On the Sun Fire V100 and Netra X1 Systems, Replacing Disks Within a Mirrored Configuration May Fail

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Impact

Certain disks, identified below, within a disk mirroring configuration may not be recognized upon replacement due to incompatible disk sizes.

Contributing Factors

This issue can occur on the following platforms:

SPARC Platform

• Sun Fire V100
• Netra X1

This issue is for the following disks:

• ST340824A (40 Gbyte), part number 370-4419
• ST340016A (40 Gbyte), part number 370-4419
• WD400BB-22DEA0 (40 Gbyte), part number 370-4419
• WD400BB-22DKA0 (40 Gbyte), part number 370-4419
• IC35L040AVER0 (41 Gbyte), part number 370-4419

This issue only occurs if the above larger 41 Gbyte disk fails and is replaced by the smaller 40 Gbyte disk within a mirrored configuration.

To determine a disk's type, use the "inquiry" command from the format tool as shown in the example below:

    % su root
    Password:
    # format
    Searching for disks...done

    AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
            0. c0d0 <DEFAULT cyl 611 alt 2 hd 16 sec 38>
               /isa/ata@1f0,0/cmdk@0,0
            1. c1t1d0 <DEFAULT cyl 1463 alt 2 hd 9 sec 64>
               /isa/aha@330,0/cmdk@1,0
    Specify disk (enter its number): 1
    selecting c1t1d0
    [disk formatted]

    FORMAT MENU:
             disk       - select a disk
             type       - select (define) a disk type
             partition  - select (define) a partition table
             current    - describe the current disk
             format     - format and analyze the disk
             fdisk      - run the fdisk program
             repair     - repair a defective sector
             label      - write label to the disk
             analyze    - surface analysis
             defect     - defect list management
             backup     - search for backup labels
             verify     - read and display labels
             save       - save new disk/partition definitions
             inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
             volname    - set 8-character volume name
             quit

    format> inquiry
    Vendor:   <name>
    Product:  ST340824A   
    Revision: 6266
    format> quit

Symptoms

Due to the different sizes of the above disk types, replacing the larger disk drive with the smaller disk drive in a mirroring configuration may fail, even though the disks have the same part number.

Workaround

To work around the described issue, avoid mixing different disk types in mirroring configurations.

Please see the "Sun Fire V100 Server User's Guide" for information on replacing drives for the Sun Fire V100 located at:

• http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hardware/docs/pdf/816-2756-10.pdf

Please see the "Netra X1 Server User's Guide" for information on replacing drives for the Netra X1 located at:

• http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/hardware/docs/pdf/806-5980-10.pdf

Resolution

The "Relief/Workaround" provided above is the final resolution for this issue.

All new HDDs will be formatted to the nominal size so incompatibility should not be an issue in the future.

Modification History


Date: 16-SEP-2003

• Updated Contributing Factors

Date: 12-APR-2005

• State: Resolved
• Updated Resolution section

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