Impending Physical Disk Failure (Medium Data Availability Risk)
What Caused the Problem?
A physical disk is reporting internal errors that could cause it to fail. If
this physical disk fails, the virtual disks in the disk group will become degraded.
The Recovery Guru Details area provides specific information you will need as
you follow the Recovery Steps.
Caution: Possible loss of data accessibility. If a Virtual Disk - Hot Spare
in Use failure is also displayed in the Summary area, always fix the Impending
Physical Disk Failure first. Fixing the Virtual Disk - Hot Spare in Use failure
before fixing the Impending Physical Disk Failure may result in the loss of
data accessibility.
Caution: Electrostatic
discharge can damage sensitive components. Always use proper antistatic
protection when handling components. Touching components without using a proper
ground may damage the equipment.
Important Notes
- The affected virtual disks are RAID 1, 5, 6, or 10. If the
physical disk fails, you may lose redundancy. If another physical disk
fails in the same disk group, you may lose data accessibility. You should
correct this problem as soon as possible.
- Because the physical disk has not failed, its status LED
will not be amber flashing.
- Make sure the replacement physical disk is the same
type and has a capacity
equal to or greater than the physical disk you will remove.
- You can replace the physical disk while the virtual disks
are receiving I/O.
Recovery Steps
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1
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Check the status of the virtual disks associated with the affected
physical disk (the virtual disks are shown in the Details area of Recovery
Guru) by clicking the Disk groups & virtual disks link
on the Summary tab.
- All virtual disks should be Optimal
 before continuing with this procedure.
- If any virtual disks in the virtual disk group currently
show Operation in Progress
 , wait for all virtual disks to change to Optimal
status before continuing.
- If the virtual disks change from Operation in Progress
to any status other than Optimal, click the Recheck
button to rerun the Recovery Guru, fix these problems first, and then
return to this procedure.
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2
|
Perform the following steps to manually fail the affected
physical disk:
|
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 to manually fail a physical disk in a
virtual disk group:
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.
Notes:
- The commands above are case sensitive, and must be
entered exactly as shown.
- The associated virtual disks become Degraded after the
physical disk is failed.
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|
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3
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Check the Service Action Allowed status in the Details
area.
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If...
|
Then...
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Service Action Allowed field is YES
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Go to step 4.
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Service Action Allowed is NO
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Answer the following question:
Are there other problems being reported in the Summary Area?
- Yes - Fix these problems first and then return
to this procedure after clicking the Recheck button.
- No - Stop this procedure and contact your
technical support representative.
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4
|
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If...
|
Then...
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You want to replace the failed physical disk with a new physical disk
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- Remove the physical disk (its status LED may be amber flashing).
- Wait 30 seconds, and then insert the new physical disk.
- Wait until the replaced physical disk is ready (status LED is green)
- Click the Recheck button to rerun the Recovery Guru
to ensure that the failure has been fixed.
|
|
You want to utilize an existing unassigned physical disk or the in-use hot spare to replace the failed disk in the disk group
|
- Click on the Modify tab and then select Replace Physical Disks.
- Under Failed and Missing Physical Disks, select the physical disk that you would like to replace
- Under Available replacement physical disks, select the physical disk that you would like to use to replace the failed or missing physical disk
- Click on Replace Physical Disk.
If you choose the Hot Spare as a replacement for the failed or missing physical disk, the Hot Spare role will be changed to Assigned. A new Hot Spare would need to be assigned if that functionality is desired
- Wait until the replaced physical disk is ready (status LED is green)
- Click the Recheck button to rerun the Recovery Guru
to ensure that the failure has been fixed.
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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.