Storage Array Controller mishaps
One of my clients got a few IBM DS4700s as their 2nd tier storage. I was very happy to see they’re willing to venture out of their EMC comfort zone and start looking at alternative solutions to curb the ever so outrageous EMC pricing.
I really didn’t pay much attention to them since I got sidetracked by other projects that took me away from the storage group. After I resumed working with the storage folks, I found out the management interfaces are now dropping out of network sporadically, and the only way to get it back online would be to cycle the disk controller where the management interface is .. OUCH!
Obviously the clients, especially the management levels aren’t happy ( Those who did not support venturing out of EMC solutions and the EMC onsite reps were thrilled … )
Our IBM rep had recommended firmware upgrades, setting the interface to 10 auto neg off , half/full duplex, but none of these had helped.
I’ve seen some pretty big DS4000 series installation at some other sites but I’ve never seen any controller with management interface that drops dead so easily, even after multiple attempts of firmware upgrades. This should never happen on a storage system, regardless whether it’s enterprise class or SMB class! I can tolerate my Linksys router at home going belly-up every now and then, but a storage controller should never do that.