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Applies to:

Goal

Description

This document contains information related to configuration of the LSI SAS1064 disk controller IC on Sun X64 based systems & information related to its hardware RAID feature.

Solution

Steps to Follow

The Sun Fire [tm] X4100, Sun Fire [tm] X4100 M2, Sun Fire [tm] X4200, Sun Fire [tm] X4200 M2, Sun Fire [tm] X4600, Sun Fire [tm] X4600 M2 servers contain the LSI Logic Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) SAS1064 disk controller IC.

It is based on the Fusion-MPT  (Message Passing Technology) architecture.  The LSISAS1064 four-port controller key features include a 133MHz bus, PCI-X host interface, 3Gb/s data transfer rates per port, hot plug/hot swap capability, and Integrated RAID for enhanced data protection. SAS controllers support command queuing to maximize drive performance.  Interrupt coalescing is another advanced feature of the controllers that improves system performance by reducing the number of interrupts per I/O to less than one.

Additional information regarding this controller can be found in the product brief at the LSI  website

This controller provides for the creation of as many as two hardware RAID volumes for a 4 disk system.  It supports either two-disk RAID 1 integrated mirror (IM) volumes or two-, three-, or four-disk RAID 0 integrated stripe (IS) volumes.  OS based RAID control software is Sun's supported control of the RAID volumes.

The LSI firmware is contained within the server's firmware & driver download.  This can be found at the Sun System Firmware Release page.

If HW RAID is used, the LSI firmware version should track the SP firmware's version, as shown in the table below.  The LSI firmware version is displayed during boot. The SP firmware version can be derived from the SP's firmware build # from the CLI's version command, as follows:

-> version

SP firmware 1.0.7

SP firmware build number: 12513              <==========

SP firmware date: Wed Aug  2 15:03:28 PDT 2006

SP filesystem version: 0.1.13

LSI Firmware Requirements & Information:

The LSI RAID controller FW requires 64MB unpartitioned disk space at the end of the disk for volume management (Bug ID 6312581). Creation of any RAID volume could possibly result in the data on ALL disks in the volume being lost, so it is recommended that a backup be performed prior creation. The disks within all RAID volumes must be of the same size. It is recommended that the LSI firmware of replacement motherboards be moved to the revision of the failed motherboard. Migration of disk volumes from one system to another is not supported by Sun. RAID configuration via the LSI BIOS utility is discussed in the Sun LSI 106x RAID User’s Guide, document number 820-4933.

Issues related to LSI firmware are as follows:

1. Version 6.02 of the LSI MPT BIOS does not perform HDD Low-Level Formatting (Bug ID 6301350). This issue is resolved in LSI MPT BIOS 6.04.07.
2. Upgrade of LSI firmware or motherboard replacement of a system with LSI firmware 1.04 causes RAID degradation (Bug ID 6499176). See < Doc 1006824.1 > for the workaround.
3. The resynchronization progress indicator might stay at 0% for systems with LSI firmware 1.08 or above, even though the resynchronization is happening (Bug ID 6389986, Bug ID 6497461). The resynchronization is complete when Optimal is displayed as the status.
4. Do not downgrade LSI firmware version 1.16 since doing so can cause the LSI and SCSI devices to become undetectable (Bug ID 6495476).

Solaris, mpt, & raidctl Information:

Solaris uses the mpt driver to access the internal disks, and provides the raidctl utility to control & monitor internal RAID volumes. raidctl has the following functionality (see the Solaris raidctl(1M) manpage for full command details):

    Create a mirror: raidctl -c primary secondary

    Create a stripe: raidctl -c -r 0 disk1 disk2 [disk3] . . .

    Delete a RAID volume: raidctl -d volume

    Display RAID volume information:

  # /usr/sbin/raidctl -l
  RAID    Volume  RAID            RAID            Disk
  Volume  Type    Status          Disk            Status
  ------------------------------------------------------
  c1t0d0  IM      OK              c1t0d0          OK
                                  c1t1d0          OK

    Output similar to the above will be seen with the raidctl command in Solaris 10 Update 3 and earlier. From Solaris 10 Update 4 the command arguments and display format changed, below is an example:

   # /usr/sbin/raidctl -l
   Controller: 0
           Volume:c1t0d0
           Disk: 0.0.0
           Disk: 0.1.0

   # /usr/sbin/raidctl -l c1t0d0
   Volume                  Size    Stripe  Status   Cache  RAID
           Sub                     Size                    Level
                   Disk
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
   c1t0d0                  67.9G   N/A     OPTIMAL  N/A    RAID1
                   0.0.0   67.9G           GOOD
                   0.1.0   67.9G           GOOD

The volume (RAID) status can be one of four possible:

    OK / OPTIMAL: Volume is optimal.

    DEGRADED: Volume contains a failed disk (mirror) or at reduced functionality.

    RESYNCING / SYNC: Volume is synchronizing (mirror), disks are sync'ing.

    FAILED: Volume is non-functional/offline.

The Disk status can be one of three possible:

    OK / GOOD: Disk is operating normally.

    MISSING: Disk is removed or otherwise offline.

    FAILED: Disk is in a failed state and needs service.

After RAID volume creation:

    Member disk drives are no longer visible, only the RAID volume is presented.

    The RAID volume may be addressed just as any other LUN in Solaris.

    After RAID volume creation a valid Solaris label must be applied so that the new volume can be accessed correctly by the OS.

Solaris based issues are as follows:

1. Do not use the raidctl command in Solaris 10 3/05. The raidctl command is not supported on Solaris 10 3/05, using the command might cause the system to panic. Details & remediation in Alert Doc 1000804.1.
2. Systems with LSI FW 1.04 cannot create RAID 1 volumes & display Partition Warnings (Bug ID 6310074). The warning is because the utility does not recognize the new Solaris x86 OS disk partition type. This issue is resolved in the LSI firmware 1.08.01. If an upgrade is not possible, then use the fdisk utility. From the command line or from the Format screen, choose menu item 4: Change between Solaris and Solaris2 Partition Ids . This will change a Solaris2 ID to a Solaris1 ID (0x82).

Windows / Linux MegaRAID Storage manager MSM-IR:

Windows and Linux operating systems use LSI Logic's MegaRAID Storage manager (MSM-IR) to monitor & control internal RAID volumes. Instructions for use of MSM-IR can be found in the LSI 106x RAID User’s Guide, document number 820-4933.

MSM-IR issues are as follows:

1. Removal of a non-RAID internal disk causes others to disappear from the MSM screen (Bug ID 6514389 & Bug ID 6515371). This problem is strictly visual since the drives are are detected by the OS, and work properly. Do not use MSM to manage non-RAID HDD configurations.
2. Windows boot time is delayed as long as 20 minutes by a degraded RAID volume due to Windows and firmware retries (Bug ID 6297804). The defective disk might be recognized by the controller under SAS Topology, but not under RAID Properties.
3. An OS cannot be installed on an LSI RAID Array volume if it is not recognized as the first storage device or if non-array storage is also located on this disk (Bug ID 6297723).
4. LSI firmware 1.08.01 from CD-ROM hangs DOS during boot if a RAID configuration already exists on the system (Bug ID 6461163 & Bug ID 6515473). Update the to LSI firmware 1.16 or newer.
5. RAID degraded when EMC PowerPath in use (Bug ID 6499453). This is fixed in MPT BIOS 6.14.04.

NOTE: Linux systems initially used LSI Logic's MyStorage tool to monitor & control internal RAID volumes. This product is now EOL and no longer supported by LSI Logic. LSI MegaRAID Storage manager (MSM-IR) should be used instead.

Linux & MyStorage issues (included for legacy installations):

1. SunFire [tm] X4100 & X4200 servers installed with RHEL3 U5, RHEL4 U1, or SLES9 SP1 require additional LSI drivers that are available through the Sun Installation Assistant CD and the Resource CD which are included with each system. These CDs may be downloaded from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/systems/patches/firmware/release-history-jsp-138416.html#X4100. Installation steps are outlined in manual 819-1158, Sun Fire X4100 and Sun Fire X4200 Servers Operating System Installation Guide, located at: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E19121-01/sf.x4100/index.html
2. Do not use the Backup or Restore functionality in LSI MyStorage utility (Bug ID 6456252). The Backup/Restore functionality causes the CD-ROM drives to become unavailable and the LSI controller firmware must be reloaded. The version of the LSI MyStorage application on the Tools and Drivers CD has the Backup/Restore functionality disabled.

Internal Comments
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X64, RAID, LSI, SAS1064
Previously Published As
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