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The term "Dispatch" refers to an action plan that requires the HDD to be shipped to a customer site for replacement or for a service action performed on-site by a Sun Service or Field Engineer.

   *************************************************************************
This document does not include all of the possible ways in which a HDD
identification can be made.  The intention is to detail some of the
easiest methods available to perform the identification.
*************************************************************************

Basic requirements for dispatching the correct HDD FRU part number.

Potential methods:

Method 1 - Customer can locate and provide the FRU part number.

Method 2 - Using iostat -En data when the location of the disk is known.

Method 3 - Using format and iostat -En data when the location of the disk is unknown.

Method 4 - Best Guess Approach.

1.  Knowledge of the HDD speed (RPM).

2.  Knowledge of the HDD size (GB).

3.  Knowledge of the physical location of the HDD in question.

The remainder of this document will focus on how to obtain these three pieces of information, and providing tips on correctly identifying the HDD FRU part number.  What is most important to understand right now, is that without one of these three pieces of information, you might be left with making a  Best Guess determination for the HDD FRU part number.

Please begin by trying to determine the part number using Method 1.

Method 1 - Customer can locate and provide the FRU part number.

1.  Customer or site contact locates defective HDD.

If the customer or site contact has physical access to the system or array containing the HDD that needs to be replaced and the HDD can be removed, the Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) part number is listed on a label attached to the HDD.  The label is usually white with black lettering and a bar code on it.

NOTE:  The FRU part number should be in the format 540-xxxx-yy .

In some cases, the part number will begin with 390. This is the part number of the raw disk, the Field Engineer will need to take off the brackets from the old drive, and install them on the new drive.

It is preferrred that you use the 540- part number, unless there is a specific reason that you must have a specific model drive.

2.  Verify the part number.

Once the part number is located, confirm the 540-xxxx number is indeed the needed FRU part number by searching the Sun System Handbook (SSH) for the number and verify that the disk model number, array or server information, disk size and speed are all correct for the unit the customer or contact provided.

NOTE:  Customers might be able to make this confirmation themselves or engage Sun Support Services to assist them.

3.  Open a service ticket to have replacement part dispatched.

Once the FRU part number is confirmed a service ticket should be opened and a Sun Support Service representative can arrange to have the FRU dispatched or a service engineer dispatched to replace the unit.

If you are unsure or unable to locate and provide the part number you can not use this method. Proceed to Method 2.

Method 2 - Using iostat - En data when the location of the HDD is known.

As discussed in the Basic requirements for dispatching the correct HDD FRU part number section above, you need three pieces of information to correctly identify the FRU part number.  They are the HDD speed (RPM), size (GB), and physical location.

This method assumes that the customer or site contact already knows the location of the defective HDD.  If the location is unknown, proceed to Method 3 below.

1.  Determine the HDD speed (RPM) and the HDD size (GB).

One of the easiest way to determine a HDD disk speed (RPM) is by taking the model number of the HDD as seen in iostat -En output and searching for the model in the Sun System Handbook (SSH).  The result will show you the HDD speed and size.

      The example below which highlights the model number in ORANGE:

          $ iostat -En
             <snipped>
          c1t0d0           Soft Errors: 132 Hard Errors: 8 Transport Errors: 92
          Vendor: SEAGATE  Product: ST373307LSUN72G  Revision: 0507 Serial No: 0436B941J6
          Size: 73.40GB <73400057856 bytes>
          Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0
          Illegal Request: 0 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0

So, in this example, the model is an ST373307L which when plugged into the Sun System Handbook (SSH) is 10,000 RPM disk, size is 72GB.

2.  Determine the physical location of the HDD.

In this method, we assumed that the customer or site contact knows for certain the type or array or server that the defective HDD is located in, so this step is simply to collect that information from the customer.

3.  Determine the FRU part number from Sun System Handbook (SSH) search.

• Navigate to the correct array or server page in the SSH (from Step 3).
• Click on the link for Full Components List and then select the Disks page.
• From the list of HDDs on the page, select the one that matches the correct speed (RPM) and size (GB).  The disk model number may be identical to your present HDD or it may be a substitute part (different model number).
• The FRU part number is located in the column titled Manufacturing Part # .

If at any time you are having difficulty with this step, engage the assistance of a Sun Support Services representative who can complete this final step before dispatching the FRU for replacement.

Method 3 - Using format and iostat -En data when the location of the disk is unknown.

As discussed in the Basic requirements for dispatching the correct HDD FRU part number section above, you need three pieces of information to correctly identify the FRU part number.  They are the HDD speed (RPM), size (GB), and physical location.

This method assumes that the customer or site contact does not know the location of the defective HDD.  If the location is known, use Method 2 above.

1.  Determine the HDD speed (RPM) and the HDD size (GB).

One of the easiest way to determine a HDD disk speed (RPM) is by taking the model number of the HDD as seen in iostat -En output and searching for the model in the Sun System Handbook (SSH).  The result will show you the HDD speed and size.

      The example below which highlights the model number in ORANGE:

          $ iostat -En
             <snipped>
          c1t0d0           Soft Errors: 132 Hard Errors: 8 Transport Errors: 92
          Vendor: SEAGATE  Product: ST373307LSUN72G  Revision: 0507 Serial No: 0436B941J6
          Size: 73.40GB <73400057856 bytes>
          Media Error: 0 Device Not Ready: 0 No Device: 0 Recoverable: 0
          Illegal Request: 0 Predictive Failure Analysis: 0

So, in this example, the model is an ST373307L which when plugged into the Sun System Handbook (SSH) is a 10,000 RPM disk, size is 72GB.

2.  Determine the physical location of the HDD.

In order to determine the physical location of the HDD, you must perform the following process:

A)  Determine the HDDs device path from format data.

           # format
Searching for disks...done
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS: 
           0. c1t0d0 <SUN72G cyl 3880 alt 2 hd 16 sec 135>
           /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0

In the example /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0 is the device path.

B)  Determine where the device path maps using <Document: 1005907.1>.  This document lists any physical device that is located internal to the system.  So, if the actual device path (the whole path) you are decoding is not listed in the document, but part of the device path is, your HDD is located in an array that is attached externally to the system.

         The example device path above, /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0 if on a Ultra 60 system, maps to
         Disk 0 on the system.  That means the HDD is internal to the system, so we've confirmed the
         location of the disk and can proceed to Step 4.

C)  If the device path maps to an external array you must determine what type of array the disk is located in.

         Option #1: Ask the customer or site contact if they can absolutely identify the array that
                    the disk is located in.  If necessary, use the pictures of arrays in the
                    Sun System Handbook (SSH) to identify the type of array which this disk is located
                    in and verify the array is identified correctly.

                    If the customer or site contact can provide an array name, verify using the SSH 
                    that the model number of the HDD (from step 1) is listed in the array's Disk List.

         Option #2: Use the Sun System Handbook (SSH) search page to look up the model number 
                    determined from Step 1 above.

                    The results of the search should narrow down the list of possible arrays to only
                    those that can utilize the specific HDD model in question.  From this narrowed 
                    list, perhaps the customer can select the array in question.

If the external array can not be determined, proceed to the instructions on how to document and make a Best Guess Approach .

3.  Determine the FRU part number from Sun System Handbook (SSH) search.

• Navigate to the correct array or server page in the SSH (from Step 3).
• Click on the link for Full Components List and then select the Disks page.
• From the list of HDDs on the page, select the one that matches the correct speed (RPM) and size (GB).  The disk model number may be identical to your present HDD or it may be a substitute part (different model number).
• The FRU part number is located in the column titled Manufacturing Part # .

If at any time you are having difficulty with this step, engage the assistance of a Sun Support Services representative who can complete this final step before dispatching the FRU for replacement.

Method 4 - Best Guess Approach.

This method assumes that we can not obtain at least one of the three needed pieces of information to make a correct or certain determination of the HDD that needs to be replaced.  Likely, this would mean that the HDD's location is unknown, and we likely can not obtain iostat -En output.

If needing to make a Best Guess, work with a Sun Support Service representative through the following information to help make as educated a guess as possible.

There are a few options remaining to try and reduce the chances of dispatching an incorrect HDD FRU part number.

1.  If current format or iostat -En output can not be provided, a Sun Support Services representative can access an old Explorer from the Proactive Explorer database (a Sun internal Explorer repository) and obtain HDD information using the archived data.

This option requires that a customer site has previously uploaded an Explorer from this system in the past to this database.  This also means that the Explorer was run at a time when this same HDD was present in the system.

Assuming there is an old Explorer that meets this criteria, the engineer can view the HDD configuration information from the data and locate the HDD model number, size, and speed.

The customer or site contact needs to provide the system serial number, hostid, or hostname so that a Sun Support Services representative can look up an old Explorer from the Proactive Database.

2.  If the HDD model number, disk size and speed is known and we have a list of possible arrays determined (from Step 3 of Method 3 ), try to determine the single array most likely to be installed in the configuration.

Have the customer or site contact identify the array installed from the list of possible units containing the model number, or ask if another site contact or administrator could verify the array installed.

Contact the field engineer or account manager most familiar with the configuration to inquire on the array type installed or most likely to be installed.  Often the person who last serviced the configuration is most likely to be the one who knows what type of array is involved.

Calculate the number of HDDs on the same controller (device path) from format output or probe-scsi-all and see which array in the list has the same number of HDDs in it.

         For example, a D240 array has 2 HDDs and usually a DVD-ROM & Tape Drive.  So, you'd expect 
         to see the 2 HDDs in format on the same device path (4 total devices in probe-scsi-all at OBP.
         Meanwhile, a Storedge 3320 has 12 total HDDs, so format should show all 12 devices.

         NOTE:  This method isn't always reliable because arrays can be split so that resources are 
                attached to different hosts.  Also, if a device is defective, it might not be visable
                in format. But, essentially, if left to making such a guess, this is one way to 
                hopefully try and make that guess more educated and rule out a particular array from
                the list of possible ones.

3.  If we must guess, confirm the FRU part that is dispatched matches as much information as is known.

This means that if the model number, disk size, and speed is known (as determined from iostat -En output), make sure the FRU part chosen matches that model number, disk size, and speed.

This also means dispatching a FRU part number and not a "raw disk drive".  The term "raw disk drive" refers to the disk only.  A FRU part contains the disk plus it's bracket (and starts with the numbers 540- as displayed in the Sun System Handbook (SSH).

4.  The Sun Support Services representative should dispatch the replacement FRU to the field, making certain to specify that every effort was made to identify the correct FRU part number, but it was ultimately a Best Guess.

Notifying the field engineer that this is a Best Guess, allows them to either confirm this part number themselves or prepare themselves for the possibility that the part may not be exactly what is needed.

It may be that the field engineer might happen to know the configuration better than we can determine through this approach or even better than the customer contact.

Sun System Handbook Search Page - To plug in HDD
model numbers and quickly locate information on them.

http://decoder.aus/ - Solaris device path decoder
to help quickly decode the HDD device paths to a physical
location.

Proactive
Explorer Database -search on the system name, system serial
number, hostid, etc to find an old Explorer if needing to perform a
Best Guess Approach.

Why does this article
exist 

Wrong Part Number - DISK action plan
defects are one of the top Action Plan Tracking and Reporting Tool (ATR)
problem areas within support services. This defect usually results
in a Field Engineer having to make multiple visits to a customer
site to complete the action plan, increases the service costs
associated to multiple visits, and increases Time To Resolution
(TTR).  This in turn negatively affects Customer Feedback
Index (CFI) because the customer is less satisfied with our service
and timeliness of resolution.

This document is a reference for several
normalized resolution paths and referenced from the Action Plan Tracking and Reporting Tool
(ATR)
.  Please make sure to
communicate any needed changes to this article with the appropriate
Domain Engineer/Lead using [email protected]

This solution has no attachment