This README file contains the latest information about installing IBM FAStT Storage Manager version 7.10 for AIX. Refer to the IBM Support Web Site or CD for the installation and support guide. Last Update: 09/18/2002 ======================================================================= CONTENTS -------- 1.0 Overview 2.0 Change History 3.0 Usage Notes - AIX Platforms 4.0 WEB Sites and Support Phone Number 5.0 Trademarks and Notices 6.0 Disclaimer ======================================================================= 1.0 Overview ------------ 1.1 Overview ------------ This IBM Storage Manager release includes the IBM FAStT Storage Manager version 7.10 for AIX. In addition, it includes the controller firmware version 04.01.02.30 and the latest NVSRAM files for IBM machine types 3542, and 3552. The AIX CD-ROM directory contains the documentation and files necessary for installing the IBM FAStT Storage Manager Version 7.10. The "IBM FAStT Storage Manager Version 7.10 for AIX and UNIX environments Installation and Support Guide" is also available on IBM's Support Web Site as a downloadable Portable Document Format (PDF) file. 1.2 Limitations (not AIX limitations, but FAStT/Storage Manager limitations) --------------- 1. Storage Manager prompts you for a password if all hard disk drives are removed from the storage subsystem. After removing all drives from a storage subsystem (or not powering on drives and only the controller), the IBM FAStT Storage Manager software will prompt you for a password when trying to start the software or trying to perform protected operations. Any password entered will fail. Password information is stored on a reserved area of each hard disk drive on the storage subsystem. Each drive stores a mirrored copy of the password data. When there are no drives in the storage subsystem, the storage management software does not find the password data when you attempt password protected operations. Add one drive to the storage subsystem and retry the operation. 2. Auto LUN/Array Transfer is not supported. If a controller fails over arrays to the alternate controller and the failed controller is replaced and brought back online, the arrays do not automatically transfer to the preferred controller. This must be done manually by redistributing arrays. 3. Redundancy checks on machine type 3542 can take up to 10 times longer than on other controller platforms. A redundancy check (parity scan) uses the VERIFY operation which is not implemented in hardware on this platform. Parity checking will take longer on 3542 based arrays. 4. If you define a large number of arrays, you may not be able to right-click a logical drive and get a pop-up menu in the Physical View of the Subsystem management window. The workaround is to use the Logical Drive pull-down menu to select the logical drive options. 5. The IBM TotalStorage EXP700 drive enclosure blue locator LED is not supported when the EXP700 was connected to the FAStT200 storage subsystem. 1.3 Enhancements ---------------- * Support for accessing 2 FAStT storage partitions per AIX server. 1.4 Fixes ---------------- * Fix for Data Errors on pSeries platforms: Problem Description: -------------------- Under rare circumstances during extensive stress testing and very heavy I/O workloads, an error condition involving the fibre channel adapter was observed in a laboratory environment. This error may lead to unpredictable results including system crash, system hang, data error, unwarranted error log entries, etc. This problem has never been reported in a customer environment. Although unlikely, the possibility of this problem occurring in a customer environment does exist. User's affected: ---------------- pSeries servers that contain the 6227 or 6228 fibre channel adapter with the devices.pci.df1000f7.com fileset at levels below the following: AIX 4.3: 4.3.3.83 AIX 5.1: 5.1.0.28 Recommendation: --------------- Apply the appropriate APAR/PTF below in the prerequisites section (1.5). * Device driver configuration and fail-over problems with UTM LUN (access volume) Problem Description: -------------------- When a UTM LUN (access volume) was configured on a storage partition for AIX hosts, unpredictable issues could occur during configuring the device on AIX with config manager. Issues could also be experienced during fail-over conditions. In the previous release of the AIX DD, it was required that the UTM LUN be removed from the configuration on AIX partitions. Recommendation: --------------- Apply the appropriate APAR/PTF below in the prerequisites section (1.5). 1.5 Prerequisites ----------------- The following pSeries & RS/6000 Hardware Platforms are supported for attachment to the FAStT200 and FAStT500: Machine Type Model# pSeries Name 7013 S70 7013 S7A 7015 S70 7015 S7A 7017 S70 7017 S7A 7017 S80 7017 S85 pSeries 680 7025 6F0 pSeries 620 7025 6F1 pSeries 620 7025 F50 7025 F80 7026 6H0 pSeries 660 7026 6H1 pSeries 660 7026 6M1 pSeries 660 7026 H50 7026 H70 7026 H80 7026 B80 pSeries 640 7026 M80 7028 6C4 pSeries 630 7028 6E4 pSeries 630 7043 270 7040 671 pSeries 670 7040 681 pSeries 690 7044 170 7044 270 7028 6C1 pSeries 610 7028 6E1 pSeries 610 9076 PCI Nodes: FC 2050 332 Mhz SMP Thin Node FC 2051 332 Mhz SMP Wide Node FC 2052 POWER3 SMP Thin Node FC 2053 POWER3 SMP Wide Node FC 2054 POWER3 SMP HIGH Node FC 2055 SP Expansion I/O Unit FC 2056 375 Mhz POWER3 SMP Thin Node FC 2057 375 Mhz POWER3 SMP Wide Node FC 2058 375 Mhz POWER3 SMP High Node IMPORTANT: The Disk Drives contained within the EXP500 Enclosure must have the latest supported drive firmware. The latest drive firmware can be found at: http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/MIGR-40711.html Platform: AIX OS Levels: AIX 4.3.3.75 or 5.1.0.15 Multipath Driver: FAStT RDAC, IBM AIX RDAC Driver: and FC Protocol DD PTFs. For AIX 4.3.3 devices.fcp.disk.array 4.3.3.82 (PTF U482665, APAR IY33821) devices.pci.df1000f7 4.3.3.83 (PTF U482664, APAR IY33608) For AIX 5.1 devices.fcp.disk.array 5.1.0.29 (PTF U484056, APAR IY33775) devices.pci.df1000f7 5.1.0.28 (PTF U476971, APAR IY33105) Host Bus Adapter(s): IBM Feature Code 6227 & 6228 HBA Device Driver Level: FC 6227 - 3.22A0 or above, FC 6228 - 3.82A0 or above Note: A supported IBM SAN Switch is required when attaching FAStT storage arrays to AIX and non-AIX servers in a Heterogeneous environment. Please see: http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/disk/fastt/supserver.htm for supported switches and firmware levels. * The following platforms can be attached to the same FAStT200 or FAStT500: Windows NT 4 Windows 2000 AIX 4.3.3 or 5.1 Solaris 2.6, 7 and 8 When a host operating system attaches to a FAStT storage array using the RDAC driver, then all hosts attached to the FAStT must use the RDAC driver. Refer to the table below as to which drivers are available for the various supported operating systems. Since AIX runs with an RDAC failover driver only, all other platforms attached to the same FAStT (i.e. other SUN, NT or W2000) need to run with RDAC as well. To support RDAC, when installing FAStT into AIX environments run the "avtdisable.scr" script to disable AVT/ADT (Automatic Volume Transfer or Automatic Disk Transfer). For HACMP and PSSP/GPFS configurations with FAStT500, run the "resrev.scr" script to prevent residual SCSI reservations on a primary controller. The above scripts can be found at one of the following web sites: http://ssddom02.storage.ibm.com/techsup/webnav.nsf/support/fastt200downloads http://ssddom02.storage.ibm.com/techsup/webnav.nsf/support/fastt500downloads OS Drivers Available -------------- ------------------- Windows NT4.0 AVT & RDAC Windows 2000 AVT & RDAC Novell NetWare AVT Only Linux - RedHat AVT Only AIX RDAC Only Solaris AVT & RDAC HP-UX AVT Only 1.6 Dependencies ---------------- IBM FAStT Storage Manager version 7.10 requires IBM machine type 3542 or 3552 storage controllers that have at least firmware version 04.01.02.30 and the NVSRAM version listed below in section 2.2. ======================================================================= 2.0 Change History ------------------ This is the latest release of IBM FAStT Storage Manager version 7.10 for AIX. 2.1 Key Features of IBM FAStT Storage Manager version 7.10 ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. Heterogeneous Hosts. The machine type 3552 Storage Subsystem supports attaching Hosts types with different operating systems. 2. Enhanced Storage Partition Supported (128 logical drives, 16 partitions). 3. Auto logical drive transfer is activated by the I/O down an alternate controller path. 4. Storage controller enhanced diagnostics. Drive side loopback. 5. Persistent event monitoring. SNMP notification persists through the closure of Storage Manager 7 Client. 6. Configuration replication. Storage Manager 7 provides capture and replay of a configuration. 7. The command line interface automates storage management through the use of scripts. 2.2 Code levels at time of release are as follows ------------------------------------------------- 1. Firmware versions: a. For machine type 3552: Appware 04.01.02.30 b. For machine type 3542: Snapware 04.01.02.30 2. NVSRAM versions: a. For machine type 3542, model 2RX or 2RU: CNV3542R710NT014 Note: Model 1RX or 1RU is supported with FC 2101 (2nd controller) b. For machine type 3552: CNV3552R710NT008 5. Client versions: AIX 4.3.3: 07.10.G5.10 AIX 5.1: 07.10.G5.11 Refer to the http://www.storage.ibm.com/hardsoft/disk/fastt/index.html IBM web page for the latest released code levels. ======================================================================= 3.0 Usage Notes and restrictions - AIX Platforms --------------------------------------------------- * Whenever the NVSRAM code on the FAStT controller is updated, AVT/ADT is automatically enabled and must be disabled with the avtdisable script. Also, the Residual Reservation script must be rerun to ensure the proper setting. * It is important to set the queue depth to a correct size for AIX hosts. Having too large of a queue depth can result in lost filesystems and host panics. Please reference the IBM FAStT Storage Manager Version 7.10 for the FAStT500 in the UNIX and AIX Environments Installation and Support Guide for details. * To manage and configure the FAStT, the SM client, which uses the Java interface resident on the AIX host, must be used with a LAN attachment between the FAStT and the AIX platform (Out of Band management). Any host attached to the LAN with the SM client could also accomplish the management tasks. If In Band management (via the FC interface) is needed, then there must be used on a separate host platform that supports the In-band agent software, such as Windows 2K. * Each AIX Platform (server) will support 1 or 2 FAStT Partitions (or Host Groups), with each AIX host configured with 2 Host Bus Adapters (6227 or 6228) to each partition. A maximum of 16 non-clustered hosts (AIX and non-AIX) can be configured to a FAStT. Multiple FAStT systems may be attached to a single AIX server without requiring additional HBAs. * Volumes that will be used by AIX systems must be configured in an AIX Host Group (partition). Connecting to volumes in the "default" Host Group is not permitted. * Online NVSRAM upgrades are not supported. * When connected to a single switch, each HBA and Controller combination must be in a separate zone. * Direct-attach connections (FC-AL) of FAStT storage arrays on AIX are restricted to the following configurations: FAStT200 one server configurations only FAStT500 one or two server configurations* Only 1 connection on each host-side mini-hub can be used. * Interoperability with Shark and SDD Software is not permitted at this time. * FC Boot Support is not available on pSeries/AIX systems at this time. * FAStT500 Storage Servers with Storage Manager 7.10 are limited to a maximum of 100 physical disk drives, 50 per drive loop, for high availability applications. 220 Drives can be attached to systems running FAStT Storage Manager 8.21. * FC Boot Support is not available on AIX at this time. * For HACMP and PSSP/GPFS support information, check the IBM TotalStorage Support Web downloads site for specific configuration information. ======================================================================= 4.0 WEB Sites and Support Phone Number -------------------------------------- 4.1 IBM TotalStorage Support Web Site: http://ssddom02.storage.ibm.com/techsup/webnav.nsf/support/disk 4.2 IBM TotalStorage Web Site: http://www.storage.ibm.com/ssg.html 4.3 If you have any questions about this update, or problem applying the update go to the following Help Center World Telephone Numbers URL: http://www.ibm.com/planetwide ======================================================================= 5.0 Trademarks and Notices -------------------------- 5.1 The following terms are trademarks of the IBM Corporation in the United States or other countries or both: IBM the e-business logo xSeries HelpCenter AIX Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United states, other countries, or both. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. ======================================================================= 6.0 Disclaimer -------------- 6.1 THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. IBM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND MERCHANTABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. BY FURNISHING THIS DOCUMENT, IBM GRANTS NO LICENSES TO ANY PATENTS OR COPYRIGHTS. 6.2 Note to U.S. Government Users -- Documentation related to restricted rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure is subject to restrictions set forth in GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corporation.