Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM): Applying Patch 147416-02/147419-02 May Cause Alarm "Lost out-of-band communication"

Asset ID:	1-72-1598709.1
Update Date:	2017-02-28
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1598709.1 : Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM): Applying Patch 147416-02/147419-02 May Cause Alarm "Lost out-of-band communication"

Applies to:

Sun Storage 2540-M2 Array - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM) - Version 6.9 to 6.9 [Release 6.0]
Sun Storage 2540 Array - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Storage 2530 Array - Version Not Applicable and later
Sun Storage 6580 Array - Version Not Applicable and later
Oracle Solaris on SPARC (64-bit)
Oracle Solaris on x86-64 (64-bit)

Symptoms

Applying Solaris patch 147416-02 (sparc) or patch 147419-02 (x86) to Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM) version 6.9.0 may cause registered arrays to present an alarm stating that out-of-band (oob) communication has been lost, and report the health status of the array as "Lost Communication"

Example alarm :

# /opt/SUNWstkcam/bin/sscs list alarm
...
Alarm Id         : alarm2
Severity         : Major
Type             : 6180.CommunicationLostEvent
Topic            : OutOfBand
Event Code       : -
Date             : 2013-11-25 13:32:52
Device           : my-st6180-array [SUN.540654503.XXXXXXXXXX]
Description      : Lost out-of-band communication with 6180 my-st6180-array
State            : Open
Acknowledged By : -
Auto Clear       : Y
Aggregated Count : 0
...

Out-of-Band communication with the array has not actually been lost, and some components of CAM will still work correctly for the array, however some functionality provided by the Fault Management Service (FMS) will not work correctly. For example collection of supportdata outputs will fail, and pages will be missing from Service Advisor.

Registration of new arrays may also fail - see <Document 1638927.1>: Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM) : Array Registration may fail in version 6.9.0.20 on Solaris

Changes

The problem arises after patch 147416-02 (sparc) or 147419-02 (x86) has been applied to a Solaris install of CAM 6.9.0

Cause

<Bug 17757783> Adding 147416-02 to a custom install of CAM 6.9 causes array Lost Communication

If the following options are selected during the initial install of CAM 6.9 then the problem will occur :

[X] 2 - Custom
The program will be installed with the features you choose.
Recommended for advanced users.
...
[X] 1 - Management Host Software
[ ] 2 - Data Host Proxy Agent
[ ] 3 - Administrator Host CLI Client

With these options there is a problem with the logic during the install of patch 147416-02/147419-02 which causes some critical modules required for management of the arrays to become uninstalled.

If these options were selected during install then the following file will exist: /var/sadm/install/se6000/requiredScripts/currentLiteFirmwareHost

Solution

The bug will not be fixed/resolved.

Workarounds :

Use the "Typical" install option for CAM 6.9.0.16 instead of the "Custom" install.
For a CAM host already installed using the "Custom" install option then run the following command BEFORE the install of patch 147416-02/147419-02
Run one or the other depending on whether CAM is used to manage RAID or JBOD type arrays. If both types are managed, then CAM should be reinstalled with the "Typical" install option.

# touch /var/sadm/install/se6000/requiredScripts/.lsi (for RAID arrays)

or

# touch /var/sadm/install/se6000/requiredScripts/.jbod (for JBODs)

If patch 147416-02/147419-02 has already been applied then uninstall CAM and re-install afresh, following one of the two workarounds above.
To fully uninstall CAM use the following command :

# /var/opt/CommonArrayManager/Host_Software_6.9.0.16/bin/uninstall -f

Do you still have questions? You can use My Oracle Support Communities. Communities put you in touch with industry professionals like yourself. They are monitored by Oracle support engineers, so you can expect reliable and correct answers. Ask questions and see what others are asking about in the Disk Storage 2000, 3000, 6000 RAID Arrays & JBODs Community.

References

<NOTE:1002514.1> - Collecting Sun Storage Common Array Manager Support Data for Arrays
<BUG:17757783> - ADDING 147416-02 TO A CUSTOM INSTALL OF CAM 6.9 CAUSES ARRAY LOST COMMUNICATION
<NOTE:1638927.1> - Sun Storage Common Array Manager (CAM) : Array Registration May Fail in Version 6.9.0.20 on Solaris

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