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In this Document

Symptoms

Cause

Solution

Important Information

Destroy the array

Format / Secure Erase the Hard Drives

Create a new Stripe array

Result

References

Created from <SR 3-10201302871>

Applies to:

Symptoms

 Arcconf command 'arcconf getconfig 1' reports a Failed/bad stripe in a Logical Device (array)

Cause

 A bad stripe is essentially a stripe level RAID failure, although instead of taking the entire logical drive off-line, only the data within the stripe becomes unavailable. A bad stripe entry is then made to the Bad Stripe Table and becomes a part of the array and logical drive configuration.

How does a Bad Stripe Table (BST) entry occur?

A BST entry can occur primarily due to one of the following scenarios:

• Encountering Medium Error on one of the source drives during a REBUILD operation.
• Encountering Medium Error on same LBA of multiple array members during Verify with fix operation.
• If an improper shutdown occurs on a CRITICAL array (one or more drives missing) while there are open writes.

Solution

Important Information

The customer is 100% responsible for backing up and restoring the data within the array as this procedure will erase the existing data.

There is no procedure or tool available for clearing or repairing a bad stripe while maintaining the existing array. In the instances when a bad stripe has occurred, the data contained within that stripe is incomplete, invalid, or inconsistent between the data and parity and a Bad Stripe Table entry is created to block that stripe to prevent hidden data corruption.

There are only two suggested methods for clearing the reserved areas of the drives and both are destructive to the data stored on the physical disks. Backing up the good data on the drives is recommended before any changes to the configuration are made.

The first method is to remove or delete the existing array configuration from the physical disks associated to the array with the affected logical drive, then create an identical new configuration, which will overwrite any previous existing configuration data. The BST will be rewritten and will start with zero entries.

The second method has one additional step. After the existing configuration is removed from the physical disks, do a low level format on each physical disk, and then create an identical new configuration. This provides an additional benefit of verifying the drives are error free.

To destroy the array, format the drives and re-create the array, follow these instructions:

1.- Reboot the server.
2.-When prompted, press Ctrl-A for the RAID Card configuration utility. You'll see this message:

<<<Press Ctrl-A for Adaptec RAID Configuration Utility>>>

After pressing Ctrl-A, the Configuration utility will boot and you'll see a menu with 3 options:

Array Configuration Utility
SerialSelect Utility
Disk Utilities

Destroy the array

- Enter the Array Configuration Utility
- Select 'Manage Arrays'
- The list of available arrays will be displayed. Use the keyboard arrows to make your selection and press the 'Supr' or 'Del' key in your keyboard to delete the selected array.
- This operation will erase ALL the information from the disks that are member of the array.

Format / Secure Erase the Hard Drives

- Enter the Array Configuration Utility
- Select 'Secure Erase Drives'
- This will show all the drives within the server. The drives that are part of an array will be in gray. The disks that can be erased will be in white.
- Use the arrow keys to select the drives that will be erased and press 'Ins' to add the disks to the 'Selected Drives' list
- Press Enter and then answer Yes when prompted.

Create a new Stripe array

- Enter the Array Configuration Utility
- Select 'Create Array'
- This will show all the drives within the server. The drives that are part of an array will be in gray. The disks that can be used in a new array will be in white.
- Use the arrow keys to select the drives that will be erased and press 'Ins' to add the disks to the 'Selected Drives' list
- Select the Array type.
- Identify the array with a Label.
- Complete the rest of the selections and press Done.

Result

Once this operation is completed, you will see the new Array in the 'Manage Arrays' menu. After this, you can exit the configuration utility and reboot the system.

If you want to check on the Array health and see if the Bad Stripe is no longer present, you'll need to run the following arcconf command from the OS:

#arcconf getconfig 1

You should see this:

References

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