Re: [Veritas-bu] Off Topic: Firmware and driver versions?

This may go without saying but I think an important point is to standardise as much as possible.

This will make future troubleshooting and stability easier to control.

Very often your library vendor will dictate the level of firmware for tape devices but more importantly they will recommend for all the devices to be on the same version of firmware.

Regarding HBA firmware I would probably look for advice from the switch manufacturer they connect to.

Again – as much as possible – try to ensure you are using common, hba, firmware revisions and drivers across the estate.

This isn’t always easy – especially when you order kit over various timelines and they could ship with different firmware revisions but it is a good goal.

When you start to mix firmware things can get quite confusing as sometime you could end up with SAN problems and not necessarily know exactly which initiator/target/switch is causing a problem

Regards,

Tal

From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu [mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Ed Wilts
Sent: 12 May 2010 15:04
To: Marianne Van Den Berg
Cc: veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Off Topic: Firmware and driver versions?

On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 6:54 AM, Marianne Van Den Berg <mvdberg AT stortech.co DOT za> wrote:

In a big SSO environment with mixed O/S media servers attached to tape and disk (via different HBA’s) – who dictates what driver/firmware versions should be used on tape drives, hba’s, switches?

The NBU hardware compatibility list is very basic and list ‘tested’ versions for tape drives, not recommended.

As far as switches and HBA’s are concerned, the compatibility guide says: “Consult the hardware vendor's web site for up-to-date firmware and driver updates.”

My viewpoint is that the tape vendor should supply all these compatibilities. I’d like to know how it’s done in your environment and who initiates the whole process…

For tape drives, we rely on the opinion of our field service rep - whenever he's out here, we ask what's a recommended release for the drives and the library and schedule accordingly. I don't think we've seen specific firmware issues on the tape side.

On the host side, to some extent we are starting to lose control, and that's not a bad thing. Multipathing software is coming out of the OS vendors (MPIO, DMP, etc.). Every now and then we go through and do a firmware/driver update but I don't think we've been the 100% supported/current in over 3 years (when we did a McData to Brocade switch migration).

For the SAN switches, we upgrade the firmware when we get around to it. I'm a few releases behind but we can't upgrade continually or we'd be doing nothing else. If there's a bug that I've run into that I need to fix, then I'll bump the priority.

It's always a fine juggling act between being current, supported, and meeting the business requirements, all the time balancing that with your available time.

.../Ed

Ed Wilts, RHCE, BCFP, BCSD, SCSP, SCSE
ewilts AT ewilts DOT org

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