Processing failed with SYMAPI error 2518 while doing reestablish

Perish the thought!
Stefano? wr... wron... I can't even say it!

Alas, Marco's correct though.

I found a direct hit on the KB, audience customer, but still "in progress" and thus not viewable. I'd link to it, but our customer would be left with a nothing viewable web page... Here's some sampled text from the knowledgebase entry, emc219311.

http://csgateway.emc.com/primus.asp?id=emc219311

When SRDF/TimeFinder Manager (STM) reports the error:

Processing failed with SYMAPI error 2518 (The operation cannot be performed because the number of available mset mirrors would be exceeded).
It means that the maximum number of mirror positions (4 in Symmetrix) have been exceeded. The use of mirror positions can be demonstrated by examples:

Examples of using Symmetrix device mirror positons:

Example #1:

Mirror position 1 = source disk mirror A.
Mirror position 2 = source disk mirror B
Mirror position 3 = free
Mirror position 4 = free
For this example, an unprotected BCV establish or a protected BCV establish (establish both mirrors of a 2-mir BCV) are both possible as there are 2 free mirror positions.

Example #2:

Mirror position 1 = R1 source disk mirror A.
Mirror position 2 = R1 source disk mirror B
Mirror position 3 = RDF mirror
Mirror position 4 = free
For this an unprotected BCV establish is possible, as there is 1 free mirror. A protected BCV establish (establish both mirrors of a 2-mir BCV) is not allowed as that would require 2 free mirror positions. If a protected BCV establish is requested via STM, then the error message described earlier in this solution may be expected to occur.

Example #3:

Mirror position 1 = R2 target disk mirror A.
Mirror position 2 = R2 target disk mirror B
Mirror position 3 = RDF mirror
Mirror position 4 = free
For this an unprotected BCV establish is possible, as there is 1 free mirror. A protected BCV establish (establish both mirrors of a 2-mir BCV) is not allowed as that would require 2 free mirror positions. If a protected BCV establish is requested via STM, then the error message described earlier in this solution may be expected to occur.

Example #4:

Mirror position 1 = R2 target disk mirror A.
Mirror position 2 = RDF mirror
Mirror position 3 = free
Mirror position 4 = free
For this example, an unprotected BCV establish or a protected BCV establish (establish both mirrors of a 2-mir BCV) are both possible as there are 2 free mirror positions.

Example #5:

Mirror position 1 = R2 target disk mirror A.
Mirror position 2 = R2 target disk mirror B
Mirror position 3 = RDF mirror
Mirror position 4 = HOT Spare
For this neither an unprotected BCV establish nor a protected BCV establish (establish both mirrors of a 2-mir BCV) is allowed as there are no free mirror positions available. If any BCV establish is requested via STM, then the error message described earlier in this solution may be expected to occur.

Note: With STM, when a image/path/step is selected for an establish, ALL the Symmetrix devices (meta headers and meta members) included in the image are checked for available mirror positions to match the establish request. If only one device does not have enough available free mirror positions to service the request, the whole image establish is rejected with the error message described earlier in this primus solution.

Cont'd:

Refer to the cause statement above for example of situations where the error message described in this primus solution can occur. Note that the use of solutions enabler (SE) commands as listed in this primus solution requires access to one of the following:

Solutions enabler host (Unix or Windows) directly attached with gatekeeper access to the Symmetrix in question.
Solutions enabler host SYMAPI client (Unix or Windows) access to a Solutions enabler SYMAPI server (UNIX, Windows, or iSeries AS/400) directly attached with gatekeeper access to the Symmetrix in question.
Access to the Symmetrix Service processor to run SE commands in DOS prompt (EMS authroised service personel only)

Probably the most common situations are example #5 (hot spare invoked), or examples where the customer requested a protected BCV establish but there is only one or no free mirror positions available.

There are any number of ways to check the mirror position usage for particular Symmetrix devices, for example (remember to run symcfg discover before running solutions enabler commands):

If attempting a protected BCV establish, check if the disks in the selected image/path/step all have 2 free mirror positions. To do this (for example):
Symdev show -sid <4 digit Symmetrix device number>

Look for the Mirror Set Type: [R1 Remote,Data,Data,N/A], where N/A shows that mirror is not configured. In this example, the 4th mirror position is not configured (but may be currently in use, see further down).
To check if a hot spare is invoked, use the following commands (for example):
To check if there are hot spares configured on the system

(Moderator comment - looks like it could use some finishing here)

Hope this helps!

Dave Yates
EMC TSE3
Benevolent Host S/W & Mainframe Forum Moderator
"Il Moderatore Benevolo"

This was a very important posting. It was so useful for me when I faced the similar situation. Thanks to the one who responded with EMC Primus: EMC219311.

You're most welcome.  BTW, for any future references I'm editing the posting to hyperlink EMC219311...

Best regards,

Dave Yates

EMC TSE3

Benevolent Host Systems Moderator

"Il Moderatore Benevolo"