PowerVault MD3000: Users may encounter "Buffer IO error" messages under Linux

Summary: PowerVault MD3000 users may encounter "Buffer I/O error" messages under the Linux hosts after the first boot up.

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Symptoms

After configuring the MD3000 and installing the required software on the attached hosts with any distribution of Linux, error messages appear after the first boot:

Feb 13 17:37:03 jiunix005 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 10
Feb 13 17:37:03 jiunix005 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 11
Feb 13 17:37:03 jiunix005 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 12
Feb 13 17:37:03 jiunix005 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 13
Feb 13 17:37:03 jiunix005 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 14
Feb 13 17:37:03 jiunix005 kernel: Buffer I/O error on device sdb, logical block 15
Feb 13 17:37:04 jiunix005 kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 0

Cause

The errors are due to SD devices being present because MPP is not installed.

Resolution

Install the RDAC driver to address this issue.

  • Verify the proper MPP RDAC install per the RDAC install readme. 
  • Verify the correct Init_rd with MPP support is selected at boot.

Note:
  • You must install the RDAC MPP Driver (option number 4 on the installation menu) regardless of the host and the MD3000 configuration in use.  
  • This issue does not exist in Microsoft Windows since the failover driver is installed automatically. 
  • A change to have this driver installed automatically in Linux is being evaluated for a future release.

Affected Products

PowerVault MD3000
Article Properties
Article Number: 000155614
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 29 Jul 2025
Version:  5
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