Solaris SF V490 Server Can't Boot from SAN Disk Storage After Firmware OBP Upgrade to 4.30.4

Asset ID:	1-72-1988110.1
Update Date:	2015-03-12
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1988110.1 : Solaris SF V490 Server Can't Boot from SAN Disk Storage After Firmware OBP Upgrade to 4.30.4

Applies to:

Sun Fire V490 Server - Version Not Applicable and later
Qlogic FC HBA - Version All Versions and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms

This is a Solaris 10 Sun Fire V490 server with one Oracle 2GB FC HBA SG-XPCI1FC-QF2 connected to the SAN to access a disk storage array.
The server boots from a LUN on the SAN of that disk storage array,

Customer updated Server OBP firmware from 4.22.34 to 4.30.4.c with patch 142702-02 executing script unix.flash-update.SunFire480.sh
After that, the server cannot boot with this errors:

Rebooting with command: boot
ISP2300 Host Adapter fcode version 1.16 11/15/06
Firmware version 3.03.117
Unable to execute command - completion status 7
Unable to execute command - completion status 7
Unable to execute command - completion status 7
Unable to execute command - completion status 7

Message "Unable to execute command - completion status 7" is repeating itself.

We can see the following boot disks configured on OBP

devalias rootdg-rootdisk-path1 /pci@8,700000/SUNW,qlc@4/fp@0,0/disk@w50060e8005bdf224,0:a
devalias rootdg-rootdisk-path2 /pci@8,700000/SUNW,qlc@5/fp@0,0/disk@w50060e8005bdf234,0:a
devalias rootdg2-rootdisk-path1 /pci@8,700000/SUNW,qlc@4/fp@0,0/disk@w50060e8005bdf224,1:a
devalias rootdg2-rootdisk-path2 /pci@8,700000/SUNW,qlc@5/fp@0,0/disk@w50060e8005bdf234,1:a

By the other hand, the server can boot fine from internal disks:

devalias copydisk /pci@9,600000/SUNW,qlc@2/fp@0,0/disk@w21000011c6a76573,0:a
devalias vx-rootdisk /pci@9,600000/SUNW,qlc@2/fp@0,0/disk@w21000011c6a76573,0:a
devalias vx-rootmirror /pci@9,600000/SUNW,qlc@2/fp@0,0/disk@w21000011c6a73a87,0:a

AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
     0. c1t0d0 <SEAGATE-ST314670FSUN146G-0354 cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 848>
        /pci@9,600000/SUNW,qlc@2/fp@0,0/ssd@w21000011c6a76573,0
     1. c1t1d0 <SEAGATE-ST314670FSUN146G-0354 cyl 14087 alt 2 hd 24 sec 848>
        /pci@9,600000/SUNW,qlc@2/fp@0,0/ssd@w21000011c6a73a87,0

Cause

We are facing this bug most probably:
Bug 15660162 : SUNBT6973967 DOMAIN WILL NOT BOOT OFF OF SAN STORAGE WITH OBP 4.30.4

There is a incompatibility problem with FC HBA Fcode 1.16 and OBP 4.30.4

Solution

The options to recover are as follows.

1) Replacing the SAN boot HBA with newer model allows FCODE 1.17 (patch 114874-07 ) to be loaded and the incompatibility to be avoided.
2) Downgrade the OBP firmware.

That patch 114874-07 is for 2GB Dual FC HBA, but our model is 2GB Single port FC HBA, last patch was 114873-05 (Fcode 1.16), as per doc

FAQ Oracle FC HBA: FCode/BIOS(ie. Boot Code), Firmware, and Drivers (Doc ID 1389639.1)

So only option on this case is to downgrade OBP.

Follow steps from patch 121689-04.README file to downgrade the OBP
<SunPatch:121689-04>: Hardware/PROM: Sun Fire V480 / V490 Flash PROM Update

Previous OBP versions can be found here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/systems/patches/firmware/release-history-jsp-138416.html#V480

References

<NOTE:1923107.1> - Unable to Boot Solaris Server After Updating Oracle Qlogic Fibre Channel (FC) HBA Driver/Firmware Patch (149175 for SPARC, 149176 for x86)
<BUG:15660162> - SUNBT6973967 DOMAIN WILL NOT BOOT OFF OF SAN STORAGE WITH OBP 4.30.4
<NOTE:1389639.1> - FAQ Oracle FC HBA: FCode/BIOS(ie. Boot Code), Firmware, and Drivers

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