[rescue] StorageWorks cabinet rescue

[William W. Arnold]

Eric Dittman writes ---
>Billy Arnold writes ---
>>Eric Dittman writes ---
>> >Billy Arnold writes ---
>> After a
>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s2
>> it reads the correct size.
>
>You should always initialize the devices before
>you try to use them, to avoid these issue.

I did.  Which is what really confused me.  I knew
that initializing the drives was supposed to destroy
the data (I read the documentation) I obviously
screw something up, though I don't know what.

It's working now, so I don't suppose it matters.

>> Unfortunatly, after being on overnight, the battery finally
>> changed state from "Cache battery charge is low" to
>> "Cache battery failed diagnostic testing"
>
>The batteries (there are two) are dead.

Yep.

>> Which disables all RAID5 disksets.  I've fallen back to
>> a simple stripe, but I'd like to get it fixed.
>> Is there any chance it'll finish charging eventually,
>> or am I going to have to buy new batteries?  If buy,
>> where might I find them?  BTW: I am told that it sat
>> powered-down for more than 2 years.  Could this have damaged
>> the batteries?
>
>Yes, leaving them powered-down for a long time without
>removing or disabling the batteries will cause this.

Oh well.

>To get around this problem, change the jumper on the
>cache board to disable the batteries, remove the old
>ones, and change the CACHE settings.  You could also
>just remove the cache board.

Ah,ha.  this I didn't know.

>You can use RAID5 without good batteries with the
>cache installed, but you have to make sure you have
>a UPS, and a way to flush the cache before the UPS
>runs out.

Of course.

>You can buy the batteries from either Compaq, a third-
>party vendor, or the manufacturer.  The name is on the
>batteries, and I seem to remember they are around $50
>each.

That's not too expensive.  good to know.

>> >You also are limited with the
>> >BA350 to narrow drives, and from the firmware you have I
>> >think 4.3G disks.  I have a later firmware I can email you,
>> >which you can upgrade using kermit on the serial port.
>> 
>> Thanks, please do. How large does the later firmware allow?
>
>9G.  There's a later one that I think allows 18G, but I
>don't have a copy at this time.

9x24 is a respectible array.

Does anyone else listening have the 18G firmware?

>> Also: so those are BA350 shelves?  I saw some mention of them in
>> my google searches, but wasn't sure.  I'll go look at what I can
>> find on them now.
>
>If they have two fifty-pin SCSI connectors built in beside
>the slot 0 connector, then they are BA350 shelves.

Nope.  Visible connectors inside from the front are:
power, disk, disk, disk, disk, disk, disk, power

Note that the scsi busses run vertically through the 4
shelves, so the bottom shelf is target 0 on buss's
1-6, the second shelf is target 1, etc.

If you look in the Users Guide, page 4-11, figure 4-5
you'll find a drawing of what I appear to have.
That page mentions the "StorageWorks SWXSC-AA Office
Expansion RAID Enclosure User's Guide"
Any chance you have a copy/pdf?

>> >> Question 3) Where can I find documentation for this?
>> >> I have a copy of the "SWXRC-04 RAID Array Controller User's Guide"
>> >> that came with it, but I'd like to find out as much as I can.
>
>I have the PDF manuals for the BA350 and BA356 shelves
>available via anonymous ftp on dittman.net.  I also
>have the HSZ40 service manual (the SWXRC-04 is the
>same as the HSZ40, with a different internal ID) I
>can put there as well.

Please.

>Just remember, if you have BA350 shelves, avoid the wide drives.

Will do. Even though I don't.

-- 
-billy- warnold at vipnet.org