Pillar Axiom 600 Storage System
 
Pillar Axiom 500 Storage System
 

PLA-Support>Sun Systems>DISK>Axiom>SN-DK: Ax600
 

This document describes how to successfully remove a Brick from an Axiom system on release 5.0 or higher.
In the event the Brick is completely non-functional, or "Missing" a recovery procedure is provided.

In this Document

Goal

Solution

References

Applies to:

Goal

The purpose of this document is to document the procedure to remove a Brick from an Axiom 500 or 600 at Release 5.0 or higher.  

This procedure documents how to successfully remove the Brick from the logical configuration of the Axiom.      This MUST be done before the Brick is physically disconnected, powered down, or otherwise removed from the system. 

Solution

Before a Brick can be successfully removed from an Axiom, all data and metadata must be deleted or migrated off the Brick.  The Axiom will not allow the Brick to be removed if there is any user or internal system data still resident on the Brick.

The Brick should be online and connected as it is removed from the configuration.    Removing a Brick from the configuration does not affect access to any other Bricks in the system, including those which are connected "downstream" from the Brick being removed. 

Verify All Data Has Been Removed

The axiomcli request storage_allocation -brick should be used to verify that no resources have been assigned to the Brick being removed from the configuration.  For example: axiomcli storage_allocation -list -brick -o xml -xml brickcheck.xml.  The resulting xml file can be opened in a web browser or with a text mode editor such as vi/vim.   

If the Brick is assigned to the default Storage Domain, and the Brick contains the special Volume named PERSISTENCE,  promote another Storage Domain to Primary to migrate the PERSISTENCE volume off the Brick. <Document 1495079.1> 

Example file for BRICK-001, which is in the default Storage Domain, has a LUN named "TEST_LUN" that must be removed.  BRICK-001 also contains the special volume named "PERSISTENCE" that must be migrated.   

If you delete a LUN, you must also delete any clones or scheduled protections for that LUN.

Example of a Brick that is ready for removal.  There are no Volume Entries for the Brick.

Remove the Brick from the Configuration:

NOTE:  Removing the Brick from the configuration does not affect the function of any other Brick as long as the Brick is still physically in the system rack, powered on, and cabled into the Storage Subsystem Fabric.   There are several ways to physically remove the Brick from the Axiom--these all depend on the specific cabling of the system, therefore they are not documented as part of this procedure.   A system shutdown or power down is not typically required if the cables are carefully moved to cable around the brick(s) to be removed.  

NOTE:  After any physical recabling, a PITMAN run is advised.  See KM Doc ID 1473515.1

1. As an administrator or support account, log in using Axiom Storage Services Manager, and go to the Monitor Hardware screen.
2. Select the Brick Name and right-click to display the action menu. 
   
3. Select Remove Brick.  
4. On the prompt menu, select OK to remove the brick from the configuration. 
   
5. If you receive an Error screen indicating "Cannot exclude a brick from a storage domain when a LUN is touching it, perform another axiomcli storage_allocation -list -brick to see what volumes are still located on the Brick and remove or migrate them. 
    
   If you are still unable to remove the Brick, contact Oracle Customer Support for assistance. 
6. Exit the Monitor menu and then display the Monitor Hardware screen again to verify that the Brick no longer appears in the configuration. 
7. Please note that the brick will reappear in the GUI under a status of New and not assigned to a Storage Domain. Once the system is recabled and restarted, these entries will disapear.

Removing a Missing Brick with the Administrator Alert and Pilot Failover

Reference <Bug 16307312>

NOTE:  This procedure will not work if there is any data still on the Brick.  Contact Oracle Customer Support for assistance in recovering a Missing Brick if there are any LUNs or other data on the Brick. 

If a Brick has been physically removed from the Axiom while the Axiom was in a shutdown state, that Brick cannot be successfully removed from the Axiom configuration.

There will be an Administrator Alert indicating the Brick is Missing, and that alert will have the option to remove the Brick.    

Accepting that Administrator Alert will not remove the Alert.   The Alert can be deleted, and the Brick will be removed from the GUI display, but if the Axiom is restarted or there is a Pilot restart or failover, the Brick will return to the GUI display.

To remove the Brick if this occurs:

1. Log into the Axiom Storage Services Manager as an administrator account.
2. Select the Brick Missing Administrator Alert and select OK to remove the Brick from the configuration.   
3. The Brick should be deleted from the GUI display, but the Administrator Alert will not be deleted.
4. Do not delete the Administrator Alert.  
5. Go to the Monitor hardware screen and select any OTHER Brick.  Do not try to change the name of the missing Brick. 
6. Change the name of that Brick and press OK to save the change.  
7. Then use axiomcli with a support login to force a Pilot CU Failover with the command axiomcli pilot -forceFailover.   You may also power cycle the pilot, or if on R5.3 or higher, remove the ethernet connection on the Active Pilot for the Management Link for at least 90 seconds. 
8. After the Boot State Pilot completes, and both Pilot CUs are online, the Administrator Alert indicating Missing Brick should be gone.    The Brick should not be displayed in the GUI.
9. If desired, change the name of the Brick that was done in Step 5 back to the original name.
10. To verify that the Brick does not return, force a Pilot CU failover using the axiomcli, power cycle, or removal of the ethernet on the active pilot. 

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