Drive fault LED and IMM might not report rebuild in slots 16 - 23 on non-expander backplanes - IBM Servers

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H211506

Symptom

In disk drive slots 16 - 23, when attached to a non-expander backplane, the amber 'drive fault' Light Emitting Diode (LED) for the slot might not flash to indicate that a rebuild has begun, completed, or turn off after a drive fault condition has been cleared.

Additionally, for drives in these slots that are attached to a non-expander backplane, the Integrated Management Module (IMM) might not report that a rebuild has begun, completed, or a clear 'drive fault' status.

Affected configurations

The system can be any of the following IBM servers:

• System x3650 M4 HD, type 5460, any model
• System x3650 M4, type 7915, any model
• System x3750 M4, type 8722, any model
• System x3750 M4, type 8733, any model

The system is configured with one or more of the following IBM options:

• ServeRAID M1015 SAS/SATA Controller, option part number 46M0831, any replacement part number
• ServeRAID M1115 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, option part number 81Y4448, any replacement part number (CRU)
• ServeRAID M5014 SAS/SATA Controller, option part number 46M0916, any replacement part number
• ServeRAID M5015 SAS/SATA Controller, option part number 46M0829, any replacement part number
• ServeRAID M5016 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, option part number 90Y4304, any replacement part number
• ServeRAID M5110 SAS/SATA Controller Card, option part number 81Y4481, any replacement part number
• ServeRAID M5110 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, any replacement part number
• ServeRAID M5110e SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, onboard, any embedded
• ServeRAID M5120 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, option part number 81Y4478, any replacement part number
• ServeRAID M5210 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, option part number 46C9110
• ServeRAID M5210e SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x, option part number 46C9117

This tip is not software specific.

The ServeRAID M5210 level 24.0.2-0013 of firmware for the LSI controller is affected.

The system has the symptom described above.

Solution

This behavior will be corrected in a future release of LSI MegaRAID controller firmware.

The target date for this release is scheduled for third quarter 2014.

The file will be available by selecting the appropriate Product Group, type of System, Product name, Product machine type, and operating system on IBM Support's Fix Central web page, at the following URL:

http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

To turn off the fault LED or update the drive status after the fault condition has been removed, reset the system.

Workaround

Use either the LSI controller configuration utility, MegaRAID Storage Manager (MSM) utility, or StorCLI to obtain and check the correct status of the drives in question.

To use the LSI controller configuration utility:

1. Start the system to the UEFI F1 Setup Menu.
2. Navigate to System Settings -> Storage.
3. Select the controller in question.
4. Choose Virtual Drive Management.
5. Here, users find the up-to-date volume status, and whether a Rebuild is occurring or has completed.

To use MegaRAID Storage Manager:

1. Download the specific version for the operating system from the IBM Web site.
2. Follow the included instructions to install it.
3. After MegaRAID Storage Manager is installed, MSM provides up-to-date status on all drives and volumes within the system.

To use StorCLI:

1. download the specific version for the operating system from the IBM Web site.
2. Follow the included instructions to install it.
3. Use the following commands to obtain volume status information from the controller.

   Determine which controller users are looking for by issuing the following command:

   storcli show

   With the controller number obtained from the above command in place of x in the command below, users can see the status of all volumes on this controller:

   storcli /cx show

   Then, using the VD (Virtual Disk) number obtained from the above command in place of y in the command below, users can see more detailed status of that Virtual Disk:

   storcli /cx/vy show

   Finally, even more detailed status of a particular Virtual Disk can be obtained with this command:

   storcli /cx/vy show all

Additional information

There is an issue with the data structure used to store SGPIO data on the LSI controller, such that drives 16 - 23 do not always get the correct reporting, which will affect the amber drive fault LED and the IMM's reporting of a rebuild occurring or completing, and drive fault condition being removed.

(where SGPIO = Serial General Purpose Input/Output)

However, when connected to an expander backplane, the expander handles the SGPIO, so when drives 16 - 23 are connected to an expander, the SGPIO and therefore LED and IMM report correctly.