Dell PERC Question (Server Down)
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Have not heard from them today, sadly.
Let me go rattle the cage...
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The cage rattling did nothing.
In other news, the RAID array crashed again this morning. Management is starting to ask questions, so I think I am just going to go back to the old DELL spinning rust drives. I don't think I have an option at this point.
This time (this is the fourth time this has happen in a month) was similar to times 1 and 2. In both those instances the entire virtual disk disappeared, as did the physical disks. If you boot into the PERC config, you will see under the FOREIGN tab that the VD and the PD are both there. "Simply" reimport the config, and you're all set.
The third time, the array was still there, it was the disk in 0:0 that was missing. So we cleared the foreign config off of that.
This fourth time, I took more notice of what happened when the array came back up. Sure enough it was 0;0 that was degraded. But, I don't know if I can trust that it might just be that drive.
Here are some pictures of the PERC screens...
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It's possible that the PERC is bad, I suppose.
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@scottalanmiller said
It's possible that the PERC is bad, I suppose.
Why would you think that as opposed to it being the disks?
Or are you just spitballing ideas?
Of course DELL would say it was the disks, but the first thing that @BradfromxByte said the first time was that it had to be the disk. It was the guys from EDGE that said no.
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@scottalanmiller said in Dell PERC Question (Server Down):
It's possible that the PERC is bad, I suppose.
BTW: this PERC did not come with the server. But it was purchased new from DELL.
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@BRRABill said in Dell PERC Question (Server Down):
@scottalanmiller said
It's possible that the PERC is bad, I suppose.
Why would you think that as opposed to it being the disks?
Or are you just spitballing ideas?
Of course DELL would say it was the disks, but the first thing that @BradfromxByte said the first time was that it had to be the disk. It was the guys from EDGE that said no.
Just saying that it is one of the potential culprits. The disks are not failing per se, they are going foreign. While it is certainly possible that the disks are at fault, doesn't it seem more likely to be the controller? What likely failure condition on a disk would result in the controller thinking that it is a foreign device?
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@scottalanmiller said
Just saying that it is one of the potential culprits. The disks are not failing per se, they are going foreign. While it is certainly possible that the disks are at fault, doesn't it seem more likely to be the controller? What likely failure condition on a disk would result in the controller thinking that it is a foreign device?
What I have heard from DELL, xByte, and here on ML is that is the firmware on the EDGE disks has some sort of issue communicating, the PERC will set it to foreign.
That's why they instantly think it is the drive.
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That's not unreasonable. Of course, if the same error happens on the PERC side, it will think that the issue is from the Edge side and behave the same way.
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@scottalanmiller said in Dell PERC Question (Server Down):
@BRRABill said in Dell PERC Question (Server Down):
@scottalanmiller said
It's possible that the PERC is bad, I suppose.
Why would you think that as opposed to it being the disks?
Or are you just spitballing ideas?
Of course DELL would say it was the disks, but the first thing that @BradfromxByte said the first time was that it had to be the disk. It was the guys from EDGE that said no.
Just saying that it is one of the potential culprits. The disks are not failing per se, they are going foreign. While it is certainly possible that the disks are at fault, doesn't it seem more likely to be the controller? What likely failure condition on a disk would result in the controller thinking that it is a foreign device?
I'm tending to agree with Scott here - it seems really odd for the controller to consider the drives and their config to be completely foreign. Of course this is the problem that we've been talking about ever since one of my first postings with Scott on SW well over 5 years ago - When you're mixing vendors, at what point will someone capitulate that it's their stuff that's broken.
Scott's been saying since that time, oh so long ago, that Dell (in this case) can't refuse to provide warranty/support on their equipment just because you're using someone else's drives. This looks like a good case of time to prove that.
Also, you could be having two problems - A drive (0:0) and the Perc controller could be bad. In this case, perhaps when the drive freaks out for a moment it's causing the Perc to freak out too.
Of course I suppose the drive could be freaking out so badly out of Dell's expectation as to cause the Perc to loose it's mind, but that seems .... you pick a word.
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Yes, Dell has a responsibility to support the PERC, but only if the PERC is at fault. That's what makes this a tough situation that we don't know where the fault lies.
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@Dashrender said
Scott's been saying since that time, oh so long ago, that Dell (in this case) can't refuse to provide warranty/support on their equipment just because you're using someone else's drives. This looks like a good case of time to prove that.
DELL has actually been great about supporting these. They never really say anything. I kind of cringe waiting for it, but they support with no issue.
Of course, when they look through the logs, they are filled with WARNINGS about non-DELL equipment. They mention that.
But they've been helpful so far.
That's another thing that is so weird. The drives are now showing up a green checks, which they are not supposed to do.
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@BRRABill said in Dell PERC Question (Server Down):
@Dashrender said
Scott's been saying since that time, oh so long ago, that Dell (in this case) can't refuse to provide warranty/support on their equipment just because you're using someone else's drives. This looks like a good case of time to prove that.
DELL has actually been great about supporting these. They never really say anything. I kind of cringe waiting for it, but they support with no issue.
Of course, when they look through the logs, they are filled with WARNINGS about non-DELL equipment. They mention that.
But they've been helpful so far.
That's another thing that is so weird. The drives are now showing up a green checks, which they are not supposed to do.
They aren't? I thought was the whole point of these Edge drives - that they are compliant and don't have issues with Dell stuff.
But what do I know?
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So what's the plan here? I see three possibilities.
- replace at least drive 0:0 with a new Edge drive
- replace the Perc
- replace SSDs with Dell drives.
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@Dashrender said
They aren't? I thought was the whole point of these Edge drives - that they are compliant and don't have issues with Dell stuff.
But what do I know?
I'm not going to speak for anyone at EDGE or xByte. But it seems like there are pockets of issues.
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@Dashrender said in Dell PERC Question (Server Down):
So what's the plan here? I see three possibilities.
- replace at least drive 0:0 with a new Edge drive
- replace the Perc
- replace SSDs with Dell drives.
I heard back from EDGE.
Basically the tech said that while he has never seen this exact issue, he has seen issues that are almost identical, and that they have a special model of the drive I have (I have the 3X) to fix these issues.
So, I am going to cross my fingers and give that a try.
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That sounds promising.
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I also want to emphasize that xByte is a great company to deal with. I would not hesitate to use them at any time.
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Basically the tech said that while he has never seen this exact issue, he has seen issues that are almost identical, and that they have a special model of the drive I have (I have the 3X) to fix these issues.
We(xByte) have not seen or tested the Edge 3X drives and before feeling comfortable with this solution we would need to fully test the drives in a variety of Dell servers and PERC controllers. In the interest of getting this fully resolved as soon as possible, we are going to replace the Edge drives with Dell branded Enterprise SSD's.
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See my post right above the one from @todd-at-xByte
What a great company. I seriously wouldn't look anywhere else for any DELL stuff you need.
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@todd-at-xByte said in Dell PERC Question (Server Down):
Basically the tech said that while he has never seen this exact issue, he has seen issues that are almost identical, and that they have a special model of the drive I have (I have the 3X) to fix these issues.
We(xByte) have not seen or tested the Edge 3X drives and before feeling comfortable with this solution we would need to fully test the drives in a variety of Dell servers and PERC controllers. In the interest of getting this fully resolved as soon as possible, we are going to replace the Edge drives with Dell branded Enterprise SSD's.
Wow - awesome.
So what are you doing for future customers who want SSDs in Dell servers? Is the only option now the Dell SSDs?
