Global Storage

Hello:

We have a Flashsystem 5045 storage directly attached to a IBM POWER9 that has 2 4ports 16Gbps fiber channel cards, and each card is attached to a VIOS, so we have 2 VIOS using 4 port fiber-channel ports.

The 8 fiber-channel ports (4 for each controller) are connected this way (in order to have no SPOF):

Port 1 controller 1 is connected to port 1 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 1 is connected to port 2 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 1 is connected to port 1 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 1 is connected to port 2 second FC POWER9 card

Port 1 controller 2 is connected to port 3 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 2 is connected to port 4 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 2 is connected to port 3 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 2 is connected to port 4 second FC POWER9 card

The issue raises when we start the VIOS and try to connect each VIOS to the FS5045. We creatd two hosts, VIOS1 and VIOS2 and the FC cards are autodetectd, so in each hosts we add 4 WWN corresponding to each port of the FC cards of the POWER9. Then we create volumes, attach them to each VIOS and then we boot and install VIOS OS and everything without issues. Ports are direct attached and are negotiating at 16 Gbps.

BUT, if we list the HOST on the FS5045 GUI, the Hosts are online with the green "OK" but if we enter to properties, and select "Ports" tab, the 4 ports appear as DEGRADED and yellow sign. 

The access is normal, we installed several LPARs and VIOS don't show any errors, nor errpt issues, but the FS5045 is reporting DEGRADED status in the ports. FS5045 also don't report any issues. The FS5045 has 8.6.0.0 firmware. The machine is working in NPIV mode.

So, my question is: How can we solve the DEGRADED status of each ports and get the ONLINE and "green" status?

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta

Hi Urtzi,

have you tired this: click Monitor > Events in the management GUI. This action displays a list of unfixed errors that are currently in the event log. For these unfixed errors, select the error name to begin a guided maintenance procedure to resolve them.

Bests

Justyna

Hello:

We have a Flashsystem 5045 storage directly attached to a IBM POWER9 that has 2 4ports 16Gbps fiber channel cards, and each card is attached to a VIOS, so we have 2 VIOS using 4 port fiber-channel ports.

The 8 fiber-channel ports (4 for each controller) are connected this way (in order to have no SPOF):

Port 1 controller 1 is connected to port 1 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 1 is connected to port 2 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 1 is connected to port 1 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 1 is connected to port 2 second FC POWER9 card

Port 1 controller 2 is connected to port 3 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 2 is connected to port 4 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 2 is connected to port 3 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 2 is connected to port 4 second FC POWER9 card

The issue raises when we start the VIOS and try to connect each VIOS to the FS5045. We creatd two hosts, VIOS1 and VIOS2 and the FC cards are autodetectd, so in each hosts we add 4 WWN corresponding to each port of the FC cards of the POWER9. Then we create volumes, attach them to each VIOS and then we boot and install VIOS OS and everything without issues. Ports are direct attached and are negotiating at 16 Gbps.

BUT, if we list the HOST on the FS5045 GUI, the Hosts are online with the green "OK" but if we enter to properties, and select "Ports" tab, the 4 ports appear as DEGRADED and yellow sign. 

The access is normal, we installed several LPARs and VIOS don't show any errors, nor errpt issues, but the FS5045 is reporting DEGRADED status in the ports. FS5045 also don't report any issues. The FS5045 has 8.6.0.0 firmware. The machine is working in NPIV mode.

So, my question is: How can we solve the DEGRADED status of each ports and get the ONLINE and "green" status?

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta

Hello, Justyna:

That is the first thing I've done, but no, there are NO events recorded. Everything is just working fine, but ports appear as Degraded and we don't know why. Do you have another advise in order to check?

Thank you ina dvance.

Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta

Hi Urtzi,

have you tired this: click Monitor > Events in the management GUI. This action displays a list of unfixed errors that are currently in the event log. For these unfixed errors, select the error name to begin a guided maintenance procedure to resolve them.

Bests

Justyna

Hello:

We have a Flashsystem 5045 storage directly attached to a IBM POWER9 that has 2 4ports 16Gbps fiber channel cards, and each card is attached to a VIOS, so we have 2 VIOS using 4 port fiber-channel ports.

The 8 fiber-channel ports (4 for each controller) are connected this way (in order to have no SPOF):

Port 1 controller 1 is connected to port 1 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 1 is connected to port 2 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 1 is connected to port 1 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 1 is connected to port 2 second FC POWER9 card

Port 1 controller 2 is connected to port 3 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 2 is connected to port 4 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 2 is connected to port 3 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 2 is connected to port 4 second FC POWER9 card

The issue raises when we start the VIOS and try to connect each VIOS to the FS5045. We creatd two hosts, VIOS1 and VIOS2 and the FC cards are autodetectd, so in each hosts we add 4 WWN corresponding to each port of the FC cards of the POWER9. Then we create volumes, attach them to each VIOS and then we boot and install VIOS OS and everything without issues. Ports are direct attached and are negotiating at 16 Gbps.

BUT, if we list the HOST on the FS5045 GUI, the Hosts are online with the green "OK" but if we enter to properties, and select "Ports" tab, the 4 ports appear as DEGRADED and yellow sign. 

The access is normal, we installed several LPARs and VIOS don't show any errors, nor errpt issues, but the FS5045 is reporting DEGRADED status in the ports. FS5045 also don't report any issues. The FS5045 has 8.6.0.0 firmware. The machine is working in NPIV mode.

So, my question is: How can we solve the DEGRADED status of each ports and get the ONLINE and "green" status?

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta

Hello:

We have a Flashsystem 5045 storage directly attached to a IBM POWER9 that has 2 4ports 16Gbps fiber channel cards, and each card is attached to a VIOS, so we have 2 VIOS using 4 port fiber-channel ports.

The 8 fiber-channel ports (4 for each controller) are connected this way (in order to have no SPOF):

Port 1 controller 1 is connected to port 1 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 1 is connected to port 2 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 1 is connected to port 1 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 1 is connected to port 2 second FC POWER9 card

Port 1 controller 2 is connected to port 3 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 2 is connected to port 4 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 2 is connected to port 3 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 2 is connected to port 4 second FC POWER9 card

The issue raises when we start the VIOS and try to connect each VIOS to the FS5045. We creatd two hosts, VIOS1 and VIOS2 and the FC cards are autodetectd, so in each hosts we add 4 WWN corresponding to each port of the FC cards of the POWER9. Then we create volumes, attach them to each VIOS and then we boot and install VIOS OS and everything without issues. Ports are direct attached and are negotiating at 16 Gbps.

BUT, if we list the HOST on the FS5045 GUI, the Hosts are online with the green "OK" but if we enter to properties, and select "Ports" tab, the 4 ports appear as DEGRADED and yellow sign. 

The access is normal, we installed several LPARs and VIOS don't show any errors, nor errpt issues, but the FS5045 is reporting DEGRADED status in the ports. FS5045 also don't report any issues. The FS5045 has 8.6.0.0 firmware. The machine is working in NPIV mode.

So, my question is: How can we solve the DEGRADED status of each ports and get the ONLINE and "green" status?

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta

Are you having any trouble with the NPIV/Virtual FC client lpars?  

The reason I ask is that I am pretty sure NPIV over a direct connection to PowerVM (VIOS) is not supported.  See https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/direct-attached-storage-vios-npiv-clients

The issue is the FlashSystems incorporate a limited function NPIV controller, but it is not a full function NPIV controller as you'd get in a SAN switch.  This tricks the VIOS into thinking that all is well, including response to the lsnports command, but it does not support the full function required for NPIV.

Checking your configuration on the SSIC link in the support page referenced above is a good step as it may also depend on the specific adapters you are using.  In any case you really should open a support ticket -- this is not the sort of question you're likely to get a definitive answer to in this forum.

I have spent a fair amount of time researching this issue due to restrictions on direct connections in the non-LTS 8.6.1+ firmware levels.  I know that in small configurations, direct connect is often desirable to eliminate the cost of a switch, but building a small switch (or two) into your configuration smooths over a lot of potential problems.  It also gives you a monitoring point for traffic and error statistics and makes future system and storage migrations much easier.

Hello:

We have a Flashsystem 5045 storage directly attached to a IBM POWER9 that has 2 4ports 16Gbps fiber channel cards, and each card is attached to a VIOS, so we have 2 VIOS using 4 port fiber-channel ports.

The 8 fiber-channel ports (4 for each controller) are connected this way (in order to have no SPOF):

Port 1 controller 1 is connected to port 1 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 1 is connected to port 2 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 1 is connected to port 1 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 1 is connected to port 2 second FC POWER9 card

Port 1 controller 2 is connected to port 3 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 2 is connected to port 4 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 2 is connected to port 3 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 2 is connected to port 4 second FC POWER9 card

The issue raises when we start the VIOS and try to connect each VIOS to the FS5045. We creatd two hosts, VIOS1 and VIOS2 and the FC cards are autodetectd, so in each hosts we add 4 WWN corresponding to each port of the FC cards of the POWER9. Then we create volumes, attach them to each VIOS and then we boot and install VIOS OS and everything without issues. Ports are direct attached and are negotiating at 16 Gbps.

BUT, if we list the HOST on the FS5045 GUI, the Hosts are online with the green "OK" but if we enter to properties, and select "Ports" tab, the 4 ports appear as DEGRADED and yellow sign. 

The access is normal, we installed several LPARs and VIOS don't show any errors, nor errpt issues, but the FS5045 is reporting DEGRADED status in the ports. FS5045 also don't report any issues. The FS5045 has 8.6.0.0 firmware. The machine is working in NPIV mode.

So, my question is: How can we solve the DEGRADED status of each ports and get the ONLINE and "green" status?

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta

Thank you for your reply, Vincent:

We actually use VIOS and Flashsystems volumes as a virtual disks (that is, we have vhosts with hdiskX disks mapped from the FlashSystem) and no NPIV volumes really mapped, so we have no issues. This question arised because the customer had a 5030 with NPIV deactivated and ports worked properly in online stattus, and we migrated the 5030 to the 5045 with NPIV enabled by default and with this result, ports degraaded. But the Flashsystems are working well, I think it's only a "cosmetic" degradation...

But you are right, better open a Case in IBM to help me solve this situation.

Thank you for all.

Best Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta

Are you having any trouble with the NPIV/Virtual FC client lpars?  

The reason I ask is that I am pretty sure NPIV over a direct connection to PowerVM (VIOS) is not supported.  See https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/direct-attached-storage-vios-npiv-clients

The issue is the FlashSystems incorporate a limited function NPIV controller, but it is not a full function NPIV controller as you'd get in a SAN switch.  This tricks the VIOS into thinking that all is well, including response to the lsnports command, but it does not support the full function required for NPIV.

Checking your configuration on the SSIC link in the support page referenced above is a good step as it may also depend on the specific adapters you are using.  In any case you really should open a support ticket -- this is not the sort of question you're likely to get a definitive answer to in this forum.

I have spent a fair amount of time researching this issue due to restrictions on direct connections in the non-LTS 8.6.1+ firmware levels.  I know that in small configurations, direct connect is often desirable to eliminate the cost of a switch, but building a small switch (or two) into your configuration smooths over a lot of potential problems.  It also gives you a monitoring point for traffic and error statistics and makes future system and storage migrations much easier.

Hello:

We have a Flashsystem 5045 storage directly attached to a IBM POWER9 that has 2 4ports 16Gbps fiber channel cards, and each card is attached to a VIOS, so we have 2 VIOS using 4 port fiber-channel ports.

The 8 fiber-channel ports (4 for each controller) are connected this way (in order to have no SPOF):

Port 1 controller 1 is connected to port 1 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 1 is connected to port 2 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 1 is connected to port 1 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 1 is connected to port 2 second FC POWER9 card

Port 1 controller 2 is connected to port 3 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 2 is connected to port 4 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 2 is connected to port 3 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 2 is connected to port 4 second FC POWER9 card

The issue raises when we start the VIOS and try to connect each VIOS to the FS5045. We creatd two hosts, VIOS1 and VIOS2 and the FC cards are autodetectd, so in each hosts we add 4 WWN corresponding to each port of the FC cards of the POWER9. Then we create volumes, attach them to each VIOS and then we boot and install VIOS OS and everything without issues. Ports are direct attached and are negotiating at 16 Gbps.

BUT, if we list the HOST on the FS5045 GUI, the Hosts are online with the green "OK" but if we enter to properties, and select "Ports" tab, the 4 ports appear as DEGRADED and yellow sign. 

The access is normal, we installed several LPARs and VIOS don't show any errors, nor errpt issues, but the FS5045 is reporting DEGRADED status in the ports. FS5045 also don't report any issues. The FS5045 has 8.6.0.0 firmware. The machine is working in NPIV mode.

So, my question is: How can we solve the DEGRADED status of each ports and get the ONLINE and "green" status?

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta

Hello:

We have a Flashsystem 5045 storage directly attached to a IBM POWER9 that has 2 4ports 16Gbps fiber channel cards, and each card is attached to a VIOS, so we have 2 VIOS using 4 port fiber-channel ports.

The 8 fiber-channel ports (4 for each controller) are connected this way (in order to have no SPOF):

Port 1 controller 1 is connected to port 1 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 1 is connected to port 2 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 1 is connected to port 1 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 1 is connected to port 2 second FC POWER9 card

Port 1 controller 2 is connected to port 3 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 2 is connected to port 4 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 2 is connected to port 3 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 2 is connected to port 4 second FC POWER9 card

The issue raises when we start the VIOS and try to connect each VIOS to the FS5045. We creatd two hosts, VIOS1 and VIOS2 and the FC cards are autodetectd, so in each hosts we add 4 WWN corresponding to each port of the FC cards of the POWER9. Then we create volumes, attach them to each VIOS and then we boot and install VIOS OS and everything without issues. Ports are direct attached and are negotiating at 16 Gbps.

BUT, if we list the HOST on the FS5045 GUI, the Hosts are online with the green "OK" but if we enter to properties, and select "Ports" tab, the 4 ports appear as DEGRADED and yellow sign. 

The access is normal, we installed several LPARs and VIOS don't show any errors, nor errpt issues, but the FS5045 is reporting DEGRADED status in the ports. FS5045 also don't report any issues. The FS5045 has 8.6.0.0 firmware. The machine is working in NPIV mode.

So, my question is: How can we solve the DEGRADED status of each ports and get the ONLINE and "green" status?

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta

Hi Urtzi

Earlier, I configured the same with FS5045 storage and a P8 server with a single VIOS. In a similar configuration, I faced the same issue with the online host and degraded ports for all hosts in P8 servers (VIOS and multiple LPARS).

As per my knowledge, this is a limitation (or say, normal behavior) for the directly connected storage as the single port of a host won't be able to communicate to both controllers of storage in any case. Also, as a host can communicate with both controllers of storage using multiple different ports there is no SPOF.

Hello:

We have a Flashsystem 5045 storage directly attached to a IBM POWER9 that has 2 4ports 16Gbps fiber channel cards, and each card is attached to a VIOS, so we have 2 VIOS using 4 port fiber-channel ports.

The 8 fiber-channel ports (4 for each controller) are connected this way (in order to have no SPOF):

Port 1 controller 1 is connected to port 1 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 1 is connected to port 2 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 1 is connected to port 1 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 1 is connected to port 2 second FC POWER9 card

Port 1 controller 2 is connected to port 3 first FC POWER9 card

Port 2 controller 2 is connected to port 4 first FC POWER9 card

Port 3 controller 2 is connected to port 3 second FC POWER9 card

Port 4 controller 2 is connected to port 4 second FC POWER9 card

The issue raises when we start the VIOS and try to connect each VIOS to the FS5045. We creatd two hosts, VIOS1 and VIOS2 and the FC cards are autodetectd, so in each hosts we add 4 WWN corresponding to each port of the FC cards of the POWER9. Then we create volumes, attach them to each VIOS and then we boot and install VIOS OS and everything without issues. Ports are direct attached and are negotiating at 16 Gbps.

BUT, if we list the HOST on the FS5045 GUI, the Hosts are online with the green "OK" but if we enter to properties, and select "Ports" tab, the 4 ports appear as DEGRADED and yellow sign. 

The access is normal, we installed several LPARs and VIOS don't show any errors, nor errpt issues, but the FS5045 is reporting DEGRADED status in the ports. FS5045 also don't report any issues. The FS5045 has 8.6.0.0 firmware. The machine is working in NPIV mode.

So, my question is: How can we solve the DEGRADED status of each ports and get the ONLINE and "green" status?

Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Urtzi Larrieta