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mfair
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Adding a 2nd HBA

I have 2 new DL 585 G2's which are not in production yet. They were shipped with only 1 HBA in them (HP - FC1142, PCIe, 4GB).

I installed ESX 3 in that configuration. I have now recieved the second HBS for these servers and due to a clerical error I recieved HP FCA2214's (PCI-x 2 GB).

I cannot get the FCA2214's to see the LUNs, The Zoning etc all looks good.

Do I need to have 2 identical HBAs in the Host for it to work porperly?

Should I re-install ESX 3 with both HBAs installed?

Thanks,

Mike

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Berniebgf
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Hi Mike

It is always best practice to have the same HBA for stable failover functionality......make sure you check that the HBA's you are using are supported with ESX.

However....either way if you have mapped the storage correctly you should be able to see the LUN via the HBA Bios...so lets check that first!!!!

Follow the basic fault diag process below.

1. The good news is you have a Qlogic HBA!!

2. During boot press Ctrl Q to enter the HBA bios....make sure you point to the new HBA

3. So..now we want to know the following.......

3.1 can we see the Storage Array? yes = Zoning OK.........no = zoning not right

3.2 Can we see the Logical disk? yes = Access control OK.......no = access control on array not right.

So...in the HBA Bios...select..."SCAN Fibre Devices".......if you can see your array name...this means that the zoning looks OK...(in basic terms..)

Seconday....go back and select ..."fibre disk utility"....select your array and see if any LUN numbers are marked as "supported"...if so...your access control on your array look OK...

Note: Depending on your brand of storage, you will need to make sure you set the correct "host settings" for the ESX hosts in the Storage arrays management software.

If you can see the correct lun in bios then the physical configuration is OK and you can start to look further into the ESX side of things....

NOTE: Some of the terms I used for the Bios area might not be %100 correct..have a play around in the bios and you will work it out...

hope this helps

Best regards.

Bernard

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Berniebgf
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Hi Mike

It is always best practice to have the same HBA for stable failover functionality......make sure you check that the HBA's you are using are supported with ESX.

However....either way if you have mapped the storage correctly you should be able to see the LUN via the HBA Bios...so lets check that first!!!!

Follow the basic fault diag process below.

1. The good news is you have a Qlogic HBA!!

2. During boot press Ctrl Q to enter the HBA bios....make sure you point to the new HBA

3. So..now we want to know the following.......

3.1 can we see the Storage Array? yes = Zoning OK.........no = zoning not right

3.2 Can we see the Logical disk? yes = Access control OK.......no = access control on array not right.

So...in the HBA Bios...select..."SCAN Fibre Devices".......if you can see your array name...this means that the zoning looks OK...(in basic terms..)

Seconday....go back and select ..."fibre disk utility"....select your array and see if any LUN numbers are marked as "supported"...if so...your access control on your array look OK...

Note: Depending on your brand of storage, you will need to make sure you set the correct "host settings" for the ESX hosts in the Storage arrays management software.

If you can see the correct lun in bios then the physical configuration is OK and you can start to look further into the ESX side of things....

NOTE: Some of the terms I used for the Bios area might not be %100 correct..have a play around in the bios and you will work it out...

hope this helps

Best regards.

Bernard

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dclark
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you won't need to reinstall ESX. As long as the HBA is supported ESX will detect and load the drivers at boot time.

mfair
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Great post Bernie,

Both HBA's are QLogic and use the same driver. Both are supported in ESX. It looks like the only difference is that the FC1142 is 1, 2, 4gb and the FCA2214 is only 1 or 2gb. My FC switches don't support 4gb so they will both run at 2 gb.

The issue turned out to be access control on the Array (CLARiiON CX700). I registered the new WWPN's to the ESX Host in Navisphere but it didn't seem to take effect until I removed the ESX Host from the storage group and added it back in. After that we are good to go.

Thanks,

Mike

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