MegaRAID unsupported drive?

[lpallard]

Hello all,

Recently added a pair of used 15k600 (Hitachi's) on a ServeRAID M5016 and I was surprised to see that the drives were identified by the Web BIOS as "unsupported". Last year I had installed 2 15k600 on that controller without issues, ad configured them as RAID1 virtual drive.

Apart from the FW and other data being sligntly different (the drives are not the same generation, etc), all 4 of them are 300GB 15k600 drives..

Once logged in the server, megacli reports this:

root@proxmox:~# megacli -PDList -aALL

Adapter #0

Enclosure Device ID: 252
Slot Number: 0
Enclosure position: N/A
Device Id: 14
WWN: 5000CCA02A07CB23
Sequence Number: 1
Media Error Count: 0
Other Error Count: 0
Predictive Failure Count: 0
Last Predictive Failure Event Seq Number: 0
PD Type: SAS

Raw Size: 268.403 GB [0x218ceece Sectors]
Non Coerced Size: 267.903 GB [0x217ceece Sectors]
Coerced Size: 267.289 GB [0x21694000 Sectors]
Sector Size: 0
Firmware state: Unconfigured(good), Spun Up
Device Firmware Level: NA01
Shield Counter: 0
Successful diagnostics completion on : N/A
SAS Address(0): 0x5000cca02a07cb21
SAS Address(1): 0x0
Connected Port Number: 1(path0)
Inquiry Data: NETAPP X410_HVIPC288A15NA01LVV48VZN
FDE Capable: Not Capable
FDE Enable: Disable
Secured: Unsecured
Locked: Unlocked
Needs EKM Attention: No
Foreign State: None
Device Speed: 6.0Gb/s
Link Speed: 6.0Gb/s
Media Type: Hard Disk Device
Drive: Not Supported
Drive Temperature : N/A
PI Eligibility: No
Drive is formatted for PI information: No
PI: No PI
Port-0 :
Port status: Active
Port's Linkspeed: 6.0Gb/s
Port-1 :
Port status: Active
Port's Linkspeed: 6.0Gb/s
Drive has flagged a S.M.A.R.T alert : No

Enclosure Device ID: 252
Slot Number: 1
Enclosure position: N/A
Device Id: 13
WWN: 5000CCA02A05A5C3
Sequence Number: 1
Media Error Count: 0
Other Error Count: 0
Predictive Failure Count: 0
Last Predictive Failure Event Seq Number: 0
PD Type: SAS

Raw Size: 268.403 GB [0x218ceece Sectors]
Non Coerced Size: 267.903 GB [0x217ceece Sectors]
Coerced Size: 267.289 GB [0x21694000 Sectors]
Sector Size: 0
Firmware state: Unconfigured(good), Spun Up
Device Firmware Level: NA01
Shield Counter: 0
Successful diagnostics completion on : N/A
SAS Address(0): 0x5000cca02a05a5c1
SAS Address(1): 0x0
Connected Port Number: 0(path0)
Inquiry Data: NETAPP X410_HVIPC288A15NA01LVV338TN
FDE Capable: Not Capable
FDE Enable: Disable
Secured: Unsecured
Locked: Unlocked
Needs EKM Attention: No
Foreign State: None
Device Speed: 6.0Gb/s
Link Speed: 6.0Gb/s
Media Type: Hard Disk Device
Drive: Not Supported
Drive Temperature : N/A
PI Eligibility: No
Drive is formatted for PI information: No
PI: No PI
Port-0 :
Port status: Active
Port's Linkspeed: 6.0Gb/s
Port-1 :
Port status: Active
Port's Linkspeed: 6.0Gb/s
Drive has flagged a S.M.A.R.T alert : No

Enclosure Device ID: 252
Slot Number: 4
Drive's position: DiskGroup: 0, Span: 0, Arm: 0
Enclosure position: N/A
Device Id: 8
WWN: 5000CCA02A823537
Sequence Number: 2
Media Error Count: 0
Other Error Count: 0
Predictive Failure Count: 0
Last Predictive Failure Event Seq Number: 0
PD Type: SAS

Raw Size: 279.460 GB [0x22eec130 Sectors]
Non Coerced Size: 278.960 GB [0x22dec130 Sectors]
Coerced Size: 278.464 GB [0x22cee000 Sectors]
Sector Size: 0
Firmware state: Online, Spun Up
Commissioned Spare : No
Emergency Spare : No
Device Firmware Level: A5D0
Shield Counter: 0
Successful diagnostics completion on : N/A
SAS Address(0): 0x5000cca02a823535
SAS Address(1): 0x0
Connected Port Number: 3(path0)
Inquiry Data: HITACHI HUS156030VLS600 A5D0LVX9LWYN
FDE Capable: Not Capable
FDE Enable: Disable
Secured: Unsecured
Locked: Unlocked
Needs EKM Attention: No
Foreign State: None
Device Speed: 6.0Gb/s
Link Speed: 6.0Gb/s
Media Type: Hard Disk Device
Drive: Not Certified
Drive Temperature :39C (102.20 F)
PI Eligibility: No
Drive is formatted for PI information: No
PI: No PI
Port-0 :
Port status: Active
Port's Linkspeed: 6.0Gb/s
Port-1 :
Port status: Active
Port's Linkspeed: 6.0Gb/s
Drive has flagged a S.M.A.R.T alert : No

Enclosure Device ID: 252
Slot Number: 5
Drive's position: DiskGroup: 0, Span: 0, Arm: 1
Enclosure position: N/A
Device Id: 9
WWN: 5000CCA02A34CB57
Sequence Number: 2
Media Error Count: 0
Other Error Count: 0
Predictive Failure Count: 0
Last Predictive Failure Event Seq Number: 0
PD Type: SAS

Raw Size: 279.460 GB [0x22eec130 Sectors]
Non Coerced Size: 278.960 GB [0x22dec130 Sectors]
Coerced Size: 278.464 GB [0x22cee000 Sectors]
Sector Size: 0
Firmware state: Online, Spun Up
Commissioned Spare : No
Emergency Spare : No
Device Firmware Level: A5D0
Shield Counter: 0
Successful diagnostics completion on : N/A
SAS Address(0): 0x5000cca02a34cb55
SAS Address(1): 0x0
Connected Port Number: 2(path0)
Inquiry Data: HITACHI HUS156030VLS600 A5D0LVVY12MN
FDE Capable: Not Capable
FDE Enable: Disable
Secured: Unsecured
Locked: Unlocked
Needs EKM Attention: No
Foreign State: None
Device Speed: 6.0Gb/s
Link Speed: 6.0Gb/s
Media Type: Hard Disk Device
Drive: Not Certified
Drive Temperature :38C (100.40 F)
PI Eligibility: No
Drive is formatted for PI information: No
PI: No PI
Port-0 :
Port status: Active
Port's Linkspeed: 6.0Gb/s
Port-1 :
Port status: Active
Port's Linkspeed: 6.0Gb/s
Drive has flagged a S.M.A.R.T alert : No

Why are the 2 used drives not supported??? AFAIK they're (except in finer details) are the same as the 2 existing drives that are just working fine!

 

[Terry Kennedy]

Recently added a pair of used 15k600 (Hitachi's) on a ServeRAID M5015 and I was surprised to see that the drives were identified by the Web BIOS as "unsupported". Last year I had installed 2 15k600 on that controller without issues, ad configured them as RAID1 virtual drive.

Inquiry Data: NETAPP X410_HVIPC288A15NA01LVV48VZN
Inquiry Data: NETAPP X410_HVIPC288A15NA01LVV338TN

Why are the 2 used drives not supported??? AFAIK they're (except in finer details) are the same as the 2 existing drives that are just working fine!

It looks like they're identifying themselves as NETAPP OEM drives. Some LSI OEMs either blacklist drives without that OEM's magic signature, or warn about unsupported drives. What happens can also change depending on controller revision - for example, early Dell H700 firmware blacklisted, but recent firmware warns. That could be what is happening here (if you have the original IBM firmware on the card).

Another possibility is that NETAPP has something odd with their OEM firmware which is giving the card problems.

Cross-flashing disk drives is substantially harder than cross-flashing LSI controllers - if you're within the return period, I'd suggest returning these and getting drives with either IBM or Hitachi firmware. This can be difficult on eBay, what with "picture not of actual item" or pictures that are too low-resolution to read the labels.

 

[lpallard]

Thanks Terry for your reply.

The ebay add is available at Hitachi Ultrastar 15K600 HUS156030VLS600 300 GB Internal 15000 RPM 3 5" | eBay

You are right, by doing a google search, firmware NA01 shows NETAPP drives only.. I did not notice the NETAPP tag in the megacli's output before you mentioned it but now it all makes sense..

The RAID controller is (AFAIK) running original firmware. Do you think it would be worthwhile to flash the card or the drives? I could also contact LSI to ask for compatibility. I really dont understand why flashing a Hitachi firnware onto these drives to replace the netapp FW wouldnt' work? After all, are not all of these drives physically identical except their firmware? After all the netapp FW must somehow only be a modified Hitachi FW?

Regarding returning the drives, I should have known better.. The ad did mention "No returns accepted".. The ad picture is a generic picture from Hitachi, and nowhere the ad mentioned netapp or a third vendor. The other buyers (because this seller had many of them to sell) are only private listings... Go see the ad, you cant tell its not a real Hitachi drive.

I may open a Paypal dispute if I can... Otherwise this seller will get my first VERY BAD review in 17 years of ebay experience.......

EDIT: I got some info on the RAID controller, it is NOT a M5015 but a M5016 (if that matters).

                    Versions
                ================
Product Name    : ServeRAID M5016
Serial No       : SV20718863
FW Package Build: 23.2.1-0021

                    Mfg. Data
                ================
Mfg. Date       : 02/18/12
Rework Date     : 00/00/00
Revision No     : 26A
Battery FRU     : N/A

                Image Versions in Flash:
                ================
BIOS Version       : 5.29.00_4.12.05.00_0x05090000
FW Version         : 3.150.05-1441
NVDATA Version     : 2.1108.03-0068
WebBIOS Version    : 6.1-23-e_23-Rel
Preboot CLI Version: 05.01-08:#%00001
Boot Block Version : 2.05.00.00-0004
BOOT Version       : 07.26.05.219

 

[Terry Kennedy]

The RAID controller is (AFAIK) running original firmware. Do you think it would be worthwhile to flash the card or the drives? I could also contact LSI to ask for compatibility. I really dont understand why flashing a Hitachi firnware onto these drives to replace the netapp FW wouldnt' work? After all, are not all of these drives physically identical except their firmware? After all the netapp FW must somehow only be a modified Hitachi FW?

I wouldn't flash the controller if the other drives are working properly on it. The drives still might not work with it, and then you wouldn't be able to get support or updates from IBM for the controller.

The problem with flashing drives is that there are very few updates (manufacturers seem to prefer to ship the drives and never update the firmware in them unless there is a catastrophic error) and each vendor has their own flash utility which checks to see if the drive model matches (among other things) before flashing. It isn't simply a case of "downgrade to P7 to cross-flash IT" like we have on the LSI controllers. If you can find a flash utility with the Hitachi firmware you can give it a try.

Regarding returning the drives, I should have known better.. The ad did mention "No returns accepted".. The ad picture is a generic picture from Hitachi, and nowhere the ad mentioned netapp or a third vendor. The other buyers (because this seller had many of them to sell) are only private listings... Go see the ad, you cant tell its not a real Hitachi drive.

I've been burned on this often enough (sometimes I'm looking for generic drives, other times for a specific OEM model) that I never buy from any sellers that only show a stock photo (or no photo) and will often contact the seller first to confirm. And I make sure that the seller offers returns. Even so, I've been burned more than once (sometimes with old drives with more than 50K power-on hours and loads of grown defects sold as "new", sometimes by not getting what was shown in the picture/description).

I may open a Paypal dispute if I can... Otherwise this seller will get my first VERY BAD review in 17 years of ebay experience.......

Since the item was listed on the eBay Canada web site, this may not apply, but... For purchases (at least) where the buyer and seller are both in the US and the seller does not offer returns, the eBay listing automatically adds "Returns:
Seller does not offer returns. You are covered by the eBay Money Back Guarantee if you received an item that is not as described in the listing."

Usually, contacting the seller with "I have a question about the item" (not the "not as described" option, which automatically opens an eBay case) and telling them that it was misrepresented is enough to get them to take it back. There's always the option to open an eBay case later if the seller isn't cooperative.

 

[lpallard]

I wouldn't flash the controller if the other drives are working properly on it. The drives still might not work with it, and then you wouldn't be able to get support or updates from IBM for the controller.

By flashing I meant flashing a newer FW from IBM..

I am not going to flash the card since IBM's website is in a crippled state of unbelievable proportions.... I cant even find the latest firmware for this card, their search feature is useless and they didnt even put a link to downloads and updates on the card's page..

I have contacted the seller and told them that what was shipped to me wasnt what was described on their ad. They responsed "What do you want to do?" which IMO means they were aware but ignored this.....

I asked for a refund and ship the drives back since without a netapp appliance, they're totally useless....

What a waste!

 

[Terry Kennedy]

By flashing I meant flashing a newer FW from IBM..

That's a lot safer, but less likely to fix the problem.

I am not going to flash the card since IBM's website is in a crippled state of unbelievable proportions.... I cant even find the latest firmware for this card, their search feature is useless and they didnt even put a link to downloads and updates on the card's page..

Between them selling parts of their business piecemeal to Lenovo and moving updates behind a paywall, I've not been able to find anything useful to download from them in a long time. Fortunately, the IBM products I have (LTO drives and libraries) have firmware available from Dell.

I have contacted the seller and told them that what was shipped to me wasnt what was described on their ad. They responsed "What do you want to do?" which IMO means they were aware but ignored this.....

Sometimes the sellers are just clueless, not that it is any consolation.

 

[lpallard]

I managed to find the latest FW (23.33.0-0018) from IBM for that controller using the filename of the FW (ibm_fw_sraidmr_5016-23.33.0-0018_linux_32-64.bin) and cross referenced to LSI's latest FW which is 23.33.0-0023. The only problem is that it was on a random FTP... Should I trust it?

At this point the only reason why Im "interested" in flashing this card is to fix some refresh issues for the BBU and other stats that are currently not working with megacli. According to IBM's page for 23.16-0027, this update fixes:

• Addressed data exposure issue when using CacheCade
• Fixed issue where Supercap shows 0 Capacitance
• Fixed iBBU08 and iBBU09 battery issue that caused a VD cache policy to remain in write-through mode after a manual relearn
• Fixed iBBU08 and iBBU09 battery issue that caused a VD cache policy to periodically toggle between write-back/write-through mode
• The limits for iBBU08 and iBBU09 battery charging were not updating properly in a learn cycle
• Ensures a single supercap pack is not supported on 2GB memory module.
• Resolves a firmware crash seen while doing continuous sas cable pulls.
• Ensures OpROM loads even if segment address is 0xC0000.
• Fixed an issue where the adapter is running iMR machine checking after requesting host memory.
• Fixed an issue where HII does not allow the user to make use of the remaining free capacity to configure additional VD for R50/R10.
• Fixed an issue where an HII: empty warning prompt is given when creating a CacheCade VD with forced writeback option.
• Fixed and issue where Windows cannot install without a VGA device on board.Fixed and issue in EFI WebBIOS were consistency check is still shown in progress after 1 PD is removed from a R1 array.

So I'd expect FW 23.33.0-0018 to fix these items and more.. Perhaps support these drives but like I said, Im waiting for seller to reply to my refund request so I am NOT exclusively looking to flash the card for the drive's compatibility...

Questions that are burning my lips:

• Can I brick the card? Im not talking about hardware malfunction during the FW flashing or power loss, or whatever else... Are the FW updaters looking for some compatibility before pushing the FW to the Flash chip?
• How do I flash this? Using a Windows boot USB stick? IPMI image?
• I have a Virtual Drive (2 15k600's RAIDed in RAID1). Can I lose this VD? Should I unplug the drives before flashing the controller?

 

[Rhinox]

I have been flashing my M5016 with original LSI-bios and never had any problem. I'm flashing it directly from ESXi, using StorCLI. Never lost any raid-array or anything.

BTW, LSI-support informed me StorCLI is successor of MegaCLI, and I should not use MegaCLI because it is not being developed anymore.

 

[lpallard]

Rhinox, I am running proxmox (debian linux) on this server... Of course Proxmox runs off of that virtual drive (array). Should I flash instead from a bootable drive?

Is there any ways to determine if after the flash the controller would support these Netapp drives?

 

[Rhinox]

You can flash firmware from linux. Just install StorCLI (which I recommend to install anyway). My ESXi including StorCLI is running from raid-array too, it did not prevent me from flashing controller...

Concerning those netapp-drives, I do not know if this helps, but it's worth to have the latest controller-firmware. But can not you just re-flash those netapp-drives with Hitachi firmware?

 

[lpallard]

Regarding the controller's FW, once I backup proxmox I will attempt a FW upgrade. Which FW do you actually run on your M5016?

Concerning those netapp-drives, I do not know if this helps, but it's worth to have the latest controller-firmware. But can not you just re-flash those netapp-drives with Hitachi firmware?

I thought the same, but user Terry Kennedy seemed to say that this wouldnt work well or not at all... Tomorrow I am supposed to get a reply from the ebay seller telling me if they will accept a return and a refund..

I am tempted to try the flash on the HDD's nevertheless... (demonic laught)

 

[lpallard]

Found this... scsirastools / Discussion / Help:SAS Firware Update

Under linux it seems that using something like "scsirastools" would allow to update the FW. This thread is exactly like what I want to do but I am not sure the OP successfully flashed to a Hitachi FW...

 

[lpallard]

Incredible... Hitachi's reliability is inversely proportionate to their customer support...

I cannot find a firmware download website for their drives, and I contacted their customer support 3 days ago and havent got any replies yet.

Anybody knows where to download firmwares for the Hitachi drives??? Was customer support that bad before WD bought Hitachi Storage technologies?

 

[Terry Kennedy]

Anybody knows where to download firmwares for the Hitachi drives??? Was customer support that bad before WD bought Hitachi Storage technologies?

That's generally the way things are in the disk world. Both Seagate and WD only post firmware for drive models that have some critical problem and where customers are complaining about it. I don't have any recent experience with Toshiba or Hitachi.

If you want to try Dell OEM firmware, there is a standalone version of the Dell disk firmware update utility and drive firmware available here. It is a Windows executable, but you can also just unpack it with your preferred version of unzip. You will find a bootable ISO image with the update utility, along with a directory tree containing the individual firmware files. The file you want is:

NautilusDOSA49\files\fw\sas\hitachi\viperc\E774.fwh

You will probably not be able to use the Dell firmware update utility, as it will probably check to make sure that you are on a Dell system. The drive may also reject the firmware as not being compatible with the existing firmware. Getting the firmware onto the drive is left as an exercise for the reader .

As I said, not as easy as cross-flashing LSI controllers.

 

[vanfawx]

I think the issue you're running into is the drives have been formatted for 520 byte sectors. If you can hook these drives up to a HBA you should be able to re-format them for 512 byte sectors. Check this link for some details on reformatting: PissedOffAdmins » unsupported sector size 520 OR, there's a great post on this in the SSD and HDD part of the forums: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/how-to-reformat-hdd-ssd-to-512b-sector-size.4968/

 

[lpallard]

vanfawx, I agree with you, looking at the link you posted, I can clearly see that its worth a shot, but my attemps to use "sg3-utils" from linux to change the block size behind the M5016 have not worked... sg3-utils simply wont see the drives..

Right now I have 4 of those 15k600 drives connected to this controller, 2 of them are in a RAID1 logical volume and the 2 others are standalone...

when I run "sg_scan" I get

root@proxmox:~# sg_scan -i
/dev/sg0: scsi6 channel=2 id=0 lun=0
    IBM  ServeRAID M5016  3.15 [rmb=0 cmdq=1 pqual=0 pdev=0x0]

I would understand why it cant see the 2 drives in RAID as the controller "controls" them in a logical volume, but the 2 other drives???

megacli -PDList -aALL

sees all 4 drives. I'd like to connect the drives without a controller but I cant, they're SAS.

 

[vanfawx]

You'll need a SAS HBA in order to do this. A LSI 9211, or rebadge will do.

 

[lpallard]

Damn... I have a M1015 flashed to IT mode but its being used in a FreeNAS server...

Crying now

 

[vanfawx]

Why are you crying? Shut down the FreeNAS server, borrow the HBA, install in the machine with the SAS drives you need to reformat, connect ONLY the drives you need to reformat (leave the others ejected, just to ensure you can't accidentally format them), and run the format command.

You might also want to remove the other IBM controller as well while you're doing this. Once you're done, put all the pieces back where they were, and you should be good to go. You have all the pieces you need to do this!

 

[lpallard]

OK I'll do it! will post back when done

EDIT: Haha you replied before me!