MD3000 SMcli errors

The "host" parameter has to be specified when creating a host port so that the array knows what host container to put it in.

I have an alternate suggestion that greatly simplifies creating hosts and which will generally work on any configuration as host port identifiers (WWIDs), which are unique, do not have to be specified.

accept storageArray pendingTopology allHosts

This command will automatically create all of the hosts along with the associated WWIDs of each host. The only requirements are that the proper powering sequence of storage array first followed by the attached servers is followed as well as no existing host configuration (the latter is a general rule but doesn't always apply).

What happens is that on startup or restart the SMagent will push it's information to the array and the array holds it in a "pending" area until it's accepted. This SMcli command is the analogous to the GUI Configure Host Access (Automatic) operation.

The "host" parameter has to be specified when creating a host port so that the array knows what host container to put it in.

Right, I create the host, then the create hostPorts command specifies the host.  If you remove that parameter, it fails with a different error message.

However!  Your suggestion works perfectly, than you SO much.

I'd still love to know what's causing that error, but it's much less urgent now, thanks again.

Ok, let's dig into this. 

In your original post you seem to have indicated that you created the configuration through the GUI, saved the configuration into a script file (e.g. save storageArray configuration) and then played back that script file, encountering the same error.

Is this correct?

Incidentally, the method you described earlier worked perfectly the first time I tried it, and then later while making sure the process was repeatable, I cleared the storage array config, re-kickstarted the management host, ran through the process again, and it didn't work.  Told me there were no pending host topology changes to apply.  I think that's related to the array being managed via out of band management rather than the in band manager, so there's no host topology being pushed from the agent, but I'm really not sure.

Yes, that's correct.  I created a configuration via the GUI identical to the one I've been trying to create via SMcli, saved the configuration out, cleared the configuration, then played back the saved config and got the same error.

I've, frankly, tried about every combination I can think of to expose the difference between how it's behaving in the GUI and how it's behaving in the CLI and haven't been able to find anything yet.

Right.  I'm in the process of rekicking the host and trying it again, but the information didn't appear to be pushed from SMagent when I tried it yesterday.  Like I said, the error I got said there were no pending topology changes to be accepted.  We'll see how it flies this time through.

>  I cleared the storage array config, re-kickstarted the management host, ran through the process again, and it didn't work.

The process I described is independent of how the storage array is being managed.

Going back to the process, "What happens is that on startup or restart the SMagent will push it's information to the array and the array holds it in a "pending" area until it's accepted.". 

To clarify, the SMagent is on the host server, so to reproduce this process needs to be re-kicksarted. This typically is only applicable during initial deployment and following the recommended power-on process will.

> I've, frankly, tried about every combination I can think of to expose the difference between how it's behaving in the GUI and how it's behaving in the CLI and haven't been able to find anything yet.

Dave - I've sent you a request. Please review.

Hi, did you get to the bottom of this? I am getting exactly the same problem when trying to reply configuration file.

Yeah, it sounds like either SMAgent isn't starting properly or if it's starting, it's not able to talk to the array.  I've found that the installation process is pretty sensitive so you want to make sure that the SAS 5/e driver and the linux multi-path driver are being properly compiled and installed, it has to do both steps and if one of them fails with an error it isn't obvious that it's failed.  I also had to symlink /usr/src/kernels/ / to /lib/modules/ /build to get the driver modules to compile properly, so you may want to look into whether you need to do that.

There's a command to query SMAgent for devices it knows about, though I don't remember the syntax offhand.

The problem with creating the hostPort is actually a bug in SMcli, the Dell engineering team is aware of it, I imagine it'll be fixed in a later release.

This actually turned out to be a multi-part problem.  Which part are you seeing problems with?  Getting the host topology pushed from SMAgent or trying to explicitly set the host topology?

I think in both parts. When I  execute configuration file, it stops with error code 12 at the line which creates host port

create hostPort host="oss07" userLabel="oss070" identifier="50024e815b346f00" interfaceType=SAS;

So i tried suggestion from this forum to use this command

accept storageArray pendingTopology allHosts

but it just told me there were no pending host topology changes to apply.

When using SMclient (StorageManager) I can configure host access only manually. The automatic host access configuration doesn't detect any hosts, so it could be a problem with pushing host topology from  SMAgent.

Do you have any suggestions how to overcome this problems?

I didn't notice any problems when I built  the driver and installed SM software.
I can actually use StorageManager in-bound communication (communicating with an array over SAS cable) to access the array.
Is there maybe a good method I could use to check if SMagent can communicate with the array?

Good. Is there a host currently configured on MD3000? 

Can you post the host topology section of the storage array profile?