E2824 Mirror creation issue

[#1]

Hi,

We are trying to establish a sync mirror on 2 2824 with CIsco MDS 9148. Everything looks fine on storage, I can choose the primary and secondary storage, but when I apply the seletion after 3`second I got the following error message: The operation cannot complete because the storage array cannot comunicate with the remote storage array to complete this request. Possible causes include network or connection problems, or no power to the storage array. Check these possible causes and then retry the operation. (API 180)

I found the following kb, which seems to fit my case, but it does not contain any information 

https://kb.netapp.com/support/s/article/ka11A0000001DbEQAU/unable-to-establish-remote-volume-mirroring-relationship-due-to-error-180?language=en_US

Do you have any idea what can be the issue?

Thanks

David

[#2]

try to check these causes:

Possible causes include:

• Mirroring ports on controllers are directly connected to each other (Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL), or point-to-point configuration).
• Wrong HIC port is being used.

Fibre Channel connection requirements are as follows:

• The last host port is reserved for mirroring when the mirroring feature is activated. Host-initiated I/O operations are not accepted by the dedicated port. I/O requests received on this port are accepted only from remote controllers that are participating in mirroring operations with the controller.
• You must attach dedicated mirroring ports to a Fibre Channel fabric environment. In addition, these ports must support the Name Service and the Directory Service interface.
• It is recommended to isolate dedicated mirroring ports in their own zone (Controller A mirror ports in one zone, Controller B mirror ports in another).
• Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL), or point-to-point configurations are not allowed for inter-array connections. FC-AL/P2P is for host connections only. These configurations are independent of the dedicated mirroring fabric.
• The maximum distance between the local site and the remote site is 10 km (6.2 miles), using single-mode fibre gigabit interface converters (GBICs) and optical long-wave GBICs.

and i'll check that kb too.

thanks for letting us know

Jeff

[#3]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks we will check it and come back with the results.

David

[#4]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your help. It solved the main issue and now we could create the mirror.

We have one more issue left. We have 2 SAN switches and 2 storages.

• Storage1 Controller A 2nd port and Storage2 Controller A 2nd port is connected to switch1 zone2. 
• Storage1 Controller B 2nd port and Storage2 Controller B 2nd port is connected to switch2 zone2.
• 1st port on each controller are connected to zone 1 on both switches
• switches are not connected directly to each other 

When we simulate a disaster and turn off a switch1(where controller A ports connected), and Volume is owned by ControllerB, the controller change does not happen and the mirror fails.

After a manual controller change it starts to work. 

We experienced it in  normal operation when ownership loadbalance was enabled and when the ownership changed automatically on the primary volume, but not on the secondary, the mirror stopped. Manually change the owner of the volume  on both storages solves the issue

Do you have an idea what can be the reason ?

Thanks

David 

[#5]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your help. It solved the main issue and now we could create the mirror.

We have one more issue left. We have 2 SAN switches and 2 storages.

• Storage1 Controller A 2nd port and Storage2 Controller A 2nd port is connected to switch1 zone2. 
• Storage1 Controller B 2nd port and Storage2 Controller B 2nd port is connected to switch2 zone2.
• 1st port on each controller are connected to zone 1 on both switches
• switches are not connected directly to each other 

When we simulate a disaster and turn off a switch1(where controller A ports connected), and Volume is owned by ControllerB, the controller change does not happen and the mirror fails.

After a manual controller change it starts to work. 

We experienced it in  normal operation when ownership loadbalance was enabled and when the ownership changed automatically on the primary volume, but not on the secondary, the mirror stopped. Manually change the owner of the volume  on both storages solves the issue

Do you have an idea what can be the reason ?

Thanks

David