HP P2000 G3 MSA Systems Controller Firmware TS240P004 Release Notes

November 2012



Version: 

TS240P004

Description

This package delivers firmware for HP P2000G3 MSA array controllers and includes enhanced features or fixes to issues found during use and additional qualification testing.

Important:

Beginning with TS230, firmware for all HP P2000 G3 MSA System controllers was merged into a common firmware stream, used on all protocols of P2000 G3 MSA controllers.

Note:

The latest, approved companion versions of P2000 and MSA2000 drive enclosure firmware are included in this firmware package. When firmware on P2000 G3 MSA array controller enclosures is updated using this firmware package, firmware on cascaded P2000 or MSA2000 drive enclosures is also updated. If D2700 or MSA70 drive enclosures are cascaded from the P2000 G3 MSA array, firmware for those enclosures must be obtained and updated individually.

For a list of supported companion drive enclosure firmware, see “Additional devices”.

Update recommendation 

Recommended

Supersedes 

TS240P003

Versioning key: 

AxxxByyy-zz

Where the following letters represent release information about the firmware version:

A

MSA model. (TS=P2000 G3, M=MSA2000 G2, J=MSA2000)

xxx

Firmware version. This value changes for major, scheduled releases. Depending on the MSA model, this number may also indicate model protocol.

B

Type of release. (R=Regular release, P=Planned update to a regular release, S=Special release)

yyy

Major release number.

-zz

Minor release number.

Product models

HP P2000 G3 MSA System controllers:

  • HP P2000 G3 10GbE iSCSI MSA

  • HP P2000 G3 1GbE iSCSI MSA

  • HP P2000 G3 FC/iSCSI Combo MSA

  • HP P2000 G3 Fibre Channel MSA

  • HP P2000 G3 SAS MSA

Operating systems

Operating systemHP P2000 G3 MSA System controller model
FCFC/iSCSISASiSCSI10GbE iSCSI
Apple Mac OSXX[a]   
HP OpenVMSXX[b]   
HP-UX 11.23XX[c]   
HP-UX 11.31XX[d]X[e]  
Microsoft Windows Server 2003XXXXX
Microsoft Windows Server 2008XXXXX
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.xXXXXX
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.xXXXXX
Solaris 10XX XX
Solaris 11XX X
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10XXXXX
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11XXXXX
VMware 4.xXXXXX
VMware 5.xXXXXX

[a] Supported for FC connections only.

[b] Supported for FC connections only.

[c] Supported for FC connections only.

[d] Supported for FC connections only.

[e] Supported only when the MSA is connected to a BladeSystem environment using the HP P711m Smart Array controller.

Note:

  • Support for additional operating systems may be approved after release of this firmware. For up-to-date, detailed operating system support information and known restrictions, see the HP Storage Single Point Of Connectivity Knowledge (SPOCK) website at http://www.hp.com/storage/spock. Enter your HP Passport account credentials and then, in the left pane, select View by Array. In the displayed table of arrays, on the MSA row, use the Refine and the Add to Selection options to display the list of supported operating systems for your controller model.

  • When installing firmware using the Smart Component, the following operating systems are supported: Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, 5, and 6 and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and 11.

Additional devices

HP P2000 G3 MSA System array controller enclosures support the cascading of drive enclosures. The following table lists supported drive enclosure models and firmware versions.

HP P2000 G3 MSA array controller firmwareCascaded drive enclosure modelMinimum qualified drive enclosure firmware
TS240HP P2000 Drive EnclosureS200B18
HP MSA2000 Drive EnclosureO320B13
HP D2700 Drive Enclosure0131
HP 70 Modular Smart Array2.28

Important:

After updating array controller firmware or after connecting new drive enclosures to an existing controller enclosure, verify the firmware compatibility of all devices. If needed, obtain and install the supported controller or drive enclosure firmware. Firmware is available for download from the HP Business Support Center website at http://www.hp.com/support/downloads.

Enhancements

The following features were added or enhanced in TS240R037:

  • Support for VMware vSphere Aware Storage API) (VASA). When the HP Insight Control for VMware vCenter Storage Module v7.0 (or higher) is installed, the VMware VASA API can be used to provide visibility into the physical storage infrastructure through vCenter. The Insight Control Storage Module can be downloaded from the HP Software Depot website (http://www.hp.com/go/softwaredepot).

  • Performance Monitoring has been expanded to include:

    • Disk performance statistics are collected every 15 minutes and retained for 6 months.

    • Historical performance statistics can be graphed for either a single disk or for all disks in a vdisk in the SMU.

    • Graphs show the latest 50 samples by default, but may be set for a different time period. If the specified time period includes more than 50 samples, the data is aggregated into 50 samples.

    • Historical performance statistics can be saved in CSV (comma-separated values) format to a file, for import into a spreadsheet or other third-party application.

    • Historical performance statistics for vdisks and disks can be viewed in the CLI.

    • Resetting historical performance statistics clears retained data, but gathering new samples continues.

  • SMI-S support has been expanded to include:

    • Support for SMI-S specification 1.5.

    • Support for Full (Active) Provisioning, as provided in the Block Services profile extrinsic methods.

    • Support for Copy Services and Job Control SMI-S subprofiles.

    • Support for HP WBEM TC Consolidated Status and Status Reason profiles.

    • Support for unsecure SMI-S on port 5988, as an alternative to using secure SMI-S on port 5989.

    • Support for all mandatory Life Cycle Indication events, including create, delete, and modify indications.

    • Support for CQL Queries used in Indication Filters.

    • Support for SFCB v1.3.11 CIMOM with v2.26.0 MOFs.

  • A scrub is now automatically run on all newly installed drives and on all available drives that are not assigned to a vdisk. In addition, a message is written to the event logs indicating which drive is being scrubbed.

  • As the storage system operates, it records diagnostic data in several types of log files. The size of any log file is limited, so over time and during periods of high activity, these logs can reach their capacity and begin overwriting the oldest data. The new Managed Logs feature allows log data to be transferred to a log-collection system before any data is overwritten. For more information, see the HP P2000 G3 MSA System SMU Reference Guide.

  • Greatly reduced the time required for vdisk expansion.

  • Event messages now include recommended actions. For more information, see the HP P2000 G3 MSA System Event Descriptions Reference Guide.

  • When creating vdisks, a larger chunk size is now available. Acceptable chunk sizes include: 16k, 32k, 64k, 128k, 256k, and 512k

  • Clarified the wording of the pop-up message displayed when there was insufficient space on a vdisk to perform a Replicate Volume task

  • Events 361 and 362 are now documented in the latest release of the HP P2000 G3 MSA System Event Descriptions Reference Guide.

  • SMU-specific enhancements:

    • The Storage Management Utility (SMU) user interface was redesigned, resulting in some new menus and menu options and some renamed menus and menu options. Most changes are self-explanatory and easy to understand. For information about using the SMU, see the HP P2000 G3 MSA System SMU Reference Guide.

    • In the IP Address Controller field of the Remote System Overview, the link to a remote system now reflects the protocol (http or https) used to access the SMU.

    • Added a notification alert for when all spares have been used or are no longer available.

  • CLI-specific enhancements:

    • Performance monitoring via XML API has been expanded to include:

      • Average Response Time metrics (read, write, total) for vdisks and host-ports

      • Reset Time (time when a metric was last reset)

      • Start and Stop Sample Times (start and stop time of the collection sample)

    • show snap-pools command—Clarified the Size to Expand information. If the policy of Delete Oldest Snapshot is in place, N/A is now displayed. For any other policy, the auto expand size is displayed.

Fixes

The following issues were fixed in TS240P004:

  • Remote Snap Replication (RSR) generated page fault errors in some configurations.

  • RSR schedule modifications automatically advanced the Next Time field by 24 hours.

  • In single-controller configurations with an attached drive enclosure, the health check returned incorrect information about the drive enclosure, the controller it is connected to, and the controller enclosure.

  • In dual-controller configurations, under rare circumstances, SNMP operations halted on controller B.

  • In the SMU, errors were displayed when changing Single Controller Mode settings.

The following issues were fixed in TS240P003:

  • Replication images were not deleted on the destination array.

  • The web server intermittently crashed when accessed through https.

  • After getting logs on an HP P2000 G3 system with cascaded HP D2700 disk enclosures, the log size was reset to 0 k.

  • In the CLI, the show command listed system components in a sequence that differed from the output of previous firmware versions.

  • CIMOM failed to return complete list of mapping information (Protocol Controller for Unit instances) when queried through SMI-S interface.

  • SNMP authentication failed intermittently.

  • In the SMU for Japanese, Chinese, and Dutch users, the iSCSI port link speed was displayed incorrectly.

  • In the SMU for Japanese users, the scrub operation reported as failed, when, in fact, it had completed sucessfully with no errors.

  • During a firmware update, the CPLD portion of the firmware failed to load.

The following issues were fixed in TS240P001:

  • After installing TS240R037, the controller CompactFlash may be set to Write-Through mode, causing reduced system performance.

  • The management controller became unresponsive after enabling managed logs using the Log Push feature.

The following issues were fixed in TS240R037:

  • The controller crashed during a scrub operation.

  • The first replication that occurred after changing the replication direction (changing which is the primary volume), took a long time to complete and might have filled the snap-pool.

  • Updating firmware on multiple drives using SMU or Smart Components caused the controller performing the upgrade to kill the partner controller.

  • A blank email alert notification was generated.

  • Email notifications could not be sent to a domain that included sublevels.

  • A snap pool with a fatal error was no longer usable.

  • A scheduled snapshot reset unmapped the snapshot.

  • The VSS provider hung when a disk shadow command was issued from a Windows 2008 R2 host.

  • A user with a Base 2 size representation setting reported a vdisk/volume as base 10.

  • The FTP server did not process multiple get commands correctly.

  • The pop-up message displayed when there was insufficient space on a vdisk to perform a Replicate Volume task was unclear.

  • When using a DHCP server, a default name was not generated for P2000 G3 controller enclosure systems.

  • Excessive disk channel errors on SAS drives degraded array performance.

  • Javascript errors caused problems when viewing D2700 drive enclosures.

  • A volume copy on an exported replication image caused the controllers to crash.

  • An email address greater than 31 characters caused the controller to crash. Each email address can now support a maximum of 320 characters.

  • Modified the firmware update process to reduce the possibility of failure.

  • When monitoring an array with P2000 G3 FC/iSCSI MSA Combo controllers, unused iSCSI ports were incorrectly reported as being online.

  • When controller A was shut down, some drives were not accessible from controller B. (Display problem only).

  • When capturing logs for analysis, some entries were omitted.

  • The array stopped responding to SMI-S queries.

  • Mapping information differed when viewed from Controller A and from Controller B.

  • A full-provisioning client using an SMI-S tool was unable to create a snapshot pool.

  • When a controller was installed, it faulted with a PCI error.

  • An incorrect host ID was included in the WWPN map.

  • After updating the firmware, a NIC port failed.

  • A failed compact flash was reported as being “not present” instead of “failed”.

  • When verifying links, the following error was generated: “Unable to communicate with Storage Controller".

  • When restarting the management controllers, the following error was generated: “Unable to communicate with Storage Controller".

  • SMU-specific fixes:

    • Buttons for utilities such as verify, scrub, and expand, could be selected when the vdisk was offline. These buttons are now grayed out (are non-selectable) when the vdisk is offline.

    • An incorrect message was displayed when a background snapshot rollback completed.

    • In the System Overview, when the Slot column was selected for an enclosure, drives were not displayed in the correct order.

    • Vdisks owned by controller B were not accessible through controller A.

  • CLI-specific fixes:

    • create snapshot command—Returned the following message: “This user is not recognized on this system.”

Important firmware notes

  • Some drive firmware Smart Components built before the TS240 release may not be compatible with TS240 firmware, causing the Smart Component to stall. HP recommends checking drive module firmware versions and upgrading them before upgrading controllers to TS240.

  • In environments using replication, all controllers must have the same firmware version installed. Running different firmware versions may prevent replications from occurring.

  • When changing a replication set (for example, adding or removing a replication volume, or deleting the replication set), do so from the source system; when aborting, suspending, or resuming a replication, do so from the destination system.

  • When changing the external-view volume of a replication set, do so from the destination system first, then perform the change on the source system.

  • When using Windows Dynamic Disk (software RAID) on top of hardware RAID, there are some cautions to be considered. For more information, see the section "Real World: Dynamic versus Basic Disks" on the topic at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd163558.aspx.

  • Failover and failback times are affected by the number of system volumes; the more volumes there are on the system, the more time is required for failover and failback to complete.

  • MSA70 disk enclosures are supported for use with P2000 G3 arrays running TS230 or later firmware, but must have firmware 2.28 or later installed. For more information on MSA70 firmware compatibility with different P2000 G3 array firmware versions, see the QuickSpecs for the MSA70 or P2000 G3, or see the HP 70 Modular Smart Array Enclosure Firmware Release Notes.

  • For the FC/iSCSI MSA Controller, mapping a volume via iSCSI and FC to the same server is not a supported configuration. Many operating systems' multipath solutions will not correctly handle the multi-protocols. Do not map a LUN in this manner.

Installation instructions

Installation notes and best practices

Warning!

Do not cycle power or restart devices during a firmware update. If the update is interrupted or there is a power failure, the module could become inoperative. If this occurs, contact technical support. The module may need to be returned to the factory for reprogramming.

Caution:

Before upgrading firmware, ensure that the system is stable and is not being reconfigured or changed in any way. If changes are in progress, monitor them and wait until they are completed before proceeding with the upgrade.

Important:

In dual-module enclosures, both controllers or both I/O modules must have the same firmware version installed. Running different firmware versions on installed modules may cause unexpected results.

Before installing this firmware:

  • If updating using a Smart Component, ensure that FTP and telnet are enabled on the arrays being updated.

  • Create a full backup of system data. (Strongly recommended.)

  • Schedule an appropriate time to install the firmware:

    • For single domain systems, I/O must be halted.

    • For dual domain systems, because the online firmware upgrade is performed while host I/Os are being processed, I/O load can impact the upgrade process. Select a period of low I/O activity to ensure the upgrade completes as quickly as possible and avoid disruptions to hosts and applications due to timeouts.

  • Allocate sufficient time for the update:

    It takes approximately 45 minutes for the firmware to load and for the automatic restart to complete on the first controller module. When dual modules are installed, the full process time is approximately 90 minutes. If cascaded drive enclosures are also being updated, total process time may be as long as 180 minutes.

  • Set the Partner Firmware Update option so that, in dual-controller systems, both controllers are updated. (For SMU and FTP updates only; Smart Components automatically enable/disable the PFU settings as needed.) When the Partner Firmware Update option is enabled, after the installation process completes and restarts the first controller, the system automatically installs the firmware and restarts the second controller. If Partner Firmware Update is disabled, after updating software on one controller, you must manually update the second controller.

During the installation process:

  • Monitor the system display to determine update status and see when the update is complete.

After the installation process is complete and all systems have automatically restarted:

  • Verify system status in the system's management utility and confirm that the new firmware version is listed as installed.

  • Review system event logs.

  • Updating array controller firmware may result in new event messages that are not described in earlier versions of documentation. For comprehensive event message documentation, see the most current version of the HP P2000 G3 MSA System Event Descriptions Reference Guide.

  • The Smart Component update process logs messages to \CPQSYSTEM\Log\cpqsetup.log on the system drive in Windows and /var/cpq/Component.log in Linux.

When reverting to a previous version of firmware, note the following:

  • Ensure that both Ethernet connections are accessible before downgrading the firmware.

  • When using a Smart Component firmware package, the process automatically disables Partner Firmware Update (PFU) and thens downgrade the firmware on each controller separately (one after the other) through the Ethernet ports.

  • When using a Binary firmware package, you must manually disable the Partner Firmware Update (PFU) and then downgrade the firmware on each controller separately (one after the other).

  • Reverting from TS240 to firmware prior to TS230 is not supported.

Installing firmware using Smart Components in Windows environments

This is a self-extracting executable module. You can execute this module from the Windows graphical user interface (GUI) or the command line interface (CLI).

GUI update method

  1. Obtain the firmware package and save it to a temporary directory. Firmware for all HP products is available from the HP Business Support Center website at http://www.hp.com/support/downloads.

  2. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the directory containing the download.

  3. Double-click the executable file.

  4. Follow the onscreen instructions. When prompted for logon information, enter credentials for an account with management access rights.

  5. Wait for the installation to complete. During installation, each updated module automatically restarts. Upon completion, a confirmation message is displayed.

CLI update method

Execute the Smart Component by entering the following command:

CPxxxxxxx.exe /target <ip_address> /user <username> /passwd <password> /s

where

CPxxxxxxx.exe

is the downloaded Smart Component filename

ip_address

is the management IP address of the array controller

username

is the username account with management rights

password

is the password for username

When prompted for logon information, enter credentials for an account with management access rights.

Note:

Instead of command line parameters, you can use the following DOS environment variables:

  • oa_address: Set this variable for the IP address of array controller.

  • oa_username : Set this variable for the username of array controller.

  • oa_password : Set this variable for the password of array controller.

Installing firmware using Smart Components in Linux environments

  1. Obtain the firmware package and save it to a temporary directory. Firmware for all HP products is available from the HP Business Support Center website at http://www.hp.com/support/downloads.

  2. Open a Linux command console.

  3. From the directory containing the downloaded file, enable execute access to this model by entering:

    chmod +x CPxxxxxx.scexe

    where CPxxxxxx.scexe represents the downloaded Smart Component filename.

  4. Execute the Smart Component by entering a command similar to the following:

    ./CPxxxxxx.scexe -e --target <ip_address> --user <manage_username> --passwd <manage_password>

    Note:

    • Use the -e or -f option when flashing a device, even if it is up to date.

    • Use the -g option when downgrading.

    • Use the -h option to see online help for the command.

    • If the user name or password contains an exclamation mark (!), enclose the string in single quotes or enter a backslash (\) before the exclamation point. For example, '!manage' or \!manage.

  5. Follow the onscreen instructions. When prompted for logon information, enter credentials for an account with management access rights.

  6. Wait for the installation to complete. During installation, each updated module automatically restarts. Upon completion, a confirmation message is displayed.

Installing firmware using the Storage Management Utility (SMU)

Important:

Using the SMU to install TS240 firmware is supported only when upgrading from TS230 or later firmware. When upgrading from all other firmware versions, install the TS240 firmware using the Smart Component.

  1. Obtain the firmware package and save it to a temporary directory. Firmware for all HP products is available from the HP Business Support Center website at http://www.hp.com/support/downloads.

  2. If using a Smart Component, extract the contents of the Smart Component using one of the following methods:

    • In Windows—Click Extract on the first screen of the Smart Component.

    • In Linux—Enter a command using the following syntax:

      ./CPxxxxxx.scexe --unpack=<folder name>

      where

      ./CPxxxxxx.scexe

      represents the Smart Component filename

      <folder name>

      represents the filename of the destination folder for the extracted binary file

  3. Locate the firmware file in the downloaded/extracted folder. The firmware filename is in the following format: TSxxxRyyy-zz.bin

  4. In single-domain environments, stop all I/O to vdisks in the enclosure before starting the firmware update.

  5. Log in to the SMU and, in the Configuration View panel, right-click the system and then select Tools > Update Firmware.

    A table displays currently installed firmware versions.

  6. Click Browse and select the firmware file to install.

  7. Click Install Controller-Module Firmware File.

  8. Wait for the installation to complete. During installation, each updated module automatically restarts.

  9. In the SMU display, verify that the expected firmware version is installed on each module.

Installing firmware using FTP

Important:

Using FTP to install TS240 firmware is supported only when upgrading from TS230 or later firmware. When upgrading from all other firmware versions, install the TS240 firmware using the Smart Component.

  1. Obtain the firmware package and save it to a temporary directory. Firmware for all HP products is available from the HP Business Support Center website at http://www.hp.com/support/downloads.

  2. If using a Smart Component, extract the contents of the Smart Component using one of the following methods:

    • In Windows—Click Extract on the first screen of the Smart Component.

    • In Linux—Enter a command using the following syntax:

      ./CPxxxxxx.scexe --unpack=<folder name>

      where

      ./CPxxxxxx.scexe

      represents the Smart Component filename

      <folder name>

      represents the filename of the destination folder for the extracted binary file

  3. Locate the firmware file in the downloaded/extracted folder. The firmware file name is in the following format: TSxxxRyyy-zz.bin

  4. Using the SMU, prepare to use FTP:

    1. Determine the network-port IP addresses of the system controllers.

    2. Verify that the system FTP service is enabled.

    3. Verify that the user you will log in as has permission to use the FTP interface and has manage access rights.

  5. In single-domain environments, stop I/O to vdisks in the enclosure before starting the firmware update.

  6. Open a command prompt (Windows) or a terminal window (UNIX), and navigate to the directory containing the firmware file to load.

    1. Enter a command using the following syntax:

      ftp <controller-network-address>. (For example: ftp 10.1.0.9)

    2. Log in as an FTP user (user = ftp, password = !ftp).

    3. Enter a command using the following syntax:

      put <firmware-file> flash

      where <firmware-file> represents the binary firmware filename.

  7. Wait for the installation to complete. During installation, each updated module automatically restarts.

  8. If needed, repeat these steps to load the firmware on additional modules.

  9. Quit the FTP session.

  10. Verify that the expected firmware version is installed on each module.

    • In the SMU, right-click the system in the Configuration View panel, and then select Tools > Update Firmware.

    • In the CLI, execute the show version or the show enclosures command.

Installation troubleshooting

If you experience issues during the installation process, do the following:

  1. When viewing system version information in the SMU System Overview panel, if an hour has elapsed and the components do not show that they were updated to the new firmware version, refresh the browser. If version information is still incorrect, proceed to the next troubleshooting step.

  2. If version information does not show that the new firmware has been installed, even after refreshing the browser, restart all system controllers. For example, in the CLI, enter the restart mc both command. After the controllers have restarted, one of three things happens:

    • Updated system version information is displayed and the new firmware version shows that it was installed.

    • The Partner Firmware Update process automatically begins and installs the firmware on the second controller. When complete, the versions should be correct.

    • System version information is still incorrect. If system version information is still incorrect, proceed to the next troubleshooting step.

  3. Verify that all system controllers are operating properly. For example, in the CLI, enter the show disks command and read the display to confirm that the displayed information is correct.

    • If the show disks command fails to display the disks correctly, communications within the controller have failed. To reestablish communication, cycle power on the system and repeat the show disks command. (Do not restart the controllers; cycle power on the controller enclosure.)

    • If the show disks command from all controllers is successful, perform the firmware update process again.

Known issues and workarounds

The following is a cumulative list of known issues and workarounds:

Issue: The SMU may incorrectly report the local link status of controller host ports.

Workaround: Use the CLI verify links command to verify the local link status.

Issue: The SMU may incorrectly report a healthy power supply in a cascaded HP D2700 disk enclosure with a Warning status.

Workaround: Use the CLI show power-supplies command to verify the power supply status.

Issue: If an existing volume in the P2000 G3 SAS array is mapped to LUN 0, the array will incorrectly return a Successful message. In actuality, the volume is not mapped to LUN 0. The array does not allow the use of LUN 0 on the P2000 G3 SAS array by design; LUN 0 is reserved on the SAS array.

Workaround: Use a valid LUN number to map the volume.

Issue: Online LUN addition is not seen by clients using the P700m, P711m, or P712m controllers and the hp cciss driver in RHEL 5, SLES 10, and SLES 11 operating systems.

Workaround: Use the rescan volumes command on the /proc subsystem of the cciss driver to force a rescan of the cciss driver. For example:

echo "rescan volumes" > /proc/driver/cciss/cciss1
multipath -v 0

Issue: During firmware upgrade of the controller, events will be generated indicating a mismatch of the versions compared to the versions in the firmware bundle (Event 363, Severity Error). This is normal operation, as the checks are done during the management controller boot process. After firmware upgrade is complete on both controllers, verify the versions are correct, and a new informational event the firmware versions match those in the firmware bundle (Event 363, Severity Informational).

Workaround: None

Issue: Historical disk and vdisk performance data is not persistent across controller power events.

Workaround: None

Issue: Instructions about downloading historical performance are not available on the FTP interface.

Workaround: See the HP Storage Management Utility Reference Guide to determine how to obtain the performance data.

Issue: Vdisk Data Transferred and Data Throughput numbers appear to be much higher when using the CLI historical show vdisk-statistics [vdisk] historical command, compared to CLI live output show vdisk-statistics command. This is caused by the way that the historical and live values are calculated.

  • Live values are calculated based on the vdisk as viewed from the controller cache perspective. In the live statistics, performance numbers are obtained by accounting for when data is written from cache to disk or read from disk to cache.

  • Historical data is obtained by using the summation of the disk statistics for the disks in the vdisk. The historical vdisk data shows transfers to and from the disks in the vdisk that include the overhead of any RAID transfers as well as any host activity.

Because I/Os from the RAID engine are included, numbers for the historical data appear higher than the numbers for the live data.

Workaround:

Issue: Saving historical disk performance statistics from the SMU fails with an invalid time-range parameter.

Workaround: Change the start date/time of the time range. Make sure the start date/time is after the last reset and, for new systems, is after the system install time.

Issue: In environments using replication, if the controllers have different firmware versions installed, replications may be suspended.

Workaround: Ensure that all controllers in replicating systems have the same firmware version installed. When firmware on the controllers is the same version, suspended replications automatically resume.

Issue: When a previously used drive is inserted in the enclosure, it may retain information about vdisks, volumes and volume mappings from its previous use. However, the LUN numbers of these volume mappings may conflict with LUN numbers currently in use in volume mappings on the system. If this occurs, the system resolves those conflicts by removing the mappings.

Workaround: Remap the volumes as desired.

Issue: Some firmware Smart Components built before the TS240 release (such as for drive firmware) may not be compatible with TS240 firmware, causing the Smart Component to stall.

Workaround: Check drive and I/O module firmware versions and upgrade them before upgrading controllers to TS240. If you are upgrading module firmware after upgrading the controllers to TS240 and the Smart Component hangs during install, extract the raw firmware package from the Smart Component and install using the SMU or FTP. Before upgrading firmware on drive modules, be sure to have a full back up of the data. As new Smart Components are released, this issue will be resolved.

Issue: In the SMU, while trying to modify a vdisk name, / is replaced by a space.

Workaround: None

Issue: In the CLI, the create volume-set command using the same basename parameter for more than 999 volumes generates an error.

Workaround: Do not exceed 999 when assigning the volume identifier number.

Issue: In the CLI, the show sensor-status command does not show warning levels or indicate fan status.

Workaround: None

Issue: Power supply voltage readings for cascaded HP D2700 drive enclosures are reported as zero.

Workaround: None

Issue: When a vdisk becomes critical, the array may generate multiple events.

Workaround: None

Issue: In event messages, power supplies are referred to by different terminology. Sometimes power supply 1 is reported as ”left” and sometimes reported as “1”. Likewise, power supply 2 is sometimes reported as “right” and sometimes reported as “2”.

Workaround: None

Issue: A serial number was not generated for SMART drive event 55.

Workaround: Identify the drive using the enclosure and slot number.

Issue: In the CLI, the show master-volumes command, a volume that has been converted to a standard volume is still included in the display.

Workaround: Log out and then log back in to the CLI.

Issue: In the SMU, global spares have a status of Up even if they are spun down using the drive spin down feature.

Workaround: None

Issue: In the CLI, the set prompt command allows you to enter more than 16 characters.

Workaround: None

Issue: In the SMU, when logging in using an unsupported browser, the returned display does not show the correct list of which browsers are supported.

Workaround: Use only the following supported browsers:

  • Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 7, 8, or 9

  • Mozilla Firefox 7

Issue: On the Configuration > Advanced Settings > System Utilities page, changing the Vdisk Scrub and Managed Logs settings at the same time may result in an error.

Workaround: Make these changes one at a time.

Issue: When using the USB port of a personal computer or laptop connected to the server to initially configure an HP P2000 G3 MSA array, some computers or laptops may not properly connect to the array.

Workaround: Access and configure the MSA using the HP P2000/MSA2000 Device Discovery Tool for Windows. The Device Discovery Tool discovers MSA storage devices in the network, in the local subnet, and directly attached to a server. The following tasks can be performed using the Device Discovery Tool:

  1. Launch the Storage Management Utility (SMU) for a selected discovered MSA device.

  2. Launch the Command Line Interface (CLI) or FTP interface for the selected discovered MSA device.

  3. Schedule a recurring collection of MSA storage log files for the selected discovered MSA device.

  4. Generate an XML or text informational output report.

The Device Discovery Tool is available on the HP P2000/MSA2000 Software Support/Documentation DVD and HP MSA P2000 website.

Issue: When installing a firmware update using the Smart Component, the installation routine may incorrectly report that the upgrade was unsuccessful.

Workaround: If the Smart Component installation routine states that a firmware load was unsuccessful, verify which version of firmware is installed using an array management utility, such as the SMU or CLI. If the version listed is the old version, run the Smart Component again.

Issue: If the iSCSI IQN name is longer than 55 characters, the enumeration of CIM_StorageHardwareID fails.

Workaround: Modify the IQN name to be shorter than 55 characters

Issue: Manually creating a replication-prepared (secondary) volume and associating it with a primary volume originally created with pre-TS230 firmware can fail. Automatically created secondary volumes do not have this problem.

Workaround:

  • In the SMU, use the Replication Setup Wizard or the Replicate Volume task or, in the CLI, use the create replication set command to automatically create the secondary volume. (Preferred workaround)

  • Issue the following commands in the CLI to specify the block size of the manually created secondary volume, ensuring that it is exactly the same size as the source volume (Alternative workaround):

    1. In CLI API format, use the show volumes <volume-name> command to determine the size of the pre-T230 volume in blocks. This is displayed by the "size-numeric" property.

    2. Use the create volume command and specify the size in blocks (obtained in Step 1) to create the replication-prepared volume.

    3. Create a replication set that associates the two volumes.

Issue: During path failover events on systems with large LUN counts, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 iSCSI clients may report issues accessing devices.

Workaround: Increase the disk timeout to a minimum of 60 seconds.

Issue: When using both the primary and secondary paths on both ports of the Qlogic iSCSI HBAs, failover does not work correctly on cable pulls.

Workaround: When setting up the Qlogic iSCSI HBAs, set up only the primary path for both ports.

Issue: When creating a volume set with the volumes mapped to LUNs, if there is a LUN conflict, the array stops mapping volumes to LUNs, but creates the volumes as requested.

Workaround: Ensure that there are no LUN conflicts before creating the volume set with mapping or map the remaining volumes to LUNs after the conflict.

Issue: For HP P2000 G3 Fibre Channel MSA systems connected directly to the server, the QLogic 8 Gb FC driver version 9.1.9.25 on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 does not see LUNs when the array is set up for point to point.

Workaround: Upgrade to the latest driver version available from HP or change the array host ports to loop mode.

Issue: For HP P2000 G3 SAS MSA systems, failover is slow when more then 128 LUNs are accessed from a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.x or SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3 client.

Workaround: Map less then 128 LUNs to SAS clients.

Issue: In the SMU, the Japanese version of some pages and some error messages displays English text.

Workaround: None.

Issue: The array incorrectly accepts a DNS name for the address of the NTP server in the Storage Management Utility. The array does not use DNS, and translates the name into an invalid “255.255.255.255” IP address.

Workaround: Instead of a network name, enter the NTP server IP address.

Issue: In the Command Line Interface, the array incorrectly accepts a DNS name for the address for the SMNP, SMTP, and NTP servers. The array does not use DNS, and cannot connect to the server correctly.

Workaround: Instead of network names, enter the IP addresses for the servers.

Issue: In Windows configurations, the IQN shown by the NC551 card during POST may not match the IQN seen in the array controller. This occurs when the NC551 was set up in a boot-from-storage configuration. After an operating system is installed, the POST message shows the IQN that is supplied by the iSCSI Software Initiator, but the NC551 BIOS continues to use the IQN setup to boot the OS.

Workaround: Using the NC551 BIOS Utility, remove the boot settings and then log back into the array with the new IQN. If the volume used for mapping was explicitly mapped to the host, recreate the mapping for the new IQN.

Issue: When accessing more than 128 LUNs using a Qlogic iSCSI HBA in boot-from-storage configurations, the system may hang when a reset is issued on the array.

Workaround: Access 128 LUNs or less via the Qlogic iSCSI HBA when using the card in boot-from-storage configurations.

Issue: RHEL 4.8 may not discover all multipath devices and partitions during boot or reboot.

Workaround: This issue is addressed by applying the updated device-mapper-multipath package described in RedHat Bug Fix Advisory RHBA-2009:1524-1, available at http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2009-1524.html.

Issue: RHEL 5.4 may not discover all multipath devices and partitions during boot or reboot.

Workaround: This issue is addressed by applying the updated device-mapper-multipath package described in RedHat Bug Fix Advisory RHBA-2010:0255-1, available at https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2010-0255.html.

Issue: Under rare circumstances, some events from one controller are not seen on the other controller.

Workaround: Review the events from both controllers.

Issue: During a firmware upgrade, the firmware bundle version may show incorrectly.

Workaround: Wait until the firmware upgrade process is complete before checking the firmware bundle version.

Issue: Java script issues are seen when using Microsoft Internet Explorer in multi-byte language locales, resulting in truncated messaging and hung pop-up windows. These issues will be resolved in a future firmware release.

Workaround: This is a display problem only. When a pop-up window remains on screen with no update for a prolonged period, close and then re-open the browser. The Internet Explorer English locale and the Firefox browser do exhibit the issues.

Issue: In SLES 11 environments, when using the iSCSI initiator tools included in SLES 11, the host occasionally does not correctly log into the iSCSI array on reboot, even when set to automatically connect.

Workaround: Restart the iSCSI service on the SLES 11 host. This can be done by entering the following command: /etc/init.d/open-iscsi restart

Issue: SLES 11 may require multiple minutes (15+/-) to create all multipath devices during boot. This typically involves a system with a large number of LUNs and multiple LUN paths.

Workaround: None. Wait for the system to complete LUN and path discovery.

Issue: SLES 11 SP1 may not create all devices during boot. This typically involves a system with a large number of LUNs, multiple LUN paths, and the SLES 11 SP1 open-iscsi utilities.

Workaround: Do one of the following:

  • Install the following Novell patches:

    • kpartx-0.4.8-40.23.1.x86_64.rpm

    • libvolume_id1-128-13.11.4.x86_64.rpm

    • multipath-tools-0.4.8-40.23.1.x86_64.rpm

    • open-iscsi-2.0.871-0.22.1.x86_64.rpm

    • udev-128-13.11.4.x86_64.rpm

  • Run the /sbin/multipath -v 0 command to force multipathd to rescan all LUNs and paths and create any devices that were not correctly created before.

Issue: In rare conditions, the array controller may report that a supported 10 GbE SFP+, 10GbE Copper Cable, or 10GbE Direct Attach Cable is unsupported. This condition is most likely to occur when a SFP+, Copper Cable, or Direct Attach Cable is hot plugged into the controller while the controller is running. When this occurs, the following Warning message is recorded in the event logs: “An unsupported cable or SFP was inserted." At the same time, the host port does not show a status of "Down."

Workaround: Do the following:

  1. Verify that the SFP+, Copper Cable, or Direct Attach Cable is a supported component. For support information, see the P2000 G3 QuickSpecs on the P2000 G3 product page: http://www.hp.com/go/p2000.

  2. If the components are listed as supported models, remove and reinsert the SFP+, Copper Cable, or Direct Attach cable.

  3. If this does not correct the issue with the SFP+, Copper Cable, or Direct Attach Cable connected to the controller, either remove and reinsert the controller or power down and reapply power to the array.

Issue: RHEL 5 Update 5 does not shutdown properly when using the iSCSI initiator utilities shipped in RHEL 5 Update 5 to access the array.

Workaround: See issue 583218 on the Red Hat Bugzilla bug-tracking system https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=583218 for the current status of the issue and possible workarounds.

Issue: When using explicit LUN mapping, using long IQN names for the iSCSI Initiator can cause the array to map the LUN incorrectly. A predefined area is used to store explicit LUN mapping information per LUN and, with longer IQN names, this area can be exhausted. This issue is not dependent on the number of paths to the LUN.

Workaround: Shorten the IQN name on the nodes.

The following formula is used to calculate the maximum IQN name length based on the number of hosts being explicitly mapped to a LUN on the array:

 Maximum IQN Character Length = (4083 / n) – 7 (Where n = number of hosts nodes explicitly mapped to a LUN on the array.)
 NOTE: By specification, 223 is the maximum IQN length allowed.

The following table provides the calculated values based on the number of hosts being explicitly mapped to a LUN on the array:

Number of hosts explicitly mapped to a LUN and the maximum IQN character length Number of hosts explicitly mapped to a LUN and the maximum IQN character length Number of hosts explicitly mapped to a LUN and the maximum IQN character length
1–17223 33116 4976
1821934113 5074
1920735109 5173
2019736106 5271
2118737103 5370
2217838100 5468
231703997 5567
241634095  5665
251564192 5764
261504290 5863
271444387 5962
281384485 6061
291334583 6159
301294681 6258
311244779 6357
321204878 6456

Issue: USB CLI becomes unusable after a Management Controller reboot in Windows environments.

Workaround:

  1. Close down the terminal application. (Example: HyperTerminal)

  2. Open Device Manager and disable the “Disk Array USB Port” under Ports (COM & LPT).

  3. Re-enable the “Disk Array USB Port.” If the problem persists, reboot the host.

Issue: The mini-USB CLI port on the array controller does not work.

Workaround: Install a device driver for the mini-USB CLI port. This driver is packaged as a Smart Component and is available for download on the P2000 G3 support page.

Issue: When using SMI-S, only partial support is provided for iSCSI Target Ports Subprofile.

Workaround: None.

Issue: When using SMI-S, the ExtentStatus property in StorageVolume is always set to “2.”

Workaround: None.

Issue: When creating a storage repository with Citrix 5.5 update 2 and attaching it to the server pool while the servers in the pool are on, the storage repository is only multipathed on the master server. This seems to happen only with the first storage repository created after rebooting the servers. If a second storage repository is created and attached (without rebooting the servers), that storage repository is correctly multipathed with all servers in the pool.

Workaround: Detach and reattach the storage repository. The storage repository is multipathed with all servers in the pool.

Issue: In HP-UX 11.23, I/O may take a long time to complete.

Workaround: Ensure that the primary path is the first path in the PV-Links configuration.

Issue: There is no indication that a LUN has failed over to the other controller.

Workaround: Using the Storage Manage Utility (SMU), open up system events and scan for failover events. When using the CLI, use the show events command.

Issue: A replication is initiated, but only a snapshot on the primary volume occurs, or the replication is queued.

Workaround: Ensure that all systems involved have valid replication licenses installed and that all volumes and vdisks involved in the replication have started, are attached, and are in good health, including vdisks that contain the snap pools for the volumes involved. A replication normally queues when a previous replication involving the same volumes is active.

Issue: A replication set was deleted, but is later shown with the primary volume status of “Offline” and the status-reason is record-missing.

Workaround: This generally occurs when the secondary volume is detached and its vdisk stopped when the replication set was deleted, and then the vdisk of the secondary volume restarted. To correct this issue, reattach the secondary volume, set it as the primary volume, and delete the replication set.

Issue: An error message indicating “controller busy” occurs while creating a replication set.

Workaround: Creating a replication set immediately following another replication set creation may result in "Controller Busy." This is expected behavior. Wait and try the operation again at a later time.

Issue: In the SMU, the Vdisk > Provisioning > Create Multiple Snapshots task allows a secondary volume to be selected, but fails the operation.

Workaround: User initiated snapshots are not allowed on secondary volumes. Do not select a secondary volume.

Issue: A scheduled replication is missing or replications are queued, but do not complete.

Workaround: A best practice is to schedule no more than four volumes to start replicating at the same time and for those replications to recur no less than 30 minutes apart. If you schedule more replications to start at the same time or schedule replications to start more frequently, some scheduled replications may not have time to complete.

Issue: Unable to perform a local replication (a replication where the external view volume and the destination volume reside on the same system) with a single vdisk.

Workaround: Create a second vdisk for the destination volume.

Issue: Deleting the replication-set from the destination system fails.

Workaround: Delete the replication set from the source system (the system where the external view volume resides.)

Issue: A replication set is missing the primary volume and the replication set cannot be deleted.

Workaround: Set the primary volume to the remaining volume in the set. You should then be able to delete the replication set.

Issue: On rare occasions, deleting a vdisk when volumes are in the process of rolling back may cause communications issues between the management controller and the storage controller.

Workaround: Cycle power on the array to resolve the issue. To avoid this situation, allow the rollbacks to complete or delete the volumes before deleting the vdisk.

Issue: Scheduled tasks are not occurring, and there is no indication of a problem in the schedules or the tasks.

Workaround: Restart both management controllers (MC) of the array(s) involved in the tasks.

Issue: While mapping a drive using the SMU, all ports are selected by default; this may result in a volume being presented to the same host via both protocols, which is unsupported.

Workaround: When creating and mapping a volume using the default mapping in the SMU on a Combo controller system, you must de-select either the iSCSI or the FC ports as this could result in the same LUN being presented to the same host via both protocols. This is unsupported and most multipath software does not handle the paths to the LUN correctly.

Issue: Cannot schedule volume copy operations, or scheduled volume copy operations for snapshots and standard volumes do not occur.

Workaround: Perform the volume copy manually. Scheduled volume copies of master volumes should complete successfully if the schedule permits completion of the volume copy before the next occurrence.

Issue: A P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA System LUN which has been newly added to a Citrix XenServer 5.6 pool may not return to an active Storage Repository (SR) state following removal or replacement of an array controller.

Workaround: To recover to an active Storage Repository state, restart the iSCSI session by executing the following command: /etc/init.d/open-iscsi restart

Issue: Debug logs are incomplete.

Workaround: Determine if the logs are incomplete by unzipping the log file retrieved from the array and examining the last line of the store_YYYY_MM_DD__HH_MM_SS.logs file for the lines: End of Data ]]></LOG_CONTENT></RESPONSE>. If the file contains these two lines at the end of the file, it is complete and you can forward it to your service support organization for analysis. If the file does not contain these two lines at the end, it is incomplete and may not be useful. In this case, repeat the log collection process after a 5 minute delay. Should the second collection contain the above specified lines at the end of the file, send it to your service support organization for analysis along with the first set of logs. However, if the second file does not contain the above specified lines at the end of the file, reboot the system and try once more to collect the logs. Be sure to send all collected logs back to your service support organization with a brief note explaining the actions you took and the result.

Issue: In a dual controller system, log in to one of the controllers fails, but log in to the other controller succeeds.

Workaround: Log in to the other controller and restart the inaccessible management controller using the CLI restart mc command or the SMU Tools > Shut Down or Restart Controller page.

Issue: IOPs and Bytes per second may be lower or higher than expected for the workload.

Workaround: This is a reporting issue and not a performance issue. The correct values can be calculated by using the change in the Number of Reads and Number of Writes over time to determine IOPs, and the change in Data Read and Data Written over time to determine Bytes per second.

Issue: The array controller may interpret a switch login as an HBA login and erroneously present the switch port as a discovered host. This does not affect storage functionality.

Workaround: Either identify the erroneous host and do not attempt to use, or Disable Device Scan on switch ports connected to the array controller and restart the array controller.

Issue: During firmware upgrade, FTP is aborted from a Windows client after starting the upgrade.

Workaround: This is a client side FTP application issue. If this issue persists try updating from the SMU, use another client, or use another FTP application.

Issue: Upgrading firmware failed with the error, “Unwritable cache data present.”

Workaround: The controller is not in a state that can reliably perform an upgrade without losing data currently in cache. Resolve the unwritable cache issue and retry the upgrade.

Issue: While updating the array firmware via the Storage Management Utility, if the array must reboot the management controller the web page may not automatically log the user out completely resulting in a blank page.

Workaround: Refresh the browser window; if the login page is not displayed, close the browser and restart it to access the login page and complete the firmware update.

Issue: While performing a firmware update using the Storage Management Utility (SMU) to multiple arrays, the window showing the status of the upgrade may appear as a blank window.

Workaround: Updating multiple arrays at the same time can cause this issue. Perform one firmware update from one client at a time. Updating one array at a time from a client allows the window to refresh more accurately.

Supersedes history

Firmware versionP2000 G3 MSA modelRelease date
TS240P004All November 2012
TS240P003All July 2012
TS240P001All June 2012
TS240R037All May 2012
TS230P008All November 2011
TS230P007All November 2011
TS230P006All August 2011
TS230R044 All July 2011 (updated notes to announce support for all P2000 G3 MSA System controllers)
P2000 G3 1GbE iSCSI MSA andP2000 G3 10GbE iSCSI MSA June 2011
TS201P007 P2000 G3 FC MSA and P2000 G3 FC/iSCSI MSA February 2011
TS220R004P2000 G3 1GbE iSCSI MSA November 2010
RS210R016P2000 G3 10GbE iSCSI MSA September 2010
TS200R021P2000 G3 SAS MSA June 2010

Effective date

November 2012