NetApp F720 setup fun
NetApp F720 and FC7 (or was it FC9?) from eBay. Another load of hardware I have picked up hugely cheaply as they are now unsupported by their own makers. A habit I just can’t kick…
Now how the hell do they work?
What do we know: the filer head runs a Data ONTAP OS. It is proprietary and I believe needs a license. I have no idea if my filer has one or not.
Got myself a now.netapp account and have access to the documentation.
Using the My Licenses, I search by serial number. Not registered to me. No shit.
I try and register: Registered. Check licenses again: nothing, nothing in my registered products. It did ask for a product number which you get from typing in a command on the filer console. I haven’t even turned it on yet 
. This is next…
Lets go….
Serial cable by the looks of it. Need to check if it needs anything like a null modem. Need docs… back to now.netapp…
This might be it!
NetApp® Filers
F700 Series
Hardware Guide
actually this talks about LEDs and front diagnostics, lets just power it up and see what it does.
checking sensors
testing memory
finding image
testing all sorts
startup failed
repeat....
i may need to attach the disks and deafen myself further for this.
This entails some seriously loud beeping.
it has found an image though and is loading.
starting - yippee
Initialising PCI devices.
Beeping has stopped. -
Replace NVRAM batteries!
filer 0
Fault on slot 0a
Hmm. Doesn’t look too hot. According to the docs, I need a null modem for the serial console to connect. i only have a 25pin one. wonder if it will work :). Seriously, i have the most ridiculous thing coming out the back on 1 of the servers. Both NetApp and my server are male 9 pin serials. This is the set of connectors:
NetApp M9 - F9 Cable M9 - F9 Adaptor M25 - F25 Null Modem M25 - F25 Adaptor F25 - M25 Adaptor M9 - F9 Adaptor F9 - M9 Server.
Need hyperterminal or some such on my windows server in the rack i am using, but it doesn’t have anything and has no CD Player, hmm, might have to RDC and install it that way.
Add new windows components, click through to Communications and lo and behold, hyperterminal is unchecked. Now there is a security issue with this application on Windows Server 2003 apparently, whcih is why it isn’t installed by default, but I am not that fussed at present. This is no internet facing server, and I might just remove it once done anyway.
Bloody thing won’t do it over network. Had to copy all files to desktop and copy over ones it asked for during install. done now.
Files needed from CD for interest:
HYPERTRS.HL_
HYPERTRS.DL_
HYPERTRS.EX_
HYPERTRS.CH_
HTICONS.DL_
HTRN_JIS.DL_
Serial Settings for a NetApp F720 Filer - 9600 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit.
We are in. Turning a Power Supply off got me a message. We also have a prompt:
filer>
lets try the command for the registration again:
filer> sysconfig -a
NetApp Release 6.5.6: Tue Oct 4 17:40:11 PDT 2005
System ID: 0016801618 (filer)
Backplane Serial Number: 236634
slot 0: System Board (NetApp System Board V N8)
Model Name: F720
Serial Number: 236634
Firmware release: 2.3_a2
Processors: 1
Memory Size: 256 MB
slot 0: FC Host Adapter 0a (QLogic 2100 rev. 3, 64-bit, L-port, <UP>)
Firmware rev: 1.19.14
Host Loop Id: 7 FC Node Name: 2:000:00a098:039c5a
Cacheline size: 16 FC Packet size: 2048
SRAM parity: Yes External GBIC: No
Link Data Rate: 1 Gbit
0: SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13 17.0GB 512B/sect (LRJ99488000070280Z69)
1: SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13 17.0GB 512B/sect (LRG99899000070481CAM)
2: SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13 17.0GB 512B/sect (LRG781410000704745NF)
3: SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13 17.0GB 512B/sect (LR47258400007052J8K3)
4: SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13 17.0GB 512B/sect (LRG866990000704747B2)
5: SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13 17.0GB 512B/sect (LRB09491000021024LGN)
6: SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13 17.0GB 512B/sect (LRK71932000070295GYY)
Shelf 0: VEM Kernel Version : 2.5 App. Version : 3.1
I/O base 0xbf00, size 0x100
memory mapped I/O base 0x84000000, size 0x1000
slot 0: SCSI Host Adapter 0b (Qlogic ISP 1040B, <ONLINE>)
Fast/Wide, Differential
Firmware Version 4.66.00 Clock Rate 60MHz.
I/O base 0xaf00, size 0x100
memory mapped I/O base 0x84200000, size 0x1000
slot 0: Ethernet Controller e0
MAC Address: 00:a0:98:00:82:68 (auto-100tx-fd-up)
I/O base 0xae80, size 0x80
memory mapped I/O base 0x84201000, size 0x400
slot 9: NVRAM (NetApp NVRAM II)
Revision: B3
Serial Number: 24402
Memory Size: 8 MB
Battery 1 Status: 0% (0.01v)
Battery 2 Status: 100% (3.08v)
memory mapped I/O base 0x84001000, size 0x80
I/O base 0xbe80, size 0x80
memory mapped I/O base 0x80000000, size 0x4000000
filer>
much stuff. it also seems to have recognised all the 7 17G seagate disks in my FC7 array.
Battery 1 status 0%
Battery 2 status 100%
This explains the front panel messages, but why is it still knackered?
Not attached to network yet, lets see what happens when i do this.
cool, it has a bash like command history!
right, ethernet is now up, but no ip.
filer>ifconfig e0 192.168.0.13
works. now pingable.
filer>license
cifs CNDWHEM
There are a lot of options/extras and other cool looking things, but they are all unlicensed. At least cifs has a working license, otherwise this is a paperweight, as there is no way I am paying for one of those license things (if I could even get one).
Lets see what we have under cifs then:
filer> cifs shares
Name Mount Point Description
---- ----------- -----------
ETC$ /etc Remote Administration
BUILTIN\Administrators / Full Control
HOME /vol/vol0/home Default Share
everyone / Full Control
C$ / Remote Administration
BUILTIN\Administrators / Full Control
filer>
added myself as a user
filer> useradmin useradd matt
New password:
Password must contain at least 2 alphabetic characters and
at least 1 numeric or special character
New password:
Retype new password:
User <matt> added.
filer> Thu May 1 21:51:51 GMT [rc:info]: User <matt> added
Oh look, the date is wrong. I will fix if I can get everything else sorted.
Connected as that user from a different machine, whoa, we are in! We now have a working filer! It has a df command and it only shows 11G though:
filer> df -h
Filesystem total used avail capacity Mounted on
/vol/vol0/ 11GB 155MB 11GB 1% /vol/vol0/
/vol/vol0/.snapshot 3056MB 14MB 3042MB 0% /vol/vol0/.snapshot
A problem message popped up in the console, which was the “Fault on slot 0a” issue, this was rectified when I attached another power supply to the disk array. Greedy bastard wants 2. The noise suddenly reduced massively and the it even reported that the fault had now been rectified. Ho Ho Ho. Just need to work out how to replace NVRAM batteries now, and work out where all the disk space is
filer> shelfchk
Only shelves attached to channel 0a should have all LEDs ON.
Are these LEDs all ON now? yes
filer> Thu May 1 22:07:14 GMT [rc:info]: Disk Configuration - No Errors Identified
Disk array is fine. It seems I need to create a new volume. Back to docs for a bit…
Right, I need to see what disks are available for a new volume:
filer> vol status -s
Spare disks
RAID Disk Device HA SHELF BAY CHAN Used (MB/blks) Phys (MB/blks)
--------- ------ --------------- ---- -------------- --------------
Spare disks for zoned checksum volumes only
spare 0a.2 0a 0 2 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
spare 0a.3 0a 0 3 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
spare 0a.4 0a 0 4 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
spare 0a.5 0a 0 5 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
spare 0a.6 0a 0 6 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
filer>
Cool. Lets get creationist on it!
I went for 4 as I got a RAID warning about not having any spares so thought I might get add the 5th later
filer> vol create vol_main 4
Thu May 1 22:38:56 GMT [raid.vol.disk.add.done:notice]: Addition of Disk /vol_main/plex0/rg0/0a.5 Shelf 0 Bay 5 [SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13] S/N [LRB09491000021024LGN] to volume vol_main has completed successfully
Thu May 1 22:38:56 GMT [raid.vol.disk.add.done:notice]: Addition of Disk /vol_main/plex0/rg0/0a.4 Shelf 0 Bay 4 [SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13] S/N [LRG866990000704747B2] to volume vol_main has completed successfully
Thu May 1 22:38:56 GMT [raid.vol.disk.add.done:notice]: Addition of Disk /vol_main/plex0/rg0/0a.3 Shelf 0 Bay 3 [SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13] S/N [LR47258400007052J8K3] to volume vol_main has completed successfully
Thu May 1 22:38:56 GMT [raid.vol.disk.add.done:notice]: Addition of Disk /vol_main/plex0/rg0/0a.2 Shelf 0 Bay 2 [SEAGATE ST318203FC NA13] S/N [LRG781410000704745NF] to volume vol_main has completed successfully
Thu May 1 22:38:57 GMT [config_async_0:notice]: Volume vol_main has been added to the system.
Creation of a volume with 4 disks has completed.
filer> Thu May 1 22:38:57 GMT [download.update:info]: Begin bootblock update, prototype is 0a.1
But when I checked, I saw that 1 had been set as a parity one anyway:
filer> vol status vol_main -r
Volume vol_main (online, raid4) (zoned checksums)
Plex /vol_main/plex0 (online, normal, active)
RAID group /vol_main/plex0/rg0 (normal)
RAID Disk Device HA SHELF BAY CHAN Used (MB/blks) Phys (MB/blks)
--------- ------ --------------- ---- -------------- --------------
parity 0a.2 0a 0 2 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
data 0a.3 0a 0 3 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
data 0a.4 0a 0 4 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
data 0a.5 0a 0 5 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
Rather than have a wasted disk (do I really need a spare, not at present. Maybe I will undo later and have a spare once I work out what to do with this insanely noisy thing) - I need to destroy and start again:
filer> vol offline vol_main
Thu May 1 22:41:41 GMT [config_async_0:notice]: CIFS - disabled for volume vol_main
Volume ‘vol_main’ is now offline.
filer> vol destroy vol_main
Are you sure you want to destroy this volume? yes
Thu May 1 22:41:51 GMT [raid.config.vol.destroyed:info]: Volume ‘vol_main’ destroyed.
Volume ‘vol_main’ destroyed.
filer>
filer> vol create vol_main 5
WARNING! Continuing with vol create will result in having no spare disk available for one or more raid groups.
Are you sure you want to continue with vol create? yes
Thu May 1 22:44:03 GMT [raid.rg.spares.low:warning]: /vol0/plex0/rg0
volume has been created with 1 disk added to the volume. 4 more disks need
to be zeroed before addition to the volume. The process has been initiated
and you will be notified via the system log as the remaining disks are added.
filer>
filer> Thu May 1 22:45:00 GMT [monitor.globalStatus.nonCritical:warning]: There are not enough spare disks.
Bugger
filer> vol status
Volume State Status Options
vol_main restricted raid4
initializing
vol0 online raid4 root, maxdirsize=5242
filer> vol offline vol_main
vol offline: Invalid operation on volume vol_main being created.
filer> vol destroy vol_main
vol destroy: Invalid operation on volume vol_main being created.
filer>
Have I shafted it already?
filer> vol status vol_main -r
Volume vol_main (restricted, raid4, initializing) (zoned checksums)
Plex /vol_main/plex0 (offline, empty, active)
Targeted to volume but not yet assigned to a raid group
RAID Disk Device HA SHELF BAY CHAN Used (MB/blks) Phys (MB/blks)
--------- ------ --------------- ---- -------------- --------------
pending 0a.2 0a 0 2 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480 (zeroing, 21% done)
pending 0a.3 0a 0 3 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480 (zeroing, 22% done)
pending 0a.4 0a 0 4 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480 (zeroing, 20% done)
pending 0a.5 0a 0 5 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480 (zeroing, 22% done)
pending 0a.6 0a 0 6 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
Phew, not quite. The warning must be that I have just used all the disks.
This is taking quite some time. Once done I reckon I need to create a new cifs share and away we go! I can then do some tests on the speed of this end-of-life ebay gloriousness!
filer> vol status vol_main -r
Volume vol_main (online, raid4) (zoned checksums)
Plex /vol_main/plex0 (online, normal, active)
RAID group /vol_main/plex0/rg0 (normal)
RAID Disk Device HA SHELF BAY CHAN Used (MB/blks) Phys (MB/blks)
--------- ------ --------------- ---- -------------- --------------
parity 0a.3 0a 0 3 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
data 0a.6 0a 0 6 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
data 0a.2 0a 0 2 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
data 0a.5 0a 0 5 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
data 0a.4 0a 0 4 FC:A 17000/34816000 17366/35566480
filer> df -h
Filesystem total used avail capacity Mounted on
/vol/vol0/ 11GB 155MB 11GB 1% /vol/vol0/
/vol/vol0/.snapshot 3056MB 14MB 3042MB 0% /vol/vol0/.snapshot
/vol/vol_main/ 47GB 1508KB 47GB 0% /vol/vol_main/
/vol/vol_main/.snapshot 11GB 0GB 11GB 0% /vol/vol_main/.snapshot
filer>
Created fine, lets get it shared via cifs:
filer> cifs shares -add data /vol/vol_main
filer> cifs shares
Name Mount Point Description
---- ----------- -----------
ETC$ /etc Remote Administration
BUILTIN\Administrators / Full Control
HOME /vol/vol0/home Default Share
everyone / Full Control
C$ / Remote Administration
BUILTIN\Administrators / Full Control
data /vol/vol_main
everyone / Full Control
filer>
And a quick test from another machine works fine. We are now ready to see how fast this goes, and this will have to be another time, as I need to get some sleep as my day tomorrow has admin all over it, and it is late already…
filer> halt -t 0.1
CIFS local server is shutting down...
CIFS local server has shut down...
Thu May 1 23:56:22 GMT [kern.shutdown:notice]: System shut down because : “halt”.
ok