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Asset ID: 1-71-1018063.1
Update Date:2009-12-01
Keywords:

Solution Type  Technical Instruction Sure

Solution  1018063.1 :   deleting mirrored volume on a Sun Fire[TM] V440 if OS is not yet installed  


Related Items
  • Sun Fire V440 Server
  •  
Related Categories
  • GCS>Sun Microsystems>Servers>Entry-Level Servers
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PreviouslyPublishedAs
229372


Description
What steps are necessary to delete a previously created mirrored (via the onboard LSI controller) volume on the internal disk drives of a Sun Fire[TM] V440 when there is no bootable root drive available.


Steps to Follow
If you have a V440 that is currently mirroring two of the internal disk drives by utilizing the onboard hardware raid functionality of the LSI scsi controller there are times when you may want to delete the raid volume without having a bootable drive (for example if the system is in the process of being re-provisioned and you will be doing a new install but the previous user had mirroring setup).

There is no supported process for configuring/deleting raid volumes at the OBP level so you must use the raidctl command in Solaris to delete the existing volume. Since in this scenario the boot drive is not usable we need to utilize an alternate boot device. The best options are either booting the Solaris install media (cdrom or DVD) into single user mode via the "boot cdrom -s" command at the ok prompt. Or we can accomplish the same thing by booting single user mode off a jumpstart image if you have this setup for your network with the command "boot net -s".

Once you are booted into single user mode you will be able to use the raidctl command normally to check the status of the raid volume, delete the current raid volume, or even create a new volume:

# raidctl
RAID            RAID            RAID            Disk
Volume          Status          Disk            Status
------------------------------------------------------
c1t0d0          RESYNCING       c1t0d0          OK
c1t1d0          OK
# raidctl -d c1t0d0
/pci@1f,700000/scsi@2 (mpt0):
Volume 0 is |enabled||degraded|
/pci@1f,700000/scsi@2 (mpt0):
Volume 0 deleted.
Volume 'c1t0d0' deleted.
# raidctl
No RAID volumes found

at this point you can halt the system and proceed with an install and you will have access to all of the internal disks normally once again.



Product
Sun Fire V440R Server
Sun Fire V440 Server

Internal Comments
Audited/updated 11/19/09 - Ian.Macdonald@Sun.COM, Entry Level SPARC Content Team Member


There are some commands that you can use at the OBP level to delete
previously created RAID volumes on the V440. These commands are not
"supported" and are being added here for Sun support personnel for use
where for some reason deletion via the 'raidctl' command either does
not work or is not possible. This is a rare case but these steps can be
very useful when needed.




1)
At the OBP level set autoboot? to false; set fcode-debug? to true; then reset the system.



{0} ok setenv auto-boot? false
auto-boot? = false
{0} ok setenv fcode-debug? true
fcode-debug? = true
{0} ok reset-all


2) After the system resets you need to select the scsi device
that the volume was created on. For V440 the internal backplane is
/pci@1f,700000/scsi@2


{0} ok select /pci@1f,700000/scsi@2


3) Now we need to check to see what volumes are on that device. Use the 'show-volumes' command.


{0} ok show-volumes
Volume 1 Enabled 71132927 Blocks, 34732 MB
Disk 0 Primary
Channel 0 Target 1 SEAGATE ST336607LSUN36G 0407
Disk 1 Secondary
Channel 0 Target 2 SEAGATE ST336607LSUN36G 0407


4) Using the volume number obtained from the previous step we
can delete the volume using the 'delete-volume' command. The usage is
'<volume#> delete-volume'.


{0} ok delete-volume
usage is <volume> delete-volume
{0} ok
{0} ok 1 delete-volume
The volume and its data will be deleted
Are you sure you want to continue (yes/no)? [no] yes
Volume 1 has been deleted
{0} ok


5) To confirm that the volume has been deleted use the 'show-volumes' command again.


{0} ok show-volumes
No volumes to show
{0} ok


6) We can now set the NVRAM parameters back to their original settings and reset the system.


{0} ok setenv auto-boot? true
auto-boot? = true
{0} ok setenv fcode-debug? false
fcode-debug? = false
{0} ok reset-all
{0} ok

Note: In some very rare cases more than one volume could be created
on a V440. This is not a supported configuration and should not
normally be able to be done, but when it happens this procedure should
allow you to delete every existing volume by using the 'delete-volume'
command once for each volume listed.


V440, raidctl, raid1, RAID Volume, mirror
Previously Published As
81237

Change History
Date: 2006-12-18
User Name: 71396
Action: Approved
Comment: Performed final review of article.
Updated trademaking.
Publishing.
Version: 6
Date: 2006-12-13
User Name: 71396
Action: Accept
Comment:
Version: 0

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