PowerFlex: SDC service name changed in SLES15

Summary: In SLES15, the service name was changed to "sdc", from the commonly used service name "scini".

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
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Symptoms

The service name used by most of the PowerFlex users is scini.
Since the change directly affects the interaction of the operating system (OS) with the SDC driver, users lose automation abilities and correct reporting. Overall user experience is compromised. 
 

Cause

The sdc service name was used for native systemd since CoreOS in 2015.

The SDC driver on SLES moved from SysV and chkconfig to a native systemd service called scini in 2019.

For documentation references, see Configure and Customize PowerFlex > Install SDC on a Linux-based server and connect it to PowerFlex: 
To verify that the driver is loaded, the following command can be used:
o      SLES 15:
service sdc status
o      All other Linux flavors:
service scini status

Resolution

Workaround #1

Upgrade to one of the following PowerFlex SDC versions or higher, as the driver name was changed back from sdc to scini, to have consistency with other OSs:

  • PowerFlex SDC v3.5.1.8
  • PowerFlex SDC v3.6.0.6
  • PowerFlex SDC v4.0.100.130

 

Workaround #2

It is possible to create aliases for systemd.unit, a service that may have multiple names.
Adding an alias to a service requires adding a line to the service's unit file in the [Install] section. The extra line is highlighted in red:

scini.service:
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#   sdc service script
#   Author:    Eran Borovik
#   Date:      06-September-2011
#   Version:   1.1
#   Description: This script is responsible to control the sdc service when
#   systemd is used for init.
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Unit]
Description=scaleio sdc
After=network.target
 
[Service]
ExecStart=/opt/emc/scaleio/sdc/bin/scini start > /dev/null 2<>/dev/null
ExecStop=/opt/emc/scaleio/sdc/bin/scini stop > /dev/null 2<>/dev/null
RestartSec=0
RemainAfterExit=true
 
[Install]
WantedBy=graphical.target multi-user.target [protect2.fireeye.com]
Alias=sdc.service

Affected Products

PowerFlex rack, PowerFlex Appliance, PowerFlex custom node, PowerFlex Software
Article Properties
Article Number: 000208293
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 20 Nov 2025
Version:  8
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