Physical Disk - Loss of Path Redundancy

What Caused the Problem?

A communication path with a physical disk has been lost. The Recovery Guru Details area provides specific information you will need as you follow the recovery steps.

Caution: Electrostatic discharge can damage sensitive components. Always use proper antistatic protection when handling components. Touching components without using a proper ground may damage equipment.

Important Notes

Correct this condition as soon as possible. The physical disk is still operational, but a level of path redundancy has been lost. If the physical disk's other port or any other component fails on the working channel, the physical disk will fail.
The Recovery Guru Details area reports the affected enclosure, physical disk, and the working channel over which it can communicate with the physical disk.
This condition does not change the state of the physical disk status LED.

Recovery Steps

Fix any other problems reported by the Recovery Guru before attempting to fix this problem. Click the Recheck button to rerun the Recovery Guru.

If...	Then...
The problem has been fixed	You are finished with this procedure. Do NOT continue with any additional recovery steps.
The problem has not been fixed	Go to step 2.

Determine if single or multiple drives are affected.

If...	Then...
All drives within the same enclosure are affected	Go to step 3.
One or more drives are affected	Go to step 4.

Click the Recheck button to rerun the Recovery Guru. If the problem persists, do the remainder of step 3 and provide this information when contacting your technical support representative.

From the Support tab, click the Gather support information link.

In the Specify file field, enter a name for the file to be saved or browse to a previously saved file if you want to overwrite an existing file.

Use the convention "filename.zip" for the name of the file. (The suffix .zip will be added to the file automatically if you do not specify one.) You may also specify another drive and directory if you want to save the file in a location other than the default.

Click the Start button.

After the process completes, click the OK button. Do NOT continue with any additional recovery steps.

The procedure you use depends on the RAID level of the virtual disk group associated with the affected physical disk. From the Support tab, click on the View storage array profile link in the Hardware Components section. Then, click on the Disk Groups tab and scroll down to determine the RAID level of the disk group associated with the affected physical disk.

Note: Back up all data on the affected virtual disks before proceeding.

Use the following table to determine which steps to take:

If...	Then...
The current status/RAID level of the virtual disks is Optimal/RAID 0	Go to the Recovering RAID 0 recovery steps.
The current status/RAID level of the virtual disks is Optimal/RAID 1, 5, 6, or 10	If a hot spare is rebuilding in the affected disk group wait for the operation to complete before proceeding. Although it is not required, you should stop all I/O to all virtual disks in the disk group associated with the affected physical disk and back up the data. If another physical disk fails in this disk group while you are performing this procedure, you may lose data accessibility. Go to the Recovering RAID 1, 5, 6, or 10 recovery steps.
The current status/RAID level of the virtual disks is Degraded/RAID 1, 5, 6, or 10	Go to the Recovery Guru procedure for Degraded Virtual disk that should also be listed in the Recovery Guru Summary area. Do not continue with this procedure.

Recovering RAID 0

Use the following procedure if the affected virtual disks are RAID 0.

Recovery Steps

Stop all I/O to the affected virtual disks.

Reseating the physical disk may clear the problem being reported.

Open a Command Prompt, and type the following command:

SMcli -n <storageArray_name>;

where storageArray_name is the name of the storage array listed in the Details area.

Note: If you receive an error from this command, change your working directory to the directory that contains the SMcli executable.

Execute the following command to take the disk group containing the identified physical disk offline:

set diskGroup [diskGroupNumber] availability=offline;

where diskGroupNumber is the sequence number of the disk group you want to take offline.

Note: The commands above are case sensitive, and must be entered exactly as shown.

Remove and reseat the physical disk.

Execute the following command to bring the disk group online:

set diskGroup [diskGroupNumber] availability=online;

where diskGroupNumber is the sequence number of the disk group you want to bring online.

Click the Recheck button to rerun the Recovery Guru.

If...	Then...
The problem has been fixed	You are finished with this procedure. Do NOT continue with any additional recovery steps.
The problem has not been fixed	Go to step 3.

Back up all data on the affected virtual disks. (Step 6 will destroy all data on the affected virtual disks.)

Note: To the operating system (OS), a failed virtual disk is exactly the same as a failed non-RAID physical disk. Refer to the OS documentation for any special requirements concerning failed physical disks and perform them where necessary.

If any of the affected virtual disks are also source or target virtual disks in a copy operation that is either Pending or In Progress, you must stop the copy operation before continuing.

From the Modify tab, click the Manage virtual disk copies link, and select the virtual disks that are in a copy operation that you wish to stop.

If you have snapshot virtual disks associated with the affected virtual disks, these snapshot virtual disks will no longer be valid once you fail the physical disk in step 6.

Perform any necessary operations (such as backup) on the snapshot virtual disks and then delete them. From the Modify tab, click the Delete virtual disks link to select the snapshot virtual disks for deletion.

Perform the following steps on the affected physical disk shown in the Recovery Guru Details area to manually fail the physical disk prior to replacement.

Caution: The data on the affected virtual disks will be lost once you perform this step. Be sure you have backed up your data before performing this step.

Open a Command Prompt, and type the following command:

SMcli -n <storageArray_name>;

where storageArray_name is the name of the storage array listed in the Details area.

Note: If you receive an error from this command, change your working directory to the directory that contains the SMcli executable.

Execute the following command in order to manually fail the physical disk:

set physicalDisk [enclosure_ID,slot_ID] operationalState=failed;

where enclosure_id is the enclosure ID for the enclosure where the physical disk resides and slot_ID is the slot position within the enclosure.

Note: The commands above are case sensitive, and must be entered exactly as shown.

Remove the physical disk.

Wait 30 seconds, and then insert the new physical disk.

Note: Wait until the replaced physical disk is ready (status LED is green) before going to step 9.

a	Open a Command Prompt, and type the following command: `SMcli -n <storageArray_name>;` where storageArray_name is the name of the storage array listed in the Details area. Note: If you receive an error from this command, change your working directory to the directory that contains the SMcli executable.
b	Execute the following command in order to initialize a virtual disk in the disk group: `start virtualDisk [virtualDiskName] initialize;` where virtualDiskName is a virtual disk in the disk group you wish to initialize. Note: When initialization starts on a virtual disk, the icon changes to Operation in Progress in the Disk groups and Virtual Disks dialog. When initialization is completed, the virtual disk becomes Optimal .
c	Repeat step b for each virtual disk in the disk group.
d	Save this procedure by clicking the Save As button because once you perform step 10 and the failure is fixed, you will not be able to access the information in step 10 from the Recovery Guru. Go to step 10.

Click the Recheck button to rerun the Recovery Guru. The failure should no longer appear in the Summary area.

Add the affected virtual disks back to the operating system (refer to your storage manager software user guide for specific instructions on how to do this). You may need to reboot the system to see the re-initialized virtual disks.

Note: Do not start I/O to these virtual disks until after you restore from backup.

Restore the data for the affected virtual disks from backup.

If desired, create new snapshot virtual disks to replace the ones that you may have deleted in step 5.

If desired, re-create any copies you stopped by clicking the Manage Virtual Disk Copies link on the Modify tab, and then selecting the virtual disks you wish to re-copy.

Recovering RAID 1, 5, 6, or 10

Use the following procedure if ALL of the following conditions apply:

The affected virtual disks are RAID 1, 5, 6, or 10.

Recovery Steps

Reseating the physical disk may clear the problem being reported.

Open a Command Prompt, and type the following command:

SMcli -n <storageArray_name>;

where storageArray_name is the name of the storage array listed in the Details area.

Note: If you receive an error from this command, change your working directory to the directory that contains the SMcli executable.

Execute the following command to take the disk group containing the identified physical disk offline:

set diskGroup [diskGroupNumber] availability=offline;

where diskGroupNumber is the sequence number of the disk group you want to take offline.

Note: The commands above are case sensitive, and must be entered exactly as shown.

Remove and reseat the physical disk.

Execute the following command to bring the disk group online:

set diskGroup [diskGroupNumber] availability=online;

where diskGroupNumber is the sequence number of the disk group you want to bring online.

Click the Recheck button to rerun the Recovery Guru.

If...	Then...
The problem has been fixed	You are finished with this procedure. Do NOT continue with any additional recovery steps.
The problem has not been fixed	Go to step 2.

Although it is not required, you should back up all data on the affected virtual disks.

Perform the following steps on the affected physical disk shown in the Recovery Guru Details area to manually fail the physical disk prior to replacement.

Open a Command Prompt, and type the following command:

SMcli -n <storageArray_name>;

where storageArray_name is the name of the storage array listed in the Details area.

Note: If you receive an error from this command, change your working directory to the directory that contains the SMcli executable.

Execute the following command in order to manually fail the physical disk:

set physicalDisk [enclosure_ID,slot_ID] operationalState=failed;

where enclosure_ID is the enclosure ID for the enclosure where the physical disk resides and slot_ID is the slot position within the enclosure.

Note: The commands above are case sensitive, and must be entered exactly as shown.

Remove the physical disk.

Wait 30 seconds, and then insert the new physical disk.

Note: Wait until the replaced physical disk is ready (status LED is green) before going to step 6.

Click the Recheck button to rerun the Recovery Guru. The failure should no longer appear in the Summary area.

Note: Additional information on this issue may be available. Please visit the Dell support website at support.dell.com and select your product model. Choose "troubleshooting" as your tool option, then search by this procedure title.