Originally posted by: cmeyer

I am trying to keep an F50 running AIX 5.3 operational. It has 10 internal SSA disks that were configured as a RAID-5 array. One disk failed (electronics) and AIX coule no longer see the drive (showed as missing). I deleted the device and (rmdev), the disk was replaced, and ran cfgmgr. The disk now shows up as a member of an unknown array (when listing physical disks and trying to change the role of the disk). I have off-loaded all the data, deleted all the known array definitions, deleted all the disks and even the SSA controller. After running cfgmgr, everything comes back and I have 9 free disks and 1 disk that is a member of that undefined array. How do I get the system to see this disk as an array candidate (or anything other than an array member)?
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Originally posted by: PontiacGeronimo

hmmm...
I don't remember how it was but maybe you should change type of drive usage from raid memeber to aix/system one...

as far as I remember menu was somwhere in:

smitty ssaraid

and then in an option for use of an ssa physical disk change you should be able to change disk usage from raid candidate to system disk...
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Originally posted by: cmeyer

I have already been there as that is how you marke them as a system, array candidate, or hot spare. The problem is you cannot change a disk that is already a member of an array. Since the system thinks this disk is a member of an array, you do not have the option of changing its mode.
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Originally posted by: Casey_B

It has been too many years since I wrangled with SSA.

This seems like it was a common problem that I knew the answer to, but have since forgot.

My first thought is to format the drive using diag.

As it's been at least 8 years since I touched an SSA drive, so use my advice at your own risk.

Good luck,
Casey
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Originally posted by: cmeyer

I had the same thought in using diag - however diag thinks that it is a member of an array and won't let me run diag until it is dropped. Same thing as when I try to change the mode of the disk. Interesting thing is that it will let me delete the device and then add it back, again showing as showing as a member of the bogus array. Of course, while deleted you can't do anything with it as it no longer shows up.
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Originally posted by: PontiacGeronimo

can you try this?
Link
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Originally posted by: cmeyer

I have tried all the ideas suggested so far and none are successful. It appears that all the smitty ssa options as well as diag believe the disk to be in use so you can't touch it. I think it might be an issue somewhere in the ODM (or similar) but I can't seem to find where this information is hidden.

Any more suggestions?
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Originally posted by: RichardRoss

One more thing that you might try:

smitty ssaraid

• List/Delete Old RAID Arrays Recorded in an SSA RAID Manager
• Delete an Old RAID Array Recorded in an SSA RAID Manager
• F4 (to view pick-list of old RAID arrays)
• select
• <enter>.

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Originally posted by: cmeyer

Just gave that a try - when I hit F4 I get "There are no items of this type to display". This is consistent with other tries to Remove Member Disks, etc.
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Originally posted by: cmeyer

Thought I would give some additional information and try one more time to see if anyone has any ideas.

Going into "smit ssaraid - Change/Show use of an SSA Physical Disk" I get the following pop-up to select from.

Move cursor to desired item and press Enter.

TOP

#################################################

# SSA physical disks that are members of arrays.

# Disks in Loop A are:

pdisk0 002035E254B600D member good 9.1GB disk

#################################################

# SSA physical disks that are free.

# Disks in Loop A are:

pdisk1 002035E2876500D free good 9.1GB disk

pdisk2 0040AA23F28C00D free good 9.1GB disk

pdisk3 0040AA23F6EB00D free good 9.1GB disk

http://MORE...9

I select pdisk0 (the disk that was replaced) and get -

Change/Show Use of an SSA Physical Disk

Type or select values in entry fields.
Press Enter AFTER making all desired changes.

Entry Fields
SSA RAID Manager ssa0
SSA Physical Disk pdisk0
Current Use Member of an SSA RAID>
Parent Array Oracle Index__K

Note the parent array name. I can then try and list that array under "List All Defined", "List/Delete Old", "Change/Show Attributes of an SSA RAID Array", plus any other command I can find and everything shows that there is currently no defined RAID Arrays.

I tried reloading microcode, deleting the disk (rmdev -dl), rebooting, diag... I am about to the point of saying the machine can't be recovered. I hate thinking the machine beat me.
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Originally posted by: tony.evans

I know you said you checked the ODM, did you search for the array name? Also, do you know from smit what command is used to generate the list in "smit ssaraid - Change/Show use of an SSA Physical Disk"?
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Originally posted by: cmeyer

Yes, I have searched for the array name as well as the disk and can find nothing. It is almost as if the information is coming off the disk itself. I can;t format the disk because it is flagged as in use.

Per your suggestion I have tried to determine how smit is generating the list but smit.script and smit.transaction are empty and smit.log just shows menus, no commands.

Jun 02 2011, 09:54:28
Starting SMIT

(Menu screen selected as FastPath,
id = "dev",
id_seq_num = "720",
next_id = "ssaraid",
title = "SSA RAID Arrays".)

(Menu screen selected,
FastPath = "ssaraid",
id_seq_num = "720",
next_id = "ssaraid",
title = "SSA RAID Arrays".)

(Selector screen selected,
FastPath = "chgssadisk",
id = "chgssadisk",
next_id = "chgssadisk1",
title = "Change/Show Use of an SSA Physical Disk".)
(Selector screen selected,
FastPath = "chgssadisk",
id = "chgssadisk1",
next_id = "chgssadisk_",
title = "Change/Show Use of an SSA Physical Disk".)

(Dialogue screen selected,
FastPath = "chgssadisk",
id = "chgssadisk_member",
title = "Change/Show Use of an SSA Physical Disk".)

Jun 02 2011, 09:55:01
Exiting SMIT
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Originally posted by: dave-e

I don't know if this will help - haven't played with SSA for years but I found an old technote "Replacing a Disk in an SSA RAID5 Array"
https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1000262
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Originally posted by: styerd

Sorry, can't help you with your real problem but you might find this useful to help determine what SMIT is actually doing:
truss -af smitty chgssadisk 2>/tmp/smit.out
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Originally posted by: cmeyer

I found the command the gets the data listing the device as a member of a disk. What I don't know is where the command retrieves the information from.

/usr/ssa/ssaraid/bin/ssainfo -f ssa05 -l ssa0 -n 002035E254B600D

returns

class:name:id:manager:blocksize:size:state:percentage:use:member_state:network_id:fastwrite:blocksize:fw_start_block:fw_end_block:fw_max_length:fw_allow_delete:fw_mirror_enable:fw_cache_fsw:bypass_cache_if_oneway
disk:pdisk0:002035E254B600D:ssa0:512:9.1GB:good::member::A:off::::::::

If I can find where and how the 9th field gets populated, I might be able to change it.
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Originally posted by: tony.evans

Have you run lsattr -El against the pdisk? Probably not useful, but just wondered if there was any information there.

It's so long since I had to deal with SSA RAID that I've forgotten most of it I'm afraid. However, it's likely if the data truly isn't in the ODM, that it's on the disk. Do you have another machine you could slot the disk into and see if the errant information is transferred to that machine too?
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Originally posted by: cmeyer

lsattr doesn't give any usefull information that I don't already have. I am with you in that I think it may be on the disk, not in ODM.

The idea of slotting it into another system sounds like a good idea to see if the bogus data moves with it. I believe I have one I can use.
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