How to Check for Solaris[TM] x64 Disk Errors and Online/Offline Status

Asset ID:	1-71-1005530.1
Update Date:	2011-05-31
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1005530.1 : How to Check for Solaris[TM] x64 Disk Errors and Online/Offline Status

Applies to:

Sun Java Workstation W1100z
Sun Java Workstation W2100z
Sun Ultra 20 M2 Workstation
Sun Ultra 20 Workstation
Sun Ultra 40 M2 Workstation
All Platforms

Goal

Symptoms

disk errors.

Purpose/Scope:

This document describes how to identify if a Solaris[TM] x64 operating environments disk is online/offline or has reported errors. This document does not detail how to recover data or replace storage devices.

To discuss this information further with Oracle experts and industry peers, we encourage you to review, join or start a discussion in the My Oracle Support Community - Sun x86 Systems

Solution

Steps to Follow

Always perform disk management commands as a root or UID0 user.

CHECKING DRIVE STATUS:

Execute the command "/usr/sbin/format" while logged in as root. Check for the following "drive type unknown" message:

#/usr/sbin/format
     AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
           1. c2t0d0 SEAGATE cyl 3817 alt 2 hd 128 sec 32
           /pci@0,0/pci108e,5351@1f/disk@1,0
           2. c2t1d0 <drive type unknown>
           /pci@0,0/pci108e,5351@1f/disk@1,1

Line numbers and controller numbers (cXtXdX) may vary depending on failure condition, highlighted in BOLD.

This message appears when a disk was originally available to the operating system but now does not contain a valid disk label (VTOC) or the operating system is unable to read the disk label. This is an indication of a disk being corrupt.
If your pre-configured disk is currently showing as "drive type unknown" then the disk has become unavailable or the VTOC is corrupt therefore the disk should be replaced as a precaution. If however all disks show without this message then further investigation is required.

FURTHER INVESTIGATION:

Investigate further by running the following command:

# /usr/sbin/cfgadm

The resulting output will be similar to below depending on platform type and configuration:

#/usr/sbin/cfgadm

Ap_Id          Type     Receptacle Occupant    Condition
c0             scsi-bus connected  configured  ok
c0::dsk/c0t0d0 disk     connected  configured  ok
c0::dsk/c0t1d0 disk     connected  configured  unknown
c1             scsi-bus connected  configured  ok
c1::dsk/c1t2d0 CD-ROM   connected  configured  ok

The above output which may vary depending on configuration refers to a platform that has 2 controllers installed. The first controller is connected to an 2 disk backplane. The second controller is connected to a CD-ROM or DVD device. Possible failures are highlighted in BOLD.

"Ap Id" refers to the controller and target location information.

"Type" refers to the media type i.e. Disk, Tape, CD-ROM etc.

"Receptacle" refers to the physical interface connection i.e. SAS PHY or SCSI bus connection.

"Occupant" refers to the media devices usage being configured or unconfigured in the operating system.

"Condition" refers to the reported failure analysis of the disk. This field is useful but may not be supported by older platforms. If ALL disks show as the condition "unknown" then please ignore this column.

Confirm that a disk is not disconnected or unconfigured which may explain why the disk is unavailable to Solaris[TM].
If a disk is unconfigured or disconnected, use the cfgadm command to configure the disk back online. See /usr/bin/man cfgadm(1M) for more details.

Finally, you may wish to confirm error messages have not been logged in the system messages file for a failed disk.
Execute the following command to extract disk related errors from the system messages file:

/usr/bin/grep -i SCSI /var/adm/messages*

We use the keyword SCSI because all storage devices in Solaris including IDE/PATA, SAS, SATA, SCSI, and USB emulate SCSI to be represented as a storage device. Therefore, most error messages reported in the system messages file are prefixed with the word SCSI.

Replace as a precaution any disks that show multiple read or write SCSI ASC/ASQ media errors.

Internal Comments
This document contains normalized content and is managed by the the Domain Lead(s) of the respective domains. To notify content owners of a knowledge gap contained in this document, and/or prior to updating this document, please contact the domain engineers that are managing this document via the "Document Feedback" alias(es) listed below:

tsc-emea-x64@sun.com
x64, normalized, solaris, disk, RAID
Previously Published As
91499

Change History
Date: 2010-02-08
User Name: 88029
Action: Currency check
Comment: Modernized and adjusted for Oracle migration

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