My Blog, My Precious.

Doing a routine firmware upgrade on a ProLiant BL server I came across this error using the HP Firmware CD (v9) on a USB key during the boot process.    The system would hang completely and require a reboot. 

The solution was to enable the USB controller in the ProLiant BIOS.  I have no idea why it was disabled on this particular server but once enabled the firmware update completed without any problems.

EDD stands for Enhanced Disk Drive.

If ever you find yourself in the position of having the wrong phase power on a HP c7000 BladeSystem installation don’t panic!  

We did an install where the customer was adamant they had three-phase power in the computer suite; so we order the following 507016-B21  (3 Phase BLc7000).  

On the day of the installation we find that the customer only had a single phase feed to the server rack, and it was 32 Amps instead of 16 Amps.   Since the 3 Phase BladeSystem is presented with 2xIEC309 – 5PIN 16A sockets we had no way of powering the unit up. 

Fortunately, it is quite straightforward to remove the 3-Phase power module and replace it with a single phase power module (413379-B21).  The two minute (circa £100) swap out not only changes the phase but also the presentation; in this case you are left with six c19 Sockets.  Problem solved. 

We also needed a couple of  252663-B33 power distribution units to convert the under floor 32 Amp commando sockets into a usable format.

This little reminder is on how to restrict access to particular VLANs on HP ProCurve Switches.  In our office network we have a number of VLANs (Internet, Internal, Malware, Guest, etc.).  

Within our Malware VLAN we are allowed access to the Internet only and certainly not to any other VLAN within our corporate network.   We have a HP ProCurve 5406zl switch with a relatively recent firmware loaded up on it.

Our default VLAN is 192.168.1.0;
Our Internet VLAN is 192.168.2.0 (only contains the Firewall).
Our Guest VLAN is 192.168.3.0
Our Malware VLAN is 192.168.6.0 (VLAN no. 6)

The commands you need are:

ip access-list extended Malware
deny ip any 192.168.1.0/24
deny ip any 192.168.3.0/24
permit ip any any
vlan 6
ip access-group Malware in

You can access the relevant manual page here.

Over the past weekend, I was with a customer installing a HP Modular Smart Array (MSA) 2312sa G2 SAN. This was the dual controller model, with two HP StorageWorks BL 3Gb SAS Switches installed in the c7000 HP BladeSystem.

I noticed a potential bug with the latest version of the MSA Storage Controller (SC) Firmware M110R25-01. When I actioned the firmware update through the SMU (Storage Management Utility) the first SC updated without a problem and upon completion it automatically kicked off the firmware update for the second storage controller which also went through the firmware update process.

Once completed, I restarted both management controllers and logged back in to the SMU. Within a couple of minutes it kicked off the firmware update process again… this continued again, and again, and again….. even after removing the storage controllers and re-seating them.

I connected up the console cable to the SC and noticed that running commands like show status and show controllers would result in long delays and return “Cannot obtain data lock. Will continue to wait”.

I also noticed the following errors when running the show enclosure-status command:

“Error: Communications Error with Storage Controller (-2194) – Could not read SAS info, so skipping enclosure 1. ”

and also

“Error: Unable to communicate with Storage Controller. Please retry the command.”

Meanwhile, the SMU continued in its firmware update loop so I wasn’t able to get any logs from the unit itself.  In the end, I disabled the automatic partner firmware update option from the console using the following command:

set advanced-settings partner-firmware-upgrade disabled

I also removed one of the storage controllers (top one) and restarted the MSA with only a single controller. I was able to get into the SMU and perform a full firmware update.  Once the update completed I went through some console commands with no error messages or delays – things seemed back to normal.

I then removed the second controller and re-inserted the first controller and went through exactly the same process. Interestingly enough, it told me that the firmware was already up-to-date so it appears the the problem was different firmware versions on the storage controlllers – for whatever reason, the automatic partner firmware update just didn’t work and looped itself into a frenzy.

I re-inserted the storage controllers back into their original positions and sure enough everything worked without a single delay or error.  So my advice to you is, when setting the IP addresses of the unit also disable partner firmware update and update the firmware manually.

Was recently updated to version 8.70 (22 Jan 2010).  You can download it from here.