3.1 Flushing or Purging Outstanding Writes from NVRAM

Before you replace a FRU, you must first determine if your system is set up for fast writes.

• If your system is set up for fast writes, go to "Flushing or Purging Outstanding Writes from NVRAM" on page 3-1.
• If your system is not set up for fast writes, go to "Preliminary Software Tasks" on page 3-4.

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Note - If you are not sure if your system is set up for fast writes or not, you should go through the procedures given in "Flushing or Purging Outstanding Writes from NVRAM" anyway, since it won't affect drives that aren't set up for fast writes.

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You must first determine if you want to flush or purge the outstanding writes from the NVRAM:

• The flush option flushes any outstanding writes from the NVRAM to the disk drive. Follow the instructions given in "Flushing Outstanding Writes from NVRAM to a Disk Drive" on page 3-2 to do this.
• If you get an error message when you tried to flush the writes from the NVRAM, then you must purge the writes from the NVRAM. The purge option gives the controller permission to completely throw away any outstanding writes currently residing in the NVRAM for a disk drive. You should only use this option if you are replacing a failed disk drive, since you cannot flush the outstanding writes to the failed disk drive. Follow the instructions given in "Purging Writes from NVRAM" on page 3-2 to do this.

3.1.1 Flushing Outstanding Writes from NVRAM to a Disk Drive

To flush writes from NVRAM to a physical disk:

* Enter the following command at the prompt:

ssaadm sync_cache drive

• If you did not get an error message after entering the command, then all outstanding writes were flushed to the disk drive.
• If you got an error message after entering the command, you will have to purge the writes from the NVRAM. Refer to "Purging Writes from NVRAM" for those instructions.

3.1.2 Purging Writes from NVRAM

The purge option gives the controller permission to throw away any outstanding writes that are currently pending in NVRAM for the physical disk you select.

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Caution - This option will destroy all data currently on the NVRAM for the selected disk drive. Use this option only if you can no longer access the disk drive; if you can still access the disk drive, you should flush the data to the drives using the instructions given in "Flushing Outstanding Writes from NVRAM to a Disk Drive" on page 3-2.

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* Enter the following command at the prompt:

ssaadm purge drive

All outstanding writes for the disk drive are now purged.

3.2 When Powering Down the SPARCstorage Array

If you are powering down the SPARCstorage Array, you must first stop all drives in the SPARCstorage Array. The procedures for this software task is given in the following section.

3.2.1 Preliminary Software Tasks

1. Unmount the file system(s) on all disks in the array.

2. Stop all database processes that are accessing any disks in the array.

3. Stop all other processes that may be accessing any disks in the array.

4. Flush or purge the outstanding writes from the NVRAM, if necessary.

   Refer to "Flushing or Purging Outstanding Writes from NVRAM" on page 3-1 for more information.

3.2.2 Stopping All Drives in the SPARCstorage Array

* At the prompt, enter:

ssaadm stop controller

where controller is the logical name of the controller, given in the form c#.

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Note - For more information on the ssaadm command, refer to the ssaadm(1M) man page.

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3.3 When Replacing a Physical Disk Drive in the SPARCstorage Array

There are two sets of tasks to be performed when replacing a physical disk drive in the SPARCstorage Array:

• Before replacing a drive -- Section 3.3.1 on this page
• After replacing a drive -- Section 3.3.2 on page 3-5

3.3.1 Before Replacing a Drive

Before replacing the drive, you must first perform the preliminary software tasks.

3.3.1.1 Preliminary Software Tasks

Before replacing the drive, you must first perform the following software tasks:

1. Unmount the file system(s) on the disks in the tray with the faulty drive.

2. Stop all database processes that are accessing the disks in the tray with the faulty drive.

3. Stop all other processes that may be accessing the disks in the tray with the faulty drive.

4. Flush or purge the outstanding writes from the NVRAM, if necessary.

   Refer to "Flushing or Purging Outstanding Writes from NVRAM" on page 3-1 for more information.

3.3.1.2 Stopping All Drives in a Drive Tray

* At the prompt, enter:

ssaadm stop -t tray_number controller

where tray_number is the tray that contains the drives and controller is the logical name of the controller, given in the form c#.

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Note - For more information on the ssaadm command, refer to the ssaadm(1M) man page.

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3.3.2 After Replacing a Drive

* At the prompt, enter:

ssaadm start -t tray_number controller

where controller is the logical name of the controller, given in the form c#.

3.4 When Replacing a Drive Tray in the SPARCstorage Array

There are two sets of tasks to be performed when replacing a drive tray in the SPARCstorage Array:

• Before replacing a drive tray -- Section 3.4.1 on this page
• After replacing a drive tray -- Section 3.4.2 on page 3-6

3.4.1 Before Replacing a Drive Tray

If you are replacing a drive tray in the SPARCstorage Array, you must first preform the preliminary software tasks.

3.4.1.1 Preliminary Software Tasks

1. Unmount the file system(s) on the disks in the tray.

2. Stop all database processes that are accessing the disks in the tray.

3. Stop all other processes that may be accessing the disks in the tray.

4. Flush or purge the outstanding writes from the NVRAM, if necessary.

   Refer to "Flushing or Purging Outstanding Writes from NVRAM" on page 3-1 for more information.

3.4.1.2 Stopping All Drives in a Drive Tray

* At the prompt, enter:

ssaadm stop -t tray_number controller

where controller is the logical name of the controller, given in the form c#.

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Note - For more information on the ssaadm command, refer to the ssaadm(1M) man page.

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3.4.2 After Replacing a Drive Tray

* At the prompt, enter:

ssaadm start -t tray_number controller

where controller is the logical name of the controller, given in the form c#.

3.5 When Replacing an Array Controller

There are two sets of tasks you should perform when you replace an array controller in the SPARCstorage Array:

• Before replacing an array controller -- page 3-7
• After replacing an array controller -- page 3-7

3.5.1 Before Replacing an Array Controller

1. Unmount the file system(s) on all disks in the array.

2. Stop all database processes that are accessing any disks in the array.

3. Stop all other processes that may be accessing any disks in the array.

4. Flush or purge the outstanding writes from the NVRAM, if necessary.

   Refer to "Flushing or Purging Outstanding Writes from NVRAM" on page 3-1 for more information.

3.5.1.1 Stopping All Drives in the SPARCstorage Array

* At the prompt, enter:

ssaadm stop controller

where controller is the logical name of the controller, given in the form c#.

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Note - For more information on the ssaadm command, refer to the ssaadm(1M) man page.

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3.5.2 After Replacing an Array Controller

The worldwide name for a SPARCstorage Array is stored on a PROM in the array controller. When you replace an array controller, the worldwide name for the SPARCstorage Array will change to the worldwide name stored on the PROM on the new controller.

Because paths to volumes contain the worldwide name from the old array controller, you must go through the following procedure so that the paths to the volumes will be updated with the new array controller's worldwide name:

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Caution - Do not change the worldwide name for the new controller back to the worldwide name used by the old controller.

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1. Become superuser.

2. Shut down your system:

# shutdown -g0 -y -i0

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Note - This is the correct shutdown command for most systems. However, if this does not work for your system, shut down your system as you normally would.

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3. Verify that the system goes to the ok prompt after the shutdown is complete.

   If the system goes to the > prompt after the shutdown, enter n to get to the ok prompt.

4. Reboot your system using the following command:

ok boot -rs

Once the boot cycle is completed, you should see a screen similar to the following:

Type Ctrl-d to proceed with normal startup, (or give root password for system maintenance):

5. Enter your root password to become superuser, then enter the following command to boot the system a second time:

# reboot

Once the system completes the second boot-up cycle, all the paths to the volumes should be updated to contain the new controller's worldwide name.

3.6 When Replacing All Other FRUs in the SPARCstorage Array

The software tasks contained in this section apply if you are replacing any of the following SPARCstorage Array FRUs:

• Fan tray
• Power supply
• FC/OM
• Battery module
• SPARCstorage Array backplane

You only need to perform certain software tasks before replacing the FRU in the SPARCstorage Array; no software tasks are necessary after you replace the FRU.

3.6.1 Preliminary Software Tasks

1. Unmount the file system(s) on any disk in the array.

2. Stop all database processes that are accessing all disks in the array.

3. Stop all other processes that may be accessing all disks in the array.

4. Flush or purge the outstanding writes from the NVRAM, if necessary.

   Refer to "Flushing or Purging Outstanding Writes from NVRAM" on page 3-1 for more information.

3.6.2 Stopping All Drives in the SPARCstorage Array

* At the prompt, enter:

ssaadm stop controller

where controller is the logical name of the controller, given in the form c#.

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Note - For more information on the ssaadm command, refer to the ssaadm(1M) man page.

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