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PS Series Storage Arrays

Release Notes

PS Series Firmware Version 5.0.2

Copyright 2010 Dell, Inc. All rights reserved.

EqualLogic is a registered trademark of Dell, Inc.

Dell is a trademark of Dell, Inc.

All trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice.

Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without written permission is strictly forbidden.

September 2010

Part Number: 110-6025-EN Rev. 4

PS Series Storage Arrays: Release Notes Version 5.0.2

Table of Contents

Welcome to PS Series Storage Arrays ....................................................................................................................... 1Mandatory Update for Versions 5.0.0 and 5.0.1 ........................................................................................................ 1What’s New in This Release (Version 5.0.2) ............................................................................................................ 1

Thin Clones ......................................................................................................................................................... 1Volume Administrator Accounts ........................................................................................................................ 1Tiered HDD/SSD Configurations with RAID-6 Accelerated ............................................................................. 2Drive Spin-Down ................................................................................................................................................ 2Lifting of Pool Membership Restrictions for PS5500, PS6500, and PS6510 Arrays ......................................... 2Increased Capacity, Replication, and Connection Limits ................................................................................... 3Group Manager GUI Improvements ................................................................................................................... 3Event Logging ..................................................................................................................................................... 4Support for vStorage APIs for Array Integration ................................................................................................ 4Formatting of E-Mail Event Notifications .......................................................................................................... 4Telnet, SSH, and FTP Security Enhancements ................................................................................................... 5RAID Reconstruction Performance Improvements ............................................................................................ 5Drive Type Recognition ...................................................................................................................................... 5

Control Module Support ............................................................................................................................................ 6Supported Configuration Limits ................................................................................................................................ 7Updating PS Series Firmware .................................................................................................................................... 8Known Issues and Considerations ............................................................................................................................. 8

Host Integration Tools ......................................................................................................................................... 8Environments with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Clusters ..................................................................... 8

Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster ......................................................................................... 8Replication .......................................................................................................................................................... 9Manual Transfer Replication ............................................................................................................................... 9IPv6 Not Supported with iSNS ......................................................................................................................... 10RAID Policy Conversions ................................................................................................................................. 10Cannot Transfer Large Files Using Secure Copy ............................................................................................. 10Group Manager GUI ......................................................................................................................................... 10Accessibility Issues ........................................................................................................................................... 12Group Manager CLI .......................................................................................................................................... 12MRTG ............................................................................................................................................................... 13PS6000 and PS4000 Hardware Maintenance Guides ....................................................................................... 13

Related Documentation and Customer Support ...................................................................................................... 13Contacting Dell ........................................................................................................................................................ 14V5.0.2 Firmware Update Addendum ....................................................................................................................... 15

About the (this Version 5.0.2) PS Series Firmware Update ............................................................................. 15Customers Affected by the Information in this Addendum .............................................................................. 15What this Firmware Update Does Differently from Previous Updates ............................................................ 15Related Information .......................................................................................................................................... 16Potential Problems Identified by the Update Procedure ................................................................................... 16Verification Checks and Operations Performed by this Procedure .................................................................. 16

Replicas Integrity Check ............................................................................................................................ 16Snapshot Integrity Check ............................................................................................................................ 17

If Your Group Passes the Checks ...................................................................................................................... 17Deferring Automated Correction ...................................................................................................................... 17Before you Run the Update Procedure .............................................................................................................. 18

iv PS Series Storage Arrays: Release Notes Version 5.0.2.

Starting the Update Procedure ........................................................................................................................... 18Running the Update Procedure (CLI) ............................................................................................................... 18Manually Correcting any Issues Identified in the Update ................................................................................. 21

Creating New Replicas ............................................................................................................................... 21Remove Potentially Unusable Snapshots ................................................................................................... 21Enabling Replication .................................................................................................................................. 21

Example of a Successful integrity Check and Update ...................................................................................... 22

PS Series Storage Arrays: Release Notes Version 5.0.2 1

Welcome to PS Series Storage Arrays

This document describes important product information and restrictions for PS Series storage arrays running PS Series Firmware Version 5.0.2. For the most recent information and Release Notes for Version 5.0.2, see the EqualLogic customer support website: http://support.dell.com/equallogic.

PS Series Firmware Version 5.0.2 includes all corrections and enhancements made in prior releases.

Mandatory Update for Versions 5.0.0 and 5.0.1

This release is a mandatory update for PS Series firmware versions 5.0.0 and 5.0.1 and a recommended upgrade for all other releases on the upgrade path to Version 5 of the firmware.

Dell recommends that you apply this update to all members in a group. The procedure performs necessary integrity checks and advises you if it detects potential problems.

For more information, see the V5.0.2 Firmware Update Addendum on page 15.

What’s New in This Release (Version 5.0.2)

This release of the EqualLogic PS Series array firmware includes several new features:

Thin Clones

Thin clones are clone volumes that share space with their parent volumes, which are referred to as template volumes. When first created, a thin clone shares the same data as its template volume. Thin clones are counted towards the total number of volumes in the group.

Volume Administrator Accounts

Beginning with version 5.0, array firmware supports the creation of volume administrator accounts. Volume administrator accounts are created by group administrators and may then be assigned a quota of storage to manage within one or more pools. They can create and manage volumes within their quota, and can perform all operations (including replication to designated partners) on volumes they own.

Volume administrators can view information only for pools and volumes to which they have access. For security purposes, the volume administrator has a limited view of group and pool configuration settings, and cannot view configuration settings tor events that might enable them to gain additional access.

The creation of volume administration accounts enables group managers to delegate the management of volumes to other administrators without exposing sensitive group security information.

http://support.dell.com/equallogic

2 PS Series Storage Arrays: Release Notes Version 5.0.2

Tiered HDD/SSD Configurations with RAID-6 Accelerated

With the V5.0 firmware, support for two new products is being introduced. The PS6000XVS and PS6010XVS offer tiered configurations in which solid-state disks (SSD) and serial-attached SCSI (SAS) drives reside in the same chassis. These products are optimized to provide SSD level performance and hard disk drive (HDD) level capacity for tiered applications.

A new RAID policy, called RAID-6 Accelerated, is available on XVS array models. RAID-6 Accelerated provides RAID 6 parity protection, while optimizing the use of solid-state drives for optimal performance.

In XVS systems, one hard disk drive is configured as a spare and provides redundancy protection in the event of either an SSD or HDD failure. In the event of an SSD failure, the RAID set is reconstructed using the HDD spare. During this time, array performance is temporarily degraded. When the failed SSD is replaced, the data is copied back to the new SSD, the HDD returns to its status as a spare, and performance returns to optimal levels.

Note: Maintaining an on-site spare for SSD drives used with XVS systems will shorten the period of performance degradation caused by using the HDD spare in the SSD RAID set.

You can configure these types of arrays using the Remote Setup Wizard included with version 3.3.2 or higher of the Host Integration Toolkit.

Drive Spin-Down

To save energy, spare drives in an array will be spun down (SAS) or put into sleep mode (SATA). The drives will be automatically spun up or awakened for internal scans and when needed to replace a failed drive in a RAID set. This feature applies only when there are no more than two spare drives in an array. After you upgrade all group members to PS Series Firmware Version 5.0, this feature will be available on the following array models: PS6000 (all suffixes), PS6500 (all suffixes), PS6010 (all suffixes), and PS6510 (all suffixes).

Lifting of Pool Membership Restrictions for PS5500, PS6500, and PS6510 Arrays

As of the PS Series Firmware Version 5.0 release, there is no more requirement that PS5500, PS6500, and PS6510 array models (4U, 48-drive chassis) must be placed in a pool which is separate from other array models. After you upgrade all group members to PS Series Firmware Version 5.0, you can move up to eight array members to any pool in the group.

Note: Volume and page metrics may appear skewed in favor of the larger arrays in a pool. Because of this, and for performance reasons, Dell does not recommend mixing different array models in the same pool in most environments.


Increased Capacity, Replication, and Connection Limits

Beginning with PS Series Firmware Version 5.0, 2TB drives are supported for PS4000 and PS6000 Series arrays.

Note: PS6500 Series arrays already supported these drives prior to this firmware release.

Performance has been improved for environments with large numbers of concurrent connections. The following new connection limits apply:

• The number of volumes that can be configured for replication has been increased from 128 to 256 for all group types except groups containing only PS4000 systems. For groups containing only PS4000 arrays, the limit remains at 32.

• Up to 1024 connections per pool are supported for all groups except groups containing only PS4000 Series arrays, providing increased scalability in virtualized environments. These connections may be distributed across a maximum of 512 volumes. Using more than 512 concurrent connections per pool requires increasing initiator timeout values to avoid initiator retries and possible loss of connectivity during failovers.

• For groups containing only PS4000 arrays, 256 connections per pool are supported.

• The supported number of SCSI-3 Persistent Reservation registrants per volume has been raised to 96 to support larger clusters.

Note: See Table 2, Supported Configuration Limits, for a complete listing of supported limits.

Group Manager GUI Improvements

The Group Manager GUI has several usability enhancements:

• The Group, Volumes, Replication, and Monitoring branches in the navigation tree can be quickly accessed with buttons at the bottom of the window.

• The display of status information for alarms and system operations has been improved.

• Context-sensitive online help has been added.

• Improvements have been made to the GUI to improve accessibility for visually-impaired users.

• The ability to pause and resume manual replication has been added to the GUI.


Event Logging

• A failed spare now generates a health condition indicating that it should be replaced.

• Opening the cover of a PS5500, PS6500 or PS6510 now generates an INFO level message in the event log instead of a WARNING message. If the cover remains open for more than 5 minutes, a CRITICAL message is issued.

• If an administrator attempts to delete a member that is offline but not vacated, a warning message is displayed requesting confirmation of the action.

Support for vStorage APIs for Array Integration

Beginning with version 5.0, the PS Series Array Firmware supports VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) for VMware vSphere 4.1 and later. The following new ESX functions are supported:

• Hardware Assisted Locking - Provides an alternative means of protecting VMFS cluster file system metadata, improving the scalability of large ESX environments sharing datastores.

• Block Zeroing - Enables storage arrays to zero out a large number of blocks, speeding provisioning of virtual machines.

• Full Copy - Enables storage arrays to make full copies of data without requiring the ESX Server to read and write the data.

VAAI provides hardware acceleration for datastores and virtual machines residing on array storage, improving performance with the following:

• Creating snapshots, backups, and clones of virtual machines

• Using Storage vMotion to move virtual machines from one datastore to another without storage I/O

• Data throughput for applications residing on virtual machines using array storage

• Simultaneously powering on many virtual machines

• Refer to the VMware documentation for more information about vStorage and VAAI features.

Formatting of E-Mail Event Notifications

When sending email to an administrator, the Group previously sent a message with the email subject in the format of: n events from group group_name, which is difficult to sort. The format of the email subject has been changed to: group_name: n events for better clarity and ease of sorting.


Telnet, SSH, and FTP Security Enhancements

The following security enhancements have been made surrounding telnet, SSH, and FTP access to the Group Manager GUI and CLI:

• Telnet, SSH Version 1.0 and FTP services are now fully shut down when disabled by an administrator using the CLI.

• A new Python module has been added to the Host Scripting Toolkit (HST) to support automated interaction with the EqualLogic CLI via scripts using SSH. This Python-based toolkit addition also supports telnet, and the existing Perl based tools continue to be supported for customers using the Perl HST modules.

RAID Reconstruction Performance Improvements

• Enhanced prioritization algorithms that improve RAID reconstruction performance under certain heavy-load conditions, previously applied to 1TB drives, are now applied to all drives.

Drive Type Recognition

Version 5.0 Firmware identifies non-Dell or EqualLogic drives in PS Series arrays and notifies the user of their presence.


Control Module Support

Table 1 describes the supported control modules and the array models that use them. The first column lists and describes control modules, the second lists the supported numbers and types of drives, and the third lists the supported array model(s).

Table 1: Control Module Support

Control Module DescriptionDrive Type and Maximum Quantity

Array Models

Type 10—Orange label, two 10GE ports that use optical or copper SFP+ modules, for iSCSI traffic, and one port labeled MANAGEMENT, restricted to management network use

Model 70-0300

48—SAS or SATA

16—SAS (black latch) or SATA (gray latch)

PS6510

PS6010

Type 9—Yellow label, three Ethernet ports, with one restricted to management network use

Model 70-0210

16—SAS (Black latch), or

16—SATA (Gray latch)

PS4000

Type 8—Purple label, three Ethernet ports, with one restricted to management network use

Model 70-0120

Type 7—Green label, four Ethernet ports

Model 70-0202

48—SAS or SATA

16—SAS (black latch) or SATA (gray latch)

PS6500

PS6000

Type 6—Gray label with brown stripe

Model 70-0111a

a. The 70-0111 model number is common to both the Type 6 and Type 4 control modules.

48—SATA PS5500Eb

b. Regulatory compliance number E02J applies to the PS5500, PS6500, and PS6510 Series. See the Safety, Environmental, and Regulatory Information document for more information.

Type 5—Olive label

Model 70-0115

16—SATA (Gray latch) PS5000Ec

c. Regulatory compliance number E01J applies to the PS3000, PS4000, PS5000, PS6000 and PS6010 Series. See the Safety, Environmental, and Regulatory Information document for more information.

Type 4—gray label

Model 70-0111c

16—SAS (Black latch) PS5000X, PS5000XV, PS3000X, PS3000XV

Type 3—Blue label

Model 70-0101

16—SAS (Black latch) PS3000X, PS3000XV

Type 2—Blue label

Model 70-0011

14—SATA PS50E to PS2400E

Type 1—Dark gray label

Model 70-0001

14—SATA PS50E to PS2400E


Supported Configuration Limits

The supported configuration limits for a PS Series group running V5.0.2 firmware are described in Table 2. The first column lists configuration attributes, the second and third columns list the supported limits for groups of groups containing only PS4000 arrays, and the third column lists supported limits for all other group types, including groups of mixed array types.

Table 2: Supported Configuration Limits

Configuration Groups of PS4000 Onlya

a. A group can contain a maximum of two (2) PS4000 arrays.

Volumes and replica sets per group 256 1024

Volume sizec

c. Practical maximum volume size is operating system-specific. A PS Series group can create and present volumes up to 15 TB.

15 TB 15 TB

Volumes enabled for replication (outbound)d

d. Up to 16 simultaneous replication operations can take place.

32 256

Snapshots and replicas per group 2048 10,000

Snapshots per volume 128 512

Replicas per volume 128 512

Schedules (snapshot or replication) per volume or volume collection

16 16

Persistent Reservation registrants per volume 96 96

Replication partners per group 16 16

Replication partners per volume 1 1

Members per group 2 16e

e. In a group of mixed array models, only two (2) can be PS4000 arrays.

Members per pool 2 8

Pools per group 2 4

Volumes per collection 8 8

Collections per group (snapshot and replication) 100 100

Volume connections (each time an iSCSI initiator connects to a volume counts as a connection) gf

f. to avoid service outages or possible loss of connectivity during failovers, Dell recommends increasing initiator timeouts for groups with more than 512 connections. See the iSCSI Initiator and Operating Systems Considerations document for more information.

g. Inbound replication connections count towards the total number of connections.

256 per pool

512 per group with 2 pools1024 per poolh

h. Up to 1024 connections per pool are supported for all groups except groups containing only PS4000 arrays. This provides increased scalability in virtualized environments. These connections may be distributed across a maximum of 512 volumes.

4096 per group with 4 pools

Access control records per volume and its snapshots 16 16

Simultaneous management sessions (any combination of GUI, telnet, or scripting sessions)

7 7

Thin-provisioning limits (minimum allocation) 10% of volume size 10% of volume size

All Other Groupsb

b. Includes groups of mixed array types and all other group types except groups containing only PS4000 arrays. When a group contains a mix of PS4000 arrays and other array models, the higher limits prevail.


Updating PS Series Firmware

All group members must be running the current firmware version for the latest features and fixes to known issues to take effect. Refer to the Updating Storage Array Firmware document for prerequisites, instructions, limitations, and supported upgrade paths for updating array firmware.

WARNING: If you are upgrading from version 5.0.0 or version 5.0.1 to any subsequent version, you must follow the instructions listed under V5.0.2 Firmware Update Addendum on page 15.

Known Issues and Considerations

The following restrictions and known issues apply to PS Series Firmware Version 5.0.2. For information about known issues and restrictions from previous releases, see the customer support website. For issues and limitations pertaining to host operating systems and iSCSI initiators, refer to the iSCSI Initiator and Operating System Considerations document.

Host Integration Tools

The EqualLogic customer support website (support.dell.com/equallogic) lists the versions of Host Integration Tools and SAN HeadQuarters that are recommended for each firmware release.

Note: The minimum supported host software versions may not be able to take full advantage of each firmware release’s features.

Environments with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Clusters

If your environment contains Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 clusters, apply the hotfix specified in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 978562 to each cluster node before upgrading group members. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978562 for more information.

Windows Server 2008 R2-based failover cluster

For customers who are using Host Integration Tools with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2-based Failover clustering and are planning to upgrade their PS Series Array firmware to V5.0.2 or higher, it is recommended that they upgrade the HIT kit on ALL their cluster nodes to HIT V3.4.2 or higher, before upgrading the firmware.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978562

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978562



Replication

Replication is Supported Only Between Certain Firmware Versions. Table 3 shows whether replication is supported between any two partners running different firmware versions (If you are running firmware earlier than V3.0, contact your support provider). The first column lists firmware versions on the primary group, and the second column lists the supported firmware versions for the replication partners.

Table 3: Replication Support - Partner Firmware Matrix

Firmware on Group Firmware on Partner

V5.0.*a

a. Template volumes and thin clones can only be replicated between partners running version 5.0 firmware.

V4.2.*, V4.3.*, V5.0.*

V4.2.*, V4.3.* V4.1.*, V4.2.*, V4.3.*, V5.0.*V4.1.* V4.0.*, V4.1.*, V4.2*, 4.3*V4.0.* V3.2.*, V3.3.*, V4.0.*, V4.1.*, V4.2*V3.2.*, V3.3.* V3.0.*, V3.1.*, V3.2.*, V3.3.*, V4.0.*V3.0.*, V3.1.* V3.0.*, V3.1.*, V3.2.*, V3.3.*

Note: Versions 5.0.0 and 5.0.1 do not support replication until you update to version 5.0.2). See the V5.0.2 Firmware Update Addendum on page 15.

Cannot Replicate a Resized Thin Clone. If you create a thin clone and then immediately resize it, you cannot replicate that thin clone. You must transfer the data to a new thin clone and then start replication.

Permanent Promotions of Inbound Template Replicas to Templates Must Be Performed using CLI. Permanently promoting an inbound template replica to a template volume fails when performed through the Group Manager GUI. As a workaround, permanently promote inbound template replicas to template volumes using the partner select inbound-replicaset select promote command in the CLI.

Number of Replicas Exceeding Max-Keep Limit. In some cases, the system does not observe the Maximum Number of Replicas to Keep (max-keep) setting of a volume’s replication schedule, resulting in excess replicas. This can lead to the Replica Reserve for the volume being used more quickly than expected.

Manual Transfer Replication

The Manual Transfer Utility is now available as a downloadable kit from the customer support website at http://support.dell.com/equallogic. The latest version, V1.1.2, is compatible with all versions of PS Series firmware that support manual transfer replication. It also has its own documentation, provided in the kit.

The following known issues apply when working with the Manual Transfer Utility:

Uninstall earlier versions before upgrading. When running the Manual Transfer Utility on 64-bit Windows 7 and Windows 2008 installations, run version 1.1.2 or later. Uninstall earlier versions of the Manual Transfer Utility prior to installing a supported version.

Manual transfers of zero bytes appear incomplete. If you attempt a manual transfer replication of zero bytes, such as with a template volume, the transfer may display an incomplete status after it has completed. The incorrect status corrects itself after approximately 60 minutes. This issue will be addressed in a future release.




Intermittent failures when replicating failback volumes back to primary groups. Occasionally, the Manual Transfer Utility will fail to replicate a recovery volume back to the primary group. If you cancel the operation though the GUI or CLI, the replication will behave as expected after one or more retries.

IPv6 Not Supported with iSNS

IPv6 is not supported with iSNS implementations.

RAID Policy Conversions

After you convert the member from one RAID policy to another (and restart the member), the member might report a different amount of usable capacity than if you had initially configured the member with that RAID policy. This issue applies to arrays running PS Series Firmware Versions 4.1 and higher.

Cannot Transfer Large Files Using Secure Copy

You cannot use the Secure Copy (SCP) protocol (used with the UNIX scp command or scp feature in applications such as PuTTY) to transfer files larger than several MB to an array. This limitation does not apply when copying files from an array.

Note: This restriction will be removed in a future release. As an interim workaround, using FTP to transfer large files to arrays is suggested.

Group Manager GUI

Browser Requirements. Browser requirements for the Group Manager GUI are as follows:

• The GUI requires at least 1000 x 575 screen resolution for optimum layout of controls and other user interface components. This requirement is usually met when the GUI is run in a maximized browser window on the XGA (1024 x 768) resolution screen.

• If support for Java is not included with your operating system, you must install it from the Host Integration Kit, or download and install Java support from http://www.java.com to use the GUI.

• The GUI supports the following browser and Java Run-Time Environment combinations:

– Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, with Sun Microsystems Java™ 1.5 or higher.

– Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or higher, with Java 1.6 or higher.

• In Mozilla Firefox browsers running the Adblock Plus add-on, the browser window containing the GUI will refresh when the mouse cursor moves over the window. To prevent this from occurring, disable the "Show tabs on Flash and Java" option in the Adblock Plus Preferences menu and restart Firefox.



• You must have JavaScript™ enabled to ensure that applets resize correctly.

• You must enable the Java temporary internet cache, otherwise the GUI installation fails.

• If you are running Windows 2003, the default security level for the Internet zone is High, which prevents most Java applications from running and results in the following message: Your current security settings prohibit running ActiveX control on this page. As a result, the page may not display correctly. To use the GUI, you must add the group IP address to the list of trusted sites.

• In addition to ports 3002 and 3003, the GUI uses the standard HTTP port (8). The GUI does not use HTTPS. However, if at login you select the checkbox Encrypt communication, all data moving between the browser and the array is SSL-encrypted.

• If you are running a 64-bit browser, you must use a 64-bit Java installation to access the Group Manager GUI.

Tabbed Web Browsers. You can use Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 or later to run multiple instances of the Group Manager GUI in separate tabs. When running the GUI in tabbed browsers, Dell recommends that you launch GUI instances one at a time to avoid scenarios in which multiple login dialog boxes appear. Otherwise, the Java Virtual Machine may become unresponsive and the browser application must be restarted.

Note: Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome use the same Java session for all tabs. For these browsers, you may only have one GUI instance open at a time.

Desktop icon for Group Manager GUI may render incorrectly. The desktop icon for launching the Group Manager GUI as a standalone application may render incorrectly on systems running Java Web Start for Java SE 6 Update 18 and later.

Note: This is a known issue with Java Web Start. For more information, visit: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6926204

GUI display errors during long sessions. If a user has been logged into the Group Manager GUI for an extended period of time, such as more than 48 hours, elements in the GUI may not display properly and may display Java error messages. To resolve this, log out of the GUI and log back in again.

Note: This is a known issue with Java. For more information, visit: http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6887286

Delete Snapshot dialog box sorts snapshots incorrectly. The Delete Snapshot dialog box lists volume snapshots in ascending numerical order rather than in chronological order. For example, a snapshot of a volume taken at 8:00 PM will be listed before a snapshot taken at 9:00 AM.

Thin-provisioned volumes stuck in offline state. In some cases, a volume with an offline-max-grow-met status does not come back online after its maximum in-use space threshold has been set to a larger value. As a workaround, set the group-wide maximum in-use space threshold to 35% or greater, and the volume will come back online.

Note: You can perform this task from the Defaults tab of the Group Configuration pane in the GUI. You can also use the grpparams def-thin-growth-max command in the CLI.

http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6926204

http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6887286


Accessibility Issues

Display Issues with Java Access Bridge. When the Java Access Bridge is installed and used on a system accessing the Group Manager GUI, text and icons may display incorrectly when using the Tab key to navigate through the GUI. The issues are corrected the next time the GUI refreshes.

Note: This issue only occurs when the Java Access Bridge is being used. On systems where it is installed but not used, this issue does not appear.

64-bit operating systems cannot use JAWS with Java Access Bridge to access Group Manager GUI. The 64-bit version of the JAWS screen reader is not compatible with the 32-bit version of the Java Access Bridge. At the present time, there is no 64-bit version of the Java Access Bridge. Consequently, visually-impaired users running 64-bit operating systems cannot use JAWS with the Java Access Bridge to access the Group Manager GUI. As a workaround, Dell recommends using an alternate screen reader, such as NVDA, that is compatible with the 32-bit version of the Java Access Bridge.

Note: You can download NVDA from http://www.nvda-project.org

Browser may focus on incorrect location when running Group Manager GUI in browser. In the Group Manager GUI, the keyboard focus in the browser window may shift to an unexpected location when completing tasks in wizards or dialog boxes. In Internet Explorer, the focus may shift to the Logout link or to another unexpected location in the window. In Mozilla Firefox, the focus may shift away from the GUI altogether.

Tables containing navigation trees cause problems for screen readers. Screen readers have difficulty with tables containing tree-based navigation: when examining the content of a nested row, the screen reader does not read the higher-level item to which the row belongs.

Group Manager CLI

Logging in to a Group through Telnet. Windows telnet may not be configured to correctly handle the carriage return key. By default, telnet is set to return both a carriage return and a line feed. If this is the case, the most common indication is not being able to log in or enter parameters due to an unexpected line feed occurring.

To correct this, use the telnet escape sequence (Ctrl-]) to return to the telnet prompt, and run unset crlf in the Windows telnet client. When you press Enter, you return to the PS Series Group Manager session and the carriage return key will work properly. You might have to log in again.

Inconsistent Display of Empty Volume Collections. Normally, when you delete the individual volumes that belong to a volume collection, the collection is also automatically deleted. However in some cases, the collection can still appear in the CLI output from the collections show command, but no collections will appear in the GUI. To fix the problem, identify and delete the empty collection using the following CLI commands: > collection show > collection delete collection_name

Delay Before Running Setup. When you restart or power on a member, you must wait 3 minutes before running setup.

http://www.nvda-project.org


MRTG

Support for MRTG (Multi-Router Traffic Grapher) has been deprecated as of PS Series Firmware Version 4.1 and replaced with SAN HeadQuarters. See the Downloads page on the EqualLogic support website located at http://support.dell.com/equallogic for more information.

PS6000 and PS4000 Hardware Maintenance Guides

In previously-published versions of the following documents, the disk error LED color is incorrectly listed as red. It should say orange.

• PS4000 Hardware Maintenance Guide, page 2-4, callout 4 in Table 2-1.

• PS6000 Hardware Maintenance Guide, page 2-3, callout 4 in Table 2-1.

Related Documentation and Customer Support

PS Series storage array documentation includes the following:

• Release Notes. This document. Provides the latest information about PS Series arrays.

• iSCSI Initiator and Operating System Considerations. Provides recommendations for connecting iSCSI initiators and host operating systems to PS Series arrays.

• Installation and Setup Guide. Replaces the QuickStart guide. Describes how to set up the hardware and start using PS Series arrays.

• Group Administration. Describes how to use the Group Manager GUI to manage a PS Series group. This manual provides comprehensive information about concepts and procedures.

• CLI Reference. Describes how to use the Group Manager command line interface to manage a group and individual arrays.

• Hardware Maintenance. Provides information on maintaining the storage array hardware.

If you have a valid service contract or an array that is still under the first year of warranty, you can download documentation and firmware, search the Solutions database, and view FAQs and Technical Reports. You can also submit a support request (Log a Case) from the website.

To access the customer support website:

• Open a browser and go to http://support.dell.com/equallogic, click Login and log in to a support account.

• If you do not have an account, create one by clicking Request a Customer Account under the login prompt.





Contacting Dell

For customers in the United States, call 800-945-DELL (800-945-3355).

Note: If you do not have an active Internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell product catalog.

Dell provides several online and telephone-based support and service options. Availability varies by country and product, and some services may not be available in your area. To contact Dell for sales, technical support, or customer service issues:

1. Visit support.dell.com.

2. Verify your country or region in the Choose A Country/Region drop-down menu.

3. Click Contact Us.

4. Select the appropriate service or support link based on your need.

5. Choose the method of contacting Dell that is convenient for you.


V5.0.2 Firmware Update Addendum

This addendum describes features in the update procedure that you will see only if you update a PS Series group member (array) from version 5.0.0 or version 5.0.1 to any subsequent version.

WARNING: When performing this process, only update the firmware of one group member at a time.

About the (this Version 5.0.2) PS Series Firmware Update

This addendum describes certain array (member) status checks performed only when you update your system from PS Series firmware version 5.0.0 or 5.0.1.

Customers Affected by the Information in this Addendum

Through customer reports, Dell EqualLogic™ became aware of specific problems that might occur only when using versions 5.0.0 or 5.0.1, including factory-installed firmware.

All Dell customers who downloaded and installed these releases (or received a factory-installed array) were previously advised of potential issues. In addition to being specific to version 5.0.0 and 5.0.1, these issues are specific to certain SAN configurations and might also depend on specific PS Series firmware operations.

Consequently, only a small number of configurations are at risk.

What this Firmware Update Does Differently from Previous Updates

This addendum describes a modified firmware update procedure that performs integrity tests on your PS Series group before updating its firmware from version 5.0.0 and 5.0.1. These integrity checks will discover whether your SAN is at risk from potential data loss or inability to recover data from existing replicas and snapshots.

If your SAN is not at risk, the procedure defaults to a standard firmware upgrade, and you need take no further action.

If the procedure finds your SAN to be at risk, it provides you with options to resolve problems automatically. Alternatively, you can defer problem resolution to a later time. If needed, you can also call your technical support organization for assistance in manually resolving issues.


Related Information

Read the following before you perform the update:

• Any related customer communications from Dell or your technical support organization, particularly if you acquired your PS Series array as part of a solution from a third party vendor.

• The Release Notes for PS Series firmware version 5.0.2.

• Updating PS Series Storage Array Firmware, available from the Dell EqualLogic customer support Web site.

• The Hardware Maintenance manual shipped with your array, if you need more information about telnet serial connections

Potential Problems Identified by the Update Procedure

This version of the update procedure performs the following integrity checks:

• Silently failed replication - Replication to secondary site volumes is incomplete, making the current replicas unusable for recovery operations.

• Defective snapshots - Some snapshots might be missing data, making them unusable for recovery operations.

Dell has previously advised all potentially affected customers in a Customer Letter describing these problems.

Verification Checks and Operations Performed by this Procedure

This update procedure verifies whether the array is running PS Series firmware version 5.0.0 or version 5.0.1. Depending on the result, it either defaults to a standard firmware update or performs the following four version-specific integrity checks in CLI update mode:

Replicas Integrity Check

The procedure warns you if it detects a condition that can cause current replicas to be incomplete. Incomplete replicas are potentially unusable for recovery operations.

This check determines the member and pool status of the group. If the group contains either a single member, or multiple members with each member in its own pool the array is not at risk.


Other group configurations (multiple members per pool) might be at risk. However, providing that your array complies with all four of the following conditions, volume replicas will be complete and usable. These conditions apply only to the time after which you updated you group to version 5.0.0 or version 5.0.1:

• You did not move any volumes between pools.

• You did not move any group members between pools.

• You did not add any new members to the group.

• You did not remove any members from the group.

If you are uncertain that all of these conditions apply, the update procedure prompts you to disable and then enable replication. All data on each replicated volume is copied during the next scheduled replication, which can take considerable time to complete. Consider modifying your replication schedule accordingly.

If you choose to defer disabling replication, you must confirm by typing DoNotCorrectProblem. This confirmation is designed to reinforce the fact that you must resolve the problem at a later time.

Until you resolve the problem by restarting replication and creating complete new replicas, you cannot depend on your replicated data for any recovery operations and you must recover from long term backup.

Snapshot Integrity Check

The update procedure warns you if it detects potential problems with any snapshots. It lists the affected snapshots. You cannot bring these snapshots online without manual intervention, which requires a call to your technical support provider. Even if brought online, data is missing from these snapshots and they might not be usable for recovery operations.

The update procedure prompts you to delete the snapshots or defer deletion to a later time.

If Your Group Passes the Checks

If your group passes all the integrity checks, the update procedure displays the message:

No special actions required for this array

It then defaults to the standard firmware update procedure. See Example of a Successful integrity Check and Update on page 22.

Deferring Automated Correction

If your group fails any of the integrity checks and you choose not to allow automatic corrective action, you must manually correct the problems identified at a later date. See Manually Correcting any Issues Identified in the Update on page 21

If you need further assistance with manual recovery operations, contact your technical support services.

If the procedure identifies replicas or snapshots that have integrity problems, you cannot use these objects for recovery operations. In addition, you will not have any usable replica sets until you restart replication, causing the creation of new, complete copies of each replicated volume.


Before you Run the Update Procedure

As for all firmware updates, Dell recommends that you first backup your active volumes to long-term media.

Start the update using the CLI or the GUI as described in Updating PS Series Storage Array Firmware (available from the Dell EqualLogic customer support Web site).

After the procedure performs some initial tests on your group, it might branch to a configuration-specific routine that is available only in CLI mode. Ensure that you can connect to the array using a telnet serial connection as described in the Hardware Maintenance manual shipped with your array.

Starting the Update Procedure

You can start the update procedure from the graphical user interface (GUI) or the command-line interface (CLI).

If you begin using the GUI and the procedure detects potential problems, the following message appears:

Manual intervention required. Please run update from the CLI.

Otherwise, if the group passes all the integrity checks the GUI update proceeds as usual.

Running the Update Procedure (CLI)

If the update procedure finds potential problems with your PS Series group, it proceeds as described in the following step-by-step. Otherwise the procedure runs normally, as described in Updating PS Series Storage Array Firmware (available from the Dell EqualLogic customer support Web site). See Example of a Successful integrity Check and Update on page 22.

The following procedure assumes:

• A dual-controller group member.

• The current firmware version is 5.0.1

Step 1. Download the software kit from the Dell Equallogic Web Site and start the GUI or CLI as usual. The Kit is unpacked and verified:

Unpacking kit file and verifying integrity. Kit file verification complete, no problems. Active and secondary controllers detected.

Step 2: The procedure detects that firmware version 5.0.0 or 5.0.1 is installed.

This member is running V5.0.1. The update procedure verifies the state of the member before proceeding with the normal update procedure. Depending upon the findings, you might be prompted to allow the update procedure to perform certain operations on the group. See the V5.0.2 Release Notes Addendum for detailed information.

Step 3: The procedure might detect replication problems and reports them as follows:


WARNING! The update procedure has detected a condition that might cause current replicas to be incomplete and potentially unusable for recovery operations.

Step 4: Some configurations are immune to the replication problem. However, you must know the state of your group. If you can confirm the following conditions, your replicas are unaffected:

This group contains either a single member, or multiple members with each member in its own pool. If ALL four following conditions are true, the replicas will be complete and usable:

Since the update to V5.0.0 or V5.0.1:

o No volumes have been moved between pools. o No member arrays were moved between pools. o No member arrays were added to the group. o No member arrays were removed from the group.

If you are not certain that all of these conditions apply, you respond 'yes' to the next prompt and allow the update procedure to disable replication on your volumes.

The procedure resumes at Step 6.

Step 5: Otherwise, if your group is susceptible to the replication problem, you will see the following message:

The replicas for volumes on this group might not be complete and usable for recovery. This update process cannot determine which (if any) of the volumes are affected.

Step 6: The procedure warns you that there is a problem and prompts you to confirm that you want to correct the replication problems. You must type DoNotCorrectProblem if you want to defer the operation.

You can only defer this operation to a later time. You might want to do this so that you can better manage the initial full transfer of each volume’s data. However, you must correct the problem as described in Manually Correcting any Issues Identified in the Update on page 21:

If there is a problem with the replicas, this update procedure corrects it by disabling and then enabling replication on all volumes. All data on each replicated volume is copied on the next scheduled replication. Depending on the amount of data being replicated, and the bandwidth of the link, replication may take a considerable amount of time to complete. Consider modifying your replication schedule or using the manual replication feature. If you respond 'yes' to the next prompt, the update process disables replication before updating the group. Replication will be enabled automatically approximately five minutes after the entire group is updated to this new firmware release. If you have worked with Dell support previously to correct replication operations on V5 firmware, you may not need to correct the problem again. Do you want the update program to disable and re-enable replication on your replicated volumes? (y/DoNotCorrectProblem) [y]: y

WARNING: If you allow the update procedure to disable replication, do not enable or resume replication for any volumes until the entire group has been updated to v5.0.2 of the firmware.

Step 7: The procedure checks the integrity of the snapshots, displaying the following message:


Checking snapshots. This could take several minutes if there are a large number of snapshots.

The procedure might detect potential snapshot problems, and list the problem snapshots:

WARNING! This update procedure has detected problems with the following snapshot(s):

VMFS-4-2010-08-17-15:45:09.956 VMFS-4-2010-08-17-15:45:14.957

You cannot bring these snapshots online without manual intervention, which requires a call to your technical support provider. Even if brought online, data may be missing from these snapshots and they might not be usable for recovery operations. The update process can remove these snapshots now or you can delete them at any time in the future.

Step 8: Enter Y to confirm deletion of the snapshots. You can defer this operation, but you must correct it later, as described in Manually Correcting any Issues Identified in the Update on page 21:

Do you want to delete these snapshots now (y/n) [n]: y

Deleting snapshot VMFS-4-2010-08-17-15:45:09.956 Deleting snapshot VMFS-4-2010-08-17-15:45:14.957

Step 9: The update procedure will send a notification to your support provider or you can forward the notification manually:

When the update procedure completes, the update procedure will automatically send e-mail to your PS Series support provider and to the e-mail address you have configured for your support contact: [email protected] E-mail notification requires connectivity from the array to the Internet through the SMTP server at address 172.16.1.31. If the SMTP server is not available or does not have access to the Internet, you can forward the message from the support contact email address to [email protected].

Step 10: At this point, the integrity checks are complete and you are prompted to install the V5.0.2 firmware version:

Currently running version is: Storage Array Firmware V5.0.1 (R130363) You will be updating to version: Storage Array Firmware V5.0.2 (R134338) The firmware update will not take effect until you restart the array. Do you want to proceed (y/n) [n]: y

Step 11: The procedure updates the active and secondary controllers in turn:

Preparing to update active controller. This will take several minutes. Update of flash memory on active controller completed. Preparing to update secondary controller. Updating flash memory on secondary controller.

This will take several minutes.

Setting up for Email notification of update once new firmware has been loaded


Update completed successfully.

Step 12: You are prompted to manually restart the array from the CLI:

The firmware update will take effect when the array is restarted. To restart the array, enter the restart command at the CLI prompt.

The update procedure is compete when you have manually restarted the array. If you deferred any corrective actions, make sure you complete them as described in Appendix 3, Manually Correcting any Issues Identified in the Update.

Manually Correcting any Issues Identified in the Update

Depending on the options you chose during the update procedure, you might need to perform the following corrective actions. You can discuss these options with your technical support resources.

Creating New Replicas

You must disable and re-enable replication to manually recreate all volume replicas. All volumes are fully replicated at the next scheduled replication event. Consider modifying you replication schedule to avoid times of peak application data I/O, SAN workload, and network workload.

Consider using the Manual Transfer Utility (See the PS Series Group Administration Guide) to manually transfer data on high-volume portable media. Performing a manual transfer can greatly reduce the time required for a full transfer and eliminates the transfer workload from your network.

Remove Potentially Unusable Snapshots

If you did not allow the firmware update procedure to delete potentially unusable snapshots, you must remove them at a later time. There is no simple method to determine whether the snapshots are complete and usable, and the safest course of action is to destroy and recreate the snapshots.

The following command displays the list of potentially unusable snapshots. You can again opt to delete automatically or do it manually by recording (or by cutting/pasting) the snapshot identifiers:

support exec /sbin/update.sh “V500SNAP”

Note: Snapshots with timestamps more recent than those listed in the command output are usable for recovery operations.

Depending on your snapshot keep requirements, you might need manually create new snapshots or modify your snapshot schedules to take snapshots at appropriate times.

Enabling Replication

If the update process disables replication for any volumes, it will normally resume replication for those volumes 5 to 10 minutes after the last member of the group has been updated to v5.0.2 of the firmware.

WARNING: Contact your support provider for assistance if the update process fails to resume replication for volumes in the group.


Example of a Successful integrity Check and Update

The following procedure is an example of the normal update procedure. You will see this version if your PS Series group passes the integrity checks.

VB67> update

08:35:38 Updating from kit file "kit_V5.0.2-R134338_3345387851.tgz" This command will update the firmware on the array's flash card memory using the update kit file that was copied to the array.

If you choose to proceed, you will be shown the current firmware version and the version to which you will update. You will then be given the choice to proceed again. Do you want to proceed (y/n) [y]: y

Unpacking kit file and verifying integrity. Kit file verification complete, no problems. Active and secondary controllers detected.

This member is running V5.0.1. The update procedure verifies the state of the member before proceeding with the normal update procedure. Depending upon the findings, you might be prompted to allow the update procedure to perform certain operations on the group.

See the V5.0.2 Release Notes Addendum for detailed information. No special actions required for this member. When the update procedure completes, the update procedure will automatically send e-mail to your PS Series support provider and to the e-mail address you have configured for your support contact: [email protected] 08:35:56 E-mail notification requires connectivity from the array to the

Internet through the SMTP server at address 172.16.1.31. If the SMTP server is not available or does not have access to the Internet, you can forward the message from the support contact

email address to [email protected]. Currently running version is: Storage Array Firmware V5.0.1 (R130363) You will be updating to version: Storage Array Firmware V5.0.2 (R134338)

The firmware update will not take effect until you restart the array.

Do you want to proceed (y/n) [n]: y

Preparing to update active controller. This will take several minutes. Update of flash memory on active controller completed. Preparing to update secondary controller. Updating flash memory on secondary controller. This will take several minutes. Update completed successfully. The firmware update will take effect when the array is restarted. To restart the array, enter the restart command at the CLI prompt.

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