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Does Shellshock, also known as Bashdoor affect Vess Series or VTrak Series products?

2014-10-29T10:18:02.0000000

No.

Shellshock vulnerabilities are not applicable since Promise does not implement or use Bash in their Vess Series or VTrak Series products.

Learn more on Shellshock:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellshock_%28software_bug%29

Xsan File Fragmentation and Performance

2013-03-12T13:44:03.0000000

Fragmentation is basically the result of files being broken up in to smaller parts and stored wherever there is available free space on the disk, and reading a fragmented file will be slower as all the parts have to be accessed at the various physical locations on the disk. For an Xsan the files can be very large and severely fragmented over several disk arrays.

OS X has some mechanisms to try to avoid file fragmentation, but these apply to the HFS+ filesystem and are of no use with an Xsan Volume.

Apple says there are two scenarios under which you might need to defragment your drive; there are many large files (such as digital video) and the disk is low on space - typically more than 90% full. Their information on disk defragmentation is not too helpful as their Knowledge Base article [PH5862] says "you don't need to defragment or optimize your disk when you use Mac OS X," and then tells you it probably needs to be 'repaired'. There are also a few KB articles for when using Xsan [TS2778, TS2741] that tell you 'frame dropping' may be due to a Volume becoming fragmented and provides instructions for what you should do to remedy it.

Defragmentation may have to be performed on an Xsan Volume for two main reasons:

Normal usage filling the available space and file manipulation causing fragmentation.
Performing a bandwidth or capacity expansion, and data redistribution to improve efficiency.

Xsan Maintenance for Normal Usage

In maintaining or troubleshooting an Xsan Volume, many users find that file fragmentation does not become an issue until the filesystem reaches around 75% full, and individual files may exhibit poor read performance when their extent count – number of segments – reaches around 5000 to 10000. Check the size of the file that is exhibiting dropped frames; a large file with many extents will cause a busy system to work harder to retrieve all of the file segments.

Many users say that when the filesystem becomes too full and the files too fragmented, copying all the data on the Volume to another location, recreating the filesystem, and using the Xsan 'cvcp' command to copy the data back to the filesystem, remains the best option, but there are the actual Xsan maintenance tools to consider.

Fragmentation

Fragmentation can become a major problem on an Xsan Volume, and the number of extents at which read issues can occur can vary by the file, resulting in dropped frames to clients.
Performing defragmentation on an Xsan Volume can affect the performance of attached clients so it is definitely best to do it during a quiet period such as overnight.

To defragment an Xsan Volume use the 'snfsdefrag' command:

# sudo snfsdefrag –r -v [-m X] /Volumes/

You can specify that only specific directories be defragmented, which is useful if you are using affinities.

The –r option tells it to move recursively through the named directory.

This task can be performed with the Volume on-line and in use but be aware that performance can be slower as a result.

You can speed up the defragmentation process by using the –m option to specify the number of extents a file must have to be defragmented.

The –c option is useful to display the extent count – without performing a defragmentation; you could set the value for the –m option based on the results.

The –l option will return a list of files that could use defragmentation.

Pruning

When Xsan writes a file to the volume it pre-allocates the amount of storage that it thinks it will need to write that file, which is beneficial as it reduces fragmentation under certain circumstances, but if the file does not consume the reserved blocks they will remain allocated. Usually this is one or two blocks per file, but can certainly be more than that if a file has shrunk in size.

Pruning is the process of looking for and freeing those allocated blocks, and it can free up from several kilobytes to several hundred gigabytes.

To prune an Xsan Volume just add the “-p” argument to the 'snfsdefrag' command:# sudo snfsdefrag -rpv /Volumes/[VolumeName]Filesystem Check

# sudo snfsdefrag –rpv /Volumes/[VolumeName]

Filesystem Check

Proper Xsan Volume maintenance is critical to the health of the filesystem, and many Xsan administrators try to run a filesystem check on each Xsan Volume at least once a month - and not just when there are problems.

First stop the Volume:

cvadmin
# stop [VolumeName]
# exit

Next, perform the file system checks on the journal, followed by a read-only and a read/write scan:

cvfsck -jv
cvfsck -nv
cvfsck -wv

When these have completed you can re-start the Volume:

cvadmin
# start [VolumeName]
# exit

Note the time that the “cvfsck” will take depends on how much data is on the Volume.

If the “cvfsck” scan indicates that the Volume is “dirty” instead of “clean” then ensure the Volume is stopped.Then run the "cvfsck -wv" command again for a "clean" result.

Xsan Maintenance for Volume Expansion

There are two types of expansion possible:

Bandwidth expansion, where one or more LUNs are added to a Storage Pool.
Capacity expansion, where one or more Storage Pools are added to a Volume.

Bandwidth Expansion

When performing a bandwidth expansion, one or more new LUNs are added to a Storage Pool, which will result in the structure being significantly altered. Data that was written to the Pool earlier will have been distributed across the original set of LUNs, and now with additional LUNs available the data will be distributed across the original and new LUNs.

The result is that there could be an area of shadow space that will not be usable by the Xsan.
That is why it is necessary to defragment the Volume after a bandwidth expansion using the –d option; it will re-distribute the data across all of the LUNs in the Pool, effectively reclaiming that shadow space.

# sudo snfsdefrag –d –r /Volumes/[VolumeName]

Capacity Expansion

When performing a capacity expansion of a volume, one or more Storage Pools are added to the Volume, but the way in which the data is distributed over the Pools depends on the allocation strategy selected.

The three types are:

round robin: new data will be written to all Pools in the Volume.
fill: data will be written to the first Pool until it is full, then move to the next Pool.
balance: data will be written to the Pool with the most free space.

Round Robin can pose a similar problem as in bandwidth expansion as the new Pool(s) may have data written to it but it could have significantly less than the first Pool(s) did. Defragmenting the Volume will result in files being moved to areas with more free space regardless of the distribution of the data over the Pools.

Fill can have a similar effect as well with the new Pool(s) being under utilized until the first Pool(s) are filled. Defragmentation will result in the data being evenly distributed across the Pools, but that is it.

Balance tries to keep files contiguous by using the Pool with the largest free space, so defragmentation will relocate defragmented files to the Pool with the lowest used capacity – the new Pool(s). This provides the best performance for a Volume that has more than one Pool.
Note that if your Volume does not have many fragmented files there will be no changes to the file locations, so you will have to force the process to work on every file in the Volume by telling it to defragment files with “0” extents – basically all files – by using the “–m 0” option. This can take a long time to complete, so your fragmentation level should be considered carefully before doing this.

You can change the allocation strategy of your volume from the Xsan Administrator GUI at any time with no disruption to service, but this is best left to down time such as over night.

After making any changes you have to defragment the Volume:

# sudo snfsdefrag –r /Volumes/[VolumeName]

My case does not open in Promise “e-Support” Web Site

2012-08-13T12:33:39.0000000

PROBLEM: When you click on the Case ID Number in Promise eSupport, nothing seems to happen.

SOLUTION: The Promise eSupport ticketing system uses “Pop-Up” windows to view your support cases and RMA requests. Depending on your web browser of choice, you may have all pop-up windows blocked for you by default, without you noticing. Our website requires the use of pop-up windows. Please follow the below instructions for your choice of browser.

Clicking the Case ID link and then nothing happens? Please continue reading for how to allow your browser to display the rest of our site.

Internet Explorer

In order to allow pop-up windows, the website "support.promise.com" must be added to the list of Compatibility View websites.

Open the desktop, and then click the Internet Explorer icon on the taskbar. Click the Tools button (gear), and then click "Compatibility View settings".

Under "Add this website", enter the URL of the site you want to add to the list, and then click Add.

Safari

Click the Safari window so that “Safari” is next to the Apple icon at the top left. If the first drop-down has the “Block Pop-Up Windows” checked, then please click that line to remove the checkmark.

Location of “Block Pop-Up Windows” in Safari 5.0:

If you do not see that in the first menu drop, as shown above, then go to Preferences and click the Security tab. Uncheck the “Block Pop-Ups” check box.

Location of “Block Pop-Up Windows” in Safari 6.0:

Location of “Block Pop-Up Windows” in Safari 10.0 and later:

Google Chrome

Chrome will block pop-ups, and to the right of the address bar, an icon of a box with an X in it will appear. This has the phrase “Pop-up Blocked” next to it, but the words will disappear, leaving just the icon. Click on it to change the preference to allow pop-ups for this site.

Mozilla Firefox

A yellow line will appear across the top of your browser window explaining that the pop-up was blocked. Clicking the “Preferences” button will let you choose to allow the pop-ups through.

Conclusion

Now that you have allowed the Pop-Up Windows to show on your browser, please click the link with the Case ID number again. Now that the pop-ups are unblocked, a new window will show up with the details of your case, the Promise Solution which carries the updated notes, as well as buttons which have the “Close” and “Reply” functions.

If you still do not see the new window appear, please call Promise Support for further assistance.

Which VTrak x10 and x30 models are compatible?

2012-05-07T10:23:39.0000000

There are a few basic rules for using x10 and x30 subsystems together.

E610 and J630 or J830

VTrak for Mac: a Jx30 may not be connected to an E610; it is not supported by the current firmware.
Channel VTrak: a Jx30 may be connected to an Ex10 as long as the Ex10 is running the latest firmware, but this should only be done where a Jx10 is not available. *

E630 or E830 and J610

Attaching a J610 or J310 to an E630 or E830 is NOT supported.

Notes

The mixing of Channel and Mac OSX E-Class and J-Class versions is NOT supported.
The Channel Ex10 & Jx10 and Ex30 & Jx30 versions are NOT supported by Mac OSX.
The VTrak for Mac versions are optimized for Mac OSX, but will work with other operating systems such as Windows, Linux, etc.

VTrak for Mac OSX Compatibility

Part Number – E-Class RAID	Part Number – J-Class JBOD
E610
TV272VC/A – 16-bay dual-controller FC4 8TB TV299VC/A – 16-bay dual-controller FC4 16TB H1142VC/A – 16-bay dual-controller FC4 32TB TV270VC/A – 16-bay single-controller FC4 4TB	TV274VC/A – 16-bay dual-IO module 16TB H1144VC/A – 16-bay dual-IO module 32TB
E630 & E830
H4946LL/A – 16-bay dual-controller FC8 H4947LL/A – 24-bay dual-controller FC8	H4948LL/A – 16-bay dual-IO module 6Gb
H4945LL/A – 16-bay single-controller FC8	H4948LL/A – 16-bay dual-IO module 6Gb

VTrak Channel Compatibility

Part Number – E-Class RAID	Part Number – J-Class JBOD
E610
VTE310fD – 12-bay dual-controller FC4 VTE610fD – 16-bay dual-controller FC4 VTE310sD – 12-bay dual-controller 3GB SAS VTE610sD – 16-bay dual-controller 3GB SAS	VTJ310sD – 12-bay dual-IO module 3Gb VT610sD – 16-bay dual-IO module 3Gb J630SDNX – 16-bay dual-IO module 6Gb * J830SDNX – 24-bay dual-IO module 6Gb *
VTE310fS – 12-bay single-controller FC4 VTE610fS – 16-bay single-controller FC4 VTE310sS – 12-bay single-controller 3GB SAS VTE610sS – 16-bay single-controller 3GB SAS	VTJ310sS – 12-bay single-IO module 3Gb VT610sS – 16-bay single-IO module 3Gb J630SDNX – 16-bay single-IO module 6Gb * J830SDNX – 24-bay single-IO module 6Gb *
E630 & E830
E630FDNX – 16-bay dual-controller FC8 E830FDNX – 24-bay dual-controller FC8	J630SDNX – 16-bay dual-IO module 6Gb J830SDNX – 24-bay dual-IO module 6Gb
E630FSNX – 16-bay single-controller FC8 E830FSNX – 24-bay single-controller FC8	J630SSNX – 16-bay single-IO module 6Gb J830SSNX – 24-bay single-IO module 6Gb

What conditions will lead to Vtrak entering Maintenance Mode?

2012-01-27T15:36:59.0000000

What conditions will lead to Vtrak entering Maintenance Mode?

Controller firmware mismatch (applicable to Vtrak X10). Vtrak Ex30 series will flash upgrade the slave controller coming up with mismatched firmware. Once booted the controller will synch up and flash upgrade the master’s firmware image.
Memory mismatch. Whichever controller boots first will be the master and the slave will enter maintenance mode. Both controllers must have identical memory.
SAS Domain Path is Broken or partially broken. Respective RAID controller SAS domain whose path is broken will enter maintenance mode.
Manually entering maintenance mode
Bad SAS expansion cable
Bad expander

Reported Event:	Corrective Action
Controller set to Maintenance Mode because of hardware mismatch with partner (controller)	Compare controller types and amount of memory installed. Correct or update as needed.
Controller set to Maintenance Mode because of flash image version mismatch with partner (controller)	X30 Series will update this controller to the same flash image version as the partner controller automatically
Controller has been set to Maintenance mode because there is a mismatch in the Controller Model or Hardware version with that of the partner controller	Replace this controller with the same Model and Hardware version as the partner controller.
Controller has been set to Maintenance mode because there is a mismatch in the memory size with that of the partner controller	Replace this controller’s memory with the same memory size as the partner controller
Partner Controller has entered maintenance mode to protect user data since one of the configured physical drives was disconnected in the partner controller	Check and correct cable connections to external JBOD enclosures. Rebuild any critical logical drives. Back up array data. Replace the physical drive. Bring controller out of maintenance mode

How to enter and exit maintenance mode?

Method:	Yes/No
Web Pam Pro E	No
CLI using Telnet	Yes
CLI using SSH	Yes
CLI via RS232 Serial Cable	Yes

Command line Syntax to enter and exit maintenance mode:

To enter maintenance mode:

Usage:

maintenance [-a <action>] -i <CtrlId>

maintenance -a enter -i <CtrlId>

Summary:

This command causes the selected RAID controller to enter maintenance mode.

Options:

-a <action> Which action to perform.

enter (Default)Enter maintenance mode.

-i <CtrlId> Controller id.

Examples:

maintenance -i 1

To exit maintenance mode:

Note: Run command on respective controller in maintenance mode

maintenance –a exit

I’m running ALUA and NON ALUA aware OS (Snow Leopard and Lion) on my SAN with Qlogic 5802 or 9000 series switch. What should my Vtrak E-Class made for Mac Fiber Channel Topology setting be configured to?

2011-11-03T09:00:09.0000000

VTrak Ex10:

Vtrak E-Class x10 series made for Mac units auto negotiates to “N” port when the topology is set to “Auto”.

When this is the case, the FC switch will report “F” Port. This is required in order to insure proper controller Fail Over / Fail Back functionality with non ALUA host OS’s.

To recap: Ex10 series made for Mac does not support ALUA thus the default “Auto” setting on Vtrak. The FC switch will negotiate “N” port.

VTrak Ex30:

Today Vtrak E-Class x30 series made for Mac auto negotiates to “NL” port when the topology setting is set to “Auto”.

When this is the case, the FC switch will report “FL” Port. Vtrak “Auto” defaulting to NL port setting is correct and will properly support ALUA and non ALUA Host OS.

N port is acceptable if the host is non ALUA, how ever make sure the controller setting on the Vtrak is set to “LUNAffinity=Enable,ALUA=Disable” Reference the following KB on how to set LUN Affinity and ALUA settings via CLI:

http://kb.promise.com/thread/how-do-i-enable-or-disable-alua-on-sr2-6-firmware

With NL port it can support “LUNAffinity=Enable,ALUA=Enable” or “LUNAffinity=Enable,ALUA=Disable” (supports both).

Any customers running Brocade DCX series FC switches in Mac OS Lion (ALUA aware): NL setting is a must.

N port setting will function and is acceptable for Non ALUA environments.

What conditions can cause a physical drive to be marked Dead?

2010-09-29T11:57:55.0000000

The following conditions can cause a Physical Drive to have its operational status set to Dead by a VTrak RAID controller:

There are more than six consecutive communications time-outs between a RAID controller and a Physical Drive in a 30-minute period - except when the Logical Drive is in the Critical state, which will result in the controller continuously trying to reset the drive.

The Medium Error Threshold is exceeded. This is a user configurable parameter that is set to the default value of 64 beginning with firmware release SR 2.6. [This parameter should not be confused with the PDM threshold which triggers the PDM process.]

The Physical Drive is physically disconnected and reinserted in to the enclosure.

The Physical Drive returns an invalid sense key.
The Physical Drive is forced off-line by a user from the CLI/CLU/GUI.

The communications path from the Physical Drive to the RAID controller fails - except when the Logical Drive is in the Critical state, which will result in the controller continuously trying to reset the drive.

How do Physical Drive errors cause a VTrak controller to enter ‘maintenance mode’?

2010-09-29T11:50:41.0000000

There are certain conditions that may be encountered by a physical drive that can cause one of the RAID controllers of a dual-controller subsystem to enter “maintenance mode”.

The Basics

- There is a signal path from both RAID controllers to each physical drive in the enclosure.

- SATA drives only have one ‘port’, so an AAMUX is required to provide a port to the drive for each controller.

- SAS drives have two ports, so no AAMUX is required to use them in the enclosure.

- Both RAID controllers must have access to each drive for full redundancy.

Failure Mode

For this example we will use a Disk Array with four drives striped in a RAID 5 Logical Drive, and drive 3 has failed and dropped off-line; the operational state of the Logical Drive is now Critical, where a second drive failure will cause the Logical Drive to go off-line.

If a second drive encounters serious hardware or media errors before the rebuild of the failed drive has been completed, the RAID controller will continuously attempt to get that drive to respond, as a second drive failure can’t be tolerated by the RAID 5.

However, if the failing drive is so busy handling internal errors that it does not respond to one of the RAID controllers, the path between them will be broken or disconnected, and that controller will go off-line in to maintenance mode. This occurs to prevent the operational state of the Logical Drive from changing to Failed due to another drive failure, protecting the data it contains.

This scenario also applies to a RAID 6 Logical Drive that has two failed physical drives.

Note: There is a very small chance that the disconnected state could be the result of a bad path due to a failure of the physical drive’s AAMUX module.

Summary

Controller fail-over to maintenance mode will not occur if a physical drive is disconnected from either RAID controller if the Logical Drive it is a member of has an operational status of OK, or Degraded for RAID 6 LDs. The drive’s operational status will be changed to Dead and it will be dropped from the array.

Controller fail-over to maintenance mode will occur if a drive is disconnected from either RAID controller if the Logical Drive it is a member of has an operational status of Critical.

Event Log Entry

Here is an example of an Event Log entry for a controller fail-over due to this condition:

SeqNo: 1                            Device: Ctrl 1
EventId: 0x00040032                 Severity: Critical
TimeStamp: Mth Day, Year Time       DefaultId: 0x00040032
Description: Partner Controller has entered maintenance mode to protect user data since one of the configured physical drives was disconnected in the partner controller.

How to determine the manufacturer warranty.

2010-07-29T11:41:03.0000000

To determine the manufacturer warranty on your product please follow these steps:

1. Create a user profile on Promise Technology’s support site: https://support.promise.com. Click on “New User Registration”.

2. Once registered highlight “Product Registration” and select “Register”.

3. Select the product you would like to register and the quantity. Under details for the system enter the serial number of you product in the field provided and click “Get Warranty”

DAS 4600 Array Rebuild Functionality

2010-06-13T13:29:25.0000000

DAS rebuild should be seamless, if not, you need to clear smart status of inserted HDD and select rebuild option under Smart NAVI.

Promise Fusion Stream DLNA Digital Media Application for Android Introduction

2010-05-13T14:40:33.0000000

May 12th 2010
DLNA DMC Version 1.0.5

Promise SmartStor Fusion Stream DLNA Digital Media Application for Android is currently in BETA and available on the Android Market. Search for SmartStor Fusion Stream DLNA Digital Media Application or scan the QR Code below. This beta version is currently limited to 30 Days and is free of charge. Within the next 30 Days we will release other BETA version (with time expiration).

This application is a Digital Living Network Alliance - Digital Media Controller (DLNA DMC) for use with Promise SmartStor Network Attached Storage/Digital Media Server (NAS/DMS), Windows XP/Vista/7 DMS* and Digital Media Renderers (DMR) such as Windows 7, XBOX 360 Media Center Extender, Samsung DLNA TV, Syabas Popcornhour Digital Media Players and Onkyo TXNR807 Ultra2 Receiver.
Windows PCs must have media sharing enabled and media directories selected. If you are unfamiliar with media sharing setup in Windows, please see the following URL below:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/faq/sharing.mspx
Phase one of the application supports the following features:
DLNA Control Point – Create of playlist on mobile and then select external DMR (Renderer) such as Samsung DLNA TV or Windows 7 PC (or any other Renderer on the network) – Windows XP and Vista do not support DLNA Renderer. You can control playback, pause, stop, mute and volume up/down. The ability to FF and REW will come in future version.

*The difference between a DMP (Digital Media Player) and DMR (Digital Media Renderer) is the DMR can accept instructions for a “Control Point” essentially allowing the mobile device to act as a remote control over WIFI. In this case the Control Point is the Android Smartphone.
DLNA UPLOAD – DLNA Upload will only work with NAS/DMS which support the “DLNA UPLOAD” specification. Currently only Promise has DLNA 1.5 compliant Digital Media Server with DLNA UPLOAD. UPLOAD allows you to copy music, pictures and video from the mobile device to the SmartStor NAS/DMS.
DLNA DOWNLOAD – DLNA Download allows download of files from SmartStor NAS/DMS and Windows DMS to mobile device. You will be prompted to choose the download destination on your mobile device. Files must be downloaded one at time. Download queue will come in future version.

Phase Two – Phase Two of the application will arrive in early Q1 2011 and will introduce the following features:

DLNA Digital Media Player – The ability to browse Promise SmartStor NAS/DMS and Windows DMS, then playback digital content on the mobile device.

DLNA Digital Media Server – Ability to transform mobile device into a Mobile - Digital Media Server (M-DMS) allowing you to stream music, pictures and video from the mobile device using a XBOX 360, PS3, WDTV, Popcornhour, Samsung DLNA TV, Sony DLNA TV, Windows Vista/Windows 7 PC and other popular Digital Media Players.

DLNA PUSH – Push music, pictures and video from the mobile device to a DMR for immediate playback. Essentially the DMR will retrieve digital content from the mobile device and playback. Digital content is streamed from the mobile device and not copied to the DMR.

Digital Media Renderer Compatibility List:

Samsung LNxxB750, 7000 series and 8000 series DLNA TVs

Syabas Popcornhour A100

Syabas Popcornhour A110

Syabas Popcornhour C200

Syabas Popcornhour A200

Windows 7 PC using Windows Media Player (must enable “allow remote control of my player” and “Automatically allow devices to play my media” – located under “Stream” on the menu bar)

XBOX 360 Media Center Extender – Windows 7 (you will have XBOX 360 in Media Center Extender mode with Windows 7)

Onkyo TXNR807 Ultra2 Receiver

WDTV2

Known issues:

1. Sometimes if you add media to the playlist while playback of the playlist is in progress, the newly added content will not playback requiring you to remove the content already played and pressing the play button again. We will resolve in a future version.

2. Browse button – You may find it necessary to press the Browse button more than once. This is due to resources and also issues with multicast on mobile devices. We will continually work to improve. Pressing the Browse button 2 or 3 times will result in all DMS and DMR to be discovered if you have multiple devices on the network.

Desktop Drives Drop In and Out

2010-05-10T10:20:08.0000000

Desktop Vs Raid Edition drives

Using desktop drives under the RAID environment could result in frequent drives being dropped out of the RAID group while trying to recover bad sectors during read operations.

Enterprise drives uses a special FW for error recovery that limits the time it takes to attempt to recover a bad sector as other drives are waiting during that process.

Desktop drives are designed in scenarios where there is no data redundancy or other drives working in a group so it has to spend additional time to attempt to recover data.

SmartNAVI is not detecting the DS4600

2010-04-20T13:43:44.0000000

SmartNAVI is not detecting the DS4600.

If you connect the DS4600 to the host system and power it up before installing the SmartNAVI program, the SmartNAVI program will sometimes not detect the DS4600. The following instructions should get the DS4600 recognized in the SmartNAVI program:

1. Unmount the DS4600 volume from the desktop if you have already configured your volume through the One-Touch button.

2. Power down the DS4600

3. Uninstall the SmartNAVI software.

4. Reboot the host system. This will give us a fresh start to installing the DS4600.

5. Install the SmartNAVI software.

6. Startup the SmartNAVI software.

7. Startup the DS4600. It should now be detected by the SmartNAVI.

You may want to attach the SmartNAVI program to your dock, and set it to start automatically when the host computer starts. If the SmartNAVI program is not running, it will not get status updates from the DS4600. The event log within the SmartNAVI program will not record any new errors from the DS4600 while the SmartNAVI program is inactive.

*If the DS4600 is still not being detected by the SmartNAVI program, please contact Technical Support to further troubleshoot the issue.

How do I turn off my DAS 4600 manually?

2010-02-27T19:14:47.0000000

How do I turn off the power for my DAS 4600 without using the SmartNAVI application?

1. On the back of the unit is the power On/Off button. Keep it pressed until the unit powers off.

2. In a recovery situation you can manually un-plug the AC cord from the back of the unit.

Setting up Microsoft ISCI Initiator With the Vtrak

2010-02-18T02:04:18.0000000

How do I setup Microsoft ISCSI initiator with Promise VTrak and VessRAID subsystems?

First log into Hyper terminal or Telnet into the VTrak, type in menu and hit enter to get into the menu. From the menu scroll down to Network Management and hit enter.

As you can see from this picture I only have one ISCSI port plugged in and the management port plugged in, both are static. The layout for the PC host and the VTrak are as followed. If these are not setup something like this then you will need to set these ports up to match each other IP range and subnet range.

If these are not setup you will need to go into each of the ISCSI and Management port and configure them. This window will show you info on this port such as the speed of the port, IP, subnet, and so on. Select NetMgmt ISCSI port 1 settings and click enter.

Here you can set the ports IP and subnet and port number along with enabling DHCP. Do this for all port on the VTrak so they are similar to your PC Host IP and subnet.

Now you can setup the Microsoft’s Initiator. Notice the Initiator Node Name this is what the VTrak will see and where the VTrak will send the LUNs to. You can change this by hitting Change, as far as I know you can set this to any name as you like. You might want to make this a shorter name so you know what PC this is if you are going to do LUN mapping. You can add more than one connection her for multi-path and for LUN mapping purposes.

Click the Discovery tab and click add.

Enter the IP of the ISCSI port you are trying to connect to and the port number. I kept the ports stock so I didn’t have to change this but if you changed the stock port on the VTrak you will need to change the port number here, and then click Advanced.

Here you will select where your connection will take place, under Local adapter you see it’s pointing to a QLogic ISCSI card because I am using the QLogic ISCSI card to connect the PC to the VTrak, if you were going through a gigabit Ethernet port it would say Microsoft Initiator. Under Source IP it should say the IP number of the device you are trying to connect to. In this case the QLogic ISCSI card IP is 10.0.0.1. Select the IP number 10.0.0.1 and click ok.

If this is done right you should see this under the targets tab. Look under status see how it says Inactive this is because you will need to log on to make the connection active. Click Log On.

This window will pop up; note the two check mark boxes. If you want this connection to reconnect after a restart then check the first check box. If you have a dual port ISCSI card or 2 gigabit Ethernet ports you wish to use to get multi-path to work then put a check mark next to the second check mark box. Then click Advanced.

Again under Local adapter select the device you are using to connect to the VTrak in this case the QLogic ISCSI card, then select the Source IP in this case 10.0.0.1 and finally select the Target Portal which is the VTrak. In my case the Source IP is 10.0.0.2 / 3260. This should be the only option I can select if done correctly, and then click OK.

This is telling the MS initiator that you want 10.0.0.1 aka the PC Host to target 10.0.02 aka the VTrak on port 3260.

Now under the Targets Tab it should say Connected under Status.

If LUN Mapping and Masking is disabled then you should see the LUNs on the VTrak populate on your PC, if they don’t then you might have to go into Disk Management and click Action and select Re-scan.

How to attach files to your web case

2010-02-17T05:12:22.0000000

When you fill out your web case you might need to attach files for Promise to go over, to do this you will need to do the following, scroll down the bottom of the web case.

Click on the Attach button

The web-page will reload, scroll back down to the button and youshould now see a list of attach buttons, click the top attach button and a fileselect window will pop up.

Select the file you wish to upload and hit open

The file will not be in the listed under the first attach you can only upload 10 attaches at a time. Once you are done hit upload.

Fill out the rest of your web case and hit submit and yourwebpage along with your attachments will be submitted to Promise.

Why doesn't my DAS 4600 auto-rebuild on a new disk?

2009-12-02T11:46:55.0000000

This article applies to the Apple and generic DAS 4600.

When a replacement hard disk drive is inserted into the unit after a disk failure, the DAS unit will not automatically rebuild to the new hard disk drive.

You need to activate the rebuild process by accessing "Volume Configuration" menus "RAID Status List" option and selecting the replacement hard disk drive.

You will be prompted to "ERASE" the new drive, and after you accept this action the rebuild process will begin to the new replacement drive.

NOTE: Always refresh the SmartNAVI utility after completing a rebuild operation.

Why does WebPam report erroneous information for my spare drives?

2009-10-20T16:27:23.0000000

Why does WebPam report erroneous information for my spare drives?

This condition occurs when you delete existing DEDICATED spares and re-assign them as GLOBAL spares. Multiple issues can arise from this problem such as:

- Erroneous information displayed in WebPam for the spares

- The inability to delete spares via WebPam

- Segmentation Fault errors when querying the “array –v” command from CLI

- The inability to save subsystem reports

In order to fix this issue, you will have to either telnet into the Vtrak or access the CLI via a serial console. Once at the CLI prompt, do the following:

1. Delete ALL your spares using this command:

spare –a del -iX

where X=the spareID number. Spares are enumerated starting at 0. For example, if you have 4 spares in your Vtrak, you will enter the following commands:

spare –a del –i0

spare –a del –i1

spare –a del –i2

spare –a del –i3

2. Change one of the array settings for each and every array in the system. One such setting is the Media Patrol setting. You must toggle the setting on and then off. You can make the changes in WebPam under Disk Array X>Settings:

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Be sure to click the “Submit” button following each time you check and uncheck the box.

Alternatively, you can work from CLI:

array –a mod –s “mediapatrol=disable” –dX

where X=the Disk Array number. Disk arrays are enumerated starting at 0. For example, if you have 4 arrays in your Vtrak, you will enter the following commands:

array –a mod –s “mediapatrol=disable” –d0

array –a mod –s “mediapatrol=disable” –d1

array –a mod –s “mediapatrol=disable” –d2

array –a mod –s “mediapatrol=disable” –d3

You will then change the setting back to its normal value:

array –a mod –s “mediapatrol=enable” –d0

array –a mod –s “mediapatrol=enable” –d1

array –a mod –s “mediapatrol=enable” –d2

array –a mod –s “mediapatrol=enable” –d3

3. You can now re-create your spares in WebPam (or CLI) and they will show up properly.