Dell EMC 4500 San and Windows Server 2003 Upgrade

We just upgraded to Windows Server 2003 from Windows 2000 Server and
our connectivity to our Dell EMC 4500 SAN completely broke (we could
no longer connect to the SAN). We have an Exchange 2000, SQL 2000,
and Windows 2000 file cluster accessing our SAN and fortunately we
only upgraded the file server cluster. When talking to Dell they said
they have never run into any issues with an upgrade like this to
Windows Server 2003 but I don't believe them. Dell's only
recommendation was to rebuild the servers from scratch.

Prior to the upgrade we researched the problem on Dell's and EMC's web
sites but never found any info concerning Windows Server 2003 support.
We did request and receive a support matrix from Dell stating that
the Dell/EMC SAN was supported on Windows 2003 however.

Apparently we needed to upgrade our 3.0 version of PowerPath to 3.5
PRIOR to the Windows 2003 upgrade. PowerPath 3.0 CANNOT be removed or
uninstalled from a server if you upgraded to Windows 2003 without
upgrading to PowerPath 3.5 first. I wish someone at Dell or EMC would
have posted this little known fact on their web-site somewhere.

After rebuilding the cluster from scratch with the new version of
PowerPath we still could not connect to the SAN. Dell now recommends
that we upgrade the firmware on all the HBA's and the 4500 and "see if
that works".

We haven't done that yet. Has anyone else run into this problem?

What exactly you're talking about when you say "could not connect to the
SAN"?
Is your HBA unable to login to a switch name server or is there no entry
for the EMC 4500 - or both? You don't mentioned the whole physical layout
of your
SAN, that makes guessing a bit of impossible. Let's say that you have no
HBA
entry in the switch nameserver, well then you just have a simple HBA
driver
problem (assuming that all cable connections are fine).

You've said that you've got a compat' matrix from EMC/Dell, there should
be
defined which combination of
ServerType/Server_OS/HBA/HBA_firmware/HBA_driver/Switch_firmware/
etc. will work.

Here comes another suggestion if anything looks quite fine in the switch
nameserver: During update, do you have renamed the server? If yes,
please keep in mind that EMCs Access Logix mask the LUNs access
with the name of servers.

Good Luck,

Rene


We haven't done that yet. Has anyone else run into this problem?

--
------------------------------------------------------
**** Complex Systems tend to fail in complex ways ****
------------------------------------------------------
Rene Koehnen-Wiesemes

Remove null to replay
------------------------------------------------------

Clark wrote:

We just upgraded to Windows Server 2003 from Windows 2000 Server and
our connectivity to our Dell EMC 4500 SAN completely broke (we could
no longer connect to the SAN). We have an Exchange 2000, SQL 2000,
and Windows 2000 file cluster accessing our SAN and fortunately we
only upgraded the file server cluster. When talking to Dell they said
they have never run into any issues with an upgrade like this to
Windows Server 2003 but I don't believe them. Dell's only
recommendation was to rebuild the servers from scratch.

Prior to the upgrade we researched the problem on Dell's and EMC's web
sites but never found any info concerning Windows Server 2003 support.
We did request and receive a support matrix from Dell stating that
the Dell/EMC SAN was supported on Windows 2003 however.

Apparently we needed to upgrade our 3.0 version of PowerPath to 3.5
PRIOR to the Windows 2003 upgrade. PowerPath 3.0 CANNOT be removed or
uninstalled from a server if you upgraded to Windows 2003 without
upgrading to PowerPath 3.5 first. I wish someone at Dell or EMC would
have posted this little known fact on their web-site somewhere.

After rebuilding the cluster from scratch with the new version of
PowerPath we still could not connect to the SAN. Dell now recommends
that we upgrade the firmware on all the HBA's and the 4500 and "see if
that works".

We haven't done that yet. Has anyone else run into this problem?

--
------------------------------------------------------
**** Complex Systems tend to fail in complex ways ****
------------------------------------------------------
Rene Koehnen-Wiesemes

Remove null + nichtig to replay
------------------------------------------------------

Everything was working on Windows 2000 but when we upgraded to Windows
2003 it stopped working. We never touched anything physically; all
the cables are connected as they always have been. The server was
upgraded and not renamed.

No need to mention physical layout since an OS upgrade shouldn't break
connectivity to a SAN. All of the entries for the HBA's are zoned
correctly on the switch (they always have been). We are completely up
to date on all firmware revisions (HBA's, switches) and software
revisions (HBAnywhere and PowerPath 3.5).


Rene Koehnen-Wiesemes wrote in message ...
What exactly you're talking about when you say "could not connect to the
SAN"?
Is your HBA unable to login to a switch name server or is there no entry
for the EMC 4500 - or both? You don't mentioned the whole physical layout
of your
SAN, that makes guessing a bit of impossible. Let's say that you have no
HBA
entry in the switch nameserver, well then you just have a simple HBA
driver
problem (assuming that all cable connections are fine).

You've said that you've got a compat' matrix from EMC/Dell, there should
be
defined which combination of
ServerType/Server_OS/HBA/HBA_firmware/HBA_driver/Switch_firmware/
etc. will work.

Here comes another suggestion if anything looks quite fine in the switch
nameserver: During update, do you have renamed the server? If yes,
please keep in mind that EMCs Access Logix mask the LUNs access
with the name of servers.

Good Luck,

Rene


We haven't done that yet. Has anyone else run into this problem?

--
------------------------------------------------------
**** Complex Systems tend to fail in complex ways ****
------------------------------------------------------
Rene Koehnen-Wiesemes

Remove null to replay
------------------------------------------------------

Hi,

I don't know if it helps, but you have to remember that Windows 2003 by
default don't use a lot of system services - I suggest you to search
Microsoft web for any info about this. IMHO there is a problem with some of
stopped service on the server side ..

--
have a nice day
stic

Uzytkownik "Clark" napisal w wiadomosci
om...
Everything was working on Windows 2000 but when we upgraded to Windows
2003 it stopped working. We never touched anything physically; all
the cables are connected as they always have been. The server was
upgraded and not renamed.

No need to mention physical layout since an OS upgrade shouldn't break
connectivity to a SAN. All of the entries for the HBA's are zoned
correctly on the switch (they always have been). We are completely up
to date on all firmware revisions (HBA's, switches) and software
revisions (HBAnywhere and PowerPath 3.5).


Rene Koehnen-Wiesemes wrote in message
...
What exactly you're talking about when you say "could not connect to the
SAN"?
Is your HBA unable to login to a switch name server or is there no entry
for the EMC 4500 - or both? You don't mentioned the whole physical
layout
of your
SAN, that makes guessing a bit of impossible. Let's say that you have no
HBA
entry in the switch nameserver, well then you just have a simple HBA
driver
problem (assuming that all cable connections are fine).

You've said that you've got a compat' matrix from EMC/Dell, there should
be
defined which combination of
ServerType/Server_OS/HBA/HBA_firmware/HBA_driver/Switch_firmware/
etc. will work.

Here comes another suggestion if anything looks quite fine in the switch
nameserver: During update, do you have renamed the server? If yes,
please keep in mind that EMCs Access Logix mask the LUNs access
with the name of servers.

Good Luck,

Rene


We haven't done that yet. Has anyone else run into this problem?

--
------------------------------------------------------
**** Complex Systems tend to fail in complex ways ****
------------------------------------------------------
Rene Koehnen-Wiesemes

Remove null to replay
------------------------------------------------------