Failed Virtual Disk - Awaiting Initialization

What Caused the Problem?

Physical disks have been replaced in a failed virtual disk, but the virtual disk has not yet been initialized. The Recovery Guru Details area provides specific information you will need as you follow the Recovery Steps.

Important Notes

The new physical disks' status LED and activity LED will turn on and off intermittently until the physical disks complete the spin-up process.
If you attempt to initialize the disk group before the new physical disks are ready (new physical disks finish spinning up and their status LEDs are green), the initialization request will return an error.
All snapshots associated with the affected disk group must be deleted before you can initialize the disk group. After you initialize the disk group, you can create new snapshots.

Recovery Steps

Step through every entry in the following table and perform all procedures associated with the virtual disk type combination for the affected disk group.

If...

Then...

One or more snapshot virtual disks exist on the affected disk group

The information on the snapshot(s) is no longer valid and cannot be retrieved. You must delete all snapshot virtual disks associated with the failed disk group.

a	Click the Modify tab.
b	Click the Delete virtual disk link.
c	Select a snapshot virtual disk associated with the failed disk group.
d	Click the OK button. Note: You will be able to create any needed snapshot virtual disks after this procedure has been completed.
e	Repeat steps c and d for each additional snapshot virtual disk associated with the failed disk group until all are deleted.

One or more snapshot repository virtual disks exist on the affected disk group

The information on the snapshot virtual disks associated with the affected snapshot repository virtual disks is no longer valid and cannot be retrieved, even if the associated snapshot virtual disks exist on a different disk group.

a	Click the Modify tab.
b	Click the Delete virtual disk link.
c	Select a snapshot virtual disk associated with the snapshot repositories on the failed disk group.
d	Click the OK button. Note: You will be able to create any needed snapshot virtual disks after this procedure has been completed.
e	Repeat steps c and d for each additional snapshot virtual disk associated with the snapshot repositories on the failed disk group until all are deleted.

Only standard virtual disks exist on the affected disk group

Go to step 2.

From the Summary tab, click the Disk groups and virtual Disks link.

Record the names of all virtual disks associated with this disk group.

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 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 .

Repeat step b for each virtual disk in the disk group.

If...	Then...
The disk group does NOT start initialization	Go to step 3.
The virtual disk successfully starts initialization	Go to step 4.

Perform the following steps on each replaced physical disk to transition the virtual disk to a Degraded state:

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 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.

Execute the following command in order to revive the physical disk:

revive physicalDisk [enclosure_ID,slot_ID];

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.

Wait one minute for the replaced physical disk to become operational.

From the Summary tab in the storage management software, click the Disk Groups and Virtual Disks link.

If...	Then...
The virtual disk does not transition to a Degraded state	Continue reviving replaced physical disks using steps a - c.
The virtual disk transitions to a Degraded state	The suspended modification operation will resume. After the modification completes, a rebuild will start. Depending on the size of the virtual disks, these operations may take a long time. During these operations, virtual disks display an Operation in Progress icon . Allow the operations to finish before going to step 5.

Caution: Data Loss. Even though a rebuild operation has completed on the virtual disks, the data is still unusable. You must re-initialize them using the following step. Re-initializing will destroy all data on the virtual disk.

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.

Repeat step a for each virtual disk in the disk group.

Save this procedure by clicking the Save As button because once you perform step 6 and the failure is fixed, you will not be able to access the information in steps 6 through 9 from the Recovery Guru.

Go to step 6.

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

Add the re-initialized virtual disks back to the operating system. You may need to reboot the operating system to see the virtual disks.

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

Restore the data for the re-initialized virtual disks from backup.

If desired, create any snapshots that you deleted in step 1.

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.