Sun StorageTek VTL Plus Storage Appliance
 
Sun StorageTek VTL Storage Appliance
 

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In this Document

Symptoms

Cause

Solution

References

Applies to:

Symptoms

Getting  the error message  'Impending Drive Failure' on the disk array.

Note that the VTL operation will not be impacted as a spare should be used if the actual drive fails.

Example error message from 6140 Major Event Log (MEL):
Date/Time: Thu Jan 07 12:05:35 CET 2010
Sequence number: 1173
Event type: 101E
Event category: Error
Priority: Critical
Description: Impending drive failure detected by controller (synthetic)
Event specific codes: 0/0/0
Component type: Controller
Component location: Controller in slot A
Logged by: Controller in slot A

Cause

Bad Disk or Bug CR 6704575

Solution

When this error message comes, it does not necessarily mean that the disk is faulty.  

There can be two scenarios when this error message comes up in the VTL Appliance attached disk array event log:

1.   -  A disk might be faulty, OR
2.   -  It can be the known bug CR 6704575 on VTL machines with older firmware versions

The following explains the detail of the troubleshooting on this issue:

1. Check if the Get Well Plan (GWP) has been applied to the VTL appliance.  Get an Xray from the VTL nodes and open a service request so the Oracle VTL support team can confirm what GWP needs to be implemented.

   A. If the latest GWP is applied, indicating all patches are at the latest level, and the customer still got the impending disk failure error message, then it is real disk drive failure.

   The solution is to replace the bad disk. See referenced CAP doc id 1312958.1

   B. If the patch level on the VTL Appliance is not upgraded to the latest GWP version, might be experiencing the bug where the system gives out this error message.

       B1. Verify and confirm if the disk is really faulty from allsupportdata from the disk array per the referenced KM solution 1021055.1. If the disk is faulty, replace the disk ( Use the Canned Action Plan document, CAP doc id 1312958.1, from inside the Task Creation window for detail instruction)

       B2. If the Allsupportdata from SANtricity does not show the disk as bad, it is a bug (CR 6704575) with the disk array with older version of firmware on it (see below for possible resolution options).


            The following are the possible resolutions for this bug:
            It is a known issue/bug on these disk arrays and is fixed by a later version on Disk Firmware.

            1. Apply the VTL Get Well Plan (GWP), which contains the array firmware containing the impending drive fix.  Refer to FAB doc id 1022143.1
Note: For VTL customers, only certain tested versions of the firmware are allowed to be installed on the appliance. The firmware version upgrade is done through a Get Well Plan (GWP), that specifies and supplies the right version of the firmware for the disk array.

            2. However, incorporating the GWP is not always possible for the customer as it needs down time for the VTL and Professional Services engagement.

                Work around for the issue is explained below:        
            

                 a. For CAM users:
                     Suggest using CAM service command.  This is to accomplished by an Oracle person.

                     service -d <array> -c revive -t tXdriveY
               
                     since the Revive option for the drives only becomes available when the drive status is in a "FAILED" state.

                 b. For SANtricity Users:
                     Simply reviving the drive in the SANtricity GUI will work just the same

References

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