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Frequently Asked Questions: Dell OpenManage�Storage Consolidation User's Guide
These frequently asked questions cover the general capabilities of
Storage Consolidation.
Problem: I am unable to bring a virtual disk off-line
using the StorageC command line utility. I get the following error message when I try to
bring a virtual disk off-line:
Error: Not allowed to bring disk <x>
offline because it is part of a fault-tolerant disk group.
Action: Unfortunately, any virtual disk that has a member of
a Microsoft� Windows NT� fault-tolerant volume (such as a volume set or a stripe
set) cannot be brought off-line. If a virtual disk needs to be moved to another server in
the Storage Consolidation group, first remove any fault-tolerant volumes that have members
on the virtual disk. Storage Consolidation cannot detect which virtual disks are members
of a Microsoft Windows NT dynamic volume and cannot prevent one or more of the disks
from being brought off-line.
 |
NOTE: This means that volume sets and stripe sets
cannot be moved between servers in a Storage Consolidation group. |
Problem: A virtual disk is unreliable—files
disappear or become corrupted. Sometimes a server attached to the storage area network
(SAN) crashes, or application programs on the server crash.
Action: Make sure that no other server is sharing the virtual
disk. Be sure to compare the enclosure name and logical unit numbers (LUNs) of the virtual
disks because this is consistent across all servers on the SAN. Windows disk numbers can
be different between servers on the SAN. You can see this difference by comparing
the server views in Storage Consolidation Administrator or by viewing the output of the storagec
stat command on each server. After assigning a cluster using Storage
Consolidation Administrator, you must install special software to have multiple servers safely
access the storage.
Problem: Virtual disks created
on the Dell™ PowerVault™ storage system are not shown on all servers.
Action 1: Make sure that all cabling between the servers
and the Dell PowerVault 5xF Fibre Channel switch is connected. Verify that all the LUNs
can be seen by the server using one of the virtual
disk software programs.
Action 2: If any of the virtual disks that are missing from
the display have been recently created, reboot any servers that have not been rebooted
since the virtual disks were created.
Problem: I get the following error message from the
StorageC command line utility (or a similar error from Storage Consolidation
Administrator) when trying to bring a disk off-line (the x variable in the message below is a specific disk):
Error performing offline on Disk <x>. Error: 32
Disk <x> is in use.
Action: This message means that either some software is using
the disk, or a prompt has one of its drive letters as the current drive. Make sure that
any command-line prompts and software are not accessing the disk before bringing it
off-line. Also make sure that none of the drive letters for the disk are selected in any
Windows� Explorer session that is running. Certain services running under Microsoft Windows 2000
Server and Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server may have open handles to partitions on
the drive. These services include the link-tracking client and server services, as well as
the file replication service. To take the drive off-line, stop the
services and then retry the off-line command using the offlineforce
option or enable the force drives offline option in Storage Consolidation
Administrator.
Problem: I physically removed from the PowerVault a disk that
was in use by one of the servers. While the disk was removed, the server was rebooted.
When I placed the disk back into the PowerVault system, the server did not see the disk.
After rebooting the server, the disk showed up, but it was in the off-line state.
Action: The only action is to set the disk back to the online
state on the server. After the first reboot, the server did not see the disk anymore, so
it lost the state of the disk. After the second reboot, the server saw the disk as a new
disk, and by default, new disks are set to the off-line state.
Problem: I set the state of a disk to off-line and then later set
it back to online on the same server. The disk had partitions that had drive letters
associated with it. When I brought the disk back online, the drive letter associations
were lost.
Action: The Dell OpenManage Storage Consolidation software
removes the drive letters that are associated with a disk that is being set to off-line
if the offline parameter is used. To bring a virtual disk off-line and reserve
the drive letters, use the offlinekeepdl parameter in the StorageC utility. To restore the drive letters that have been removed, bring the
virtual disk online and use Disk Administrator to assign drive letters to the partitions
on the disk.
Also, if the drive letter was the default drive letter assigned when
the virtual disk was created, it is not retained. For Storage Consolidation to properly
save the drive letters, the drive letter must be assign the drive letter using Disk
Administrator.
Problem: When I set the state of a disk on the PowerVault
system to off-line, it shows up in the Offline Disks section of the storagec
stat command output, but the disk information (vendor, RAID, size) is still
displayed. I am also still able to access the disk.
Action: The most common reason for this error is that the LUN
for the virtual disk is also being used by the Dell OpenManage Data Agent to monitor the
PowerVault 650F/651F system. To change the state of this disk to off-line, first stop the Data Agent service, configure Data Agent to monitor
the PowerVault system using a
different LUN value, and then restart Data Agent.
|
NOTE: To prevent this problem from occurring, it is best to have Data Agent configured to use a LUN
ID that is not being used for a virtual disk. |
Problem: I am unable to control a particular server
from the Storage Consolidation Administrator.
Action 1: Verify that particular server is up and running.
Open a command prompt window, ping the server and verify that it responds.
Action 2: Verify that the Storage Consolidation Agent
service is running on that server. Go into the Control Panel of the server and launch Services.
Select Storage Consolidation Agent from the list and verify that it is started. If
the agent is not running, click Storage Consolidation Agent and click the Start
button to start the service. Make sure that Storage Consolidation Agent has the Startup
type set to Automatic. If it is not set correctly, click the Startup button,
click Automatic, click OK to make Automatic the default behavior,
and then close the Services window. From this point on, the
server will be controlled from a remote Storage Consolidation Administrator.
Problem: Storage Consolidation Administrator displays a blank entry
or an entry with the name "PV" in the PowerVault Group list under a new
zone.
Action: The most common reason for this is that several or
all servers in the zone are experiencing heavy disk activity. This may occur because the
servers were rebooted at the same time or because of unusually high I/O activity.
Under these conditions, the Storage Consolidation software on one or more servers may not
be able to correctly associate LUNs with PowerVault systems. Resolve this situation by sequentially rebooting all servers listed in the new zone, and then selecting Regenerate in Storage Consolidation Administrator. If rebooting the servers is not possible, use the Regenerate
option in Storage Consolidation Administrator at a later time.
Problem: The message
None of the configured servers could be successfully contacted is displayed in
Storage Consolidation Administrator, or one or more servers are shown as "unauthorized" in the managing servers section.
Action: This problem occurs when the user ID used to log in
to Storage Consolidation Administrator has not been added to the SAN management group on each workgroup
server or to the local domain SAN management group on the primary domain controller. It may also occur
if the password is incorrect.
Problem: I used LUN
management software to unbind a LUN from an array. However, the unbound LUN continues to be displayed by
Storage Consolidation Administrator and the StorageC utility.
Action: When a virtual disk (LUN) is unbound, all servers
will retain knowledge of the virtual disk until they are rebooted. This means that the unbound LUN
will continue to be displayed by StorageC (command line utility) and Storage Consolidation Administrator. However, any attempts to sign it or bring it online will fail. Another consequence of this is that Storage Consolidation Administrator will allow attempts to assign the unbound LUN to servers that haven't been rebooted. Use Storage Consolidation Administrator regenerate function to prevent these problems.
Problem: My network configuration prevents the use of
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) port 5000.
Action: By default, Storage Consolidation
Administrator communicates with all servers using socket port 5000. To change this value,
perform the following steps:
- On each server that will be
changed, enter the following command at the command line prompt:
storagecconfig updateentry "path\name_of_server.config" servername new_port
- Stop and restart the
Storage Consolidation Agent service.
- On the machine(s) on
which Storage Consolidation
Administrator is used, enter the following command at the command line prompt:
storageconfig updateentry "path\name_of_client.config" servername new_port
Problem: One of my configured servers is across a wide-area network (WAN) and requires a large amount
of time to contact. My other servers are local and do not require a timeout of 10 minutes.
Action: By default, Storage Consolidation
Administrator waits up to 10 minutes to communicate with all configured servers. To change
the timeout value for a server, enter the following command at
the command line prompt:
storagecconfig updatetimeout "path\name_of_client.config"
servername new_timeout_in_milliseconds
For example, to set the timeout value to 30 seconds for
the server named SINCLAIRSCOTT, the syntax might be similar to the following:
storagecconfig updatetimeout "c:\program
files\dell\openmanage\storage consolidation\dellstoragec\client.config" sinclairscott
30000
Problem: I have discovered two Dell PowerVault system
enclosures with the same internal serial number, or I wish to change the enclosure name
for an array that is displayed in Storage Consolidation Administrator.
Action: An enclosure name can be changed by selecting PowerVault
Group in the left pane of Storage Consolidation Administrator, highlighting one of the enclosure names, selecting Action, and then selecting Change Enclosure Name. If the operation does not succeed,
make sure that the enclosure firmware version is the one recommended by Dell.
Problem: The StorageC command line utility allows
any user to change LUN states on a server.
Action: Use the Windows access control features to restrict
access and execution of the StorageC utility (the storagec.exe
file).
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