Dell VRTX with MD1220 cannot import foreign RAID configuration

Hello,

You may try a power drain:

Shut down the VRTX chassis, shut down storage.

Remove all power from both for 1 minute. Reconnect power.

Power up storage then power up the chassis and see if you can import the foreign.

If that doesn't help then check if you have pinned cache and clear it.

User guide Page 209

Troubleshooting Controller > Discard Pinned Cache

NOTE: If there is pinned cache, the option to clear it is present. If there is no pinned cache, this option is not displayed.

https://dell.to/42eOmbt

Hi Charles

I tried the power drain as described but still get the same error: Operation Not Successful: Error=257

Also the option to clear the pinned cache is not there, so there isn't any.

Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated, unfortunately the issue still persists.

Hello,

It may be you need to clear the foreign.

I'll have to do some more research.

@DELL-Charles R​ OK, thanks. I'll wait for you before doing anything.

Hello,

Could you check your Direct Messages on the top right corner of the forum page to check a message I sent you.

@DELL-Charles R​ Thank you for your quick reply, I have uploaded the files as per your request and look forward to hearing back.

Thank you. I see the logs. I will collect and review as soon as I can.

Have you tried this:

Shut down, remove drives on this controller, power up confirm no configuration is present shutdown

Reseat drives, power up see if array imports automatically or do import foreign

@DELL-Charles R​ I haven't tried that, I'm just concerned I the RAID configuration will be lost if I do that as it will be cleared from MD1220 enclosure. Is the configuration stored on the MD1200 or on the disks? Also as the state is showing as both failed and online I'm unsure where the online configuration is stored, ie on the disks or the controller. 

It should be ok, the array configuration is stored on the controller and the drives.

Hold off on that for now. I have a ticket in for an engineer to take a look at the logs.

@DELL-Charles R​ Yeah, I did read online the array config is stored on both the controller and the drives. As the system is showing the state of the array as both failed and online, I am assuming online array is the working one and can be on either the disks or the controller, however, I don't know where the working array config is. I just through if the online array config is on the controller and the failed one is on the disks and I reset the controller by removing all the disks and powering it on there is a chance I might lose the working online array config and therefore will never be able to recover the array. Hope that makes sense. I'll wait for the engineer to confirm if that's OK. Thanks again for all the help and support.

Hello Kal,

I didn't have an update yet.

I will be out on Monday. I can check back Tuesday.

Can you pull a SupportAssist from the blade iDRAC8 and upload to the same place?

@DELL-Charles R​ Again thanks for your quick reply, I have uploaded the requested logs.

Hello,

I see in the log CMC2 not OK:

CMC-1 Present Primary OK N/A N/A

CMC-2 Present Standby Not OK N/A N/A

If you can confirm this is a dual CMC; Have you tried a failover?

CMC failover fail over

In the CMC GUI, in Chassis Overview, select the Troubleshooting tab, then Reset Components and you can fail over the CMC from there

@DELL-Charles R​ Thanks for your reply. I have 2 CMC but only one connected via ethernet because I really didn't need redundance. I connected the second CMC and followed your instructions and the error was cleared.

I then accidentally cleared the configuration rather than import it, so made a mistake.

Thanks for all your help and support.