Specifications

Chapter 5 Maintenance and Service 5-9
The rdacutil -u command unfails the alternate controller then attempts to
communicate with the alternate controller through the I/O path. This is how the
RAID Manager 6 GUI unfails a controller.
Sometimes by issuing these two commands you can determine if the failure is
internal to the controller board or external. If the controller is not at fault, to perform
further troubleshooting, you will need to have spare parts readily available to isolate
the defective component by substituting components one at a time. A defective HBA
is one possible cause. Verify that the firmware used in the HBA (for example
firmware 1.28 or higher for an UDWIS/SBus HBA) is current. A defective host SCSI
cable or terminator is another possible cause for data path failure. Sometimes you
may see reducing sync transfer rate or disabled wide SCSI mode error messages. The
most common cause for these error messages are bent pins on a SCSI cable
connector. Also be aware that a SCSI terminator can be defective even if the green
LED on the SCSI terminator is on.
Note – Do not perform a boot -r while a controller is held in reset because it will
rearrange the device path and may cause the controller to not appear in RAID
Manager 6.
5.1.12 Controller Board LEDs
The controller module’s LEDs indicate the status of both the controller module and
its individual components. The green LEDs indicate normal operating status; amber
LEDs indicate a hardware fault. It is important that you check all the LEDs on the
front and back of the controller module when you turn on power. Besides fault
isolation, the LEDs can be used to determine if there is any I/O activity between the
host and the controller modules.
Here are a few things to consider when checking the LEDs for status:
■ If a Fast Write Cache operation or other I/O activity is in progress to the
controller module (or attached drive units), you may see several green LEDs
blinking including: the Fast Write Cache LED (on the front panel), controller FRU
status LEDs, or applicable drive activity LEDs.
■ The green heartbeat LED on the controller FRUs blinks continuously.
■ See Section 4.1.2 “Checking the Controller LEDs” in the Sun StorEdge
A3500/A3500FC Controller Module Guide for the LED pattern information.
■ An active controller will not have the same status LEDs lit as a passive controller.
■ If you just turned on power, the controller module’s green and amber LEDs will
turn on and off intermittently. Wait until the controller module finishes powering
up before you begin checking for faults.