Exadata X3-8 Hardware
 
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PLA-Support>Sun Systems>Sun_Other>Sun Collections>SN-OTH: Sun FAB
 

In this Document

Symptoms

Changes

Cause

Solution

References

Oracle Confidential PARTNER - Available to partners (SUN).
Reason: FABs available to Internals and Partners only

Applies to:

Symptoms

If the cable fails the customer will most likely see a disk failure.  Once that disk has been replaced the new disk in the same slot will likely fail again.

No specific errors or symptoms are known other than drive will appear to have failed.

Impact

Internal SAS cables on some X3-2L servers (as identified in the Affected Customer List) could be faulty and may cause disk drives to appear to be failed when the actual fault is with the SAS cables.  Other systems not listed in the Affected Customer List may contain suspect SAS cables but are not part of this FCO scoping/planning based on failure data associated with this issue.

Changes

Contributing Factors

Poor cable workmanship from a single vendor (Amphenol).  The affected Customer List, which is available from you Regional FCO Deployment Manager, and a Customer Ready Document (CRD) have been developed.  These should be used to identify, communicate, and proactively remediate this Field Change Order (FCO).  Systems not in the affected Customer List are not targeted for proactive remediation as part of this FCO and should therefore be addressed on a fix-on-fail basis only.

The affected Customer List is actually a targeted customer list and no systems can be added to this list.

The Regional FCO Deployment Managers are listed below:

  NAMER: Dennis Cairns
  EMEA: Mike Netz
  JAPAC: Chee-Kin Ngai
  LACR: Marcos Omura

Cause

Some SAS cables (p/n 7015651) manufactured by Amphenol have visible issues with the workmanship that may also lead to the failure of the cable.  Manufacturing was purged via Worldwide StopShip Purge SS146.  Affected Backplane Cable Kits (p/n 7047257) were purged from Services inventory in early December 2013 and replaced with new kits under the same part number via GSAP# 6128.

A new SAS Drive cable kit (p/n 7082694) containing 3 SAS Drive cables has been created and acquired in quantities to support this proactive FCO remediation only.  For normal fix-on-fail activities the current 12-Slot Backplane Cable Kit (p/n 7047257) should be ordered.

Solution

Target Completion Date:  15 August 2014

Resolution

Using the End User / Affected System List available up on APEX (or from you Regional FCO Deployment Manager), proactively identify affected systems and replace the SAS cables manufactured by Amphenol.  Order part number 7082694, which is a kit that contains 3 SAS Drive cables.  Only systems identified in the End User or Affected System List should be targeted for proactive remediation.  For all other systems experiencing SAS Drive issues, the SAS cables must be visually inspected to verify they are Amphenol cables with this issue, before ordering and replacement activities occur.

For detailed steps reference the Cable Replacement Procedures document. 

Note: It is recommended that a collab SR is opened with TSC before starting the replacement to assist in this activity.

This part number should only be used in support of proactive FCO remediation activities and only for systems identified in the affected customer list.  For fix-on-fail Service Requests please use the 12-Slot Backplane Cable Kit (p/n 7047257) which contains one SAS Drive cable as well as other cables.

For technical questions/issues please contact the EEST group via normal escalation process.  The following people are primary contacts for that group:

  Barb Lundhild -  AMER/LAD/JAPAC

  Bob Dunsby - EMEA

Identification of Affected Parts (how to)

Example pictures of bad cables are attached. Amphenol cables will have "Amphenol" printed on the cable housing.  Molex cables will have no identifying markings.

An Affected Customer List is available up on APEX which should be used to identify affected system and customers as well as to track all FCO remediation activities.  Access to this data is limited and controlled by your Regional FCO Deployment Manager/Driver.

Systems not in the End User List, and which shipped after 28-June-2013 will have either Molex or newly qualified cables from Amphenol under the same part number as the old Amphenol and Molex cables.

Reference HOWTO <Document:1188080.1>  for instructions on Steps to shutdown or reboot an Exadata storage cell without affecting ASM.

Hardware Remediation and Material Availability Details

The new cable kit (physical p/n 7082694) is consumable and will only be available in sufficient quantities to support this FCO activity.

Important! Any cables ordered but not used should be retained by the Field Engineer (not left with customer) for use for other proactive FCO remediation activities in your area.  These cables are consumable and there is no return process for consumable parts.

At time of publication of this FAB all Regions were materially ready to support this proactive remediation.

Comments

Kit part number 7082694 was created only in support of this FCO, and will be inactivated after the remediation of this FCO has been completed.  See Target Completion Date above for the date this FCO is expected to be completed by.

A specific list of system cells and racks that were shipped with these affected cables and which are targeted for proactive remediation has been identified.  Contact your FCO Regional Deployment Manager (RDM) to identify affected systems in your area.

References

   GSAP: 6128
   WW Stop Ship: SS146
   HOW TO: 1188080.1


Contacts

   Contributor: jake.bell@oracle.com
   Responsible Engineer: ivan.sheng@oracle.com
   Responsible Manager: derek.zhou@oracle.com, daryl.hinz@oracle.com

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