Compatibility Issues Between Sun StorEdge T3 and T3+ Array Controllers and Certain Disk Drives (MAN3367FC and MAN3735FC) May Lead to Data Loss

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Impact

Disk drives MAN3367FC and MAN3735FC may interact with the T3+ Array Controller and Array Controller Firmware 3.1.2 (as delivered in patch 115180-03) which could lead to data loss in certain cases.

Note: Patch 115180-03 (T3+ Array Controller Firmware version 3.1.2) has been WITHDRAWN from SunSolve and is no longer available.

Contributing Factors

This issue can occur in the following platforms:

SPARC Platform

• Sun StorEdge T3+ Array with firmware patch 115180-03 (firmware version 3.1.2) and without firmware patch 115180-04 (firmware version 3.1.3)

Note 1: This issue only impacts Sun StorEdge T3+ Arrays equipped with 1GB Cache Controllers and MAN3367FC or MAN3735FC disk drives. Sun StorEdge T3+ with Firmware 3.1.2 equipped with disk drive model numbers other than those listed above are not affected.

Note 2: This issue occurs when the StorEdge T3+ Array Controller issues a series of sequential reads and interposes Read Link Status (RLS) commands to MAN3367FC and MAN3735FC drives. The drives will then issue byte mode transfers which the controller may mishandle.

To verify the disk drive models on a target T3 or T3+ system, use the "fru list d" command at the array command line as follows:

    t3:/:<3>fru list d
    ID      TYPE          VENDOR       MODEL        REVISION       SERIAL
    u1d01   disk drive    <vendor>     <model>      <FW Version>   XXXXXXX

Look for disk drives with the model numbers: MAN3367FC or MAN3735FC.

To verify the current firmware version running on a target T3+ system, use the "ver" command at the T3+ command line as follows:

   t3:/:<3>ver
   T3B Release 3.1.2 Fri Dec 19 14:42:03 PST 2003
   Copyright (C) 1997-2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
   All Rights Reserved.

Symptoms

Should the described issue occur, error messages similar to the following may be logged to the Sun StorEdge T3+ syslog file, or, in some cases, silent data corruption may occur:

    Mar 19 04:45:15 WXFT[1]: E: u1ctr: vol (v0) vol verify detected data parity
    mismatch on Stripe: 2F578, Lun:16

Workaround

To work around the described issue, backout patch 115180-03 (firmware version 3.1.2) and re-install patch 112276-10 (firmware version 2.1.6).

Resolution

This issue is addressed in the following release:

• Sun StorEdge T3+ Array with firmware patch 115180-04 (firmware version 3.1.3) or later

Modification History


Date: 07-MAY-2004

• State: Resolved
• Updated Contributing Factors and Relief/Workaround sections

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