Dell OpenManage Array Manager 2.5 User's Guide
Using Disk and Volume Status Information
Problem Situations and Solutions
This chapter contains status message information, troubleshooting procedures, and common problems and solutions.
If a disk or volume fails, it is important to repair the disk or volume as quickly as possible to avoid data loss. Because time is critical, Array Manager makes it easy for you to locate problems quickly. In the Status column of the list view, you can view the status of a disk or volume. The status also appears in the graphical view of each disk or volume. If the status is not Healthy for volumes or Online for disks, use this section to determine the problem and then fix it. Topics include:
One of the following disk status descriptions will always appear in the Status column of the disk in the right pane of the console window. If there is a problem with a disk, you can use this troubleshooting chart to diagnose and correct the problem
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One of the following volume status descriptions will always appear in the graphical view of the volume and in the Status column of the volume in list view. If there is a problem with a volume, you can use this troubleshooter to diagnose and correct the problem.
These definitions appear in the Status line and indicate the condition of array disks.
This section describes commands and procedures that can be used in troubleshooting. Topics covered include:
Use Rescan to update disk information. This operation may take a few minutes if there are a number of devices attached to the system. You will see a message "Getting hardware configuration. Please wait." while the rescan is occurring.
If this does not properly update the disk information, you may need to reboot your system.
A RAID 5 volume's status can appear as Failed Redundancy and the disk's status is Offline. The disk's name may be Missing, and an error icon (X) appears on the missing or offline disk. In this case, do the following.
Reactivating a volume attempts to restart all volumes regardless of the volume's state. If data corruption exists, you can reactivate the volume and then run the chkdsk utility. However, in the case of a mirrored or RAID-5 volume, reactivating a volume with stale data can cause that data to be used when it is inaccurate.
Reactivating a volume should be done only if you understand that the volume's data, which might be corrupted, will be restored. For example, if one mirror in a mirrored volume fails and data is written to the remaining mirror, the data is now out of sync. Then, if the remaining mirror (the one with accurate data) fails and the first mirror is reactivated, the stale data becomes "real" data.
For this reason, it is important to act on data failures as soon as possible. You should use care when reactivating volumes.
You should be able to repair a RAID-5 volume if it is in a state of Failed Redundancy, and if there is unallocated space on another dynamic disk available. To avoid data loss, you should attempt to repair the volume as soon as possible.
Make sure that the underlying physical disk is turned on, plugged in, and attached to the computer. No other user action is possible for basic volumes unless the volumes are mirrored or RAID-5 volumes that were originally created in NT Disk Administrator. The repair of these volumes is covered in the next topic.
Use Microsoft Windows NT Disk Administrator to repair basic mirrored or RAID-5 volumes if you are running Windows NT 4.0. For Windows 2000, there is a command available form the context menu for repairing basic mirrored or RAID-5 volumes.
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CAUTION! In Windows NT 4.0, Disk Administrator should never be used while Array Manager is running, especially if there are tasks running on the controller at the time. Data loss can occur if both applications are running simultaneously. |
Array Manager is tested with the PERC firmware and drivers provided on the CD. To avoid possible conflicts or inconsistencies between the PERC firmware and drivers, it is recommended to use these firmware and driver versions, or later. The most current versions can be obtained from Dell's web site at:
http://support.dell.com/us/en/filelib/
It is also recommended to obtain and apply the latest Dell PowerEdge Server System BIOS on a periodic basis to benefit from the most recent improvements. Please refer to the Dell PowerEdge System Documentation for more information.
This section contains additional trouble-shooting problem areas. Topics include:
Check:
Check:
Check:
Situation:
Microsoft Windows NT/2000 is not aware of the status of these disks. Most likely, the virtual disks that were associated with these have been deleted.
Check:
To remove these error status objects from the Disks node, the computer must be restarted to allow Windows NT/2000 to find the current information.
Situation:
If the type of disk shows No Signature, you need to write a signature to the disk. When creating a new virtual disk, the software must write a signature to the virtual disk that prepares it for use. This signature is not written automatically in case this disk has been merged from another operating system and the configuration information needs to be kept intact.
Check:
To write the configuration data to a disk, right-click on the disk under the Disks node and choose Write Signature.
The corresponding virtual disk has been removed, or the disk has been rendered inactive because of a problem.
Check:
Once you have repaired the disk, controller, or cable problem, you need to:
The remote computer that you were connected to has been disconnected from your console. Most often, there is a problem with the network connection and the transmissions timed out. This can also occur if the remote machine was restarted or the service on the remote machine was stopped.
Check:
Make sure that the remote machine is turned on and is available to the network, and that the service is started. Reconnect to the resource.
The installation detects any drivers that you have installed for PowerEdge RAID controllers. If these drivers (and/or the card itself) are installed after the software is installed, support for the controller will need to be added.
Check:
Close the console. Open the Array Manager Service Manager and check the box next to the appropriate controller. This action will restart the service, and the disks should be available the next time you launch the console.
When an operation is grayed out in a menu, the task cannot be performed on the object at this time. Certain operations are valid only for certain types of objects. (For example: RAID levels that are not fault tolerant will not allow you to check the consistency of the virtual disk.) If there is a task currently running on that object, wait until it has finished and try again. Otherwise, the operation may not be appropriate at this time.
If this was a virtual disk, then check that the virtual disk still exists. If it no longer exists, use the Remove Disk command to remove the disk from the list of disks.
Repair any disk, controller, or cable problems and make sure that the physical disk is turned on, plugged in, and attached to the computer. From the View pull-down menu, select Rescan. The disk should change from Offline to Online, but the volumes remain Failed. (If they do not change to Online, you may need to reboot.) Right-click on the disk and select Reactivate Disk. The disk status changes to Healthy. (You can also select each volume one at a time and select Reactivate Volume.) It is recommended you do a chkdsk.
If the disk status remains Offline and Missing and you determine that the disk has a problem that cannot be repaired, you can remove the disk from the system (using the Remove Disk command). However, before you can remove the disk, you must delete all volumes on the disk. You can save any mirrored volumes on the disk by removing the mirror that is on the Missing disk instead of the entire volume. Deleting a volume destroys the data in the volume, so you should remove a disk only if you are absolutely certain that the disk is permanently damaged and unusable.
Use the Reactivate Disk command to bring the disk back online. If the disk status remains Offline, check the cables and disk controller, and make sure that the physical disk is healthy. Correct any problems and try to reactivate the disk again. If the disk reactivation succeeds, any volumes on the disk should automatically return to the Healthy status.
The disk has been moved to your computer from another Microsoft Windows NT/2000 computer and has not been set up for use. Only dynamic disks display this status. To add the disk so that it can be used, right-click on the disk and select Merge Foreign Disk. All existing volumes on the disk will be visible and accessible.
Because a volume can span more than one disk (e.g., a mirrored volume), it is important that you first verify your disk configurations and then move the entire disk set that the volume is on. If only part of the disk set is moved, some of the volumes will show Failed Redundancy or Failed error condition.
The Help file uses a technology known as HTML Help, a Microsoft standard. Some software will attempt to update the core files with an older version of HTML Help and make Array Manager's Help file unusable. The required HTML Help update is located on the Array Manager CD-ROM in the Help Update folder. Double-click on HHUPD.EXE and follow the instructions.
HH is Microsoft's HTML Help format, which reads precompiled HTML files for Array Manager's Help sections.
Check:
Delete the HH.DAT file in your Windows directory. Deleting this file will remove any customizations that have been made to your HTML help files.
Let autocheck run, but do not worry about the message. Autocheck will finish and the reboot will be complete. If you have a large system (more than 1 gigabyte), this may take about 10 minutes.
There are several situations where this occurs.
This occurs when you log in to the local computer originally as a local user, local administrator, or domain user and the remote computer is not in your domain or a trusted domain. The Windows security model does not allow you to have access under these circumstances. The workaround is to log in to your local computer with an account that has the same user name and password as an administrator account on the remote computer.
Access can be denied here if you do not type in a user name and password that match a local or domain administrator account on the remote computer or if you mistype the login information.
If the remote computer is not on or there are network problems, you will get the message "Connection Failed."
Another situation where you may get an error message is when you have just done a client-only installation of Array Manager and you bring up the Array Manager client and attempt to connect to a remote server that has Windows 2000 Disk Management.
Array Manager assumes that its client will connect first to a remote server running Array Manager before connecting to a system running Windows 2000 Disk Management.
Once you connect to a server with Array Manager, you will then be able to connect successfully to a remote system running Disk Management.
Windows 2000 Disk Management is the disk and volume management program that comes with Windows 2000. Because Array Manager and Disk Management are related programs, Array Manager is able to remotely manage the storage on a Windows 2000 computer with Disk Management.
If you are having problems connecting to a NetWare® server, use the ping and nslookup TCP/IP network diagnostic tools to determine whether the managed node system is accessible from the console and whether the system running the managed server has a legal DNS name. If the managed server does not have a DNS name, you can check the Hosts file on the client to see whether the server is listed. Otherwise, you will need to use the IP address.
When you want to connect to a NetWare server, Array Manager expects the server to be identified by one of three types of entries:
If you identify the name of the machine by a NetWare server's name that is not one of the three items above, the connection will fail. It is suggested that the name assigned to the NetWare server be the same name as its DNS or Hosts file entry.
Note that the DNS and Hosts file entries do not allow for a computer name that consists of all numbers. In addition, the DNS name does not allow a computer name that starts with a number. If the NetWare server has a numeric name or a name that starts with a number, you can use the IP address to identify that server. You can also put quotation marks around the computer's name for the entry in DNS or the Hosts file (such as "12345").
The Hosts file has to be on the client computer that has the Array Manager console.