Flashes (Alerts)
Abstract
Solid state drives are produced with an expected lifespan of 5 years. Some early devices used in SVC CF8 and CG8 models and V7000 Gen1 models may have now exceeded their expected lifespan.
Content
Modern SSDs have the ablity to determine their remaining write endurance and this is reported by the Spectrum Virtualize code along with the expected remaining lifespan in the output of the lsdrive command.
There are two early drives which do not have this ability, and as a result when these drives reach the end of their “write endurance” lifespan, write transactions can stop functioning without a prior warning. In the worst cases the drives may become totally unresponsive resulting in data loss
These drives are a 146GB SSD which was used in San Volume Controller models 2145-CF8 and 2145-CG8, and a 300GB SSD used in the first generation of V7000, models 2076-124, 2076-224 and 2076-324. These drives can be identified from the part numbers in the table below.
IBM advises that customers running these SSDs take precautions such as replacing drives, taking backups or mirroring to prevent against data loss which may occur from multiple drives reaching the end of their life in a short space of time. We also would advise customers who have these drives nearing five years of age to plan for replacements. Please contact your IBM sales team for options.
IBM strongly advises that any customers with these drives monitors for drive failure events with the detailed message of “SCSI Check Condition: Write Protected”. This is the signature for a drive reaching the end of its life, and as this event is based on age and usage it is anticipated that other drives in the same system could reach end of life shortly afterwards.
Table of affected drive models:
|
Feature |
IBM PN |
Supplier Model |
System type |
|
146GB 2.5" SSD |
31P1550 |
Z16IZD2B_146 |
San Volume Controller Models 2145-CF8 and 2145-CG8 |
|
300GB 2.5" SSD |
85Y5861 |
HK230041S |
Storwize V7000 Gen 1 2076-124, 2076-224 and 2076-324 |
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Document Information
Modified date:
28 March 2023
UID
ibm11077141