RE: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

RE: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Cress, Andrew R]

Mikael,

For your own system, you know when it is really idle, so you can do it when
you wish.  

The recommended way to do this on a production system (assuming some kind of
RAID) is to take one disk out of the raid, update its firmware, add it back
to the raid, then do the same to the next one.  This can all be scripted,
and even if it takes a bit longer, it's worth it to most HA customers to
keep the system running throughout the update.

Each OS is different in handling live disk firmware updates.  Some OSs
handle the 'not ready' sense condition while the download is happening
robustly enough so that it can be done almost at will.  Most disk vendors
only support DOS tools, because that's the easiest way.  

Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Jones [mailto:dmjones@ix.netcom.com] 
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 5:24 PM
To: Mikael Abrahamsson
Cc: Linux-SCSI
Subject: Re: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?


Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 3 Jan 2003, Cress, Andrew R wrote:
> 
> It's not clear from the docs if it's a good idea to flash the drives when
> the system is up and running normally, any comments on that?
> 

Yes, never flash a drive that is not idle. A real-time update to running
code 
is not trivial and drive vendors don't support it.

-- 
Dan Jones           "'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill
                     Appear in writing or in judging ill;
                     But of the two, less dangerous is th' offence 
                     To tire our patience, than mislead our sense." Pope
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RE: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Mikael Abrahamsson]

On Mon, 6 Jan 2003, Cress, Andrew R wrote:

> For your own system, you know when it is really idle, so you can do it when
> you wish.  

I now have updated all my Atlas 10kIII drives to the new firmware and it
seems to work well so far (I took the system into single user, stopped all
raids and then updated them one by one, then rebooted to get everything
started again). If I have not had any of my problems in 2-3 weeks I'll
email back it as a success report.

-- 
Mikael Abrahamsson    email: swmike@swm.pp.se

Re: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Shanker Balan]

Hello:

Mikael Abrahamsson wrote,
> If I have not had any of my problems in 2-3 weeks I'll email back it
> as a success report.

I am having problems flashing the drive. I get an "-2" error with
sgdskfl.

Error -2 is a "-2 means that the SCSI request returned a check condition
(sense error)" from the UserGuide.

I got a similar sense error while trying to flash using the Quantum supplied
"DL_scsi.exe" under DOS.

Andrew, any idea what might be the problem here? Also whats a "Servo
image"?

Here is paste from "sgdskfl" run:

Log file /var/log/sgdskfl.log is open, debug=0

Num Name [bus:ch:id:lun] Type Vendor   Device_Model     FW__ Serial#_
Servo___
0 /dev/sg0 [0:0:0:0] Disk  QUANTUM  ATLAS10K3_18_SCA 020W 34220894
1 /dev/sg1 [0:0:1:0] Disk  QUANTUM  ATLAS10K3_73_SCA 020W 34820965
2 /dev/sg2 [0:0:2:0] Disk  QUANTUM  ATLAS10K3_73_SCA 020W 34820635

Enter Selection ('d' to download, 'q' to quit) : d

Device Num (0 to 2) : 2
Selected 2: [0:2] QUANTUM ATLAS10K3_73_SCA020W34820635
Reading image file atlas10k.lod, size = 377167
No servo image
Device [2] is ready for download
Starting download process for 1 disk.
Downloading Firmware image to disk 2 Wed Jan  8 13:40:52 2003
Current sg_cmd_done_bh00:00: sense key Illegal Request
write_buffer: Check Condition Driver_status=0x08 (DRIVER_SENSE,SUGGEST_OK)
sense error, key=05 asc=26 ascq=80 Illegal RequestInfo valid=0, Current
[2] Error -2 in writing buffer
Press ENTER to continue

-- Shanu
http://shankerbalan.com/

Re: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Shanker Balan]

Hello:

Shanker Balan wrote,
> I am having problems flashing the drive. I get an "-2" error with
> sgdskfl.
> 
> Error -2 is a "-2 means that the SCSI request returned a check condition
> (sense error)" from the UserGuide.

Ok, I tracked down the problem - the firmware image was corrupted! :-D

-- Shanu
http://shankerbalan.com/

-- 
Coincidence, n.:
	You weren't paying attention to the other half of what was
going on.

RE: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Cress, Andrew R]

Shanu,

We also had some problems with those same Atlas drives from Maxtor/Quantum.
The B700 firmware seems to resolve the problems and we have been satisfied
with it.  

I have a Linux tool that should help you download the firmware images
successfully.  See http://scsirastools.sourceforge.net, and the tool is
named sgdskfl.  I put a copy of the B700 firmware out there and the firmware
update procedure is documented in the UserGuide.

Both Maxtor/Quantum and Seagate firmware images contain the model number of
the disks that they are intended to be compatible with inside the image
file.  sgdskfl checks the model number against the image itself for safety.

The Seagate firmware images I have I got via email from Seagate support.

Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: Shanker Balan [mailto:shanu@exocore.com] 
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 2:03 AM
To: Linux-SCSI
Subject: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?


Hello:

I recently wrote in to ask about the "Queued IO" errors I have been
experiencing on all 3 of my Quantum Atlas 10KIII drivers. According to
Justin, its a firmware problem and upgrading to the latest will
hopefully fix it.

Like Mikael Abrahamsson mentioned in the same thread, it has been next
to impossible to find any information on the firmware update procedure
and result thereof with the updates available on the Quantum FTP site:

ftp://ftpdownload.maxtor.com/pub/QuantumProducts/
Disk_Firmware/Atlas-10KIII/160/

Quantum support in India is next to impossible with vendors having a
"take it or leave it" kind of attitude and Quantum web support is yet to
get back to me on my query. Basically, I have burnt my fingers with the
Quantum.

Anyway, I need another SCSI hard disk for my cluster and the only other
brand available in the local market is the Seagate Cheetah ST318406LC.

Before I make the purchase (not that I have a choice here :( ), should I
be aware of any bugs/compatibility issues with this specific model? The
SCSI controller is a Adaptec AIC-7892A U160/m (rev 02).

Any specific firmware releases to avoid with the ST318406LC?

Thank you for your time.

-- Shanu
http://shankerbalan.com/

BTW: Any one have the URL to the Seagate firmware location?


-- 
Westheimer's Discovery:
	A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a
couple of hours in the library.
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Re: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Shanker Balan]

Hello:

Cress, Andrew R wrote,
> We also had some problems with those same Atlas drives from
> Maxtor/Quantum.  The B700 firmware seems to resolve the problems and
> we have been satisfied with it.  

That's good news. Guess I will be spending the weekend flashing them.
 
> I have a Linux tool that should help you download the firmware images
> successfully.  See http://scsirastools.sourceforge.net, and the tool
> is named sgdskfl.  I put a copy of the B700 firmware out there and the
> firmware update procedure is documented in the UserGuide.

Thank you very much.

> Both Maxtor/Quantum and Seagate firmware images contain the model
> number of the disks that they are intended to be compatible with
> inside the image file.  sgdskfl checks the model number against the
> image itself for safety.

Whew! :-D

> The Seagate firmware images I have I got via email from Seagate
> support.

Ok, will bug you in case I ever need them.

Thanx for your time Andrew, you have been very helpful.

-- Shanu
http://shankerbalan.com/

BTW: http://scsirastools.sourceforge.net is great. Wonder why I never
came across it before!!!

-- 
"Always try to do things in chronological order; it's less confusing
that way."

RE: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Mikael Abrahamsson]

On Fri, 3 Jan 2003, Cress, Andrew R wrote:

> Shanu,
> 
> We also had some problems with those same Atlas drives from Maxtor/Quantum.
> The B700 firmware seems to resolve the problems and we have been satisfied
> with it.  

Where did you get the B700 firmware? It's not present at the below url...? 
But then again, you have U320 drives and not the U160 I have?

ftp://ftpdownload.maxtor.com/pub/Quantum\ \
Products"/Disk_Firmware/Atlas-10KIII/160/

The utils you recommended were great, I have now sent my serial numbers to
Quantum so they can recommend me a firmware that should work for my drives
and I could do that without stopping the system, thanks a lot!

It's not clear from the docs if it's a good idea to flash the drives when
the system is up and running normally, any comments on that?
 
-- 
Mikael Abrahamsson    email: swmike@swm.pp.se

Re: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Dan Jones]

Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 3 Jan 2003, Cress, Andrew R wrote:
> 
> It's not clear from the docs if it's a good idea to flash the drives when
> the system is up and running normally, any comments on that?
> 

Yes, never flash a drive that is not idle. A real-time update to running
code 
is not trivial and drive vendors don't support it.

-- 
Dan Jones           "'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill
                     Appear in writing or in judging ill;
                     But of the two, less dangerous is th' offence 
                     To tire our patience, than mislead our sense." Pope

Re: Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Mikael Abrahamsson]

On Sat, 4 Jan 2003, Dan Jones wrote:

> Yes, never flash a drive that is not idle. A real-time update to running
> code is not trivial and drive vendors don't support it.

I did it on one of my drives (part of a raid1) and it seems to have worked 
well.

Great util that sgdskfl, much appreciated, very easy to work with. I'll 
flash the others in a week if this continues to work well.

-- 
Mikael Abrahamsson    email: swmike@swm.pp.se

Seagate Cheetah: Firmware, Bugs, Compatibility?

[Shanker Balan]

Hello:

I recently wrote in to ask about the "Queued IO" errors I have been
experiencing on all 3 of my Quantum Atlas 10KIII drivers. According to
Justin, its a firmware problem and upgrading to the latest will
hopefully fix it.

Like Mikael Abrahamsson mentioned in the same thread, it has been next
to impossible to find any information on the firmware update procedure
and result thereof with the updates available on the Quantum FTP site:

ftp://ftpdownload.maxtor.com/pub/QuantumProducts/
Disk_Firmware/Atlas-10KIII/160/

Quantum support in India is next to impossible with vendors having a
"take it or leave it" kind of attitude and Quantum web support is yet to
get back to me on my query. Basically, I have burnt my fingers with the
Quantum.

Anyway, I need another SCSI hard disk for my cluster and the only other
brand available in the local market is the Seagate Cheetah ST318406LC.

Before I make the purchase (not that I have a choice here :( ), should I
be aware of any bugs/compatibility issues with this specific model? The
SCSI controller is a Adaptec AIC-7892A U160/m (rev 02).

Any specific firmware releases to avoid with the ST318406LC?

Thank you for your time.

-- Shanu
http://shankerbalan.com/

BTW: Any one have the URL to the Seagate firmware location?


-- 
Westheimer's Discovery:
	A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a
couple of hours in the library.