem during failover and server restart which caused clustered drives to be marked defunct.

• Fixed a cache flushing problem in the ServeRAID-3H/3HB controller. This problem could occur when: (1) the array includes a RAID level-5 logical drive running in WB mode; (2) a drive goes defunct during an active flush to that drive and then (3) an adapter is reset after another flush command is sent to the same sector on that drive. This fix was implemented in firmware to help increase data reliability.
• Fixed an intermittent system hang which can occur during a PCI bus scan when a ServeRAID 4M, 4L, 4Mx, or 4Lx is installed in slots 4, 5, and/or 6 of the x345 system.

• Support for the new IBM ServeRAID-5i Ultra320 SCSI controller
• Support for new operating systems:
  • OpenLinux 3.1.1
  • Red Hat Linux 7.2 and 7.3
  • SuSE Linux 7.3 and 8.0
• New event mechanism to alert user when version numbers do not match in BIOS, firmware, and device drivers.
• New audible alarm in ServeRAID Manager agent when critical and fatal events occur.
• The failover device driver for Windows operating systems is now an optional installation.
• Fixed a problem with the ServeRAID Manager "Send test trap" function. Certain management programs such as Tivoli Netview did not recognize the test trap.
• Fixed a problem with the ServeRAID Manager configuration wizard when creating large arrays near one terabyte or greater in size. The large arrays caused the ServeRAID Manager configuration wizard to display the wrong logical drive size.
• Fixed the following problem in the UnixWare/Open UNIX device driver: the device driver did not handle 64 bit DMA requests from the OS when greater than 4GB memory addressing was activated.
• (For Windows NT and Windows 2000 only, ServeRAID-3 family only): fixed "Event ID 11" condition in critical RAID-level 5 logical drives.
• (For Windows NT and Windows 2000 only): fixed "the service has terminated unexpectedly" error message reported in the event log.
• (For Windows NT and Windows 2000 only): fixed resource constraints under heavy workloads (Event ID 11).
• Reduced excessive error logging in critical RAID-level 1 logical drives.

• Many causes of blue screens can lead to data corruption. In rare circumstances, if a blue screen occurs while a RAID level-5 configuration has one defunct physical drive, data corruption might occur. To reduce the risk of data corruption in this scenario, the ServeRAID Windows NT device driver now delays after a blue screen occurs before resetting the ServeRAID controller.
• Additionally, a fix was implemented for the rare occurrence of data corruption when all of the following conditions are met:
  • A ServeRAID-3HB controller is installed with the 4.70 or 4.80 firmware and device driver.
  • Four or more hard disk drives are in the array.
  • One or more of the hard disk drives in the array are 17GB or larger.
  • The array includes a RAID level-5 logical drive.
  • The server is turned off without shutting down the operating system, or a blue screen occurs.

• Fixed system hangs or error messages that might occur during tape backup operations or other single-threaded operations because of ServeRAID command time-outs. This problem was observed specifically on SCO OpenServer ("Unrecovered read error" messages are displayed on the OpenServer console).
• For IBM eServer xSeries 360: When using the "IBM ServeRAID 4.80 BIOS and Firmware Update (1 of 2)" diskette on a ServeRAID-4H controller, fixed occurrences when the firmware update did not complete successfully and the server would restart.
• The performance on some applications has been improved when using write-back mode on a RAID level-5 logical drive that has a defunct physical drive.

• Support for new operating systems:
  • Caldera OpenLinux 3.1
  • Caldera Open UNIX 8.0
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Novell NetWare 6.0
  • SuSE Linux 7.1
  • Turbolinux 6.5
• A new Configuration wizard for ServeRAID configuration that provides an easier-to-use interface, better access to status indicators, and enhanced functionality that eliminates potential configurations that are not valid.
• New and expanded context-sensitive online assistance that is displayed within the ServeRAID Manager interface rather than in a separate window.
• Reporting of physical drive field replaceable unit (FRU) information within events. IBM service representatives use the FRU information to identify the physical drive model replacement without opening the server cover.
• Enhanced functionality in the ServeRAID Manager to include accessibility features and functions so that the Manager is directly accessible without regard to the ability of the user.
• Enhanced functionality in the ServeRAID Manager to establish a compatibility baseline, so that future releases will be able to connect and manage this release.
• Added ability to set online physical drives to the defunct state.
• Fixed problem with data coming from the serial port when using the IBM ServeRAID Support CD.
• Fixed problem when starting the "IBM ServeRAID Support" CD and an Adaptec 29160 is installed in a higher priority 32-bit PCI slot than the ServeRAID controller.
• Fixed problem with controller timeouts when writing large sequential blocks of data, such as a database initialization.
• Fixed spurious interrupts on SCO OpenServer.
• Fixed problem when configuring for a cluster where user could enter more than 12 characters for the controller names. The maximum length for controller names is 12 characters.
• Fixed intermittent problem where hot-swap rebuild did not start.
• Fixed problem in NetWare 5.1 when issuing IPSSEND CREATE on ServeRAID-3 controllers. Output displays an error message that says: "Could not send the command to the controller.

• Support was added for the IBM ServeRAID-4Mx Ultra160 SCSI controller and the IBM ServeRAID-4Lx Ultra160 SCSI controller.

• Support was added for OS/2 SMP and OS/2 e-business.
• Support was added for uninstalling the IBM ServeRAID Failover Virtual Adapter in Microsoft Windows 2000.
• The BIOS error reporting function to the service processor was fixed.
• An issue was fixed that caused an intermittent failure during startup of Windows NT. Previously, a blue screen occurred after loss of power to the server.
• An issue was fixed that caused failure to rebuild the hot-spare physical drive.

• A ServeRAID issue associated with loading (booting) from a SCSI CD-ROM drive was fixed. This issue affected only ServeRAID-3x, ServeRAID-II, and ServeRAID controllers.
• Tape backup errors associated with Microsoft Windows 2000 were fixed.
• System diagnostic problems associated with ServeRAID-4M and ServeRAID-4L controllers were fixed.
• Diskette drive access issues were fixed. This issue occured when a Netfinity Fibre Channel PCI Adapter or a Netfinity FAStT Host Adapter was installed in the server.

• Support for the new IBM ServeRAID-4M Ultra160 SCSI controller and the IBM ServeRAID-4L Ultra160 SCSI controller
• ServeRAID Manager has the following new features:
  • Enhanced reporting and troubleshooting for defunct drives
    
  • Setting a physical drive marked with a PFA to defunct. This new action makes drive replacement easier.
  • Starting the IBM ServeRAID Hot Replace Wizard from a remote connection. This feature is useful when replacing a ontroller in a server that does not have a monitor attached.
    

• Runs in Netfinity Director on Windows 2000 as a console, server, and agent
• Runs in Netfinity Director on NetWare 5.x and UnixWare 7.1 as an agent
• Red Hat Linux 6.1 and OpenServer 5.05 support
• SNMP trap support
• Agent runs as a service
• Hot-plug (Active) PCI hot-replace support for Windows NT 4.0
• RAID level-00, 10, 1E0, and 50 support
• Windows 2000 device driver supports logical drives larger than 4 GB, clustering, failover, and Hot-plug (Active) PCI hot add and hot remove.
• New RAID level-00, 10, 1E0, and 50
• Ultra160 physical drive support
• 4 channel support
• Enhanced failed physical drive reporting
• ServeRAID-3H/3HB and the ServeRAID-3L firmware
• Enhanced failed physical drive reporting
• (3L only) Fixed support for 64 KB stripe-unit size

• ServeRAID Manager runs in Netfinity Director on Windows NT
• OS/2 and NetWare 5.0 support
• Option to verify a Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) is setup correctly
• Standby Hot Spare support
• BIOS compatibility mode setting
• Enable write-back cache in the drives support
• Printable configuration, code levels, event logs, and VPD
• Enhanced PCI Hot Plug and failover support
• Enclosure monitoring
• The ServeRAID Manager replaces the DOS Configuration program
• OS/2 Administration and Monitoring program
• NetWare Administration and Monitoring program
• Windows NT Administration and Monitoring program
• IPSSEND BACKUP saves the BIOS settings
• The High-Performance Windows NT 4.0 (monolithic) driver is integrated with the standard miniport driver (You can expect higher performance and less CPU utilization when accessing RAID drives.)
• New device driver for the Red Hat Linux 6.0 operating system

• Performance enhancements in the ServeRAID firmware
• Support for arrays consisting of up to 16 physical drives with 32 KB and 64 KB stripe-unit sizes
• Support for up to four concurrent FlashCopy commands

• Fix of rare, but potential, failure that might result under repeated manual movement of cluster resources from one server to another under MSCS
• Fix of potential hang conditions resulting from the handling of the ServeRAID battery-backup cache
• Enhancement of drive rebuilding while logical drive migration is in progress
• Fix of various operating system-level traps reported on, but not limited to, OS/2 and UnixWare 7.1
• Improved handling of drives that exceed the Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA) threshold

• Rebuild recovery enhancements New RAID level-5E
• FlashCopy AdaptiveRead-Ahead support
• Enhanced import configuration path when importing a configuration with a non-default stripe-unit size
• RAID level -1 rebuild error recovery enhancements logical drive migration stress test enhancements with NetWare 4.2
• Corrected system hang condition for PC Server 704
• Channel 3 quorum-arbitration link no longer required when running Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS)
• Clustering error recovery enhancements
• Message to the user added when voltage drop or removal of Battery-Backup Cache option

• New ServeRAID Manager for Windows NT and UnixWare
• Support for 12 controllers with Windows NT
• Logical drive numbering starts at 1 instead of 0
• When creating a hot-spare drive, old ServeRAID configuration data is automatically deleted from the drive (This eliminates the low-level format requirement for cluster setups.)
• Corrected Windows NT installation problems with more than seven drives in RAID level-5 array

• Enhancement of drive rebuilding while logical drive migration is in progress
• Fix of various operating system-level traps reported on, but not limited to, OS/2 and UnixWare 7.1

• Rebuild recovery enhancements
• Clustering error recovery enhancements