Spare XServe RAID Controller is no SFP - What is it?

Hi
I have a XServeRAID Service Parts Kit from 2003.
The spare XServe RAID controller from the Kit does not have a standard SFP connection. I have no idea what it uses.
Part # 603-4406
Model # CA1009
Can you lead me in the right direction?
Thanks.

The original XServe RAID controllers sported HSSDC2 connectors. The second rev moved to SFP.

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XServe Raid Controller Replacement

My XRaid runs fine, then shows a fault on one of the two RAID controllers. The other takes over, and everything works as far as serving files, but the array attached to the RAID controller with the fault will not allow files to be written or created. Reading is fine.
If I reset the controller, shut down the XServe (intel), then reboot the XRaid, all functionality is restored. I'm figuring that I need a replacement RAID controller. Anyone have a good source for the RAID controller? Or a better long-term solution?
Thanks!

Hi
You should still be able to order replacement/exchange parts for the XServe RAID via Apple Service or GSX. If you go to your nearest Apple Repair Centre/Specialist with the XServe RAID's Serial Number they should be able to quote for a replacement/exchange?
Are you sure it's not the FC Cable itself? Have you tried swopping the cables? Do you have another cable you can try instead? Have you tried re-seating the Controllers? Shutdown the RAID, remove the kettle leads, remove the affected controller. If you have a can of air give the inside a good blast and insert the controller.
Tony

Had to replace Xserve RAID controller and now I get Xsan Admin: ERROR: duplicate LUN label RAID1-Left1

I need some help, I had one of my five Xserve RAID boxes fail. The upper controller card needed to be replaced and so we replaced it. But now only one of my volumes is loading and I am seeing the following error in my Console.
7/18/12 9:23:18.550 AM Xsan Admin: ERROR: duplicate LUN label RAID1-Left1
This raid box holds three LUNs. the left is split into two with one being the metadata / Journal for the main volume and the 2nd being the same for my secondary volume. The right side of this box is the second volume while the remaining 4 RAID boxes are my main volume. Here is the rub, the main volume is using the left1 LUN and the secondary is left2. The left2 is the one that is not working and when I go into the LUN info the WWN number does not match the actual id on the raid box.
HELP!!!!
Thanks,
Kevin Rosenthal

Did you try turning it off and on again? I mean, the full SAN shutdown/startup: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4027
You're probably seeing "duplicate LUN labels" because the MDC has seen two LUNs with the same label but different serial numbers since it has been online. The serial number (which I think is based off the WWN) would have changed when the RAID controller changed. A reboot should fix that specific error message.
If the volume still doesn't start after rebooting, then you would want to check the cvlog for that volume.

Xserve raid controller ram specs

I've checked on here and found one similar post but was never acutally answered... Does anyone know what the exact specs are on the RAM used on xserve raid controllers?

Hi Scott,
I would say that initial writes were the most effected. If you do a Kona system test you'll notice that the first 256mb's (I assume you use both sides of your raid) write very quickly - probably around 380mb/sec., and then it falls off pretty steeply. It's really nice to have the first gig write that fast. Of course you need to turn on the ram cache under perfomance settings for any of this to work and you have to weigh the risks of using a cache if you don't have the battery back ups or a ups. I run 2 first gen raids as one big raid 50 volume. All of the controllers have 512 megs of cache so my first 2 gigs write at around 700mb/sec.
Smoking!
Sam

Had to replace Xserve RAID controller and now I get Xsan Admin: duplicate LUN label RAID1-Left1

after we replace the controller volumes are mounting. Any advice on what to do with the duplicates?

Try reconnecting to the Xsan by closing the window in Xsan Admin, clicking "disconnect", then File -> New -> Connect to existing SAN. If you still see the duplicate LUNs after reconnecting, try shutting everything down and starting back up again in the order provided in this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4027.

Raid controller disappears from BIOS

Hi,
I got a strange problem: everytime I pull out the power cord from the computer-the Raid controller disappers from Bios and of course the comp. cant find the HDD`s.
After some time I found out how to get it work again,
I have to pull out the IDE cable and power cable from the HDD and put it back again. Then the Fast Track Controller comes up again in BIOS.
Any one has an idea what that could be?
I use The Promise Fast Trak 100 Raid driver.
Thanks for reply.

Quote
Originally posted by Bas
Hi,
You should use the MSI raid drivers....
Also, check the jumper on your harddisk and the way the cables are connected, the blue connector should be on the raid controller...
What harddisks do you use?
Hi Bas,
Thanks for reply, I use 2x IBM 60GXP, 60GB HDD.
My drivers are from MSI.
Every thing worked fine almost 1 year, I did not change anything.
First I thougt maybe it could be a battery the voltage is 3.41V as it was when I bought the mobo.

Tiered Storage Spaces with LSI RAID Controller 9260-8i (no JBOD) - Performance Drop

Hello
I have a Lab-Server with a LSI-Raid-Controller 9260-8i and 2x 256GB SSDs / 6x 600GB HDDs. First I configured the LSI-Raid-Controller with a RAID 1 (2x 600GB HDD) and installed
Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V Role on this RAID 1. This works just fine. Then I configured the LSI-Raid-Controller with additional 6x "Raid 0 Drive Groups" where each Drive Group has one single physical drive
in it. And then I created 6 virtual drives out of these 6 Drive Groups. So far so good: my Windows Server 2012 R2 now sees 6 new Harddrives (4x 600GB HDD and 2x 256GB SSD). I then created a Storage Pool out of these 6 drives (with PowerShell /
assign MediaType SSD/HDD) and on top of the Storage Pool a "Tiered Storage Space" with Mirror Layout (2x 256GB SSDs mirrored and 2x2x 600GBs HDD mirrored). This gives me a Tiered Storage Space of about 1.3TB. On this Storage
Space I created a Virtual Drive of 1.3TB capacity. Success!! It seems to work fine.... Even I do not have a Storage-Controller supporting JBOD directly, I was able to create a Tiered Storage Space!!
Now where's the problem? Fine-Tuning the LSI-Raid-Controller Settings and the resulting
Disk Performance....
1) LSI-Raid-Controller: Virtual Drive Properties: What should I choose? Read Policy (Ahead or no) / Write Policy (Write Back with BBU or Write Through) / IO Policy (Direct IO or cached IO) / Disk Cache Policy (enable or disabled or unchanged)
/ Stripe Size (256 KB or ??). Do these settings conflict with the Windows Server Storage Space Layout?
2) Windows Server Disk Management (under "Disk XY"): Write Cache Policy? (activate Write Cache on this Device)
3) Windows Server Device Manager (under "Drives" - Microsoft Storage Space Device): Write Cache Policy? (activate Write Cache on this Device)
4) Performance - Results with Crystal Disk Mark: the inital Results after setting up the Storage were quite good (Seq R: 550 MB/s and W: 590 MB/s // 512K R: 490MB/s and W: 618 MB/s // 4K R: 18MB/s and W: 37 MB/s // 4KQD32
R:270 MB/s and W:37 MB/S) But 2 months later the values dropped to: Seq R: 290 MB/s and W: 170 MB/s // 512K R: 120MB/s and W: 239 MB/s // 4K R: 1.5MB/s and W: 31 MB/s // 4KQD32 R: 9 MB/s and W: 71 MB/S). Huge loss of performance
- SSD full?
5) Since this is a Hyper-V Server I put some VMs on it. The Performance within the VMs has also dropped accordingly. Are there any
best practices when placing VHDX-Files on a Tired Storage Space? I could of course assign one or two VHDX-Files directly to the SSD Tier, but actually I don't want that because that would use too much SSD-Space.
Any Experts on this Subject?
Mark

Hi Mark,
For the settings of the Raid Controller, it is better to confirm with manufacturer for detailed information. As you said these settings will affect with storage space settings.
From the description you set the 6 disks as 6 RAID0 groups. Is it supported to leave these disks as JBOD and directly add them into a storage space? If Raid settings will affect storage space performance, this could help us avoiding the RAID settings.
As data is already written onto the virtual disk, we may not available to recreate it. You could have a try with following PowerShell cmdlet to see if it will work better after optimize.
Optimize-Volume -DriveLetter X -TierOptimize
If you have any feedback on our support, please send to [email protected]

Xserve RAID lost RAID 5 array on right/bottom controller

I cleanly shut down an Xserve G5 with an Xserve RAID attached and then powered off the Xserve RAID this morning. I replaced a failing memory module in the Xserve and moved the rack 6". I then powered on the Xserve RAID, waited for a couple minutes until it was fully booted, and then booted the Xserve. When it came up, my RAID 50 volume failed to mount. Upon further investigation, it appears that the RAID 5 array on the right hand disks is "gone". In RAID Admin (Disks and Drives tab), the left side array is visible, but all disks on the right side list status as "OK" and Type: as "Spare".
Configuration: Xserve RAID with 14 250 GB disks. Each side was configured with 6 disks in a RAID 5 array and one spare. These were striped using Software RAID on the Xserve into RAID 50 and mounted as a single volume. The RAID firmware is currently 1.5 and the Xserve is running OS X Server 10.4.3.
To summarize today's activities: under Apple's guidance (as this entire system is covered under a Premium Support contract), I swapped the (bottom) controller for the right side, updated firmware (from v1.3/1.20a to 1.5/1.50), multiple resets of both controllers, repeated forced firmware updates, etc.
Also, I swapped the left set of disks for the right set, and the array from the left set now shows up on the right side, and the missing array from the right is still missing with the disks on the left side. I replaced the disks to their original positions with the same results.
RAID Admin's Utility "Recognize Array" will not perform any operations on the rigth side disks and Apple tells me that there's nothing further that I can do with it.
None of this has solved the problem or substantially changed the issue, and the disks on the right side are still missing their associated array. Apple is unable/unwilling to offer any further help except to refer me to 3rd party data recovery services.
Does anyone have any suggestion at all that might possibly recover the missing array? Is anyone aware of any tools that I might use to recreate the RAID 5 array on the right controller? I was hoping that there might exist some low-level tools with which the disks could be recreated into an array by hand? Are there any commercial products that would work on this? Any other ideas?
Many thanks for any suggestions.
- Martin
Xserve RAID (14 250GB disks) on Xserve G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Not sure why you swapped the controllers back and forth
William, I don't think I was clear on this. I swapped the controller with a new controller that I had in a spare parts kit. This was at Apple's request.
really, RAID is not a backup...
I'm well aware, but despite my incessant warnings, users will become lulled in to a false sense of security when something "just works" for a very long time. This array wasn't intended to store valuable data that couldn't be lost, but...
It may be possible for Apple to re-create the RAID set, did you ask AppleCare about the possibility?
Apple has told me more than once that there's nothing else that they can do for me...and yet I keep calling back.
I was surprised that this array was lost when there were absolutely no prior signs of a problem and the system was merely shutdown and restarted cleanly. I'm more surprised and quite disappointed to learn that Apple will do nothing else for me (under a Premium Support contract) to attempt to repair a damaged array. When I asked questions about where the RAID information is stored, I received the answers: "I can't tell you that" and "Apple doesn't release that information". I did not get the feeling that they were working with me, but rather holding my hand while they walked me through published documentation.
I expected that there would be utilities (analagous to filesystem repair utilities) such as RAID Admin's "Recognize Array" that could help repair and recover damaged array data. I think that the lesson that I've leanred today is that I was naive to have expected such a thing without actually having investigated it ahead of time.
Anyway, thanks for your input, William.

What is the best way to increase the size of a "full" Xserve raid?

Hi,
our Xserve raid consists of 2 x 7 x 350GB disks.
These are arranged in 2 volumes (one per controller), RAID 0+1, 3 disks striped, then mirrored, and such are using 6 of the 7 disks per controller. 1 disk per controller is configured as a hot spare.
During time both volumes have filled up and now there only are 100GB left on every volume and we need more space
Is there a way to hot replace 350GB disks by 750GB disks?
Or is the only way to copy data off, replace disks, and restore data?
I would guess, that I can replace one disk with a 750GB disk, but only 250GB of it will be used. If I then would wait for reconstruction of that new part, and then replace its counterpart? Would only the first 350GB be reconstructed and the 400GB be lost, or would the raid recognize the free space and allow to add it to the stripes and mirrors?
Cheers,
Martin

A disks in the array need to be the same size, so your guess is correct - if you replace a disk with a larger disk, the additional space will be lost.
As a result there's no trivial way of doing this.
Copying off the data, reformatting and restoring the data is the best way to go.
If that's not possible, you have one small chance thanks to how you've currently configured the arrays as 0+1.
You could break the mirror on controller 1- that would give you two logical arrays of three disks each. You could then take the data off the 0+1 array on the second controller and put it on the second half of the first controller, leaving the second controller's volumes spare.
Then destroy both volumes on the second controller and rebuild it as a RAID 5 volume. If you want to retain a hot-spare, this will equate to a 6-disk RAID 5, or about 1.8TB
Now you move the data from the two RAID 0 arrays on controller 1 onto the RAID 5 array on controller 2 and repeat the process to rebuild the 6 disks into a single RAID 5 volume. You can then redistribute the files as you like.
Of course, during this process you'll be running with lower (read: no) redundancy, so you had better hope a disk doesn't fail in the process.
A 6 disk RAID 5 is going to offer about the same performance and redundancy as the two mirrored 3-disk RAID 0 arrays (more performance if those RAID 0 arrays are full), with the advantage that RAID 5 isn't so wasteful of disk space (you lose have your total space to the mirror as opposed to one disks-worth of data to parity in RAID 5).
Either way, back the data up first.

G5 Xserve Harware RAID controller - do all drives have to be connected?

Hi,
I am installing a hardware RAID controller into a G5 Xserve. The machine has three drives in it - one 80 GB drive module that has just the operating system installed on it, and two 500 GB drive modules that are currently configured as a RAID 1 array via software. I am aware that I have to reformat the drives after installing the RAID controller, and I have taken appropriate steps for backing the data up. My question, however, is if I will have to attach all three drives to the RAID controller, or whether I can leave the 80 GB module separate (the preferred configuration). Thanks.

Watch out for the firmware bug on the Apple Hardware RAID - doesn't always fully flush write caches on graceful power down (disconnects from the drives before the caches are fully flushed). I turned in a RADAR bug report in November 2005 (RADAR # 4350243), still open. It was a very difficult bug to pin down and create a reproducible test case - causes mystery garbage blocks from space, especially hard to get reproducible results because of the way RAID 5 works on reads. LSI Logic fixed this bug after Apple's code split from the LSI firmware code (the Apple Hardware RAID card is a rebranded LSI Logic megaraid card with Apple firmware), but it seems unlikely that Apple will ever fix this bug because the Xserve G5 and Apple Hardware RAID card are both EOL.
Only known workaround of which I am aware is to disable write cache on all LUNs.
Russ
Xserve G5 2.0 GHz 2 GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) Apple Hardware RAID, ATTO UL4D, Exabyte VXA-2 1x10 1u

What's the best place to start troubleshooting my Xserve RAID problem

Hello all,
I have an older 2.5tb (ide drives) Xserve RAID connected to an HP workstation, which is a video editing sytem. The fiber card connecting the raid is an LSI 7202XP PCI-x card.
I'm using Windows XP Pro. Nothing on the hardware or software side has been updated or changed in years.
Recently, I'll be editing video and the Xserve RAID will just "disappear". A computer restart will usually restore it.
Where's a good place to start troubleshooting? I was going to replace the fiber cables, then the fiber card...then I don't know what.
I'm just an end user/video editor, so any maintenance help is appreciated!
Thanks,
Jason Kalinoski
Tallahassee, FL

Normally, it should take less than an hour @ $90 USD for labor to replace one. The HD cost is additional. Why do you think the HD needs replacing? Too small?.Then I suggest an ext FWHD, w/FW800 connector, rather than replacing the int one. If there are issues with the HD, check out the iMac HD replacement program. You should really know when you bought the machine and, IMO, it should have the AppleCare Protection Plan, which is the cheapest insurance policy for desktop machines.

Newbie lesson - xServe RAID boxes need 2 Controller modules to work well!

So I thought I'd share my experience with my xServe RAID box, because I built it from parts (via eBay) I thought I could run it with a single controller with up to 7 drives until I needed to expand it later, I had all sorts of strange problems:
- Could't build new RAID arrays
- Couldn't update firmware
- Restarting box often led to the array disappearing
- Existing array sometimes didn't show up in Disk Util.
I tried replacing cables and Fibre cards but no change until I added a second RAID controller and then suddenly everything worked great!
Thanks to everyone here for trying to help me out with my problems, the box now runs great
So the lesson here is that an xServe RAID box needs 2 controllers to function properly, with only 1 it runs in some kind of undocumented failsafe mode.

See my response to your crosspost in the Xserve RAID group.

What to do with our Xserve RAID, moving forward - Need Advice.

We have an 3.5 TB Xserve RAID (14 drives - 250 GB each, split into two 7-drive volumes). As many others have, we've moved into more HD and tapeless workflow. The Xserver RAID was purchased really for one HD project with DVCPRO HD back in 2004 and hasn't really been used since except for backup storage.
I'd really like to move us into a SAN system, but am curious about others' perspectives on populating our Xserve RAID with 1 TB or greater drives now or get a different RAID setup. We've moved to Mac Pros, but the Xserve RAID is still dedicated to just one G5. I am doing some reading on setups such as the EVO and CalDigit, but haven't setup a SAN. It's time though.
We have three post machines - two editorial and one sound station. I could really use some insight on how to use our setup in a SAN scenario or what's the cheapest way we can get into a SAN workflow. Granted, drives are cheap these days, but it's so inefficient copying data between two machines to make sure we have a copy of the same media.
Thanks for any input folks.

+I'd really like to move us into a SAN system, but am curious about others' perspectives on populating our Xserve RAID with 1 TB or greater drives now or get a different RAID setup.+
I'll start with the fact that 750GB are the absolute max you'll be able to put into the Xserve RAID. Compatible 750 PATAs are really hard to find (and are expensive when you can find them) so that avenue makes little sense. I think you should really be thinking in terms of new hardware at this point. I know several people who run XSAN and are much happier with the Promise RAIDs they have now over the older Xserve RAIDs.
Which hardware and SAN software you should be looking at I'll leave up to someone with more modern experience in the video editing realm- I've been out of it for too many years now.
My $.02,
=Tod

What happened to Xserve RAID?

Apple.com no longer lists the Xserve RAID - instead the page shows the Promise RAID device. Has Xserve RAID been killed?
Also, where are the differences between Xsan and the new Xsan 2 listed?
Danke!

Wow this is a big issue ... Xraid's loss means Xserve cant be far behind in terms of EOL since Xraid is the tie in complement of the Xserve , I am a an entreprise sysadmin and use these systems every day , few issues at all with the devices, the lack of 4GB connectivity in the updates was a hint that Apple may move out of the storage space but this spells a load of trouble as far as FC connectivity support on the Xserve and MacPro. What about os X server since it is a tie in product to the Xserve . Apple had a one stop lineup with Xraid XServe Fibre Channel MacosX Server does this mean Apple's presence in such domains is to become a thing of the past ?
Not all macs in use out there are imacs and pro markets is what drives performance up on the Mac platform wether it is IT , FCP , RDBMS or HPC oriented , Apple made reliable tools for such setup at a fraction of the cost of the competition with good performances (not stellar ones but stuff you could setup boot and don't look at again every other day).
I guess it is high time for pro users to look for alternatives not only for storage , unless Apple provides pros with updates on EOL's and doest not simply "pull the plug" on some pro hardware line this seems IMHO the prudent thing to do.

Xserve 2006 RAID Controller

Hi Everyone,
I have an Intel Xserve 2006. Recently the RAID controller card failed so I popped back in the regular SATA controller (that it originally came with) and ordered a new RAID controller.
I am pretty sure I have the correct one for the 2006 model but it does not seem to work. I have no battery on it (thought one would come with it) the original expanded and I am pretty sure broke the other RAID controller.
Any ideas why this new one is not working also? Is it the battery?
Many thanks for any suggestions.
David Lee

Hi David,
Have you got the new RAID card in there now or the SATA backplane? I'm in London as well so will try and help you out as much as I can if you need it.
Contact details on my profile.
Thanks
Beatle

Spare XServe RAID Controller is no SFP - What is it?

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