FAS 2240-2 Controller Un-Responsive

[NelsonBA81]

Hello,

I've a NetApp FAS 2240-2 which I'm having some dificulties with it, mainly with the controller, I'm connected to the SP via console cable and I'm unable to do anyhting with the keyboard:

 - can't interrupt CTRL+C at boot loader

 - can't make CTRL+C to present the menu to for ex. reset it to factory defaults

 - I've seen another keyboard shortcut like for ex. CTRL+G, it does not do anything

I've tryed another controller from other Netapp, same model with this enclosure and everything works as expected.

At the moment, with this controller, I'm "frozen" without the possibility to proceed the setup of the storage device, I'm at the first question of the setup to type hostname and... I can't type anything there.

So, looking at this, seems that the controller has somekind of a problem with "keyboard" access via console, and my question is, has somebody had this kind of a problem to tell me if this is some sort of hardware problem or there is some sort of another keyboard shortcut for ex. to make this work again?

Thank you for your attention and

Best Regards,

Nelson

[AlexDawson]

If you're getting text show up but no ability to control it, and the chassis and serial cable work with a different controller - it sounds like a simple hardware serial interface problem - check that the pins in the RJ45 socket look OK.

The SP should still be configured with the previous IP address username and password (they are synced from ONTAP to the SP), and may allow you to SSH in to verify the system is still otherwise operative. If this is the case, and the system is out of support, I suggest consulting a local PCB rework facility.

Hope this helps!

[NelsonBA81]

Hello Alex,

The RJ45 socket looks ok, all pins are straight and clean.

Unfortunately, I can't access the SP via network, since I've initated the factory reset via network/SSH, and at the moment I can't even ping the old IP of the SP.

Anyway, thank you for your sugestions.

Best Regards,

Nelson

[AlexDawson · Accepted solution]

For those following this thread - I helped this user in another forum and came up with this action plan. This person followed up that they had been successful. In general, if operating these systems in production, most people will have a support contract, and our suggested course of action in this situation is to replace the controller, but this was not the case here.

1. From disk show -a, note which disks are used by the good controllers aggrs and which are used by the bad one

2. Shut down entire system

3. Pop out all the good controller aggr disks (just unlatch them and pull them out slightly so they aren't powered), and the bad controller itself

4. Power the system back up, serial connected to good controller

5. From good controller serial, control-c menu, enter maintenance mode

6. In maint mode - disk show -v - verify that it can only see the disks for the bad controller

7. Reassign disks from bad controller to good controller - disk reassign -s bad_sysid -d good_sysid

8. Reboot, config ONTAP from good controller, configure IP address on e0M

9. Halt, boot good controller in maintenance mode

10. Reassign disks back to bad controller from good controller - disk reassign -s good_sysid -d bad_sysid

11. Halt

12. Put bad controller back in, connect to serial to watch boot

13. Pop the good controller to prevent it from booting

14. Verify bad controller boots from its new vol0, and that you can SSH in. Use "sp setup" in ontap to set SP IP address details. Check you can SSH into the SP

15. Halt the system

16. Plug all good controller drives and the controller itself back in

17. Cross fingers for good luck

18. Boot and check

[NelsonBA81]

Hello Alex,

Once again, thank you very much for your help.

Who however may be following this thread, just to add, the system in question is a FAS2240-2 which has this problem has this Ontap release firmware:
- NetApp Release 8.2P3 7-Mode

It may work in this particular version, but never know if this works on others firmware versions. In any case this is just a workaround as last resort.

And of course, this workaround should not be used in live/production environment, in my case, I just bought this storage for a great price for lab environment at home, simulatores can be handy, but real equipment gives a better idea about its real capabilities.

Best Regards,
Nelson