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March 6th, 2026 14:13
unknown member group
Hello everyone,
I am experiencing a critical management issue with my Dell PS Series (EqualLogic) group. I have two members in the group, but I can no longer manage them properly via the Group Manager GUI.
Current Symptoms:
GUI Issue: The Group Manager (Java) opens, but under the "Members" section, it stays stuck on "Retrieving data..." indefinitely. and only show one storage.
CLI Status: When running member show via SSH on the Group IP, one storage shows a status of "unknown".
Active Load: storage2 is currently online
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
EqualLogic PS6110
EqualLogic PS6210S
0 events found
No Events found!
DELL-Chris H
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March 6th, 2026 21:15
it_support26,
The situation you are seeing is normally attributed to member‑unreachable situations, which typically arise from one of the following conditions:
A. Network configuration issues on a member
Member configuration is accessed and modified via network interfaces (eth0/eth1). If a member’s management interface is misconfigured or down, it becomes unreachable. Dell documentation shows how to inspect and modify per‑member network interfaces.
B. A controller module issue or member not fully online
The EqualLogic PS6210/PS6110 hardware manuals describe the need for operational controller modules for proper member functioning. A failed controller, rebooting controller, or partially-initialized system can result in the group not being able to retrieve state.
C. Out‑of‑date or incompatible firmware
Dell EqualLogic documentation repeatedly emphasizes firmware alignment across group members; discrepancies or outdated firmware can cause management-plane issues.
Although your search result did not include a specific firmware mismatch KB, the documentation points to firmware-level dependencies for Group Manager and CLI operation.
As far as why the GUI is only showing one of the members, is that if the group cannot retrieve inventory data for a member (status “unknown”), the Group Manager will:
So in my opinion I would start with verifying the 3 things listed above and then we can go from there.
Let me know if this helps.
it_support26
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March 10th, 2026 13:28
thank you for the feedback.
I have checked the points mentioned, but upon accessing the console via CLI, I identified specific critical hardware messages that seem to be the root cause of the 'unknown' status and the Group Manager failure:
Member 01 :Reporting "The service life of the control module battery is depleted".
Member 02 : Reporting a critical failure with the message "C2F power module is not operating"
What would be the recommended next steps in this case to restore management access?
DELL-Chris H
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March 10th, 2026 14:16
From the screenshots you shared it would appear that the controller is failed/failing, and would likely need to be replaced.
it_support26
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March 10th, 2026 15:15
Controller slot1 doesn't have a management cable connected. What would be the correct way to switch the management of controller 0 to controller 1 without impact?
What is the correct way to configure the IP address of the controllers? should I use the same IP address of different IP address for each controller?
DELL-Chris H
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March 10th, 2026 16:25
The management ports on BOTH controllers (active + secondary) must be connected and each member in the group must have its OWN management‑network IP address.
Also, if Controller 0 (slot 0) has no management cable → then NO management failover can occur.
So what you would need to do is
Plug a management cable into Controller 1’s management port.
Ensure Controller 1’s management interface is configured with a valid IP.
The group will automatically fail management over if the active controller fails. ( you can't manually fail over it does it automatcally.