Just in case it helps someone else supporting older SPARC SunFire equipment:
I've just configured and tested a SunFire V440 server with a Sun branded PCI-X
SAS HBAs
(really LSI) connected via two SAS cables to a Sun J4200 JBOD containing two
SIM boards. I
want to emphasize that according to my Sun reps this configuration is "not
supported". Specifically:
- only PCI-E (not PCI-X) HBAs are currently supported with the J4200 series
- multipathing (MPxIO) is not supported with the J4200
My speculation was that this configuration isn't supported mainly due to a lack
of testing
resources on Sun's part rather than because of a specific incompatibility (i.e.
Sun wants to
concentrate testing on newer products with the J4200). Based on this, I
configured a
system as follows:
- V440 running Solaris 10 10/08
- a single PCI-X SAS HBA with two external mini-SAS connectors (I realize that
this presents a single point of failure, but this system was just for
testing)
- J4200 with two SIM boards
- CAM software version 6.1.2
- SIM firmware updated to the versions included in the CAM software
- one of the HBA mini-SAS connectors wired to the top J4200 SIM board, and one
wired to the bottom SIM board
- "stmsboot -D mpt -e" run to turn on multi-pathing for the MPT driver
- system rebooted
- ZFS volumes created on the 12 JBOD drives
- filebench used to exercise the system
- SAS cables hot-plugged to simulate failure
Hotplugging the cables causes IO to cease for ~60 seconds initially, but it then
picks up again and messages are logged to /var/adm/messages indicating that the
multipath link is degraded. On re-plug of the cable, the link is immediately
marked
as "optimal".
Note the use of the latest version of Solaris and the latest SIM firmware - I
think that using earlier versions may not work (although I haven't tried this).
As always, your mileage may vary.
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