Trouble removing dead devices.

Question

Hi guys,

We recently did a migration from DMX3000 to DMX-4 (:)) for a Win2k3 host.
I've noticed that the "old" DMX3000 devices still appear in 'dead' state:

Pseudo name=harddisk21
Symmetrix ID=DMX-4
Logical device ID=1ED0
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0
==============================================================================
---------------- Host --------------- - Stor - -- I/O Path - -- Stats ---
### HW Path I/O Paths Interf. Mode State Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
2 port2\path0\tgt0\lun254 c2t0d254 FA 8aA active alive 0 0
3 port3\path0\tgt0\lun254 c3t0d254 FA 9aA active alive 0 0

Pseudo name=harddisk??
Symmetrix ID=DMX3000
Logical device ID=01E0
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0
==============================================================================
---------------- Host --------------- - Stor - -- I/O Path - -- Stats ---
### HW Path I/O Paths Interf. Mode State Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
2 port2\path0\tgt0\lun30 c2t0d30 FA 9aA active dead 0 1

Pseudo name=harddisk??
Symmetrix ID=DMX3000
Logical device ID=01F0
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0
==============================================================================
---------------- Host --------------- - Stor - -- I/O Path - -- Stats ---
### HW Path I/O Paths Interf. Mode State Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
2 port2\path0\tgt0\lun31 c2t0d31 FA 9aA active dead 0 1

Pseudo name=harddisk??
Symmetrix ID=DMX3000
Logical device ID=0200
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0
==============================================================================
---------------- Host --------------- - Stor - -- I/O Path - -- Stats ---
### HW Path I/O Paths Interf. Mode State Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
2 port2\path0\tgt0\lun32 c2t0d32 FA 9aA active dead 0 1

Pseudo name=harddisk??
Symmetrix ID=DMX3000
Logical device ID=0A4B
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0
==============================================================================
---------------- Host --------------- - Stor - -- I/O Path - -- Stats ---
### HW Path I/O Paths Interf. Mode State Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
2 port2\path0\tgt0\lun34 c2t0d34 FA 9aA active dead 0 1

Pseudo name=harddisk??
Symmetrix ID=DMX3000
Logical device ID=0A6D
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0
==============================================================================
---------------- Host --------------- - Stor - -- I/O Path - -- Stats ---
### HW Path I/O Paths Interf. Mode State Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
2 port2\path0\tgt0\lun35 c2t0d35 FA 9aA active dead 0 1

Pseudo name=harddisk??
Symmetrix ID=DMX3000
Logical device ID=0A6E
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0
==============================================================================
---------------- Host --------------- - Stor - -- I/O Path - -- Stats ---
### HW Path I/O Paths Interf. Mode State Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
2 port2\path0\tgt0\lun36 c2t0d36 FA 9aA active dead 0 1

C:\WIN64\system32>

I tried removing them by issuing a 'powermt check force' command. But it doesn't seem to do anything.

C:\WIN64\system32>powermt check force
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d30 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d31 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d32 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d34 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d35 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d36 is currently dead.

C:\WIN64\system32>powermt check force
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d30 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d31 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d32 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d34 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d35 is currently dead.
Warning: Symmetrix device path c2t0d36 is currently dead.

C:\WIN64\system32>
Here's the version I'm using:
C:\WIN64\system32>powermt version
EMC powermt for PowerPath (c) Version 5.0.0 (build 94)

We've had previous experience with this phenomena. And all I remember is rebooting the server (and sometimes deleting the powermt.custom) would solve it.
Does anyone have a solution that doesn't require a reboot?

Thanks,
Maxim.

dynamox · Answer

when you ran powermt check ..it should have asked you if you wanted to remove dead paths/devices. Did it do that? Unfortunately in my experience i end up doing the same thing you are ..rebooting my windows systems, unix OS's tend to work correctly.

MaximUnited · Answer

There's no need to confirm a/y/n/q if you use powermt check force.Unfortunately, I've seen this on HP-UX servers as well. Not that common as on Windows servers, but happens.

dynamox · Answer

oh cool ..so the 'force' was with you and still no luck (sorry ..Starwars fan)

dynamox · Answer

i am being frugal man ..not wasting a byte of empty space.

AranH1 · Answer

... even more offensive was that fact that you spelled Star Wars wrong

MaximUnited · Answer

Well, Star Wars fans, is there an answer for me?

JWJordak · Answer

I've never used PowerPath on Windows, but on Unix you can explictly remove devices using powermt remove dev=XXXXX, where XXXXX is the device name you want to remove. So for each of the dead devices, you could try running something similar to

powermt remove dev=c2t0d31

See if that works....it might be worth a shot.

SKT2 · Answer

'powermt check' also prompt for removing the dead paths

MaximUnited · Answer

I've tried using 'powermt remove dev=c2t0d36' - Didn't work.

Tried using 'powermt check' and confirming each device with 'y' - Didn't work.

Tried using 'powermt check' and confirming all devices with 'a' - Didn't work.

Can someone save me a reboot???

Please?

SKT2 · Answer

did that report any error/messages when did the y/a options?

MaximUnited · Answer

Nope, no errors.Just asked for the following device.

PowerPath

Trouble removing dead devices.

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