- Linux with Network Appliance DS14 Shelf
- Posted by Brian E. Seppanen on March 1st, 2004
Has anyone taken a Network Appliance DS14 Disk Shelf and made it useable
in linux.
A bit of background for those curious. We have a QLogic 2200 Fiber
Channel card with a serial interface to a DS14 Disk Shelf that has 14
36GB drives. I put the QLogic 2200 in a Dell 1650, and I'm able to see
the array, but unable to do anything usable with it. I'm running
debian linux 3.0 kernel version 2.4.25. I have no doubt that these
proprietary devices were not intended to work with linux, but I'm hoping
that it's possible to work around that. I'd love to have that storage
accessible.
qlogicfc0 : Loop Reinitialized
qlogicfc0 : Link is Up
scsi1 : QLogic ISP2200 SCSI on PCI bus 03 device 40 irq 20 base 0xbc00
qlogicfc0 : Port Database
wwn: 210000e08b04a3d7 scsi_id: 0 loop_id: 0
wwn: 21000004cf2fe1eb scsi_id: 1 loop_id: 10
wwn: 21000004cf2fe3e3 scsi_id: 2 loop_id: 11
wwn: 21000004cf2fe1d0 scsi_id: 3 loop_id: 12
wwn: 21000004cf2fe1cb scsi_id: 4 loop_id: 13
wwn: 21000004cf2fe2ee scsi_id: 5 loop_id: 14
wwn: 21000004cf2fe1da scsi_id: 6 loop_id: 15
wwn: 21000004cf2fe2ed scsi_id: 7 loop_id: 16
wwn: 21000004cf2fe2da scsi_id: 8 loop_id: 17
wwn: 21000004cf2fe2ef scsi_id: 9 loop_id: 18
wwn: 21000004cf2fe3c5 scsi_id: a loop_id: 19
wwn: 21000004cf2fe25b scsi_id: b loop_id: 1a
wwn: 21000004cf2fe2d3 scsi_id: c loop_id: 1b
wwn: 21000004cf2fe1b6 scsi_id: d loop_id: 1c
wwn: 21000004cf2fe4f3 scsi_id: e loop_id: 1d
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Vendor: NETAPP Model: X234_SCHT5036F10 Rev: NA02
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 03
Attached scsi disk sdb at scsi1, channel 0, id 1, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdc at scsi1, channel 0, id 2, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdd at scsi1, channel 0, id 3, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sde at scsi1, channel 0, id 4, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdf at scsi1, channel 0, id 5, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdg at scsi1, channel 0, id 6, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdh at scsi1, channel 0, id 7, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdi at scsi1, channel 0, id 8, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdj at scsi1, channel 0, id 9, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdk at scsi1, channel 0, id 10, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdl at scsi1, channel 0, id 11, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdm at scsi1, channel 0, id 12, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdn at scsi1, channel 0, id 13, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdo at scsi1, channel 0, id 14, lun 0
sdb : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdb: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdc : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdc: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdd : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdd: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sde : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sde: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdf : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdf: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdg : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdg: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdh : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdh: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdi : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdi: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdj : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdj: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdk : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdk: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdl : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdl: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdm : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdm: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdn : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdn: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
sdo : unsupported sector size 520.
SCSI device sdo: 0 520-byte hdwr sectors (0 MB)
Thanks,
Brian Seppanen
seppy@chartermi.net
- Posted by John-Paul Stewart on March 1st, 2004
"Brian E. Seppanen" wrote:
[snip]
So all 14 drives are showing up individually with a 520 byte sector
size. It makes it look like this is an "expansion" box for a hardware
RAID of some sort, or is the box supposed do RAID itself? If the DS14
does RAID itself (similar to a Clariion DPE unit), you'll need to find a
way to configure that, and then it should *not* present 14 individual
disks but one (or more) large virtual disks corresponding to the RAID
volume(s).
OTOH if this is just a JBOD expansion box (like a Clariion DAE unit is,
and which I suspect yours is), then you should just need to reformat the
drives with the standard 512-byte sector size. You'd need to do that
through the Qlogic card's firmware at boot time (most likely). You
could then do software RAID across the disks.
- Posted by Brian E. Seppanen on March 2nd, 2004
John-Paul Stewart wrote:
Attached to a NetApp device, these have one hot spare and the remaining
drivers are raided together RAID 0.
I guess that's the trick. Damn.
..
Thanks,
Brian Seppanen
seppy@chartermi.net
- Posted by John-Paul Stewart on March 2nd, 2004
"Brian E. Seppanen" wrote:
It should still be useable as a JBOD since Linux is seeing the
individual drives. Did you try re-formating the drives with a 512-byte
sector size as suggested? Once that's done, the error about
"Unsupported sector size" will go away and the drives should be
useable. The fact that Linux is currently seeing them and complaining
about sector size is a *good* sign. The fact that you get that far
means you're very close to adding 14 fibre channel drives to your
system.
Besides, software RAID-0 should be just as fast as hardware RAID-0
anyway.
Or you could just ship the thing to me! 
- Posted by Brian E. Seppanen on March 3rd, 2004
I am unable to access the drives in linux to reformat them. If I try
fdisk /dev/sdj I get an unable to access device error. The only way I
could think of reformating them is to reattach the netapp device, but
that would simply reformat them with the 520 byte sector.
Do you have any ideas on how I could reformat them? They are narrow
SCSI, and I don't have any compatible hardware.
Thanks for the help.
Thanks,
Brian Seppanen
seppy@chartermi.net
- Posted by John-Paul Stewart on March 4th, 2004
"Brian E. Seppanen" wrote:
Nooo...you need to do a "low-level" format, nothing to do with fdisk.
This is done through the controller card's BIOS at boot time. Note that
this means significant downtime on the server they're attached to.
After the motherboard finishes its POST routine with messages about CPUs
and RAM and such, you should see a message from the QLogic card telling
you to press Control-Q to enter its own BIOS utility. Do so. Select
the "Fibre Disk Utility" as described in section 10.4 of the QLA2200
user manual (downloadable from
http://www.qlogic.com/support/produc...ces.asp?id=112) and do the
low-level format from there. The usual warnings about data loss and
potentially rendering the drives unusable are applicable here. Of
course, the drives are already essentially unusable to you and what
you're about to do *should* make them work.
(Note that I've not done this myself with fibre channel drives, but the
above procedure is commonplace with SCSI drives and SCSI hardware RAID.
I know the advice given here applies to SGI/Clariion fibre channel
arrays, too. I don't think it will cause any problems but don't hold me
responsible if it does. That said, if I were in your shoes, I
personally wouldn't hesitate to do the low-level format to 512 byte
sectors.)
I thought you said they were fibre channel attached to a QLA2200? Where
does narrow SCSI come into the picture? Or a you confusing the 40-pin
SCA fibre-channel drive connector with 50-pin narrow SCSI?
- Posted by Brian Seppanen on March 6th, 2004
The DS14 is a cabinet. Each of the 14 disks attaches to the cabinet
through a narrow SCSI adaptor. The Shelf is terminated in the HBA via
fiber channel.
Hope that helps. I'll try the low level formatting. The one thing
I'm concerned with is the DS14 having some sort of logic built in that
demands the 520 block sector.
It might be worth a try.
--
Brian E. Seppanen
seppanen@chartermi.net
free software is the only corpus of information fixed in a tangible
form, through which anyone, anywhere, can go from naivete to the state
of the art in a great technical subject -- what computers can be made to
do -- solely by consulting material that is freely available for
adaptation and reuse, in any way that she or he may want. - Eben Moglen
- Posted by John-Paul Stewart on March 6th, 2004
Brian Seppanen wrote:
It shouldn't. If the DS14 had any sort of built-in logic, I'd expect it
to present logical RAID volumes to Linux rather than present all 14
drives individually. (I.e., I'd expect Linux to see one or two very
large drives instead of the 14 physical drives.)
