Return code handling for Windows and UNIX The following lists the possible status or error codes that can be returned by the various SYMCLI commands on a Windows or UNIX platform and useful for troubleshooting.

Code Code symbol Description
___________________________________________________
0 CLI_C_SUCCESS CLI -- call completed successfully.
1 CLI_C_FAIL CLI - call failed.
2 CLI_C_DB_FILE_IS_LOCKED- Another process has an exclusive
lock on the Host database file.
3 CLI_C_SYM_IS_LOCKED - Another process has an exclusive
lock on the Symmetrix.
4 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_SYNCHRONIZED NOT - all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Synchronized' state.
5 CLI_C_NONE_SYNCHRONIZED - NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Synchronized' state.
6 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_UPDATED - - NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Updated' state.
7 CLI_C_NONE_UPDATED --NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Updated' state.
8 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_PINGED -- NOT all of the remote Symmetrix units can be pinged.
9 CLI_C_NONE_PINGED -- NONE of the remote Symmetrix units can be pinged.
10 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_SYNCHED -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Synchronized' state.
11 CLI_C_NONE_SYNCHED -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Synchronized' state.
12 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_RESTORED -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'Restored' state.
13 CLI_C_NONE_RESTORED -- NONE of the pairs are in the 'Restored' state.
14 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_VALID -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in a valid state.
15 CLI_C_NONE_VALID -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in a valid state.
16 CLI_C_SYM_NOT_ALL_LOCKED -- NOT all of the specified Symmetrix units have an exclusive Symmetrix lock.
17 CLI_C_SYM_NONE_LOCKED --NONE of the specified Symmetrix units have an exclusive Symmetrix lock.
18 CLI_C_ALREADY_IN_STATE --The Device(s) is (are) already in the desired state or mode.
19 CLI_C_GK_IS_LOCKED -- All GateKeeper devices to the Symmetrix unit are currently locked.
20 CLI_C_WP_TRACKS_IN_CACHE -- Operation cannot proceed because the target device has Write Pending I/O in the cache.
21 CLI_C_NEED_MERGE_TO_RESUME --Operation cannot proceed without first performing a merge of the RDF Track Tables.
22 CLI_C_NEED_FORCE_TO_PROCEED --Operation cannot proceed in the current state except if you specify a force flag.
23 CLI_C_NEED_SYMFORCE_TO_PROCEED --Operation cannot proceed in the current state except if you specify a symforce flag.
24 CLI_C_NOT_IN_SYNC -- The Symmetrix configuration and the database file are NOT in sync.
25 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_SPLIT -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Split' state.
26 CLI_C_NONE_SPLIT -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Split' state.
27 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_SYNCINPROG -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'SyncInProg' state.
28 CLI_C_NONE_SYNCINPROG -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'SyncInProg' state.
29 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_RESTINPROG -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'RestInProg' state.
30 CLI_C_NONE_RESTINPROG -- NONE of the pairs are in the 'RestInProg' state.
31 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_SUSPENDED -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Suspended' state.
32 CLI_C_NONE_SUSPENDED -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Suspended' state.
33 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_FAILED_OVER -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Failed Over' state.
34 CLI_C_NONE_FAILED_OVER -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Failed Over' state.
35 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_UPDATEINPROG -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'R1 UpdInProg' state.
36 CLI_C_NONE_UPDATEINPROG -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'R1 UpdInProg' state.
37 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_PARTITIONED -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Partitioned' state.
38 CLI_C_NONE_PARTITIONED -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Partitioned' state.
39 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_ENABLED -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Enabled' consistency state.
40 CLI_C_NONE_ENABLED -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Enabled' consistency state.
41 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_SYNCHRONIZED_AND_ENABLED -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Synchronized' rdf state and the 'Enabled' consistency state.
42 CLI_C_NONE_SYNCHRONIZED_AND_ENABLED -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Synchronized' rdf state and in the 'Enabled' consistency state.
43 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_SUSP_AND_ENABLED -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Suspended' rdf state and 'Enabled' consistency state.
44 CLI_C_NONE_SUSP_AND_ENABLED -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Suspended' rdf state and the 'Enabled' consistency state.
45 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_SUSP_AND_OFFLINE -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Suspended' rdf state and 'Offline' link suspend state.
46 CLI_C_NONE_SUSP_AND_OFFLINE -- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Suspended' rdf state and the 'Offline' link suspend state.
47 CLI_C_WONT_REVERSE_SPLIT -- Performing this operation at this time will not allow you to perform the next BCV split as a reverse split.
48 CLI_C_CONFIG_LOCKED -- Access to the configuration server is locked.
49 CLI_C_DEVS_ARE_LOCKED -- One or more devices are locked.
50 CLI_C_MUST_SPLIT_PROTECT -- If a device was restored with the protect option, it must be split with the protect option.
51 CLI_C_PAIRED_WITH_A_DRV -- The function can not be performed since the STD device is already paired with a DRV device.
52 CLI_C_PAIRED_WITH_A_SPARE -- NOT all of the Snap pairs are in the 'Copy in progress' state.
53 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_COPYINPROG -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'CopyInProgress' state.
54 CLI_C_NONE_COPYINPROG --NONE of the pairs are in the 'CopyInProgress' state.
55 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_COPIED -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'Copied' state.
56 CLI_C_NONE_COPIED -- NONE of the pairs are in the 'Copied' state.
57 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_COPYONACCESS -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'CopyonAccess' state.
58 CLI_C_NONE_COPYONACCESS -- NONE of the pairs are in the 'CopyonAccess' state.
59 CLI_C_CANT_RESTORE_PROTECT --The protected restore operation can not be completed because there are write pendings or the BCV mirrors are not synchronized.
60 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_CREATED -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'Created' state.
61 CLI_C_NONE_CREATED -- NONE of the pairs are in the 'Created' state.
62 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_READY -- NOT all of the BCVs local mirrors are in the 'Ready' state.
63 CLI_C_NONE_READY -- NONE of the BCVs local mirrors are in the 'Ready' state.
64 CLI_C_STD_BKGRND_SPLIT_IN_PROG -- The operation cannot proceed because the STD Device is splitting in the Background.
65 CLI_C_SPLIT_IN_PROG -- The operation cannot proceed because the pair is splitting.
66 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_COPYONWRITE -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'CopyOnWrite' state.
67 CLI_C_NONE_COPYONWRITE -- NONE of the pairs are in the 'CopyOnWrite' state.
68 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_RECREATED -- Not all devices are in the 'Recreated' state.
69 CLI_C_NONE_RECREATED -- No devices are in the 'Recreated' state.
70 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_CONSISTENT -- NOT all of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Consistent' state.
71 CLI_C_NONE_CONSISTENT-- NONE of the mirrored pairs are in the 'Consistent' state.
72 CLI_C_MAX_SESSIONS_EXCEEDED-- The maximum number of sessions has been exceeded for the specified device.
73 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_PRECOPY -- Not all source devices are in the 'Precopy' state.
74 CLI_C_NONE_PRECOPY -- No source devices are in the 'Precopy' state.
75 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_PRECOPY_CYCLED -- Not all source devices have completed one precopy cycle.
76 CLI_C_NONE_PRECOPY_CYCLED -- No source devices have completed one precopy cycle.
77 CLI_C_CONSISTENCY_TIMEOUT -- The operation failed because of a Consistency window timeout.
78 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_FAILED -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'Failed' state.
79 CLI_C_NONE_FAILED -- NONE of the pairs are in the 'Failed' state.
80 CLI_C_CG_NOT_CONSISTENT -- CG is NOT RDF-consistent.
81 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_CREATEINPROG -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'CreateInProg' state.
82 CLI_C_NONE_CREATEINPROG -- None of the pairs are in the 'CreateInProg' state.
83 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_RECREATEINPROG -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'RecreateInProg' state.
84 CLI_C_NONE_RECREATEINPROG -- None of the pairs are in the 'RecreateInProg' state.
85 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_TERMINPROG -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'TerminateInProg' state.
86 CLI_C_NONE_TERMINPROG -- None of the pairs are in the 'TerminateInProg' state.
87 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_VERIFYINPROG -- NOT all of the pairs are in the 'VerifyInProg' state.
88 CLI_C_NONE_VERIFYINPROG -- None of the pairs are in the 'VerifyInProg' state.
89 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_VERIFIED -- NOT all of the pairs are in the requested states.
90 CLI_C_NONE_VERIFIED -- NONE of the pairs are in the requested states Note: This message is returned when multiple states are verified at once.
91 CLI_C_RDFG_TRANSMIT_IDLE -- RDF group is operating in SRDF/A Transmit Idle.
92 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_MIGRATED -- Not all devices are in the ' Migrated' state.
93 CLI_C_NONE_MIGRATED -- None of devices are in the 'Migrated' state.
94 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_MIGRATEINPROG -- Not all devices are in the 'MigrateInProg' state.
95 CLI_C_NONE_MIGRATEINPROG -- None of devices are in the 'MigrateInProg' state.
96 CLI_C_NOT_ALL_INVALID-- Not all devices are in the 'Invalid' state.
97 CLI_C_NONE_INVALID-- None of devices are in the 'Invalid' state.

EMC introduced PowerPath Confgiuration Checker tools for customer. I thought to share about this. It will be very useful for those guys who are using PowerPath as a host fail-over software. It checks existing configuration with EMC support matrix and give you details reports about your configuration whether existing configuration is as EMC support guidelines. This tool is currently available for Windows Operating system.

It tests the following check:

· OS version verification
· Machine Architecture as per ESM(EMC Support Matrix)
· Powerpath Version
· Powerpath eFix
· Powerpath License
· License policy
· I/O timeout
· EOL and EOSL ( End of life and End of Service life)
· HBA Model
· HBA Driver
· HBA Firmware
· Symmetrix Microcode
· Symmetrix Model
· CLARiiON Fail-Over
· CLARiiON Flare Code
· CLARiiON Model
· Veritas DMP Version
· Powermt custom


PowerPath Configuration Checker (PPCC) is a software program that verifies that a host is configured to the hardware and software required for PowerPath multipathing features (failover and load-balancing functions, licensing, and policies)

PPCC can facilitate:
1) Successful PowerPath deployments prior to and after a PowerPath installation.
2) Customer self-service for:
• Planning installations on hosts where PowerPath is not installed.
• Upgrading an existing installation.
• Troubleshooting, for example after configuration changes are made on a host that includes PowerPath, such as the installation of new software

PPCC supports the following user tasks:

Planning — This task applies to a host on which PowerPath has never been installed or is not currently installed. PPCC can identify the software that needs to be installed to support a specific version of PowerPath. For example, PPCC can identify the HBA and driver version that can be installed to support a specific version of PowerPath.

Upgrade — This task applies to a host on which some version of PowerPath is installed. An upgrade (or downgrade) to a different version is required. PPCC can identify components of a configuration that need to change when a different version of PowerPath is to be installed. For example, PPCC can identify the
need to change the Storage OS version.

Diagnostic — This task applies to a host on which some version of PowerPath is installed or on which configuration changes have been made to PowerPath, to the host OS, and/or to other software on the host. This is the PPCC default mode.

For all of the listed tasks, PPCC can identify what changes to make to the PowerPath configuration to ensure continued support for failover and load balancing. Similarly, if PowerPath does not appear to be operating correctly, running EMC Reports and PPCC can assist with configuration problem analysis.

Any disk drive from any manufacturer can exhibit sector read errors due to media defects. This is a known and accepted reality in the disk drive industry, particularly with the high recording densities employed by recent products. These media defects only affect the drive’s ability to read data from a specific sector; they do not indicate general unreliability of the disk drive. The disk drives that EMC purchases from its vendors are within specifications for soft media errors according to the vendors as well as EMC’s own Supply Base Management organization.

Prior to shipment from manufacturing, disk drives have a surface scan operation performed that detects and reallocates any sectors that are defective. This operation is run to reduce the possibility that a disk drive will experience soft media errors in operation. Improper handling after leaving EMC manufacturing can lead to the creation of additional media defects, as can improper drive handling during installation or replacement.

When a disk drive encounters trouble reading data from a sector, the drive will automatically attempt recovery of the data through its various internal methods. Whether or not the drive is eventually successful at reading the sector, the drive will report the event to FLARE. FLARE will in turn log this event as a “Soft Media Error” (event code 820) and will re-allocate the sector to a spare physical location on the drive (this does not affect the logical address of the sector). In the event that the drive was eventually successful at reading the sector, (event coded 820 with sub-code of 22), FLARE will directly write that data into the new physical location. If the correct sector data was not available, (event code 820 with sub-code of 05). There are certain tools from EMC to verify disk and check detail about these Soft Media Errors like sniffer/FBI Tool/SMART Technology etc..

We have discussed about Virtual Provisioning of Symmetrix in previous post. Now, we will discuss about Virtual Provisioning Configuration. You have to understand your storage environment before you run the below mentioned command.

Configuring and viewing data devices and pools:

Data Devices are devices with datadev attribute. Only Data Devices can be part of Thin Pool. Devices with different protection scheme can be supported for use in Thin Pools. It is depending on specific Enginuity level. All devices with the datadev attribute are used for exclusively for populating Thin Pools.

Create command file (Thin.txt) with following syntax:

create dev count=10, config=2-Way-Mir, attribute=datadev, emulation=FBA, size=4602;

# symconfigure -sid 44 -file thin.txt commit –v –nop

A Configuration Change operation is in progress. Please wait...
Establishing a configuration change session...............Established.
Processing symmetrix 000190101244
{
create dev count=10, size=4602, emulation=FBA,
config=2-Way Mir, mvs_ssid=0000, attribute=datadev;
}
Performing Access checks..................................Allowed.
Checking Device Reservations..............................Allowed.
Submitting configuration changes..........................Submitted
…..
…..
…..
Step 125 of 173 steps.....................................Executing.
Step 130 of 173 steps.....................................Executing.
Local: COMMIT............................................Done.
Terminating the configuration change session..............Done.

The configuration change session has successfully completed.

# symdev list -sid 44 -datadev

Symmetrix ID: 000190101244
Device Name Directors Device
--------------------------- ------------- -------------------------------------
Sym Physical SA :P DA :IT Config Attribute Sts Cap(MB)
--------------------------- ------------- -------------------------------------
10C4 Not Visible ???:? 01A:C4 2-Way Mir N/A (DT) RW 4314
10C5 Not Visible ???:? 16C:D4 2-Way Mir N/A (DT) RW 4314
10C6 Not Visible ???:? 15B:D4 2-Way Mir N/A (DT) RW 4314
10C7 Not Visible ???:? 02D:C4 2-Way Mir N/A (DT) RW 4314
10C8 Not Visible ???:? 16A:D4 2-Way Mir N/A (DT) RW 4314
10C9 Not Visible ???:? 01C:C4 2-Way Mir N/A (DT) RW 4314
10CA Not Visible ???:? 16B:C4 2-Way Mir N/A (DT) RW 4314


Thin Pool can be created using symconfigure command and without adding data devices:

# symconfigure -sid 44 -cmd "create pool Storage type=thin;" commit –nop

Once pool is created, data devices can be added to the pool and enabled:

EMC announced Symmetrix V-Max recently which is based on virtual matrix. Symmetrix V-Max runs on latest Enginuity 5874. The 5874 plateform support Symmetricx V-Max Emulation level 121 and service processor level 102. The modular design of V-Max series Enginuity 5874 ensure flow and integrity between hardware component. Symmetrix Management Console 7.0 (SMC) integrated in service processor. SMC allows you to provision in 5 steps. Enginuity 5874 provides following enhanced feature:

RAID Virtual Architecture :-Enginuity 5874 introduces a new RAID implementation infrastructure. This enhancement increases configuration options in SRDF environments by reducing the number of mirror positions for RAID 1 and RAID 5 devices. This enhancement also provides additional configuration options, for example, allowing LUN migrations in a Concurrent or Cascaded SRDF environment. You can migrate device between raid level/tier level.

Large Volume :-Support Enginuity 5874 increases the maximum volume size to approximately 240 GB for open systems environments and 223 GB for mainframe environments. DMX-4 allows max only 65 GB hyper.

512 Hyper Volumes per Physical Drive :- Enginuity 5874 supports up to 512 hyper volumes on a single drive, twice as much as Enginuity 5773(DMX-3/4). You can improve flexibility and capacity utilization by configuring more granular volumes that more closely meet their space requirements and leave less space unused.

Autoprovisioning Groups :- Auto provisioning Groups reduce the complexity of Symmetrix device masking by allowing the creation of groups of host initiators, front-end ports and storage volumes. This provides the ability to mask storage to multiple paths instead of one path at a time, reducing the time required and potential for error for consolidated and virtualized server environments. You can script and schedule batch operation using SMC 7.0.

Concurrent Provisioning and Scripts :- Concurrent configuration changes provide the ability to run scripts concurrently instead of serially, improving system management efficiency. Uses for concurrent configuration changes include parallel device mapping, unmapping, metavolume form and dissolve from different hosts.

Dynamic Provisioning Enhancements :- Dynamic configuration changes allow the dynamic setting of the BCV and dynamic SRDF device attributes and decrease the impact to hosts I/O during the corresponding configuration manager operations.

New Management Integration :- With Enginuity 5874, the Symmetrix Management Console (SMC) and SMI-S provider are available on the Symmetrix system's Service Processor. This frees host resources and simplifies Symmetrix system management; by attaching the Service Processor to your network, you can open SMC and manage the Symmetrix system from anywhere in their enterprise.

Enhanced Virtual LUN :- With Enginuity 5874, Virtual LUN technology provides the ability to non disruptively change the physical location on disk, and/or the protection type of Symmetrix logical volumes and allows the migration of open systems, Mainframe and System i volumes to unallocated storage or to existing volumes. Organizations can respond more easily to changing business requirements when using tiered storage in the array.
Enhanced Virtual Provisioning Draining:- With Enginuity 5874, Virtual Provisioning support for draining of data devices allows the nondisruptive removal of one or more data devices from a thin device pool, without losing the data that belongs to the thin devices. This feature allows for improved capacity utilization.
Enhanced Virtual Provisioning:- Support for all RAID Types With Enginuity 5874, Virtual Provisioning no longer restricts RAID 5 data devices. Virtual Provisioning now supports all data device RAID types.

To setup Replication Manager you must perform the following tasks:

1) Verify that your environment has the minimum required storage hardware and that the hardware has a standard CLARiiON configuration.
2) Confirm that your Replication Manager hosts (server and clients) are connected to the CLARiiON environment through a LAN connection.
3) Zone the fibre switch appropriately (if applicable). The clients must be able to access all storage arrays they are using and the mount hosts must be able to access all storage in the EMC Replication Storage group.
4) Install all necessary software on each Replication Manager client , server, and mount host. Also install the appropriate firmware and software on the CLARiiON array itself.
5) Modify the clarcnfg file to represent all CLARiiON Arrays.
6) On Solaris hosts, verify that there are enough entries in the sd.conf file to support all dynamic mounts of replica LUNs.
7) Install Replication Manager Client software on each client that has an application with data from which you plan to create replicas.
8) Create a new user account on the CLARiiON and give this new account privileges as an administrator. Replication Manager can use this account to access and manipulate the CLARiiON as necessary.
9) Grant storage processor privileges through the agent tab of storage processor properties to allow aviCLI.jar commands from Replication Manager Client Control Daemon (irccd) process to reach the CLARiiON storage array.
10) Update the agent.config file on each client where Replication Manager is installed to include a link to: user system@ where is the IP address of a storage processor. You should add a link to both storage processors in each StorageWorks array that you are using.
11) Verify that you have Clone Private LUNs set up on your CLARiiON storage array. --Create a mount storage group for each mount host and make sure that storage group contains at least one LUN, and that the LUN is visible to the mount host. This LUN does not have to be dedicated or remain empty; you can use it for any purpose. However if no LUNs are visible to the Replication Manager mount host, Replication Manager will not operate.
12) Create a storage group named EMC Replication Storage and populate it with free LUNs that you created in advance for Replication Manager to use for storing replicas.
13) Start the Replication Manager Console and connect to your Replication Manager server. You must perform the following steps:
a) Register all Replication Manager clients
b) Run Discover Arrays
c) Run Configure Array for each array discovered
d) Run Discover Storage for each array discovered

The following rules and recommendations CX systems:
1)
You cannot use any of the disks 000 through 004 (enclosure 0, loop 0, disks 0-4) as a hot spare in a CX-Series system.
2) The hardware reserves several gigabytes on each of disks 000 through 004 for the cache vault and internal tables. To conserve disk space, you should avoid binding any other disk into a RAID Group that includes any of these disks. Any disk you include in a RAID Group with a cache disk 000-004 is bound to match the lower unreserved capacity, resulting in lost storage of several gigabytes per disk.
3) Each disk in the RAID Group should have the same capacity. All disks in a Group are bound to match the smallest capacity disk, and you could waste disk space. The first five drives (000-004) should always be the same size.
4) You cannot mix ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) and Fibre Channel disk drives within a RAID Group.
5) Hot spares for Fibre Channel drives must be Fibre Channel drives; ATA drives require ATA hot spares.
6) If a storage system will use disks of different speeds (for example, 10K and 15K rpm), then EMC recommends that you use disks of the same speed throughout each 15-disk enclosure. For any enclosure, the hardware allows one speed change within an enclosure, so if need be, you may use disks of differing speeds. Place the higher speed drives in the first (leftmost) drive slot(s).
7) You should always use disks of the same speed and capacity in any RAID Group.
8) Do not use ATA drives to store boot images of an operating system. You must boot host operating systems from a Fibre Channel drive.

About Me

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Sr. Solutions Architect; Expertise: - Cloud Design & Architect - Data Center Consolidation - DC/Storage Virtualization - Technology Refresh - Data Migration - SAN Refresh - Data Center Architecture More info:- diwakar@emcstorageinfo.com
Blog Disclaimer: “The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions. Content published here is not read or approved in advance by EMC and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of EMC.”
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