UCS B200M3 and Flex Flash (SDCard)

[previfrance]

Hello,

I have migrate fews UCS B200M3 to boot from SAN to SD Card since it is supported by firmware 2.1.

I'm running the last firmware, 2.1(1a) and ESXi 5.1.0, 1157734 with Cisco Custom image.

After few days, my ESX lost connectivity with SD Card and in vSphere it says : Lost connectivity to the device mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0 backing the boot filesystem ... (see attachement) (I have the error an all my ESX on SD Card).

If I reboot ESX ou restart management agent, the message is gone and all is working.

There is a problem with ESXi 5.1 on SDCard and B200M3 ?

Thank You

[previfrance]

Sorry Kenny for not getting back to you before now but I was on holiday

My resseller told me than they are in contact with Cisco TAC everyday to resolve this problem because they have the same problem with another client, so I don't have a SR number.

My resseller told me that Cisco is working with Cypress to upgrade the CIMC firmware to resolve this problem.

I give you feedback as soo as I can.

Thanks

[Keny Perez]

Loic,

For all I know, we are working on this issue on C-series only, B series might be related but we need information to confirm you really have a problem with the SD card and that nothing is missing from your configuration instead.

Some days ago, I posted a note in the community with all the items that need to be checked when deploying SD cards on B-series, could you please use that as a checklist and let me know if everything is complete?  If so, I would like you to open a ticket and send me the ticket number (in a private message) so I can help you out.

https://supportforums.cisco.com/community/netpro/data-center/unified-computing/blog/2013/08/19/m3-blades-sd-support--things-to-know-before-deployment

Thanks in advance,

-Kenny

[Keny Perez]

Hi,

For those following this thread or checking it out, there is a open bug filed for B series using SD cards

CSCui77602

If there is anyone hitting this issue, please open a TAC case and make reference to this thread to make sure you are really hitting this problem

-Kenny

[previfrance]

Hi Keny,

Everything is complete according to your blog.

I think that this is my reseller who have open the ticket for B-Series so we have to wait now

Thanks again for your help.

[Keny Perez]

Hi All,

The bugs involved are bugs CSCuh33982 (rack servers) CSCui77602 (Blade servers), the fix will be committed on future releases of CIMC and UCSM.

The recommedation would be to subscribe to the bugs in order to get updates.

Subscribe to a bug:

http://www.cisco.com/cisco/support/notifications.html

1-Click on “Add Notification”

2-Under “Notification Name” enter a name you can easily remember, enter the email where you want to receive the notification and hit “Continue”

3-Choose “Track a specific Bug ID” and “Continue”

4-Enter “ Bug Number” and “Continue”

5-Click on “Finish”

Here is a guide for this process.

http://www.cisco.com/web/tsweb/flash/support/ngw/cisco_support_cns.html

I hope this helps somehow.

-Kenny

[limbadiya]

Hi Keny, Is there any timeline for Blade SD Card Fix  ?

[Keny Perez]

Vasim,

The same is expected to be available in the next UCSM release targetted for Q4CY13, but it is not a commited date, it can change anytime as that depends on the developers when they consider the release is ready to be available, that means after QA.

-Kenny

[p.sniegocki]

I'm experiencing the same issue on UCS B200M3.

This bug makes our Blade Servers completely useless.

Any estimated time of resolving this issue?

[Keny Perez]

Piotr,

The next UCSM release is targetted for Q4CY13, but it is not a commited date.

If you want to and have TAC support, you may open a case to add more visibility but that will not guarantee the fix will come earlier, but there is chance that the fix might come out as a patch and not as part of a major release.

Your choice if you want to give it a shot by opening a case and attach it to the bug; that will add another case to the list but IMHO is better to just subscribe to the bug to know when the fix is available.

-Kenny

[Keny Perez]

Hi All,

For those  of you following this thread, the release 1.5(3d) for C series includes the fix for this issue:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/OL-28995-01.html

Release 1.5(3d)

Following defects were resolved in Release 1.5(3d):

CIMC

Symptom    C-series M3 intermittently losing access to flexflash and SD card.

Workaround   Reset the flexflash controller from WEBUI/CLI or reboot CIMC. (CSCuh33982)

Download it from here:

http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=284296253&flowid=31742&softwareid=283850974&release=1.5%283d%29&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest

The patch for CSCui77602  should be out shortly and it will be anounced soon, I will keep you all posted.

-Kenny

[previfrance]

Hi Keny,

Any news for B-Series ?

Thanks

[Keny Perez]

Loic,

Not yet but I will update this thread as soon as that is released.

-Kenny

[limbadiya]

I had case open on that and According to Cisco tac Q1 2014, I was tracking the bug for a while, it was fixed while ago, but they are planning to release with version 2.2, I asked them if it's possible to release early, and cisco upper management actually asked for the business reason, how about that !!! customer spent 200K on equipment, couldn't even put them in prodcution. So we went with iSCSI boot, running great on HP lefthand.

[smcquerr]

Vasim,

First of all let me apologize for the inconvenience that this bug has caused you.  We are very aware that this bug has caused headaches for our customers.  It is our goal in the UCS Business Unit to provide our customers fixes as soon as possible.  That being said let me address your comments. 

This particular bug fix required an update to a component level firmware within the system.  This firmware has to be released as part of a regularly scheduled UCS release.  Our scheduled releases follow a prescriptive pattern of Major, Minor, and Patch releases.  When we have a bug fix it must be released into one of these scheduled release vehicles.  This particular fix fell into a timeline where the next vehicle for its inclusion is UCSM 2.2.  I'm not sure who you spoke to that asked for a business reason, but the fact is there's nothing that could have been done to implement it in UCSM any earlier because the 2.2 release was the next UCSM vehicle that was available for inclusion of the bug fix.  I can also assure you that whomever you spoke to was not a representative of the UCS Business Unit or UCS Engineering team that is responsible for these fixes.

Steve McQuerry

UCS - Technical Marketing

[limbadiya]

Steve,

Here is the exact the text from Cisco tac, you can find this case under my profile.

"

I talked with BU escalation team and they asked the business reason for this patch to other firmware version prior to 2.2x.

However, 2.2x is planned to release at Q1 2014. For the business reason, it may be better to engage the Account Manager in Cisco."

The fact is that issue was revealed in July, it has been almost 5 months, and plus the bug's severity was identified as minor, i don't know why ? this is major issue, we have lost vmware configuration on boot multiple times.