In support we regularly see this kind of error being reported by customers.
There are situations, where certain host OS did encounter access loss upon e.g. node reboots during code upgrade, while other types of hosts attached to the same SpecV system hardly noticed an SVC node going offline.
Without any blaming in mind, I dare say VMware ESX hosts appear to be affected more often than others. This may be, however, due to the wide distribution of ESX in the field.
There is one general recommendation related to VMware ESX hosts I tend to share with customers when it comes to any kind of access loss problems:
At any time, make sure the host is operating with the latest and greatest VMware set of updates, especially HBA driver updates, provided by either as VMware udpate package or by the HBA vendor.
Last not least, I was working with customers in similar situations which eventually resulted in software fixes built by VMware to address specific errors.
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Christian Schroeder
IBM SpecV Storage Support with Passion
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Original Message:
Sent: Mon November 28, 2022 12:42 PM
From: Jonathan Fosburgh
Subject: Path loss in an NPIV fully enabled environment
A few weeks back, we upgraded an SVC, and some ESX servers experienced path loss. NPIV is fully enabled on that SVC, so we know they are using the virtual port. Unfortunately, we didn't really think about the fact that this shouldn't have happened until it was too late to collect snaps, etc.
Has anyone else experienced this? Any thoughts on where to look?
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Jonathan Fosburgh, MS, CAPM
Principal Application System Analyst
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston TX
713-745-9346
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