[Info-vax] P400 on DS10/DS15

John H. Reinhardt johnhreinhardt at thereinhardts.org
Sat Aug 8 19:15:11 EDT 2020


On 5/3/2020 4:28 PM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
> On 4/9/2020 7:07 PM, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
>> On 4/9/2020 2:49 PM, Rod Regier wrote:
>>> These days I'm looking for NOS 73G and above 15K 80pin 3.5 form factor SCSI.
>>>
>>> Yup - unobtainium :-(
>>>
>>>                      \\
>>>
>>> I'm getting close to trialing a SATA SSD solution for RX2600 units w/OVMS boot support (new P410i PCIe controller and PCIX to PCIe adapter plus cabling).  The SATA drives will be deployed in an external enclosure.  I have a bill of materials drafted.  Parts are trickling in for the bench trial.
>>>
>>> Alas, no Alpha boot support and even to use as a data disk requires 3.3V PCIx buss on DS15 and above.
>>>
>>> See this thread:
>>>
>>> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.os.vms/t7Mu4kEYTrw
>>>
>> Both the DS10 and the DS15 have the same PCI buss.  From the Technical Summary documents on both, it's a PCI V2.1 compliant bus supporting either %.0V or 3.3V PCI cards.
>>
>> But all the PICe to PCI converter boards I see say they are PCI V2.3 compliant so I don't know if they would work with the DS10/15 PCI bus.
>>
>> This one is common on Amazon in the US StarTech PCIPEX1 - <https://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/Slot-Extension/PCI-to-PCI-Express-Adapter-Card~PCI1PEX1>
>>
>> Is there any chance a DS10 with V8.4 (HP, not VSI) could boot from a P400 or P800 series SATA HBA?
>>
> 
> Some limited success with OpenVMS Alpha V8.4.  After updating the SYS$SYSTEM:SYS$USER_CONFIG.DAT with:
> 
> device        = "Smart Array P-series P400"
> name          = PK
> driver        = SYS$PKRDRIVER
> adapter       = PCI
> id            = 0x3230103C
> boot_class    = DK
> boot_flags    = HW_CTRL_LTR, UNIT_0
> flags         = CISS, PORT
> end_device
> 
> device        = "Smart Array P-series PMC PCIe"
> name          = PK
> driver        = SYS$PKRDRIVER
> adapter       = PCI
> id            = 0x323A103C
> boot_class    = DK
> boot_flags    = HW_CTRL_LTR, UNIT_0
> flags         = CISS, PORT
> end_device
> 
> And rebooting, I now have:
> 
> $ show dev p
> 
> Device                  Device           Error
>   Name                   Status           Count
> PKB0:                   Online               0
> PKA0:                   Online               0
> PGA0:                   Online               0
> PGB0:                   Online               0
> PKC0:                   Online               0
> 
> 
> PKA0: is the Smart Array P410. PKB0: and PKC0: are the two channels for the 3X-KZPEA Adaptec SCSI.
> 
> $ show dev/full pka0:
> 
> Device PKA0:, device type HP Smart Array, is online, error logging is enabled.
> 
>      Error count                    0    Operations completed               2854
>      Owner process                 ""    Owner UIC                      [SYSTEM]
>      Owner process ID        00000000    Dev Prot              S:RWPL,O:RWPL,G,W
>      Reference count                0    Default buffer size               65535
>      Current preferred CPU Id       0    Fastpath                              1
>      Current Interrupt CPU Id       0
> 
> Still no disks showing up, of course.
> 
> $ show dev d
> 
> Device                  Device           Error    Volume         Free  Trans Mnt
>   Name                   Status           Count     Label        Blocks Count Cnt
> ASIMOV$DKB0:            Mounted              0  ASIMOV084     14419878   313   1
> ASIMOV$DKB100:          Online               0
> ASIMOV$DVA0:            Online               0
> ASIMOV$DQA0:            Online               0
> ASIMOV$DQA1:            Offline              1
> ASIMOV$DQB0:            Offline              1
> ASIMOV$DQB1:            Offline              1
> ASIMOV$DKC0:            Online               0
> 
> 
> So now when I run MSA$UTIL things work better.
> 
> $ mcr MSA$UTIL
> 
> MSA> show controller
> 
> Adapter: _PKA0: (DEFAULT)
>     P410             (c) HP                        PACCRID125002W7 Software 6.00
>     Port Address: 50014380-22aa92a0
> Supported Redundancy Mode:   Not Available.
> Cache:
>     912 megabyte read/write cache
>     Cache is not configured, and Cache is disabled.
>     No unflushed data in cache.
> Battery:
>     Battery is fully charged.
> MSA>
> 
> My two Samsung 860EVO 256GB SSD disk show up as expected in bays 5 & 6 in the 6-bay SATA enclosure.
> 
> MSA> show disks
> 
>   SATA device                                             [Disk]
>   Disk 25505: bus: 1, Target id: 4, Port: 2I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 5,  size 232.89 [250.06]GB
>    Disk 25505, # 0, size 488331632 blocks, (232.85 [250.03] GB), Unused.
> 
>   SATA device                                             [Disk]
>   Disk 25506: bus: 1, Target id: 5, Port: 2I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 6,  size 232.89 [250.06]GB
>    Disk 25506, # 0, size 488331632 blocks, (232.85 [250.03] GB), Unused.
> 
> Here's where things go bad again.  Trying to make units of the disks.
> 
> MSA> add unit 1000/disk=25505/jbod/partition=0
> Specified disk is not a Valid disk
> MSA> add unit 1000/disk=25505/jbod/partition=0/size=32gb
> Specified disk is not a Valid disk
> MSA> add unit 1000/disk=25505/jbod
> Specified disk is not a Valid disk
> MSA> add unit 1000/disk=25505/raid=1
> Specified disk is not a Valid disk
> MSA> add unit 1000/disk=25505
> Specified disk is not a Valid disk
> MSA> add unit 1000/disk=2550
> Specified disk is not a Valid disk
> MSA> add unit 1000/disk=5
> The selected controller does not support this unit number only supports 64 units
> MSA> add unit 10/disk=5/jbod
> A non-existant/invalid partition was specified.
> Partition numbers for units on a disk should be sequential.
> Please create units with appropriate partition numbers.
> MSA> add unit 10/disk=5/jbod/partition=0
> A non-existant/invalid partition was specified.
> Partition numbers for units on a disk should be sequential.
> Please create units with appropriate partition numbers.
> MSA> show disk 5
> Disk 5 does not exist
> MSA> show disk 255
> Disk 255 does not exist
> MSA> show disk 2555
> Specified disk is not a Valid disk
> MSA> show disk 25505
> Specified disk is not a Valid disk
> MSA> show disks
> 
>   SATA device                                             [Disk]
>   Disk 25505: bus: 1, Target id: 4, Port: 2I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 5,  size 232.89 [250.06]GB
>    Disk 25505, # 0, size 488331632 blocks, (232.85 [250.03] GB), Unused.
> 
>   SATA device                                             [Disk]
>   Disk 25506: bus: 1, Target id: 5, Port: 2I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 6,  size 232.89 [250.06]GB
>    Disk 25506, # 0, size 488331632 blocks, (232.85 [250.03] GB), Unused.
> MSA>
> 
> 
> Anyone have any ideas?  Next on my list is to try to update the firmware to 6.65 but I didn't see anything in the release notes that might indicate a fix for this.
> 
> Also, the MSA$UTIL has a firmware loading option.  Anyone used it?
> 
> FLASH
> 
>    FIRMWARE
> 
> 
>                   FLASH FIRMWARE is used to update the firmware of a given
>                   controller. Specify the firmware filename to be used.
> 
>                   Format:
>                           FLASH FIRMWARE <file name> / <qualifiers>
> 
>      Additional information available:
> 
>      Parameters Qualifiers
>      /VERBOSE
>      Restrictions
> 
> 
> I finally had time to try the MSA$UTIL FLASH FIRMWARE command but no luck.  Using the /VERBOSE qualifier  I get one line of output and then the process goes into RWAST and hangs.  The only recourse is to reboot.
> 
> $ dir /date/size
> 
> Directory DKB0:[KITS.STORAGE.BL8x0ci2IOSASFW664_manual]
> 
> fwupdate.nsh;1             2  25-MAY-2020 14:38:12.95
> sandman664b0.bin;1      8192  25-MAY-2020 14:38:12.83
> saupdate.efi;1           883  25-MAY-2020 14:38:13.26
> 
> Total of 3 files, 9077 blocks.
> $ mcr msa$util
> MSA> set controller pka
> MSA> show controller
> 
> Adapter: _PKA0: (DEFAULT)
>     P410             (c) HP                        PACCRID125002W7 Software 6.00
>     Port Address: 50014380-22aa92a0
> Supported Redundancy Mode:   Not Available.
> Cache:
>     912 megabyte read/write cache
>     Cache is not configured, and Cache is disabled.
>     No unflushed data in cache.
> Battery:
>     Battery is fully charged.
> MSA> flash firmware /verbose sandman664b0.bin
> Loading chunk 1, read = 1 chunks of 16384 size
>   Interrupt
> 
> 
> Looks like I have to dig out the ZX6000 and try an IA64 EFI firmware update.
> 


So it's been a little over 3 months and I finally got back to this.  I realized I was running a"Stock" HP V8.4 Alpha as released in 2010.  So I added the various patches that were downloaded from the Hobbyist site namely the VMS84A_UPDATE V12.0:

$ product show hist
------------------------------------ ----------- ----------- --- -----------
PRODUCT                              KIT TYPE    OPERATION   VAL DATE
------------------------------------ ----------- ----------- --- -----------
HP AXPVMS SSL1 V1.0-2C               Full LP     Install     Val 07-AUG-2020
DEC AXPVMS VMS84A_MANAGE V2.0        Patch       Install     Val 07-AUG-2020
DEC AXPVMS TELNET_PAT V5.7-13ECO5A   Patch       Install     Val 07-AUG-2020
DEC AXPVMS TCPIP V5.7-13ECO5         Full LP     Install     Val 07-AUG-2020
DEC AXPVMS TCPIP V5.7-13             Full LP     Remove       -  07-AUG-2020
DEC AXPVMS VMS84A_UPDATE V12.0       Patch       Install     Val 07-AUG-2020
DEC AXPVMS VMS84A_PCSI V4.0          Patch       Install     Val 07-AUG-2020
CPQ AXPVMS CDSA V2.4-320             Full LP     Install         26-JUL-2020
DEC AXPVMS DECNET_PHASE_IV V8.4      Full LP     Install     (U) 26-JUL-2020
DEC AXPVMS DWMOTIF V1.7              Full LP     Install         26-JUL-2020
DEC AXPVMS DWMOTIF_SUPPORT V8.4      Full LP     Install     (U) 26-JUL-2020
DEC AXPVMS OPENVMS V8.4              Platform    Install     Sys 26-JUL-2020
DEC AXPVMS TCPIP V5.7-13             Full LP     Install         26-JUL-2020
DEC AXPVMS VMS V8.4                  Oper System Install     Sys 26-JUL-2020
HP AXPVMS AVAIL_MAN_BASE V8.4        Full LP     Install     (U) 26-JUL-2020
HP AXPVMS HPBINARYCHECKER V1.1       Full LP     Install         26-JUL-2020
HP AXPVMS KERBEROS V3.1-152          Full LP     Install         26-JUL-2020
HP AXPVMS SSL V1.4-331               Full LP     Install         26-JUL-2020
HP AXPVMS TDC_RT V2.3-20             Full LP     Install         26-JUL-2020
------------------------------------ ----------- ----------- --- -----------

With this I was able to update the firmware on the Smart Array P410 card to V6.64

$ mcr msa$util
MSA> set controller pkc0 /default
MSA> show this

Adapter: _PKC0: (DEFAULT)
    P410             (c) HP                        PACCRID125002W7 Software 6.64
    Port Address: 50014380-22aa92a0
Supported Redundancy Mode:   Not Available.
Cache:
    228 megabyte read cache   684 megabyte write cache
    Cache is enabled and Cache is GOOD.
    No unflushed data in cache.
Battery:
    Battery is fully charged.
MSA> flash firmware /verbose dka100:[kits.hp_p410]sandman664b0.bin;1

Unfortunately I didn't save the log but it works. It took about 3 minutes to load the firmware into the P410 and for it to return. Then I had to reboot and power cycle the DS10.

Here's where things still don't work.  I can show the disks:

MSA> show disk

  SATA device                                             [Disk]
  Disk 25501: bus: 1, Target id: 0, Port: 1I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 1,  size
232.89 [250.06]GB
   Disk 25501, # 0, size 488331632 blocks, (232.85 [250.03] GB), Unused.

  SATA device                                             [Disk]
  Disk 25502: bus: 1, Target id: 1, Port: 1I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 2,  size
232.89 [250.06]GB
   Disk 25502, # 0, size 488331632 blocks, (232.85 [250.03] GB), Unused.

but creating units fails.

MSA> add unit 0 /id=0 /jbod /partition=0 /disk=(25501)
Identifier ignored for Smart Array controller
Specified disk is not a Valid disk
MSA>

I discovered by accident that if I just say /disk=1 then it creates a unit on the first disk

MSA> add unit 0 /verbose /jbod /partition=0 /size=64GB /disk=1
     Identifier = 0
     Volume size = 64 G
     Stripe size = 256
     Fault tol = 0, parity=0
     Number of drives = 1, spares = 0
     Raw capacity = 134217728.
     ad38509b, Config signature.
     2, Compatability port address: Disabled.
     2, Data Distribution Mode: Multiple Block Interleave Mapping (normal).
     0, Surface Analysis control
     2, Total physical drives on controller = 2.
     1, Physical drives in this unit = 1.
     0, Fault Tolerance mode = RAID 0 or JBOD. No fault tolerance
     0, Fault Tolerance Drives count = 0
     7ffd622, BIG blocks in logical drive = 134207010 (65530.766602 MB).
     200, block size = 512.
     0, reserved
     20a2,   Cylinders = 8354.
     ff,   Heads = 255.
     0,   Translation Signature (not used)
     0,   Physical Sectors (0) (not used)
     ffff,   Precomp = 65535.
     0,   Max ecc (not used)
     8,   Control = 8. (not used)
     0,   Physical Cylinders (0) (not used)
     0,   Physical Heads (0) (not used)
     20a2,   Landing zone = 8354.
     3f,   Sectors = 63.
     38,   Checksum - expected 38 (not used)
     0, drive map = 0.
     100, Blocks in a stripe = 256. (128.000000 KB)
     0, spare drive map = 0.
     0 0 0 0 0 0, reserved
     fd00, Operating System.  GENERIC
     0, Controller Order.
     0, Additional information.
     0, Offset to data = 0 (0.000000 MB).
     0, Parity backed-out write drives.
     0, Parity distribution mode.
     4, Parity shift factor.
     0, Bios Disable.
     7ffd622, blocks on logical drive = 134207010 (65530.766602 MB).
     7ffd700, blocks per drive = 134207232. (65530.875000 MB)
        Scratch Pad: System Version 4.0  ACU, Standalone Version 0.0
      04 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
       Big Drive Map
         Port: 1I, Bus: 1, Bay: 1
       Big Spare Map
     0, Snapshot source volume = 0.
     0, Mixed drive capacity range count = 0.
Unit 0 of size 134207010 blocks (63.99 GB) created.
MSA>

I thought Ha! It's just ignoring the "255" which it thinks is the Box/Enclosure Id.

But no.

Changing the disk and unit to create a second unit fails with an error indicating the partition number is use.

MSA> add unit 10 /verbose /jbod /partition=0 /size=64GB /disk=2
     Identifier = 0
     Volume size = 64 G
     Stripe size = 256
     Fault tol = 0, parity=0
     Number of drives = 1, spares = 0
     The partition is in use by another logical drive.
     Try creating unit with another partition number.
MSA>

I checked and disk 2 has no used partitions on it.

MSA> show disk

  SATA device                                             [Disk]
  Disk 25501: bus: 1, Target id: 0, Port: 1I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 1,  size
232.89 [250.06]GB
   Disk 25501, # 0, size 134207010 blocks, (63.99 [68.71] GB), Unit 0.
   Disk 25501, # 1, size 354124622 blocks, (168.86 [181.31] GB), Unused.

  SATA device                                             [Disk]
  Disk 25502: bus: 1, Target id: 1, Port: 1I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 2,  size
232.89 [250.06]GB
   Disk 25502, # 0, size 488331632 blocks, (232.85 [250.03] GB), Unused.

So I changed the partition number as well.

MSA> add unit 10 /verbose /jbod /partition=1/size=64GB /disk=2
     Identifier = 0
     Volume size = 64 G
     Stripe size = 256
     Fault tol = 0, parity=0
     Number of drives = 1, spares = 0
     Raw capacity = 134217728.
     a46b9fbe, Config signature.
     2, Compatability port address: Disabled.
     2, Data Distribution Mode: Multiple Block Interleave Mapping (normal).
     0, Surface Analysis control
     2, Total physical drives on controller = 2.
     1, Physical drives in this unit = 1.
     0, Fault Tolerance mode = RAID 0 or JBOD. No fault tolerance
     0, Fault Tolerance Drives count = 0
     7ffd622, BIG blocks in logical drive = 134207010 (65530.766602 MB).
     200, block size = 512.
     0, reserved
     20a2,   Cylinders = 8354.
     ff,   Heads = 255.
     0,   Translation Signature (not used)
     0,   Physical Sectors (0) (not used)
     ffff,   Precomp = 65535.
     0,   Max ecc (not used)
     8,   Control = 8. (not used)
     0,   Physical Cylinders (0) (not used)
     0,   Physical Heads (0) (not used)
     20a2,   Landing zone = 8354.
     3f,   Sectors = 63.
     38,   Checksum - expected 38 (not used)
     0, drive map = 0.
     100, Blocks in a stripe = 256. (128.000000 KB)
     0, spare drive map = 0.
     0 0 0 0 0 0, reserved
     fd00, Operating System.  GENERIC
     0, Controller Order.
     0, Additional information.
     7ffd622, Offset to data = 134207010 (65530.766602 MB).
     0, Parity backed-out write drives.
     0, Parity distribution mode.
     4, Parity shift factor.
     0, Bios Disable.
     7ffd622, blocks on logical drive = 134207010 (65530.766602 MB).
     7ffd700, blocks per drive = 134207232. (65530.875000 MB)
     Scratch Pad: System Version 4.0  ACU, Standalone Version 0.0
      04 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
       Big Drive Map
         Port: 1I, Bus: 1, Bay: 1
       Big Spare Map
     0, Snapshot source volume = 0.
     0, Mixed drive capacity range count = 0.
Unit 10 of size 134207010 blocks (63.99 GB) created.
MSA> show disk

  SATA device                                             [Disk]
  Disk 25501: bus: 1, Target id: 0, Port: 1I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 1,  size
232.89 [250.06]GB
   Disk 25501, # 0, size 134207010 blocks, (63.99 [68.71] GB), Unit 0.
   Disk 25501, # 1, size 134207010 blocks, (63.99 [68.71] GB), Unit 10.
   Disk 25501, # 2, size 219917612 blocks, (104.86 [112.60] GB), Unused.

  SATA device                                             [Disk]
  Disk 25502: bus: 1, Target id: 1, Port: 1I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 2,  size
232.89 [250.06]GB
   Disk 25502, # 0, size 488331632 blocks, (232.85 [250.03] GB), Unused.
MSA>

So even though I specified /disk=2 the unit was created on the first disk 25501.

Turns out I can put almost any single digit for "X" in /disk=X and it creates on disk 25501.  Never on Disk 25502.

MSA> add unit 11 /jbod /partition=2/size=64GB /disk=6
Unit 11 of size 134207010 blocks (63.99 GB) created.
MSA> show disk

  SATA device                                             [Disk]
  Disk 25501: bus: 1, Target id: 0, Port: 1I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 1,  size
232.89 [250.06]GB
   Disk 25501, # 0, size 134207010 blocks, (63.99 [68.71] GB), Unit 0.
   Disk 25501, # 1, size 134207010 blocks, (63.99 [68.71] GB), Unit 10.
   Disk 25501, # 2, size 134207010 blocks, (63.99 [68.71] GB), Unit 11.
   Disk 25501, # 3, size 85710602 blocks, (40.87 [43.88] GB), Unused.

  SATA device                                             [Disk]
  Disk 25502: bus: 1, Target id: 1, Port: 1I,  Box/Enclosure: 255, Bay: 2,  size
232.89 [250.06]GB
   Disk 25502, # 0, size 488331632 blocks, (232.85 [250.03] GB), Unused.
MSA>

 From the /Verbose output it knows there are two disk attached to this controller and that this unit is to be created using one:

     2, Total physical drives on controller = 2.
     1, Physical drives in this unit = 1.

MSA$Util just can't address either disk specifically by the name it gives in the show disk command.

I'm surmising it may be the Box/Enclosure of 255 that might be causing he problem but I don't know where that is coming from.  The P410 has two SFF-8087 connectors which support 4 drives each.  The cable <https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L8ATGAA> goes directly from one of these connectors to the SATA disk and plug in.  No box or enclosure exists.  Maybe it expects one?

Unless someone knows a trick that I've missed the next thing is to wait and see if the VSI release of V8.4 fares any better.

-- 
John H. Reinhardt



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