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Hi Community,
I'm dealing with a SolidFire SF4805 node issue and would appreciate any advice, especially since this unit is out of warranty.
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Environment - Cluster: 4-node SolidFire SF4805, Element OS 11.8.0.23 - Affected Node: SF03 (Node ID: 3) - Cluster is still operational with remaining 3 nodes
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Symptoms - All 10 Samsung SSDs on SF03 show Status = **failed** simultaneously - Active Drives on SF03 = 0 - Node Status = active (node is online but serving no storage) - Replication Port = "-" (not participating in cluster replication)
Active Alerts: - `hardwareConfigMismatch` — MPTSAS_BIOS_VERSION = Unknown (expected != Unknown) - `hardwareConfigMismatch` — MPTSAS_FIRMWARE_VERSION = Unknown (expected != Unknown) - `irqBalanceFailed` — mpt3sas0-msix0 through msix7 interrupts not found - `networkConfig` — eth1 and eth3 down - `notUsingLACPBondMode` — Bond10G not using LACP
Hardware Check Output (xCheck): ``` MPTSAS_BIOS_VERSION: Passed=false, actual=Unknown MPTSAS_FIRMWARE_VERSION: Passed=false, actual=Unknown (All other components: CPU, RAM, NIC, BIOS, iDRAC → Passed=true) ```
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My Analysis All symptoms point to the SAS HBA controller (mpt3sas / LSI) being undetectable by the OS. Since all 10 drives failed at exactly the same time rather than individually, I believe the drives themselves are likely still healthy — the controller is simply not being recognized on the PCIe bus.
Firmware versions are also behind: - iDRAC: running 2.40.40.40 (current: 2.75.75.75) - BIOS: running 2.2.5 (current: 2.8.0)
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Questions 1. Can anyone confirm this is a SAS controller hardware failure rather than a firmware/software issue? 2. What is the exact SAS controller model used in the SF4805? (Trying to source a replacement) 3. Has anyone successfully replaced the SAS controller on an SF-series node and recovered the drives/data? 4. If I reseat or replace the controller and the node rejoins the cluster, will Element OS automatically re-add the drives, or is there a manual process? 5. Any risk of data loss on the drives themselves if the controller is replaced?
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What I've Tried - Verified all alerts in Element OS UI (Reporting → Alerts) - Confirmed Node Details: all 10 drive slots showing failed - Reviewed hardware check JSON output - Cross-referenced firmware versions against NetApp docs: https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/element-software/hardware/fw_storage_nodes.html#sf_nodes
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Any guidance is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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