UCS C220 M3 with MegaRAID 9266-8i - cache degraded

[jstrittmatter]

Hello,

I have a UCS C220 M3 running BiOS 1.5.1g and CIMC firmware 1.5.1f.

There is a LSI MegaRaid 9266-8i (Firmware 23.9.0-0023) controller with super-cap inside.

CIMC sais that the virtual drive has a moderate fault state, cache is degraded and capacitance is at 0%. Current cache policy is on write through instead of configured write back.

Is this a case for Cisco TAC?

[Sriram Subramanian]

Could you check to make sure all your hard drives connected to the RAID controller is functioning properly?

The reason I am asking because the controller is in degrade mode, most likey a bad hard drive is causing the issue.

[jstrittmatter]

Hello Sriram,

all hard drives are in good state. RAID controller itself is in optimal state. only cache is in state "cache degraded". I do not have another machine with the same RAID controller. Is it normal that BBU is shown with 'Capacitance 0%' . The server is running many hours and i guess the capacity should be loaded fully.

[Bosko Milicevic]

Did you solve this problem? 

I have same case but also with errors with raid controller reported in CIMC log  and with freezing of VM that are on local datastore.

 Maybe, did you try this http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/unified-computing/whitepaper_C11-718938.pdf , from page 28? This is to clear that warning if there is no HW problems

[Keny Perez]

Page 28 of that document is to synch up the SD cards and is totally different that the issue reported in this thread... do you have Seagate disks?  do you see any hardware failure or alert?

-Kenny

[Bosko Milicevic]

I dont know about the disks. I didnt went on site. I think, its related to this http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/field-notices/637/fn63732.html 

We have ordered new Raid controller and I will let you know whats the outcome

Bosko

[Keny Perez]

Hi,

Under Operation Status, it says "refresh to retrieve..."  Have you tried that already?  Cause the SuperCap module seems to be working fine.

Is that Virtual Drive initialized already ? Or just set up ?

-Kenny

[jstrittmatter]

Hello Keny,

klicking on 'refresh to retrieve...' displays 'Operation: No operation in progress' and virtual drive status dowsn't change.

Yes the virtual drive is initialized.

Juergen

[Keny Perez]

Juergen,

Is there any chance to reboot the server? Or do you have MegaRAID Storage Manager?

If the servber can be rebooted, could check the status of the BBU/SuperCap?

Controller Properties> Next> Next > Battery Backup "Manage "

Something like the image below:

After that I can tell you if you will need a TAC case ... 

-Kenny

[jstrittmatter]

Hello Kenny,

Type: SuperCap

Status: Degrades(Needs attention)

Termperature: Normal(23 C)

Capacitance: 0%

I will try to do a manual learn cycle.

Juergen

[Keny Perez]

JUergen,

Cool, just in case (I bet you have seen it, but for other customers):

I recently wrote this for another customer that did not have 1.5, so it might help to other users like you:

"You may need to use MegaCLI or MegaRAID Storage Manager (MSM) for such task and run a command to start that learn cycle.

Learn Cycle is a battery calibration operation performed by the controller periodically to determine the condition of the battery

Here is a KB article that shows how to install either MegaCLI (CLI version) or MSM (GUI version).

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2004166

*For MegaCLI, the command is: 

Force BBU learn cycle:       /opt/MegaRAID/MegaCli/MegaCli64 -AdpBbuCmd -BbuLearn -aALL

*For MSM:  

OR

Use the BBU operations by right-clicking the BBU icon to open the operations menu and select Start Learn Cycle."

Good luck!

-Kenny

[jstrittmatter]

Hello Kenny,

Thanks for your hints.

I have tried 'start Learn Cycle' from CIMC, installed MegaCLI on VMware and started the command line for BBU learn cycle as described in th KB article.

Both didn't seem to have an effect. I'm still facing the same error message 'cahe degraded' even after rebooting CIMC and server.

Juergen

[Keny Perez · Accepted solution]

Juergen,

Open a TAC case for replacement of the SuperCap module, you may even make reference to this thread to make the process faster

-Kenny

[Vitaly Moskalik]

Hi,

is there any solution for this problem?

[jstrittmatter]

TAC replaced the RAID Controller with Super Cap. after that the BBU unit showed 'Capacitance 0%' and status of the RAID controller was OK.