Newer and older versions of the PCI Express (Pandora) HBA P/N 375-3487 should not be mixed.

Asset ID:	1-73-1022289.1
Update Date:	2010-06-21
Keywords:

Solution Type FAB (standard) Sure

Solution 1022289.1 : Newer and older versions of the PCI Express (Pandora) HBA P/N 375-3487 should not be mixed.

Impact

A new version (C0) of the Pandora HBA P/N 375-3487 has been released, but the new card should not be mixed with older (B3) version on Amber Road systems. The new version of this card is P/N 375-3487-05 - older (B3) version is P/N 375-3487-04.

Contributing Factors

Above listed systems that shipped prior to mid-December 2009 are impacted by this issue.

Symptoms

The expected issues will show up when running the new C0 HBA with Fishworks appliance SW earlier than 2010.Q1.0.0. In such case the following symptoms may be observed;

1. The Pardora HBA card type will show up as unknown in the user
     interface.

2. The appliance normally downloads firmware at boot time for
     these cards. If you have an old version of AK, it will not
     have the C0 firmware, which means it will just continue to use
     whatever was flashed onto the card in the factory. In such case
     depending on what version FW is on the HBA it may not be able to
     address all the disks (particularly for larger configs), and will
     lack the ability to get HBA crash dumps for problem analysis.

Root Cause

It is highly preferred by Engineering that B3 and C0 HBA not be mixed in the same chassis. The new HBA revision is not supported by old versions of the appliance software. At a minimum, Sun Storage 7000 Software Update 2010.Q1.0.0 (or higher) must be installed prior to installing the new HBA.

Corrective Action

Workaround:

When replacing a failed Pandora B3 card (P/N 375-3487-04 or below) with a C0 card (P/N 375-3487-05) in Amber Road systems, check other Pandora cards in the system. If they are of the B3 version, they all should be replaced with the C0 version.

Additionally this new version (version "C0") must be installed with the Sun Storage 7000 Software Update 2010.Q1.0.0, at a minimum. Please note that the SW update should be done prior to the HBA installation.

For installing Sun Storage 7000 Software Update 2010.Q1.0.0 or higher see the following sites;

Release notes are here:

    http://wikis.sun.com/display/FishWorks/ak-2010.02.09.0.0+Release+Notes

The release itself is linked from the Software Updates page:

    http://wikis.sun.com/display/FishWorks/Software+Updates

Resolution:

For above Affected Products only a Mandatory FCO has been released as FCO A0313-1 Document ID 1115005. Please refer to that knowledge asset for more information.

Identification of Affected Parts (how to):

No visual inspection is required. To check system configuration to verify the version of installed SAS HBAs:

1. Do one of the following:

- From the browser user interface, go to Maintenance > Hardware > Slot information.
- From the command-line interface, go to maintenance hardware, select chassis-000,
    and issue the ls or show command.

2. Look for these values:

- C0 HBA: Model Dual 4x3Gb External SAS HBA (Rev C0)
- B3 HBA: Dual 4x3Gb External SAS HBA (Rev B3)

For information about FAB documents, its release processes, implementation strategies and billing information, go to the following URL:

http://tns.central/fab

For Sun Authorized Service Providers go to:

http://tns.central/SPE/fab/

In addition to the above you may email:

FAB-Manager@sun.com

Internal Contributor/submitter
Zuheir.Totari@Sun.COM

Internal Eng Responsible Engineer
Greg.Price@Oracle.COM Responsible Manager: Mike.Shapiro@Oracle.COM

Internal Services Knowledge Engineer
Joe.Davis@Oracle.COM

Internal Eng Business Unit Group
NWS (Network Storage)

Internal Sun Alert & FAB Admin Info
09-Apr-2010: Completed draft and sent to Extended Review.
13-Apr-2010: No feedback from Ext Rvw - sending to Publish.

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