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UCS B200 M3 Format SD Card

itm.i11.team
Level 1
Level 1

Hi,

 

we use SD cards in our B200 M3 servers. Unfortunately I do not know how to format them.

I tried several ways:

- the option "Format SD Cards" is shown grayed out in the Inventory -> Storage -> Controller Tab

- Scrub Policy with "FlexFlash Scrub"enabled does not scrub the cards

- there is no BIOS/Controller Menu to format them directly

 

We are using a Cypress FlexFlash Controller, running version 1.2 build 258-2.

 

Does anyone know this problem and is there a way to format SD cards from UCSM?

This works perfect with B200 M4 and M5 server.

 

Regards

 Martin

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Wes Austin
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

The older flexflash controllers in B200-M3 do not allow for format via GUI.

 

You need to create a Flex scrub policy, enable flex scrub and then re-ack the blade, which should scrub the SD cards.

 

FlexFlash SD Card Support

 

• For an associated server, create a FlexFlash scrub policy and disassociate the service profile from the server. For an unassociated server, create a FlexFlash scrub policy and reacknowledge the server after modifying the default scrub policy. The Scrub Policy Settings section in the Cisco UCS Manager Server Management Guide provides more details about the usage of the scrub policy

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9 Replies 9

Wes Austin
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

The older flexflash controllers in B200-M3 do not allow for format via GUI.

 

You need to create a Flex scrub policy, enable flex scrub and then re-ack the blade, which should scrub the SD cards.

 

FlexFlash SD Card Support

 

• For an associated server, create a FlexFlash scrub policy and disassociate the service profile from the server. For an unassociated server, create a FlexFlash scrub policy and reacknowledge the server after modifying the default scrub policy. The Scrub Policy Settings section in the Cisco UCS Manager Server Management Guide provides more details about the usage of the scrub policy

Hi Wes,

 

thanks for the fast reply! I did some tests according to your advice and (only) the following did the trick:

1. disassociate any service profile, the server must be unassociated

2. set "FlexFlash Scrub" to "Yes" for default Scrub Policy

3. Re-Acknowledge the server

 

Afterwards the SD Cards are deleted.

How do you set the Scrub Policy after Disassociation?
Once the Profile is disassociated it is no longer attached to the Compute device.
I'm just confused?

1)

For an associated server, create a FlexFlash scrub policy and disassociate the service profile from the server.

 

2)

For an unassociated server, create a FlexFlash scrub policy and reacknowledge the server after modifying the default scrub policy.

 https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/ucs-manager/GUI-User-Guides/Server-Mgmt/3-2/b_Cisco_UCS_Manager_Server_Mgmt_Guide_3_2/b_Cisco_UCS_Manager_Server_Mgmt_Guide_3_2_chapter_01110.html

 

Release Notes for 3.2 under “Behavior Changes and Known Limitations”

“CSCve53092—For a server associated with a service profile, disk scrub and FlexFlash scrub occur during disassociation, based on the scrub policy used in the service profile.

 

For an un-associated server, disk scrub and FlexFlash scrub occur during the server discovery

process, based on the default scrub policy.”        

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/CiscoUCSManager-RN-3-2.html

 

 

 

 

Got it! Not intuitive!

Ok, still an issue. I have followed the above, I am getting the warning about the Disassociating profile and the Disk scrub policy enabled....Watching FSM #41"Discover Config Flex Flash Scrub...Skip. It skips this policy!!

I just did a flex flash scrub of a M3 server via a re-acknowledge and the default scrub policy, still works for me.

Which firmware version are you using? Our UCSM is currently running on 3.2(3a).

Firmware is at 3.2(3a), UCS "acts" like it will scrub the Cards, but in the FSM reads out that it Skips that task.

"Firmware is at 3.2(3a), UCS "acts" like it will scrub the Cards, but in the FSM reads out that it Skips that task.

"

This is correct and great catch by looking at FSM skipping that task.

 

Re-Ack of the blade does not scrub the FlexFlash SD Cards as you have seen.

This is expected behavior in newer 3.2.x code where Re-Ack will NOT scrub the SD card.

Scrub policy behavior is changed via CSCve53092 to make it consistent across Blade & Rack platforms.

 

This new behavior is actually documented in the 3.2 Release Notes:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/CiscoUCSManager-RN-3-2.html

Disk and FlexFlash Scrub

CSCve53092—For a server associated with a service profile, disk scrub and FlexFlash scrub occur during disassociation, based on the scrub policy used in the service profile. For an un-associated server, disk scrub and FlexFlash scrub occur during the server discovery process, based on the default scrub policy

 

Regards,

Carlos

 

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