Error Entries Are Logged After You Have Installed the Compaq StorageWorks Command Console Version 2.0 Tool (284133)

SYMPTOMS

After you have installed the Compaq StorageWorks Command Console (SWCC) tool on your computer, during failover or a group move, you may receive the following log entries in the Cluster.log file:

0b4.1a6::13-05:24:50.820 Physical Disk Disk H:: SCSI, error reserving disk, error 1

0b4.1a6::13-05:24:50.820 Physical Disk Disk H:: SCSI, error resetting bus, error 1

0b4.1a6::13-05:24:50.836 Physical Disk Disk H:: Failed to break reservation

If you move the resources back to the node that originally owned them, the disk comes online.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if you install a SWCC tool on a server cluster, and use the SWCC tool to remotely configure your hard disks. The SWCC tool consists of two major components: the client and the agent. The client, which includes the user interface and some additional services, provides a window into your storage subsystems. The agent is a host-resident program that is an interface between the client and the host's storage controller. The agent is used to interpret and to transfer information.

The agent contains a Steam agent service which constantly monitors the storage device. This service can remove the drive reservations away from the cluster and prevent the failover of disk resources.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, you must remove the SWCC tool, which may or may not remove the Steam agent service. If the removal of the SWCC tool does not remove the Steam agent service, in Control Panel, click Services, stop the service, and then manually delete the Steam agent service folder.

MORE INFORMATION

The Steam agent service can take over the disk reservations from a cluster and does not easily release them during failover. This behavior is caused by using small computer system interface (SCSI) commands that are not supported under SCSI-2 specifications.

The SWCC version 2.0 tool has the potential to affect a server cluster environment with adverse failover and disk reservation behavior. The next version of the SWCC tool should resolve the reservation behavior because it uses SCSI-3 commands for reservations. Although you are instructed to install the Steam agent service as a generic service on only one node, Compaq recommends that you remove the SWCC version 2.0 tool and wait for the next version if you experience the behavior discussed in this article.

For more information about this behavior, contact Compaq at the following Compaq Web site:

http://www.compaq.com

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