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PS6500 replacing controllers with another module version
Hi there, We have two PS6500's with 48x 1TB disks each and 2 Module 7 controllers. We want to upgrade to Module 10 controllers as they have 10Gbit interfaces. However we are running into problems that the controller can't seem to see any disks. When doing a full 'reset' we get the message: *** ERROR *** No disks found Hope someone can help and provide us with the right steps to upgrade to 10Gbit controllers. thanks! BR Richard
dwilliam62
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February 1st, 2019 06:00
Hello Richard,
What firmware is on the controllers? Did you move the SD cards from the GbE controllers to the 10GbE?
Since it appears you don't care about the data, did you reset the array while the GbE controllers were installed or only after you put in the 10GbE controllers?
Did you try both 10GbE controllers one at a time? You could possibly have a bad CM. Or there maybe an incompatibility between the CM and the drive channel cards preventing the 10GbE CM from finding any drives.
If you put the GbE controllers back in, I presume the drives still show up?
Regards,
Don
Richard.77
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February 1st, 2019 08:00
Hi Don,
We dont care about the data indeed. we just want to upgrade to the Module 10 controllers.
When plugging in the Module 7 controllers everything seems to work just fine.
We noted a error in the terminal logging:
SAS expander firmware revision 2.c-03.1 on channel card 1 is not at the required revision level.
SAS expander firmware revision 2.c-03.1 on channel card 0 is not at the required revision level.
So further digging into this, there are two kinds of Channel Cards, White and Black.
We have the white channel cards which seem to work with the Module 7 controllers and fail on the Module 10 controllers.
Hope you have other options to get this to work
Best regards
Richard
dwilliam62
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February 1st, 2019 10:00
Hello Richard,
That's kind of what I feared. I don't believe there is any way to up rev the channel cards.
Dell didn't offer a GbE to 10GbE upgrade, so I suspect the channel cards will have to be replaced as well. You are in a bit of uncharted territory.
Are you doing this because you are moving you entire environment to 10GbE or you expect a boost in performance? The reality is that won't likely be the case. Real word IO patterns outside of Video, or huge backup solutions don't push the interface side of a controller. They push the backend drives.
Is this going to be production data?
Regards,
Don
Richard.77
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February 1st, 2019 12:00
Hi Don,
Eventually it will be productiondata.
we want to upgrade everything to fiberconnections.
This is the only storage we have thats still on copper.
Googled around and the controllerboards are quite expensive unfortunatly so guess it will stay @ module 7 controllers for now.
Best regards and good weekend!
Richard
dwilliam62
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February 1st, 2019 13:00
Hello,
You are very welcome.
Since you are planning on using it for production, you might want to see if it's still possible to get it under contract. the maximum ProSupport contract is 7 years after ship date. However, there is now a HW only support option for up to an additional 5 years after that so a total of 12 years after ship date.
Obviously more limited than a standard all-inclusive HW/SW support but as you noticed parts for the 6500's are expensive. You won't be able to use standard OEM drives either. Drives are made by the OEM specifically for EQL storage.
I hope you have a great weekend also!
Regards,
Don