IBM Support

Onboard SCSI drives synchronize continuously (LED steady ON) - IBM Servers

Troubleshooting


Problem

A system equipped with the LSI1030 chipset for a SCSI solution might display prolonged drive activity even though there is no activity at the operating system level. This behavior is exhibited about every three months (90 days). The activity LED of the drives indicate that the drives are actively working and processing I/O.

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H183934

Symptom

A system equipped with the LSI1030 chipset for a SCSI solution might display prolonged drive activity even though there is no activity at the operating system level. This behavior is exhibited about every three months (90 days). The activity LED of the drives indicate that the drives are actively working and processing I/O.

Affected configurations

The system may be any of the following IBM eServer systems:

  • IBM BladeCenter HS40, type 8839, any model
  • IBM BladeCenter HS20, type 8678, any model
  • IBM BladeCenter HS20, type 8843, any model
  • IBM BladeCenter HS20, type 8832, any model
  • IBM 326, type 8848, any model
  • IBM 325, type 8835, any model
  • IBM xSeries 455, type 8855, any model
  • IBM xSeries 450, type 8688, any model
  • IBM xSeries 445, type 8870, any model
  • IBM xSeries 382, type 8834, any model
  • IBM xSeries 365, type 8862, any model
  • IBM xSeries 365, type 8861, any model
  • IBM xSeries 345, type 8670, any model
  • IBM xSeries 336, type 8837, any model
  • IBM xSeries 336, type 8838, any model
  • IBM xSeries 335, type 8830, any model
  • IBM xSeries 335, type 8676, any model
  • IBM xSeries 235, type 8671, any model
  • IBM xSeries 225, type 8649, any model
  • IBM xSeries 225, type 8647, any model

The system may be any of the following IBM IntelliStation workstations:

  • an IBM IntelliStation Z Pro, type 6221, any model

The system is configured with one or more of the following:

  • IBM BladeCenter SCSI Storage Expansion Unit, option part number (p/n) 26K4847, field replacement unit (FRU) 26K4851
  • IBM BladeCenter HS20 SCSI Storage Expansion Unit, option p/n 48P7058, FRU 59P6616
  • IBM BladeCenter SCSI Storage Expansion Unit, option p/n 26K4817, FRU 13N2366

Solution

This behavior will be corrected in a future release of LSI BIOS. The target date for the release is scheduled for: 3rd Quarter, 2005. It will be available from the IBM xSeries support Web site, at the following URL: http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/x

Workaround

By deleting and recreating the mirrored drives, the problem is eliminated for the next 90 days. After 90 days, the problem will recur. In order to recreate the mirror:

  1. Reboot the system.
  2. Enter the LSI BIOS setup utility by pressing Ctrl+C when prompted.
  3. Select the LSI1030 controller where the mirror is located.
  4. Select <RAID Properties>
  5. Write down which device is the Primary device and which one is the Secondary.
  6. Select <Delete Array>
  7. Select <Save changes. Exit menu>
  8. Select the LSI1030 controller where the mirror was located.
  9. Select <RAID Properties>
  10. Select the primary drive and press the '+' key to add it as the primary.
  11. Note: *IMPORTANT*: Press 'F3' to keep the data.
  12. Select the secondary drive and press the '+' key to add it as the secondary.
  13. Press the Del key. The data on the secondary will be overwritten with the data on the primary. This is OK since previous to deleting the mirror, the data on both drives was the same.
  14. Press the Esc key, and select <Save changes. Exit menu>. The drives will begin synchronizing immediately, this is normal. After the synchronization is complete, the system will return to optimal operation.

Additional information

The symptoms seen are very similar to drive activity during a synchronization, although none of the reporting tools show the drives as being synchronized. System performance might be impacted because of the constant disk activity. The symptoms are seen after about three months and it's because of a problem in the datascrub code. Datascrub is a background operation that periodically checks the status of the mirror by reading and verifying data in the mirrored set. Datascrub is programmed to scan the entire volume once every 90 days. The problem in the datascrub code manifests itself exactly during the last access operation of the datascrub. This causes a read error which schedules a looping background synchronization. By deleting and recreating the volume, the datascrub will be reset.

 

Document Location

Worldwide

Operating System

IntelliStation Pro:Red Hat Linux

System x Hardware Options:Red Hat Linux

Older System x:Red Hat Linux

BladeCenter:Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3

BladeCenter:Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4

BladeCenter:Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Older System x:Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3

Older System x:Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4

Older System x:Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

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Document Information

Modified date:
17 April 2023

UID

ibm1MIGR-59612

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