Short tip: Gather HP SmartArray cache battery information under HP-UX
When a RAID controllers cache battery fails it is a benefit if you can gather the spare part number without any downtime. If your server is equipped with a HP SmartArray controller you can easily get t hose information using the sautil utility. This requires the HP-UX products RAIDSA and RAIDSA-PROVIDER to be installed. For displaying the information the hardware path of the affected controller is gathered and passed to sautil:
1# ioscan -funCext_bus
2Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
3=================================================================================
4...
5ext_bus 1 0/6/0/0/0/0/4/0/0/0 ciss CLAIMED INTERFACE PCIe SAS SmartArray P400 RAID Controller
6 /dev/ciss1
7
8# sautil /dev/ciss1|more
9---- ARRAY ACCELERATOR (CACHE) INFORMATION -----------------------------------
10 Array Accelerator Board Present?.... yes
11 Cache Configuration Status.......... write cache temporarily disabled (code=1)
12 Cache Ratio......................... 25% Read / 75% Write
13 Total Cache Size (MB)............... 208
14 Read Cache........................ 052
15 Write Cache....................... 156
16 Transfer Buffer................... 000
17 Battery Pack Count.................. 1
18 Battery Status (pack #1)............ FAILED
In this case the cache is 208 MB which is consistent with the 256 MB P400 model variant. There is also a 512 MB model with a completely different cache battery. If you want to make sure you're ordering the right part you can check the cache size mentioned in the firmware by using the HP-UX Support Tool Manager. For this you might need to install the HP-UX product Sup-Tool-Mgr. The tool also requires you to specify the controller's hardware path:
1# echo "selclass hwpath 0/6/0/0/0/0/4/0/0/0;info;wait;infolog"|/usr/sbin/cstm|more
2...
3Controller : HP SmartArray RAID Controller
4Device File: /dev/ciss1
5Hardware Revision: 'E'
6Firmware Revision (Currently Running): 7.22
7Firmware Revision Rom: 7.22
8Boot Block Revision: 0.04
9Total Cache Size (MB) : 256
10Battery Pack: Battery Count : 1
11Battery Status: Battery Number ( 1 ) : BATTERY FAILED
12Battery Voltage: Battery Number ( 1 ) : below reference voltage
In thie case it is really the 256 MB model variant which requires a spare part with the number 383280-B21. The 512 MB BBWC model variant needs a spare part with the unique identifier 398648-001 (sources: [click!] und [click!]).