Subject: Re: StorageWorks SWXRC-05 (aka HSZ40) info needed....
To: NetBSD/alpha Discussion List <port-alpha@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Greg A. Woods <woods@weird.com>
List: port-alpha
Date: 10/24/2004 01:10:25
[ On Tuesday, October 12, 2004 at 21:16:52 (-0400), Greg A. Woods wrote: ]
> Subject: StorageWorks SWXRC-05 info needed....
>
> Can anyone give me any information, manuals, etc. for the StorageWorks
> SWXRC-05 controller?  I've now got a SWXRA-YY pedestal with such a beast
> in the bottom of it and I'm searching for some more detailed technical
> information about it.

Well it turns out the standard DEC cabling prevails!  A standard BN24-H
console cable with a normal RJ-12 (6C/6P) connector (instead of the
traditional MMJ) works perfectly with my console terminal server.

The next trick was to fix the NVRAM battery holder (I though the battery
was dead but it turned out the last fumble-fingers to change it almost
pulled it right off the board -- the damn thing is only surface-mounted!).

Then of course I had to reset the controller's serial number before it
would function.  Those damn DEC lawyers were just too stupid/lazy I
guess and it seems their engineers were able to sneak a good one past
them.  (or maybe it was crypto export laws that reigned them in and
prevented them from making their licensing controls more bullet-proof)

Apparently the NVRAM battery where the serial numbers and license keys
are stored was not considered to be field replacable and if you screw up
your NVRAM, or it screws up on you, or the battery goes dead, the whole
controller usually needed replacing (officially), or if you had a
service contract they'd send a service rep out to use the magic
"dangerous" command to fix it for you, though they would warn that the
serial number value needed to be computed with some magic software only
the service reps had.  That was pure F.U.D. of course.  The annoying
thing is that this series of models was never even Y2K qualified and
they were declared past EOL before the end of 1999 so even if I wanted
to buy a service contract now I couldn't.  DEC, or some departments
within DEC at least, like many other big companies wanted to see their
old gear go to to the crusher instead of having it turn up on the used
equipment and surplus markets.

Hopefully I can now add to the body of lore about these systems and help
more of them be rescued.

Anyway I found the following list archive that contained a posting
giving the necessary hints I needed:

	http://mvb.saic.com/freeware/info-vax/2003_107.txt

Note there's no on-line help for the "dangerous" command of course, and
it is not even mentioned in the service manual either.  However the
following two commands did the trick for me:

	HSZ> dangerous x manufac=3 op=4 hardware=" A01"

	HSZ> dangerous x serial="CX20101234" PRE

I took the " A01" from the stickers on the board, and the "1234" I made
up out of thin air instead of trying to use the actual serial number by
just expanding on the "CX2010000" pattern shown by the system when it
was in the blank state.  :-)

Keep in mind this is an SWXRC-05, aka HSZ40, that I'm playing with.

Everything seems to work but only if I can complete the setup commands
within the 4-minute window before the controller discovers that the
write-back cache batteries are toast.

	HSZ> show this full
	Controller:
	        HSZ40    (C) DEC CX20101234 Firmware V31Z-0, Hardware  A01
	        Not configured for dual-redundancy
	        SCSI address 7
	        Time: 20-OCT-2004 19:04:54
	Host port:
	        SCSI target(s) (0), No preferred targets
	        TRANSFER_RATE_REQUESTED = 10MHZ
	Cache:
	        32 megabyte write cache, version 2
	        Cache is GOOD
	        Battery is LOW
	        No unflushed data in cache
	        CACHE_FLUSH_TIMER = DEFAULT (10 seconds)
	        CACHE_POLICY = A
	        NOCACHE_UPS
	        Host Functionality Mode = A
	Licensing information:
	        RAID (RAID Option) is ENABLED, license key is INVALID
	        WBCA (Writeback Cache Option) is ENABLED, license key is INVALID
	        MIRR (Disk Mirroring Option) is ENABLED, license key is INVALID
	Extended information:
	        Terminal speed 9600 baud, eight bit, no parity, 1 stop bit
	        Operation control: 00000004  Security state code: 43542
	        Configuration backup disabled
	HSZ> show ftp
	Name          Storageset                     Uses             Used by
	------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	
	FTP           raidset                        DISK400          D1
	                                             DISK410          
	                                             DISK420          
	                                             DISK430          
	                                             DISK500          
	                                             DISK510          
	                                             DISK520          
	                                             DISK530          
	                                             DISK600          
	                                             DISK610          
	                                             DISK620          
	        Switches:
	          POLICY (for replacement) = BEST_PERFORMANCE
	          RECONSTRUCT (priority) = NORMAL
	          CHUNKSIZE = 128 blocks
	        State:
	          RECONSTRUCT 3% complete
	          DISK600   (member  0) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK500   (member  1) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK400   (member  2) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK430   (member  3) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK620   (member  4) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK410   (member  5) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK610   (member  6) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK530   (member  7) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK520   (member  8) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK510   (member  9) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK420   (member 10) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	        Size: 83759810 blocks
	        Partitions:
	          Partition number        Size              Starting Block     Used by
	          --------------------------------------------------------------------
	            1                 83759805 ( 42885.02 MB)            0      D1   
	HSZ> show home
	Name          Storageset                     Uses             Used by
	------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	
	HOME          raidset                        DISK100          D0
	                                             DISK110          
	                                             DISK120          
	                                             DISK130          
	                                             DISK200          
	                                             DISK210          
	                                             DISK220          
	                                             DISK230          
	                                             DISK300          
	                                             DISK310          
	                                             DISK320          
	        Switches:
	          POLICY (for replacement) = BEST_PERFORMANCE
	          RECONSTRUCT (priority) = NORMAL
	          CHUNKSIZE = 128 blocks
	        State:
	          RECONSTRUCT 3% complete
	          DISK100   (member  0) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK220   (member  1) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK200   (member  2) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK120   (member  3) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK130   (member  4) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK230   (member  5) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK300   (member  6) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK110   (member  7) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK210   (member  8) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK320   (member  9) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	          DISK310   (member 10) is RECONSTRUCTING   3% complete
	        Size: 83759810 blocks
	        Partitions:
	          Partition number        Size              Starting Block     Used by
	          --------------------------------------------------------------------
	            1                 83759805 ( 42885.02 MB)            0      D0   


It never gets all the way through reconstructing within the four minute
window for the battery check of course....

So now the last thing I need to do is to replace the write-cache
batteries.  Seems the original part is worth a small fortune now
($130-$170[usa] for each of the two cells needed!).  They're just
special form factor lead-acid 2v 5ah cells though so I should be able to
rig something less specialized up and wire it into place, provided that
the charger circuit really does still work, though I do have a spare
cache board too, but no spare/redundant controller :-(  .....

84GB of space, which will include two hot-spare drives, is nothing huge
these days (especially given the power it's going to consume), but
despite the teething pains it's better than nothing, especially given
the price I paid.

-- 
						Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098                  VE3TCP            RoboHack <woods@robohack.ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>          Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>