LSI 1064 replacement RAID

[Gregg Hughes]

Good afternoon!

We had a brief problem with a RAID 10 that holds the ESXi installation on one of our C210 M2 servers.  VMware "lost" the ESXi volume.  A host reboot brought the RAID back online but management had me buy a spare mezzanine card to have on the shelf.  We tested it during an ESXi upgrade and the card did not respond as expected.  We relied on this document to help us replace the RAID.

When we put the card in the server, we expected the card to show up and ask about a foreign configuration.  The documentation said that when we saw this to ask the card to import the configuration and present the RAID set to the OS.  The card instead claimed it was "inactive" and to check the configuration by pressing Control-C.  We did so but since we were on a schedule to upgrade we reinserted the old RAID card, bumped it up the boot chain and went on with the upgrade.

The card was identified by the server and took a firmware upgrade to the 1.4(3x) revision, so I don't think the card is DOA - I think there's a step missing or we need to look for a different document for this card.

My question is about the expected response when replacing this card.  Will we be able to replace the mezzanine card and restore the RAID configuration or will we need to plan to re-do the RAID config in case the card fails?  If we can replace and restore, what step is missing to safely import the RAID configuration so the mirror doesn't break and the OS doesn't freak?

Thanks to all for looking!

Gregg

[Manuel Velasco]

Hi Gregg,

When you insert the new card the raid configuration should get restored automatically as this configuration stays on you hard disk.  Now with respect to the missing step, it is possible that the firmware of this new card is not at the same level as your server.   To make sure this card is running at the same firmware, you need to install the card without connecting the sas cables, and run the HUU to upgrade the firmware of  the card.  Once the firmware is to the same level you can go a head power off the server and reconnect the sas cables.  When you disconnect the sas cables make sure to note the order they should be connected.

[Manuel Velasco]

By the way the replacement part is of the same model as the old card right?

[Gregg Hughes]

Yes, they're both the R2X0-ML002 LSI card.

[Manuel Velasco · Accepted solution]

Hey Gregg,

I checked for some TAC cases with reporting the same error your server is reporting, and for every case replacing the raid controller resolved the issue.   I would recommend to open a case with TAC to review the logs or see if you can get the adapter replaced.

[Gregg Hughes]

Hello, Manuel!

Just wanted to update that TAC was able to RMA the part and get the replacement part to me overnight.  Your insight helped immensely in the process.

Thanks very much!

Gregg

[Manuel Velasco]

I am glad I was able to help :)

[Gregg Hughes]

Hello, Manuel!

The firmware was not at the same level so I did re-run the HUU to flash the replacement card.  However, the SAS cables were attached.  After doing the HUU and rebooting I found the same status as before - Inactive.  I've attached a screenpop of the bootup to show where the status shows up.

Thanks!

Gregg