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Dynamic Disk Group Problems after Reboot

kirky76
Level 2
Hi All,

I noticed a similar posting to this on the forum recently but my problem is subtely different. I'm using SFWHA 5.1 on a WIndows 2003 Server. I have the MS iSCSI initiator (2.08) installed and am using Openfiler as an iSCSI target. My configuration is very simple. When I launch VEA I can attach to my iSCSI service with no issues and the new disk appears in the console. From there, I can continue to create a Dynamic DG and then build some volumes which can then be mounted with no problems. These volumes are fully accesible to Windows and I can install applications on them with no issues.

The problem I have is that as soon as I reboot the machine, the iSCSI target appears to reconnect fine and the Disk is still displayed in the VEA console but the dynamic DG has gone. I try to reactivate the disk but receive an error that says "Invalid Arguments (V-40-32775-87)". THe disk status is shown as "Unknown". There appears to be little more I can do with the disk at this point. I've searched the forums and found some discussion about delayed import which I've enabled but with little change. I've attempted to use the cli command to import the disk group but again, no luck.

The WIn2k3 server is running inside VMWare ESX 3.5i and Openfiler is also running inside VMWare ESX 3.5i (on a different physical server). Without SFW installed I can access the iSCSI targets fine and create volumes and they all remain in place after a reboot. The iSCSI configuration is as basic as it gets.

I really need to get past this issue but cannot seem to find a way forward. Any help or pointers would be most gratefully received.

Many thanks,
Mark

5 REPLIES 5

Srikanth_Gubbal
Level 6
Certified

Good,

this is a known issue on iscsi as windows DMP will not support iscsi with SFW as you need to delay the startup of  SF service for the iscsi service to start first during a reboot.

go for DMP DSM and  try workaround suggested in the below thread and confirm on the output
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/disk-group-not-importing-automatically-after-restart-...

kirky76
Level 2
Hi Srikanth,

Many thanks for the prompt response. Please excuse my ignorance on the point of DMPt as I'm not an expert in this field but is this a fundamental part of the iSCSI initiator service from MS?

That being said, I have already attempted to resolve the issue by setting the Veritas DG Delayed Import Service to be dependant on the MS iSCSI service and have also set the Dynamic DG delay to 'on' using the CLbut this doesn't seem to have fixed the issue. Unless I'm mis-understanding things. Is there any further trouble-shooting I can do to ensure I've configured things correctly?

Thanks.

Srikanth_Gubbal
Level 6
Certified
iscsi connections over a virtual SAN are not supported in SFW 5.1; this we have to get this confirmed from support.

why don't log a call with support and post the output here

Zahid_Haseeb
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited
HI Kirky.

The same problem was happened with me that i was not able to import the Disk Group after reboot automatically but i eventually solved this.


i just installed win2003R2 with iscsi 2.08 and ran the command vxdg -g DGname latestart on ( http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/273694.htm ) and the problem is resolved.

see my problem solution link also
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/disk-group-not-importing-automatically-after-restart-windows2003

Jay_Kim
Level 5
Employee Accredited Certified
I expect OP's setup/environment to work with SFW without issues.

As long as there are no multipathing compatibility issues involved (be it VxDMP or 3rd party), any disk Windows can see, we can use.
The fact that disks brought in by iscsi initiator are not auto imported is because they don't get seen by SFW during system bootup.

Hence, the vxdg latestart needs to be enabled for a non-cluster dynamic diskgroup so that DG Delay import service imports it later on.
This is a documented feature in the SFW admin guide also. But the above technote mentioned by Zahid is easier to see / follow.