HP P6000 Enterprise Virtual Array Release Notes

XCS 1 1001000

Abstract
This document applies to the HP EVA4400/6400/8400, HP P6300/6500 EVA, and HP P6350/6550 EVA storage systems.

HP Part Number: 5697-2241 Published: September 2012 Edition: 3

 Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Description
Version: XCS 1 1001000 This document contains information specific to the release of XCS 1 1001000, which applies to the following array models:
Array model HP 4400 Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA4400) HP 6400 Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA6400) HP 8400 Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA8400) Controller model HSV3001 or HSV300-S1 HSV400 HSV450 Disk enclosure model M6412 or M6412A M6412A M6412A M6612 (LFF) or M6625 (SFF) M6612 (LFF) or M6625 (SFF) M6612 (LFF) or M6625 (SFF) M6612 (LFF) or M6625 (SFF)

HP P6300 Enterprise Virtual Array (P6300 EVA) HSV3401 HP P6500 Enterprise Virtual Array (P6500 EVA) HSV3601 HP P6350 Enterprise Virtual Array (P6350 EVA) HSV340 HP P6550 Enterprise Virtual Array (P6550 EVA) HSV360
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One enclosure contains two controllers.

The information in this document is not provided elsewhere. HP recommends that you read this information thoroughly. NOTE: M6612 and M6625 are the product names for the large form factor (LFF) and small form factor (SFF) disk enclosures for the P63x0/P65x0 EVA. However, the product name or model number can appear in HP P6000 Command View as D2600 or D2700. Update recommendation Recommended

Enhancements
vSphere Storage APIs - Array Integration (VAAI) on the P6300/P6500 EVAs: VAAI enables storage array offload capabilities that enhance performance through Full Copy, Block Zeroing, and Hardware Assisted Locking primitives and monitoring of thin-provisioned LUNs space usage. HP P6000 EVA Software Plug-In for VMware VAAI: Supported with XCS 10100000 controller software for both the P6000 EVA and the EVA4400/6400/8400 storage arrays and for use with vSphere 4.1, the HP P6000 EVA Software Plug-In supports the three original vSphere 4.1 VAAI primitives (Full Copy, Block Zeroing, and Hardware-Assisted Locking). NOTE: A plug-in is not required for VAAI support with vSphere 5.0 with either the P6000 EVA or EVA4400/6400/8400. Support is added for the new VAAI primitives available in vSphere 5.0: HP P6000 EVA and the EVA4400/6400/8400 arrays support the three original primitives along with the following new vSphere 5.0 primitives with XCS 10100000 firmware.

TP LUN Reporting: Provides notification of whether or not a LUN is a thin-provisioned LUN, without going back to a vendor's management tool to check. Out of Space Condition: Uses CHECK CONDITION status to pause a virtual machine when it runs out of space. This allows time to expand the associated volumes. Quota Exceeded Behavior: VMware provides alerts when certain thresholds are exceeded. These thresholds are set with the storage vendor's tools.
Description 3

NOTE:

Space Reclaim (UNMAP) is not supported.

Support for HP P6350 EVA and P6550 EVA storage systems Support for USGv6 connectivity with array-based management operating P6000 Command View 10.1 Support for 3 TB 7200 RPM Midline Hard Disk Drives

Compatibility and interoperability

XCS 1 1001000 requires HP P6000 Command View 10.1 or later. To purchase the software, contact your HP representative or go to the HP Command View EVA product page (http:// h18006.www1.hp.com/products/storage/software/cmdvieweva/index.html) for more information. XCS 1 1001000 requires iSCSI or iSCSI/FCoE module firmware 3.2.2.7 or later. To download the firmware, go to Software Depot >HP Storage> Storage Software >HP P6000 EVA 1G iSCSI and 10G iSCSI/FCoE Module Firmware.

Fixes (XCS 1 1001000)

Event logs
Corrected an issue where event 0x0c03000c was falsely generated for asynchronous replication DR groups: The specified Data Replication Group has transitioned to the Merging state because the Data Replication Destination Storage System is now accessible or resumed. Fixed issue where event 0x0c62000c was falsely generated: The members of the specified Source Data Replication Group have been re-presented to the host because the failsafe on link-down/power-up protection condition has been cleared with Suspend/Resume. Fixed issue where event 0x09e0b70e is falsely generated for virtual disks that are not thin provisioned during a shrink or expand process: A Storage System Virtual Disk's allocation alarm level threshold has been reached. Fixed issue in which controller events 0x070e0015 were logged when no ebits were set within the range of the host write: A range of ebits were set or cleared for a Logical Disk.

Controller termination
This section describes issues that can result in termination of controller operation. A single controller termination will result in a reduction of redundancy. A dual controller termination indicates a possibility of a data unavailable condition. A recursive termination will require manual intervention to address. Addressed an issue for the use of the VAAI XCOPY feature with LUNs that are greater than 2 TB in size. Addressed a USTL/CSM reset termination, which occurs when the XCS controller software does not receive a response after sending data to a host. Fixed an issue where arrays with a large number of disk drives will terminate with a watchdog timeout or where large disk groups can experience write latency, as seen by the host server when

Compatibility and interoperability

calculating the capacity of the disk group. The latency issue is not seen with disk groups containing 104 disks or less. Fixed an issue where an errant request from HP P6000 Command View to access an unused code development device causes the array to terminate. Fixed an issue where a Data Replication log capacity set to zero would cause a recursive termination condition. Fixed an issue where work which has been suspended by internal processes can be restarted and result in a controller termination. Fixed an issue where removing host presentation of a virtual disk can cause a virtual disk drive to become stalled, resulting in an inability to access a virtual disk. Fixed an issue in which a data replication group member cannot be removed under certain circumstances, and results in a system termination. Fixed issue in which inconsistent DR merge or log data caused a storage system crash. Fixed an issue in which a pending DR log merge caused a controller termination. Fixed issue in which a catastrophic failure of all device ports causes repeated controller restarts and loss of data access. Fixed issue that can result in a repeated controller termination if a controller termination occurs while a mirrored cache flush is in progress on the Continuous Access destination array. Fixed an issue that results in a CSM reset condition when an intersite link fails during removal of a virtual disk from a DR group. Fixed issue in which controllers encounter a recursive termination (TEC: 0x06710101) after back end SAS port reset. Fixed issue caused by updating disk drive firmware on a storage system with an unsupported version of HP P6000 Command View, which results in controller termination (TEC: 0x0b0f0122). Fixed issue in which a single disk group failure causes a termination of the controllers (TEC: 0x04d3011f) . Fixed issue where the storage system crashes during Continuous Access logging (TEC: 0x0442011f). Fixed issue in which a management server configured with a single path to the array can result in a dual controller termination if the path is lost (TEC: 0x0442011f). Fixed issue in which an aborted I/O causes controller termination (TEC: 423f010d). Fixed issue in which a force failover command to a Continuous Access member leads to a controller termination. Fixed issue in which an incorrect configuration of the inter-site link which causes the storage system to terminate (TEC: 0x0c460103) during a DR group creation. Fixed issue in which a Continuous Access group that is in a full copy state and has the defer copy attribute set causes a deadlock state when the controllers are attempting to boot. Fixed an issue in which while attempting to regenerate a failed drive, the storage system terminates (TEC: 0x07540100).

Continuous Access
Login
Fixed an issue which can occur due to a rejected fibre channel switch port login (PLOGI) which results in a PLOGI storm during Continuous Access remote array discovery.

Fixes (XCS 1 1001000)

Data replication group

Fixed an issue that rendered all other members of a data replication group inoperative when one or more members was already inoperative.

Unaffected virtual disk members usable after hardware failure

With the 1 1001000 controller software release, virtual disk members of a Continuous Access DR group that are not directly impacted by a hardware failure will be usable after the hardware failure is resolved. During the resolution process, the virtual disks that were marked as failed because of their association with the failed virtual disk in the DR group will be removed from the group. The virtual disks failed by association will transition to normal after being removed from the DR group and becoming accessible. For instance, if a DR group has a Vraid5 failed virtual disk (due to two non-RSS mirror pair disk members failing), all Vraid1/6 virtual disks data will be accessible upon completion of the hardware failure resolution process. In older XCS versions, the Vraid1/6 virtual disks were deleted during the hardware failure resolution process. The DR group and members affected by the hardware failure will be deleted during the hardware failure resolution process. The unaffected DR group members will be accessible to hosts for read/write access after removal from the failed DR group. If a DR group failover was performed prior to the hardware failure recovery process, it is possible to have LUNS with the same worldwide ID on two different P6000/EVA systems, which can be presented to the same host. If there are applications residing on a host that have access to both the source and destination sites that would not tolerate this situation, access to the LUNs in the DR group affected by the hardware failure should be prevented. This can be accomplished by either un-presenting the LUNs to the applications host or affecting changes to the SAN configuration.

HP P6000 Command View display

Fixed issue that prevented accurate display of a failed host port status in EVA P6000 Command View.

Disks (disk groups, virtual disks)

This section describes issues affecting physical and virtual disks or disk groups, which can lead to a range of behaviors including a loss of redundancy, performance impact, or data unavailability. With the 1 1001000 controller software release, any members of a Continuous Access DR group that are not directly impacted by a disk group meltdown will be usable after being removed from the affected DR group and after the associated DR group is deleted. For instance, if a disk group has a vraid5 meltdown (due to two non-RSS mirror pair disk members failing), all Vraid1/6 virtual disks data would still be accessible. In older XCS versions, the Vraid1/6 virtual disks would also need to be deleted. Fixed an issue where when creating a DR group, the destination host access is assigned as None, though it is specified as Readonly. Fixed an issue where too much spare capacity was reserved, returning disk group spare allocation to pre-XCS 10000000 levels. This change does not require user input. Fixed an issue where communication between SAS I/O modules is disrupted causing the I/O modules to stop responding. Modified read cache routine in which aggressive prefetching causes high drive latencies and performance degradation. Fixed issue with DR group metadata that can result in virtual disk inoperative conditions when other failures occur on the storage system. Fixed issue that results in a Unit Stalled Too Long (USTL) condition when a site failover occurs with automatic suspend on link down enabled.

Fixes (XCS 1 1001000)

Modified the device side recovery routine to prevent instability on one link from affecting the other link. Fixed issue where the failure of one backend port can cause the other port to also fail. Fixed an issue where metadata volumes were not properly promoted due to read errors on the source volume.

Hardware (replaceable parts, device ports, resynchronization)

This section describes issues affecting physical hardware, which can lead to incorrect condition handling, false condition reporting and similar events that may lead to incorrect device status reporting or replacement. Fixed issue in which some power supply, fan and battery status information was not properly reported when operating in single controller mode. Fixed an issue where firmware reports an incorrect LUN access state change while mastership of a LUN is still changing from one controller to another. Fixed an issue where performance metrics reported by the firmware are calculated incorrectly. Fixed an issue where the disk enclosure power supply threshold was set incorrectly, causing excessive power supply status messages to be logged. Fixed issue in which some transceivers from the AP712A expansion kit cause I/O module port errors upon installation. Earlier versions of the controller software did not report fan failures. Starting with XCS 1 1001000, fan failures are reported. After upgrading your controller software, if you notice fan errors, replace the fans.

Operating systems
For complete information about operating system specifications and supported configurations, see the Single Point of Connectivity Knowledge (SPOCK) at http://www.hp.com/storage/spock. You must log in to access SPOCK. If you do not already have an account, select Register to log in on the main page and follow the instructions. Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 Clusters running MSCS: HP P63x0/P65x0 storage systems FCoE connectivity configured to utilize the 10-GbE iSCSI/FCoE modules with V3.2.2.8 firmware are not supported.

Upgrade and downgrade paths

For details about supported upgrade paths to XCS 1 1001000, see Table 3.1, Upgrade support for controller software versions, in the HP P6000 Enterprise Virtual Array Compatibility Reference. For supported downgrade paths from XCS 1 1001000, see Table 3.2, Downgrade support for controller software versions in the compatibility reference. For upgrade instructions, see the HP Enterprise Virtual Array Updating Product Software Guide (XCS 1 1001000). You can download these documents from the following website: http://www.hp.com/support/manuals Under Storage, click Disk Storage Systems, and then under EVA P6000 Storage, select your storage system.

HP P6000 SmartStart
HP P6000 SmartStart is a disk-based wizard that you use on your Windows Server 2003 or 2008 system to install and configure HP P6000 Command View. You can use HP P6000 Command View to configure, manage, and monitor your storage system.

Operating systems

NOTE: When upgrading, the Device Addition Policy for disk groups must be set to Manual. See Checking the disk grouping policy in the HP Enterprise Virtual Array Updating Product Software Guide (XCS 1 1001000) for more information. A full restart of both controllers is required only one time after HP P6000 Command View and the management module software are installed on the management module of the EVA4400. This applies when upgrading to XCS 09006000 or later. Subsequent upgrades of controller software or management module software, or upgrading HP P6000 Command View on the management module, do not require another full restart. EVA4400s are shipped with HP P6000 Command View 9.2 or later pre-installed on the management module within the controller enclosure (for array-based management). The HP P6300/6500 EVA are shipped with HP P6000 Command View 9.4 or later pre-installed. The HP P6350/6550 EVA are shipped with HP P6000 Command View 10.1 or later pre-installed. You can use HP P6000 SmartStart to configure application servers.

NOTE:

To bypass the HP P6000 SmartStart interface and manually run the HP P6000 Command View installer, go to the \bin\installers\CV directory on the DVD. HP P6000 SmartStart installs HP MPIO EVA DSM, which enables you to provision storage from the storage system; and DSM Manager, which enables you to change the default settings of HP MPIO EVA DSM. For more information about HP P6000 SmartStart, see the latest product release notes, available at: http://www.hp.com/support/manuals Under storage, select Storage Software, and then under Storage Device Management Software, select HP P6000 SmartStart Storage Software.

SAN support
The HSV300 controller in the EVA4400 supports 2/4 Gb Fibre Channel communication, but requires 4 Gb SFPs in the controller host ports. The HSV300-S supports up to 8 Gb communication through the embedded switch ports. The HSV400 controller in the EVA6400 and the HSV450 controller in the EVA8400 are enabled for 4 Gb/s on each Fibre Channel host path, but will also support 2 Gb/s Fibre Channel host paths and components for backward compatibility. NOTE: 1 Gb path and components have specific configuration requirements. For more information on configuration requirements and support for 2 Gb and 4 Gb EVAs, see the HP SAN Design Reference Guide, which can be downloaded from the following website: http://www.hp.com/go/sdgmanuals

Supported Fibre Channel switches

For complete information on which Fibre Channel switches are supported, see the Single Point of Connectivity Knowledge (SPOCK) at http://www.hp.com/support/manuals. You must log in to access SPOCK. If you do not already have an account, select Register to log in on the main page and follow the instructions.

Supported disks
For information about disk drive support, see HP P6000 Enterprise Virtual Array Disk Drive Firmware Support, available on the HP Manuals website http://www.hp.com/support/manuals. Under storage, click Disk Storage Systems, and then under EVA P6000 Storage, select your EVA.
8 SAN support

Performance sizing
To configure your array for the intended disk models and host I/O workloads, contact your HP account support representative for consulting services and instructions. For additional information on performance and solutions, see the following HP websites: http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/arraywhitepapers.html http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/whitepapers.html

Workarounds
This section identifies important notes and workarounds for the EVA4400, EVA6400, and EVA8400. If you encounter difficulties with the workarounds, contact HP Services for assistance.

Hardware and controller software

Controller software version renditions
Although HP P6000 Command View displays the controller software version in the GUI using a period, such as 1 100.1000, other renditions of the version number, such as 1 1001000, 1 100 1000, and 1 1.00.10.00, may appear elsewhere.

Setting the controller power on behavior

In the HP P6000 Control Panel online help and user guide, the Controller power on behavior and Setting controller power on behavior sections describe the HP P6000 Control Panel feature that can be set so that the array boots up automatically when power is applied after a full shutdown. To further clarify this feature: If this feature is disabled and you turn on power to the array from the rack power distribution unit (PDU), only the disk enclosures boot up. With this feature enabled, the controllers will also boot up, making the entire array ready for use. If, after setting this feature, you remove the management module from its slot and reinsert it to reset power or you restart the management module from the HP P6000 Control Panel, only the controllers will automatically boot up after a full shutdown. In this scenario, you must ensure that the disk enclosures are powered up first; otherwise, the controller boot up process may be interrupted. After setting this HP P6000 Control Panel feature, if you have to shut down the array, perform the following steps: 1. Use HP P6000 Command View to shut down the controllers and disk enclosures. 2. Turn off power from the rack power distribution unit (PDU). 3. Turn on power from the rack PDU. After startup of the management module, the controllers will automatically start.

Stale Inquiry data issue after SSD firmware upgrade

After upgrading disk drive firmware on solid state disk drives, HP P6000 Command View may indicate that the upgrade was successful, but the disk drive properties page does not reflect the upgraded firmware version. To resolve this issue: 1. Upgrade the disk drive again. 2. Wait 10 minutes before checking the disk drive properties page to verify the correct firmware version is displaying. 3. If the problem persists, contact HP Support Engineering.

Performance sizing

Disk group occupancy allocation notification received on non-thin provisioned virtual disks
After expanding or shrinking a virtual disk, if the action exceeds the occupancy alarm level setting (either warning or critical), you may receive notification from P6000 Command View events and Insight Remote Support notifications. These events and notifications may be received even if the affected virtual disk is not a thin provisioned virtual disk. All notification alarms should be investigated and when it is determined that they apply to non-thin provisioned virtual disks, the alarm may be safely ignored.

Data Replication Protocol changes after controller software upgrade

In an HP P6000 Continuous Access configuration, the Data Replication Protocol may change to HP SCSI FC Compliant Data Replication Protocol when the array being upgraded to XCS 1 1001000 or later is: An EVA4400 that was initialized at a controller software version earlier than XCS 09500000 An EVA6400 or EVA8400 that was upgraded from an EVA4400 (data in place upgrade) and was initialized at a controller software version earlier than XCS 09500000. Data replication stops after the upgrade. There are no visible paths to the destination array. To determine if there are visible paths, select the Data Replication folder in the HP P6000 Command View navigation pane. When the Data Replication Properties Folder window opens in the content pane, select View remote connections.

Symptoms of this issue are:

To resolve this issue, you must set the protocol to HP FC Data Replication Protocol in HP P6000 Command View as follows: 1. Select the upgraded array in the EVA Storage Network Properties window. 2. Select the Data Replication folder in the navigation pane. The Data Replication Properties Folder window opens in the content pane. 3. 4. 5. 6. Select Data Replication Options. The Data Replication Options window opens. Select Set Data Replication Protocol. The Data Replication Protocol options window opens. Select HP FC Data Replication Protocol. Select Save Changes.

DR log progress bar percentage appears incorrect

Because the DR log can suddenly reach the full copy threshold, the percentage complete displayed by HP P6000 Command View can appear to be inaccurate. This is caused by overhead (or metadata) that is applied to the file and is included in the percent complete, which reduces the amount of capacity available. This overhead is more significant for smaller log files than larger log files because some of the overhead is constant in size. For example, a 5 GB minimum log size can contain 35 percent overhead, while a 40 GB log file might only contain 10 percent overhead. This could cause the progress bar in HP P6000 Command View to show a larger amount of progress than one would expect for the allocated log size.

Connectivity
This section describes workarounds for HBA, switch, and operating system connectivity. For the latest support information about connectivity, see the Single Point of Connectivity Knowledge (SPOCK) at http://www.hp.com/storage/spock. If you do not already have an account, select Register to log in on the main page and follow the instructions.

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Workarounds

HP P6000 Command View shutdown confirmation window

If you use Internet Explorer, the HP P6000 shutdown option confirmation window can appear with a transparent background, making it difficult to read because the information is superimposed over the existing window. To avoid this condition, add HP P6000 Command View to your list of trusted sites: 1. Open Internet Explorer and browse to the website you want to add as a trusted site. 2. Select ToolsInternet Options. 3. Click the Security tab. 4. Under Select a zone to view or change security settings, click Trusted sites, and then click Sites. 5. If the URL does not populate the Add this website to the zone box, enter https://servername, or IP:2374, and then click Add. 6. Click Close, and then click OK.

Aborted I/O cause multipath failures in Linux environments

In heavily loaded Linux environments, when the array reaches QUEUE FULL status, the host might interpret the event as aborted I/Os. Device Mapper on the Linux hosts might interpret these aborts as path failures, and disable the path from where the Abort was received and in turn retry the I/O on another path. The disabled path is re-instated after the next multipath polling interval.

Connecting a P6000 EVA as external storage

If an HP P6000 EVA is connected as external storage to a P9500 XP array, updating the P6000 EVA to XCS 1 1001000 or later can result in reports on an unsupported EVA and access to the external volumes from P6000 EVA to be lost. XCS 1 1001000 or later support requires: RAID700 (P9500) firmware 70-03-34-00/00 or later. RAID600 (XP24000/XP20000) firmware version that supports XCS 1 1001000 or later. Consult with your HP representative for the supported version. RAID500 (XP12000/XP10000/SVS200) firmware version that supports XCS 1 1001000 or later. Consult with your HP representative for the supported version.

The XP firmware upgrades must be installed on the P9500 XP prior to upgrading to XCS1 1001000.

Use HP DSM driver in failover clustering environment

In a Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering environment, use the HP DSM driver only; do not use Microsoft DSM. For more information, see the Microsoft Technet article, Understanding MPIO Features and Components, at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee619734(WS.10).aspx

Using HP P6000 Command View on a Windows 2008 guest system on ESX 4.1
When using HP P6000 Command View on a Windows 2008 guest on ESX 4.1, use one of the following methods to upgrade the firmware: The Array-Based Management module Physical server-based HP P6000 Command View Direct Path I/O mapping from ESX (requires supported hardware on the ESX server)

Symantec VxFS file system

For information about thin provisioning support on the VxFS file system, see the Symantec support and best practices documentation at http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=home.

Workarounds

1 1

RHEL 6.1 K option

For the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.1 operating system, you must use the -K option when creating a file system on a thin provisioning LUN. This affects all ext# file system versions of RHEL 6.1.

RHEL 6.1 Boot from SAN

BFS on thin provisioning LUNs is not supported with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.1 operating system.

Windows 2003 server requires hotfix

If the management server is running Microsoft Windows 2003, HP P6000 Command View may not display any array. To resolve this issue, you must install a Microsoft hotfix. Go to the following link for details and the hotfix download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/9451 19 If you are using the server for storage only, not as a management server, you do not need to install this hotfix.

HP MPIO EVA DSM requirement

HP strongly recommends that you always install the latest version of HP MPIO EVA DSM on all Windows servers. The available MPIO DSM has exhibited LUN path failures on rare occasions. These LUN path failures were not observed with HP MPIO P6000 DSM Version 4.02.00. NOTE: If you use HP P6000 SmartStart to install HP P6000 Command View on a Windows 2003 or 2008 management server, HP MPIO P6000 DSM 4.02.00 and DSM Manager are installed automatically. You can download the latest DSM Manager and HP MPIO P6000 DSM from the following HP website: http://www.hp.com/support/downloads 1. Under Storage, select Storage Software. 2. Under Storage Infrastructure Software, select Other Multi-Path Software-Windows. 3. Select Windows MPIO DSM for EVA. 4. Select the appropriate Windows operating system. 5. Do one of the following: For MPIO DSM, select HP MPIO Full Featured DSM for P6000 EVA Disk Arrays. For DSM Manager, select HP MPIO DSM (Device Specific Module) Manager for Full Featured DSMs.

See the release notes included with the download file for more information.

Effective date
June 2012

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Effective date