VPLEX: VS6 Battery Backup Units (BBU) are frequently cycling from "Charging" to "Fully-Charged"

Summary: This article talks about why VS6 Battery Backup Units (BBU) are frequently cycling from charging to fully charged.

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Symptoms



The Battery Backup Units (BBU) are frequently cycling from "Charging" to "Fully-Charged". However, no hardware fault is found on the affected BBUs.

Call-home report:   
<SymptomCode>0x8a4861d7</SymptomCode>
<Category>Status</Category>
<Severity>Error</Severity>
<Status>Failed</Status>
<Component>DIRECTOR</Component>
<ComponentID>director-1-1-A</ComponentID>
<SubComponent>ZPEM</SubComponent>
<SubComponentID></SubComponentID>
<CallHome>Yes</CallHome>
<FirstTime>2019-09-04T17:55:36.044Z</FirstTime>
<LastTime>2020-03-28T16:12:57.023Z</LastTime>                    <Count>1</Count>
<EventData><![CDATA[/engine/bbu-a0: PartNo 078-000-123-05 /SerialNo xxxxxxxxxxxxxx /RevNo FFF :The operational state of the specified fru is Faulted. [Versions:MS{x.x.x.x.x, x.x.x.x.x, x.x.x.x.x}, Director{x.x.x.x.x}, ClusterWitnessServer{x.x.x.x.x}] RCA: The state of the specified FRU is faulted Remedy: Contact EMC Customer Support.

On the VPLEX follow these steps to confirm the state of the FRU.
  1. On the management server under /var/log/VPlex/cli, the latest firmware logs show the event ZPEM/210 (battery-charging is true) and ZPEM/66 (battery-fully-charged is true) events as follows:   
128.221.252.35/xmmg/log:5988:W/"0060167200ca195644":10576:<6>2017/07/10 19:46:19.78: ZPEM/66 /engine/bbu-a1: PartNo 078-000-123-05 /SerialNo ACPxxxxxxxxx1071 /RevNo FFF :battery-fully-charged is true 
128.221.252.35/xmmg/log:5988:W/"0060167200ca195644":10579:<4>2017/07/10 20:25:52.82: ZPEM/210 /engine/bbu-a1: PartNo 078-000-123-05 /SerialNo ACPxxxxxxxxx1071 /RevNo FFF :battery-charging is true 
128.221.252.35/xmmg/log:5988:W/"0060167200ca195644":10580:<6>2017/07/10 20:28:52.92: ZPEM/66 /engine/bbu-a1: PartNo 078-000-123-05 /SerialNo ACPxxxxxxxxx1071 /RevNo FFF :battery-fully-charged is true 
128.221.25x.35/xmmg/log:5988:W/"0060167200ca195644":10585:<4>2017/07/10 21:23:05.36: ZPEM/210 /engine/bbu-a0: PartNo 078-000-123-05 /SerialNo ACPxxxxxxxxx1014 /RevNo FFF :battery-charging is true 
128.221.252.35/xmmg/log:5988:W/"0060167200ca195644":10586:<6>2017/07/10 21:25:43.61: ZPEM/66 /engine/bbu-a0: PartNo 078-000-123-05 /SerialNo ACPxxxxxxxxx1014 /RevNo FFF :battery-fully-charged is true 
  1. Below are the messages reported on the director side (Example: director-1-1-A), in which the BBU is cycling from "charging" to "fully charged" as follows:   
    1. Events seen in the director "zpem_messages.log" under /var/log/ file:   
service@ManagementServer:~> ssh root@128.221.252.35
Last login: Thu Feb 28 05:11:53 2019 from 128.221.252.35
VPLEX
director-1-1-a:/var/log # grep bbu zpem_messages.log
Jul 10 19:34:19 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): battery-charging is true 
Jul 10 19:34:19 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): battery-fully-charged is false 
Jul 10 19:34:19 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): deliverable-capacity is 0x1515 
Jul 10 19:34:19 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): SMS WARN: battery-charging is true 
Jul 10 19:34:32 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1243 
Jul 10 19:34:36 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): deliverable-capacity is 0x152C 
Jul 10 19:34:36 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1242 
Jul 10 19:34:45 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1243 
Jul 10 19:34:59 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): deliverable-capacity is 0x153D 
Jul 10 19:35:04 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1242 
Jul 10 19:35:30 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): deliverable-capacity is 0x154E 
Jul 10 19:35:49 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1243 
Jul 10 19:36:04 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1242 
Jul 10 19:36:09 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): deliverable-capacity is 0x155F 
Jul 10 19:36:30 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1243 
Jul 10 19:36:50 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1242 
Jul 10 19:37:17 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1243 
Jul 10 19:37:26 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): rail-voltage is 1242 
Jul 10 19:37:37 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): battery-charging is false 
Jul 10 19:37:37 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): battery-fully-charged is true 
Jul 10 19:37:37 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): deliverable-capacity is 0x1587 
Jul 10 19:37:37 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: INFO: /engine/bbu-a0 (ACPTxxxxxxx319): SMS INFO: battery-fully-charged is true 
  1. Events seen in the director "zpem.log" file:    
director-1-1-a:/var/log # grep bbu zpem.log
Jul 10 19:24:20 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: { ds 20170710 ts 19242051 lvl 6 cmp ZPEM id 66 txt /engine/bbu-a1:+PartNo+078-000-123-05+/SerialNo+xxxxxxxxxx097+/RevNo+FFF+:battery-fully-charged+is+true pars [ ] STATUS 0 } 
Jul 10 19:34:19 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: { ds 20170710 ts 19341993 lvl 4 cmp ZPEM id 210 txt /engine/bbu-a0:+PartNo+078-000-123-05+/SerialNo+ACPTxxxxxxx319+/RevNo+FFF+:battery-charging+is+true pars [ ] STATUS 0 } 
Jul 10 19:37:37 director-1-1-a zpem[4768]: { ds 20170710 ts 19373797 lvl 6 cmp ZPEM id 66 txt /engine/bbu-a0:+PartNo+078-000-123-05+/SerialNo+ACPTxxxxxxx319+/RevNo+FFF+:battery-fully-charged+is+true pars [ ] STATUS 0 } 
  1. Exit the director by typing "exit".
director-1-1-a:/var/log # exit
logout
Connection to 128.221.252.35 closed.
service@ManagementServer:~>
  1. Access the Vplexcli and run the below command to confirm the "operational-status" of the BBUs are in the "online" state which indicates no hardware fault:   
service@ManagementServer:~> vplexcli
Trying ::1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.

VPlexcli:/>
 
VPlexcli:/> ll **/engines/engine-1-1/battery-backup-units/*
/engines/engine-1-1/battery-backup-units/battery-backup-unit-A0: 
Name                    Value 
----------------------  -------------- 
battery-fully-charged   true <--
battery-test-result     passed 
battery-time-remaining  65535 
family-fru-id           0x0015000e 
marker-led              off 
on-battery              false <--
operational-status      online <--
part-number             078-000-123-05 
revision-number         FFF 
serial-number           ACPTxxxxxx0319 <--be sure you look at the same serial number listed in the director logs

/engines/engine-1-1/battery-backup-units/battery-backup-unit-A1: 
Name                    Value 
----------------------  -------------- 
battery-fully-charged   true 
battery-test-result     passed 
battery-time-remaining  65535 
family-fru-id           0x0015000e 
marker-led              off 
on-battery              false 
operational-status      online 
part-number             078-000-123-05 
revision-number         FFF 
serial-number           ACPTxxxxxx0097 

/engines/engine-1-1/battery-backup-units/battery-backup-unit-B0: 
Name                    Value 
----------------------  -------------- 
battery-fully-charged   true 
battery-test-result     passed 
battery-time-remaining  65535 
family-fru-id           0x0015000e 
marker-led              off 
on-battery              false 
operational-status      online 
part-number             078-000-123-05 
revision-number         FFF 
serial-number           ACPTxxxxxx0093 

/engines/engine-1-1/battery-backup-units/battery-backup-unit-B1: 
Name                    Value 
----------------------  -------------- 
battery-fully-charged   true 
battery-test-result     passed 
battery-time-remaining  65535 
family-fru-id           0x0015000e 
marker-led              off 
on-battery              false 
operational-status      online 
part-number             078-000-123-05 
revision-number         FFF 
serial-number           ACPTxxxxxx1075

Cause

Toggling of the BBU CoPilot Li-Ion battery.

Resolution

VPLEX Engineering confirmed that toggling of the BBU CoPilot Li-Ion battery on the VS6 system is normal for these type of batteries. Also, be informed that some of the Call-Home events for charging events in "zpem" have been disabled due to this normal operation but the logging still happens in firmware and zpem logs as mentioned above in "Issue Section".

NOTE: CoPilot BBU normal operation is to toggle the trickle charger on and off to maintain the battery while fully charged. The CoPilot Li-Ion charge algorithm is different than for lead acid type batteries.

Additional Information

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https://downloads.dell.com/TranslatedPDF/SV_KB531093.pdf

Affected Products

VPLEX Series

Products

VPLEX Series, VPLEX VS6
Article Properties
Article Number: 000167060
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 23 Sept 2024
Version:  4
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