Hi,

Hoping to hear from anyone who has got an rx2800 i2 booting from an MSA
SAN using 16 Gb/s fiber HBAs. I am trying to clone a system disk from
another rx2800 booting from an EVA SAN.

Hardware Details.

HP Integrity rx2800 i2 1.60GHz/6.0MB 8 CPU
B9F24AR Fiber HBA
MSA-2050 SAN

Software
VSI OpenVMS 8.4-2L1.
Update 1.0 installed.
Unclustered.

---
OpenVMS installed on internal SCSI drive from VSI DVD OK.
When booted from the internal drive, VMS can see the SAN $1$DGA disks,
and perform I/O to them.

I restored an /IMAGE saveset of the source machine (same hardware type
and O/S version) onto one of the fiber disks. I then added a boot entry
using SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM for this disk and added it to position 1.

efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000A) Option successfully added
efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000B) Option successfully added

Option 2 (List) shows

Entry Description Options
----- ----------------------------------------------------------

-------------
1 OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
$1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0) Fibre(207000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
2 OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
$1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0) Fibre(247000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
3 OpenVMS on DKA0: PKA0.0
DKA0 PCI(0|1|0|0) Scsi(Pun0,Lun0)

When I try to boot from the SAN device, I get

Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296

I originally tried it with the unpatched DVD installed operating system.

When that failed, I removed the boot entries, applied Update 1.0 to VMS
on the internal SCSI drive, rebooted (from the internal drive), and
re-added the SAN boot options. I did this because of information
contained in a PDF document on the DVD, which suggested Update 1.0 was
required. A link to the document on the VSI web site is

https://docs.vmssoftware.com/docs/ENABLING_16GB_FC_HBAS_FOR_BOOT.pdf

This made no difference.

I then did an /IMAGE copy of the patched SCSI system disk onto another
SAN drive, created new boot entries for this, and attempted to boot from
that drive. I did this to make sure the version of OpenVMS on the SAN
was fully patched to Update 1.0.

Again, the same boot failure.

The document describes booting into the EFI shell and the device
manager, which I also did. The EFI shell was unable to see any file
systems on fiber SAN:

> EFI Shell list (fs entries)
>
> fs0 :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0b blk0
> PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi

(0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,291986A1-20CC-11EE-A1D6-AA000400FEFF)
> fs1 :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0d blk1
> PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi

(0x0,0x0)/HD(3,GPT,291986A0-20CC-11EE-A1D7-AA000400FEFF)
>
> VMS_SHOW EFI output
>
> fs0:\> \EFI\VMS\VMS_SHOW
>
> Searching 6 NET Device entries...
> Searching 7 UEFI Device entries...
> Searching 66 PCI Device entries...
> Searching 65 VMS Device entries...
>
> VMS: DKA0 EFI: fs0 Vol: V8_4_2L1 DevInfo: HP LOGICAL

VOLUME 6.64
> fs0:\>

No files found on fs1:

The Device Manager was also unable to see the SAN adapters
Device Manager output
/--------------------------------------------------------------------------

----\
| Device Manager

|
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

----/

Devices List Configure the iSCSI
iSCSI Configuration parameters.
Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:0 -
E4:11:5B:62:80:8A
Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:1 -
E4:11:5B:62:80:8C

The various scenarios described in the document refer to i4 or i6
servers (this server is an i2). The only scenario mentioned using i2
servers, was an example ("Use Case 2") whereby the customer was
attempting to replace i2 servers by i4 or i6. The inference from this
is either that i2 servers don't need any such special steps, or that i2
servers cannot boot from an MSA 2050 SAN using an B9F24AR HBA.

Customer opened a support call, and apparently the i2 is compatible, but
since the HBA can't be seen from the EFI environment, it must be a
hardware fault, despite the fact that once booted, VMS can see the drives.

Any suggestions/experiences/comments gratefully received.

---
Tom Wade
OpenVMS Consultant and Enthusiast
tom dot wade at tomwade dot eu

Am 24.07.2023 um 11:20 schrieb Tom Wade:
> Hi,
>
> Hoping to hear from anyone who has got an rx2800 i2 booting from an MSA
> SAN using 16 Gb/s fiber HBAs.  I am trying to clone a system disk from
> another rx2800 booting from an EVA SAN.
>
> Hardware Details.
>
> HP Integrity rx2800 i2 1.60GHz/6.0MB 8 CPU
> B9F24AR Fiber HBA
> MSA-2050 SAN
>
> Software
> VSI OpenVMS 8.4-2L1.
> Update 1.0 installed.
> Unclustered.
>
> ---
> OpenVMS installed on internal SCSI drive from VSI DVD OK.
> When booted from the internal drive, VMS can see the SAN $1$DGA disks,
> and perform I/O to them.
>
> I restored an /IMAGE saveset of the source machine (same hardware type
> and O/S version) onto one of the fiber disks.  I then added a boot entry
> using SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM for this disk and added it to
> position 1.
>
> efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000A) Option successfully added
> efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000B) Option successfully added
>
> Option 2 (List) shows
>
> Entry  Description                                                Options
> -----  ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> -------------
>    1   OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
>          $1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0) Fibre(207000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
>    2   OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
>          $1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0) Fibre(247000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
>    3   OpenVMS on DKA0: PKA0.0
>          DKA0 PCI(0|1|0|0) Scsi(Pun0,Lun0)
>
> When I try to boot from the SAN device, I get
>
> Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
> Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
> Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
> Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
>
> I originally tried it with the unpatched DVD installed operating system.
>
> When that failed, I removed the boot entries, applied Update 1.0 to VMS
> on the internal SCSI drive, rebooted (from the internal drive), and
> re-added the SAN boot options.  I did this because of information
> contained in a PDF document on the DVD, which suggested Update 1.0 was
> required.  A link to the document on the VSI web site is
>
> https://docs.vmssoftware.com/docs/ENABLING_16GB_FC_HBAS_FOR_BOOT.pdf
>
> This made no difference.
>
> I then did an /IMAGE copy of the patched SCSI system disk onto another
> SAN drive, created new boot entries for this, and attempted to boot from
> that drive.  I did this to make sure the version of OpenVMS on the SAN
> was fully patched to Update 1.0.
>
> Again, the same boot failure.
>
> The document describes booting into the EFI shell and the device
> manager, which I also did.  The EFI shell was unable to see any file
> systems on fiber SAN:
>
> > EFI Shell list (fs entries)
> >
> >   fs0    :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0b blk0
> >           PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi
>
> (0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,291986A1-20CC-11EE-A1D6-AA000400FEFF)
> >   fs1    :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0d blk1
> >           PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi
>
> (0x0,0x0)/HD(3,GPT,291986A0-20CC-11EE-A1D7-AA000400FEFF)
> >
> > VMS_SHOW EFI output
> >
> > fs0:\> \EFI\VMS\VMS_SHOW
> >
> >   Searching    6 NET Device entries...
> >   Searching    7 UEFI Device entries...
> >   Searching   66 PCI Device entries...
> >   Searching   65 VMS Device entries...
> >
> > VMS: DKA0        EFI: fs0       Vol: V8_4_2L1   DevInfo: HP      LOGICAL
>
> VOLUME  6.64
> > fs0:\>
>
> No files found on fs1:
>
> The Device Manager was also unable to see the SAN adapters
> Device Manager output
> /--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----\
> |                               Device Manager
>
>    |
> \--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----/
>
> Devices List                                          Configure the iSCSI
>   iSCSI Configuration                                 parameters.
>   Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:0 -
>   E4:11:5B:62:80:8A
>   Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:1 -
>   E4:11:5B:62:80:8C
>
> The various scenarios described in the document refer to i4 or i6
> servers (this server is an i2).  The only scenario mentioned using i2
> servers, was an example ("Use Case 2") whereby the customer was
> attempting to replace i2 servers by i4 or i6.  The inference from this
> is either that i2 servers don't need any such special steps, or that i2
> servers cannot boot from an MSA 2050 SAN using an B9F24AR  HBA.
>
> Customer opened a support call, and apparently the i2 is compatible, but
> since the HBA can't be seen from the EFI environment, it must be a
> hardware fault, despite the fact that once booted, VMS can see the drives.
>
> Any suggestions/experiences/comments gratefully received.
>
> ---
> Tom Wade
> OpenVMS Consultant and Enthusiast
> tom dot wade at tomwade dot eu

I think in order to boot from the MSA2050 you there must be an EFI
bootdriver installed on the rx2800 for the specific FC card. It seems
that this driver is missing on your system, so you do not see the MSA
disks in EFI. As far as I know you could install this driver on the
rx2800 yourself IF you have it somewhere. Some years ago I managed a
rx2800 i6 system with an MSA2050. Unfortunately I do not have access to
this system anymore, so I cannot help with details.
--
Norbert Schönartz

On 7/24/2023 5:20 AM, Tom Wade wrote:

> Any suggestions/experiences/comments gratefully received.

I have no idea which adapter a B9F24AR Fiber HBA is.

What does $ SHOW DEVICE FGA0 /FULL show when booted from the internal disk?

It's possible that adapter is not supported; I think the only one supported
is the Qlogic 2660

--
-- Rob

16Gb Fibre Channel

OpenVMS includes support for 16 Gb Fibre Channel on VSI OpenVMS
Integrity V8.4-2, V8.4-2L1, and V8.4-2L3.

Supported Host Bus Adapters are HPE SN1000Q single or dual port 16 Gb
HBAs, HPE part numbers B9F23A and B9F24A.
Required software kits for OpenVMS:

    VMS842I_FIBRESCSI-V0200 (V8.4-2)
    VMS842L1I_FIBRESCSI-V0200 (V8.4-2L1)

Kits availability: Standard customers support channels.
Supported HPE Integrity servers:

    rx2800 i2/i4/i6

Supported HBAs: The 16 Gb Fibre HBAs have been qualified in 16 Gb
end-to-end configurations with 8/16 Gb Fibre switches and 8/16 Gb
storage arrays.
I/O performance testing results: Doubled the I/O bandwidth compared to
an 8 Gb Fibre Channel configuration.
The firmware image for the B9F23A and B9F24A used in VSI testing:

    EFI: 6.37
    ROM: 8.01.80

Are all requirements fullfilled?

Am 24.07.2023 um 11:20 schrieb Tom Wade via Info-vax:
> Hi,
>
> Hoping to hear from anyone who has got an rx2800 i2 booting from an
> MSA SAN using 16 Gb/s fiber HBAs.  I am trying to clone a system disk
> from another rx2800 booting from an EVA SAN.
>
> Hardware Details.
>
> HP Integrity rx2800 i2 1.60GHz/6.0MB 8 CPU
> B9F24AR Fiber HBA
> MSA-2050 SAN
>
> Software
> VSI OpenVMS 8.4-2L1.
> Update 1.0 installed.
> Unclustered.
>
> ---
> OpenVMS installed on internal SCSI drive from VSI DVD OK.
> When booted from the internal drive, VMS can see the SAN $1$DGA disks,
> and perform I/O to them.
>
> I restored an /IMAGE saveset of the source machine (same hardware type
> and O/S version) onto one of the fiber disks.  I then added a boot
> entry using SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM for this disk and added it to
> position 1.
>
> efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000A) Option successfully added
> efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000B) Option successfully added
>
> Option 2 (List) shows
>
> Entry  Description Options
> -----  ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> -------------
>    1   OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
>          $1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0) Fibre(207000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
>    2   OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
>          $1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0) Fibre(247000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
>    3   OpenVMS on DKA0: PKA0.0
>          DKA0 PCI(0|1|0|0) Scsi(Pun0,Lun0)
>
> When I try to boot from the SAN device, I get
>
> Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
> Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
> Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
> Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
>
> I originally tried it with the unpatched DVD installed operating system.
>
> When that failed, I removed the boot entries, applied Update 1.0 to
> VMS on the internal SCSI drive, rebooted (from the internal drive),
> and re-added the SAN boot options.  I did this because of information
> contained in a PDF document on the DVD, which suggested Update 1.0 was
> required.  A link to the document on the VSI web site is
>
> https://docs.vmssoftware.com/docs/ENABLING_16GB_FC_HBAS_FOR_BOOT.pdf
>
> This made no difference.
>
> I then did an /IMAGE copy of the patched SCSI system disk onto another
> SAN drive, created new boot entries for this, and attempted to boot
> from that drive.  I did this to make sure the version of OpenVMS on
> the SAN was fully patched to Update 1.0.
>
> Again, the same boot failure.
>
> The document describes booting into the EFI shell and the device
> manager, which I also did.  The EFI shell was unable to see any file
> systems on fiber SAN:
>
> > EFI Shell list (fs entries)
> >
> >   fs0    :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0b blk0
> >           PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi
>
> (0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,291986A1-20CC-11EE-A1D6-AA000400FEFF)
> >   fs1    :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0d blk1
> >           PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi
>
> (0x0,0x0)/HD(3,GPT,291986A0-20CC-11EE-A1D7-AA000400FEFF)
> >
> > VMS_SHOW EFI output
> >
> > fs0:\> \EFI\VMS\VMS_SHOW
> >
> >   Searching    6 NET Device entries...
> >   Searching    7 UEFI Device entries...
> >   Searching   66 PCI Device entries...
> >   Searching   65 VMS Device entries...
> >
> > VMS: DKA0        EFI: fs0       Vol: V8_4_2L1   DevInfo: HP     
> LOGICAL
>
> VOLUME  6.64
> > fs0:\>
>
> No files found on fs1:
>
> The Device Manager was also unable to see the SAN adapters
> Device Manager output
> /--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> ----\
> |                               Device Manager
>
>    |
> \--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> ----/
>
> Devices List                                          Configure the iSCSI
>   iSCSI Configuration                                 parameters.
>   Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:0 -
>   E4:11:5B:62:80:8A
>   Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:1 -
>   E4:11:5B:62:80:8C
>
> The various scenarios described in the document refer to i4 or i6
> servers (this server is an i2).  The only scenario mentioned using i2
> servers, was an example ("Use Case 2") whereby the customer was
> attempting to replace i2 servers by i4 or i6.  The inference from this
> is either that i2 servers don't need any such special steps, or that
> i2 servers cannot boot from an MSA 2050 SAN using an B9F24AR  HBA.
>
> Customer opened a support call, and apparently the i2 is compatible,
> but since the HBA can't be seen from the EFI environment, it must be a
> hardware fault, despite the fact that once booted, VMS can see the
> drives.
>
> Any suggestions/experiences/comments gratefully received.
>
> ---
> Tom Wade
> OpenVMS Consultant and Enthusiast
> tom dot wade at tomwade dot eu
> _______________________________________________
> Info-vax mailing list
> Info-vax@rbnsn.com
> http://rbnsn.com/mailman/listinfo/info-vax_rbnsn.com
>

--
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

On Monday, July 24, 2023 at 12:15:24 PM UTC-4, eh wrote:
> 16Gb Fibre Channel
>
> OpenVMS includes support for 16 Gb Fibre Channel on VSI OpenVMS
> Integrity V8.4-2, V8.4-2L1, and V8.4-2L3.

Just because a device is supported in VMS doesn't mean that
you can boot from it. In this case, you need console EFI support
for it, which would be a specific added EFI driver.

I doubt VSI has ever written anything for Itanic EFI. They just
provide tools to manage some EFI settings from within VMS.

If newer Itanics have an EFI boot driver for this adapter, you
could try copying it over. It may or may not work, based on
differences in the EFI implementations or possible architec-
tural differences.

Hi,

Thanks for all the responses to my query. Just to summarize:

The rx2800 i2 with the MSA2050 and the B9F24A(R) HBAs is a supported
combination, and should be able to boot from the SAN, once Update 1.0 is
installed with 8.4-2L1.

Tech support believe it to be a hardware problem, even though the SAN
disks work fine once VMS has booted.

The extensive document referred to in the link below, describes the
various steps required to get VMS to boot over those HBAs (by default it
can't). Unfortunately one of the early steps is to activate the Device
Manager ('d' during the pre boot sequence), then selecting the HBA, and
the HBAs don't appear at this point.

The suggestion that looks most likely to me at this stage is that a UEFI
driver for the relatively new HBAs is missing from the Integrity.
Since I am only providing the VMS expertise for this project, I'm
letting the hardware purveyors take this issue up with HP.

Customer is running from the internal RAID disk and using the SAN as
application to get up and running. If we find a subsequent solution, I
will post it here.

Regards, and again thanks to all.

> Hoping to hear from anyone who has got an rx2800 i2 booting from an MSA
> SAN using 16 Gb/s fiber HBAs.  I am trying to clone a system disk from
> another rx2800 booting from an EVA SAN.
>
> Hardware Details.
>
> HP Integrity rx2800 i2 1.60GHz/6.0MB 8 CPU
> B9F24AR Fiber HBA
> MSA-2050 SAN
>
> Software
> VSI OpenVMS 8.4-2L1.
> Update 1.0 installed.
> Unclustered.
>
> ---
> OpenVMS installed on internal SCSI drive from VSI DVD OK.
> When booted from the internal drive, VMS can see the SAN $1$DGA disks,
> and perform I/O to them.
>
> I restored an /IMAGE saveset of the source machine (same hardware type
> and O/S version) onto one of the fiber disks.  I then added a boot entry
> using SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM for this disk and added it to
> position 1.
>
> efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000A) Option successfully added
> efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000B) Option successfully added
>
> Option 2 (List) shows
>
> Entry  Description                                                Options
> -----  ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> -------------
>    1   OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
>          $1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0) Fibre(207000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
>    2   OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
>          $1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0) Fibre(247000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
>    3   OpenVMS on DKA0: PKA0.0
>          DKA0 PCI(0|1|0|0) Scsi(Pun0,Lun0)
>
> When I try to boot from the SAN device, I get
>
> Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
> Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
> Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
> Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
>
> I originally tried it with the unpatched DVD installed operating system.
>
> When that failed, I removed the boot entries, applied Update 1.0 to VMS
> on the internal SCSI drive, rebooted (from the internal drive), and
> re-added the SAN boot options.  I did this because of information
> contained in a PDF document on the DVD, which suggested Update 1.0 was
> required.  A link to the document on the VSI web site is
>
> https://docs.vmssoftware.com/docs/ENABLING_16GB_FC_HBAS_FOR_BOOT.pdf
>
> This made no difference.
>
> I then did an /IMAGE copy of the patched SCSI system disk onto another
> SAN drive, created new boot entries for this, and attempted to boot from
> that drive.  I did this to make sure the version of OpenVMS on the SAN
> was fully patched to Update 1.0.
>
> Again, the same boot failure.
>
> The document describes booting into the EFI shell and the device
> manager, which I also did.  The EFI shell was unable to see any file
> systems on fiber SAN:
>
> > EFI Shell list (fs entries)
> >
> >   fs0    :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0b blk0
> >           PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi
>
> (0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,291986A1-20CC-11EE-A1D6-AA000400FEFF)
> >   fs1    :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0d blk1
> >           PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi
>
> (0x0,0x0)/HD(3,GPT,291986A0-20CC-11EE-A1D7-AA000400FEFF)
> >
> > VMS_SHOW EFI output
> >
> > fs0:\> \EFI\VMS\VMS_SHOW
> >
> >   Searching    6 NET Device entries...
> >   Searching    7 UEFI Device entries...
> >   Searching   66 PCI Device entries...
> >   Searching   65 VMS Device entries...
> >
> > VMS: DKA0        EFI: fs0       Vol: V8_4_2L1   DevInfo: HP      LOGICAL
>
> VOLUME  6.64
> > fs0:\>
>
> No files found on fs1:
>
> The Device Manager was also unable to see the SAN adapters
> Device Manager output
> /--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----\
> |                               Device Manager
>
>    |
> \--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ----/
>
> Devices List                                          Configure the iSCSI
>   iSCSI Configuration                                 parameters.
>   Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:0 -
>   E4:11:5B:62:80:8A
>   Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:1 -
>   E4:11:5B:62:80:8C
>
> The various scenarios described in the document refer to i4 or i6
> servers (this server is an i2).  The only scenario mentioned using i2
> servers, was an example ("Use Case 2") whereby the customer was
> attempting to replace i2 servers by i4 or i6.  The inference from this
> is either that i2 servers don't need any such special steps, or that i2
> servers cannot boot from an MSA 2050 SAN using an B9F24AR  HBA.
>
> Customer opened a support call, and apparently the i2 is compatible, but
> since the HBA can't be seen from the EFI environment, it must be a
> hardware fault, despite the fact that once booted, VMS can see the drives.
>
> Any suggestions/experiences/comments gratefully received.
>
> ---
> Tom Wade
> OpenVMS Consultant and Enthusiast
> tom dot wade at tomwade dot eu

Had some experience with these... and went through similar frustrations.

1) Cannot boot directly as these do not show up in EFI when doing a
drvcfg -s xx xx
2) These are EXTREMELY finicky about firmware versions. I can almost
guarantee that your vendor did a cross-reference and purchased the
NON-VMS/HP-UX variant on Ebay or something like it. Firmware versions
are nearly always wrong.
Once the update to the correct firmware is done, the lights will stay
lit. Looks like an error bu this is normal as the OS (I think there is
an update required to include the B9F23/24 driver) has to load the
drivers to activate the card

Several of my customers hated this option and reverted to the 8Gbit card
(AH401A) as many want no disks actually sitting in the server.
The AH400A/AH401A  8Gbit Qlogic card IS a bootable card.

On 7/28/2023 12:18 PM, Tom Wade wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Thanks for all the responses to my query.  Just to summarize:
>
> The rx2800 i2 with the MSA2050 and the B9F24A(R) HBAs is a supported
> combination, and should be able to boot from the SAN, once Update 1.0
> is installed with 8.4-2L1.
>
> Tech support believe it to be a hardware problem, even though the SAN
> disks work fine once VMS has booted.
>
> The extensive document referred to in the link below, describes the
> various steps required to get VMS to boot over those HBAs (by default
> it can't).  Unfortunately one of the early steps is to activate the
> Device Manager ('d' during the pre boot sequence), then selecting the
> HBA, and the HBAs don't appear at this point.
>
> The suggestion that looks most likely to me at this stage is that a
> UEFI driver for the relatively new HBAs  is missing from the
> Integrity. Since I am only providing the VMS expertise for this
> project, I'm letting the hardware purveyors take this issue up with HP.
>
> Customer is running from the internal RAID disk and using the SAN as
> application to get up and running.  If we find a subsequent solution,
> I will post it here.
>
> Regards, and again thanks to all.
>
>> Hoping to hear from anyone who has got an rx2800 i2 booting from an
>> MSA SAN using 16 Gb/s fiber HBAs.  I am trying to clone a system disk
>> from another rx2800 booting from an EVA SAN.
>>
>> Hardware Details.
>>
>> HP Integrity rx2800 i2 1.60GHz/6.0MB 8 CPU
>> B9F24AR Fiber HBA
>> MSA-2050 SAN
>>
>> Software
>> VSI OpenVMS 8.4-2L1.
>> Update 1.0 installed.
>> Unclustered.
>>
>> ---
>> OpenVMS installed on internal SCSI drive from VSI DVD OK.
>> When booted from the internal drive, VMS can see the SAN $1$DGA
>> disks, and perform I/O to them.
>>
>> I restored an /IMAGE saveset of the source machine (same hardware
>> type and O/S version) onto one of the fiber disks.  I then added a
>> boot entry using SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM for this disk and added
>> it to position 1.
>>
>> efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000A) Option successfully added
>> efi$bcfg: $1$dga3021: (Boot000B) Option successfully added
>>
>> Option 2 (List) shows
>>
>> Entry Description Options
>> ----- ----------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> -------------
>>     1   OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
>>           $1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0)
>> Fibre(207000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
>>     2   OpenVMS 8.4 on SAN $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
>>           $1$DGA3021 PCI(0|a|0|0)
>> Fibre(247000C0FF52E296,LunF000000000000)
>>     3   OpenVMS on DKA0: PKA0.0
>>           DKA0 PCI(0|1|0|0) Scsi(Pun0,Lun0)
>>
>> When I try to boot from the SAN device, I get
>>
>> Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
>> Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2470-00C0-FF52-E296
>> Booting OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
>> Boot Failed. OpenVMS 8.4 SAN disk $1$DGA3021 FGA0.2070-00C0-FF52-E296
>>
>> I originally tried it with the unpatched DVD installed operating system.
>>
>> When that failed, I removed the boot entries, applied Update 1.0 to
>> VMS on the internal SCSI drive, rebooted (from the internal drive),
>> and re-added the SAN boot options.  I did this because of information
>> contained in a PDF document on the DVD, which suggested Update 1.0
>> was required.  A link to the document on the VSI web site is
>>
>> https://docs.vmssoftware.com/docs/ENABLING_16GB_FC_HBAS_FOR_BOOT.pdf
>>
>> This made no difference.
>>
>> I then did an /IMAGE copy of the patched SCSI system disk onto
>> another SAN drive, created new boot entries for this, and attempted
>> to boot from that drive.  I did this to make sure the version of
>> OpenVMS on the SAN was fully patched to Update 1.0.
>>
>> Again, the same boot failure.
>>
>> The document describes booting into the EFI shell and the device
>> manager, which I also did.  The EFI shell was unable to see any file
>> systems on fiber SAN:
>>
>>  > EFI Shell list (fs entries)
>>  >
>>  >   fs0    :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0b blk0
>>  > PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi
>>
>> (0x0,0x0)/HD(1,GPT,291986A1-20CC-11EE-A1D6-AA000400FEFF)
>>  >   fs1    :Removable HardDisk - Alias hd9a0d blk1
>>  > PcieRoot(0x30304352)/Pci(0x1,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Scsi
>>
>> (0x0,0x0)/HD(3,GPT,291986A0-20CC-11EE-A1D7-AA000400FEFF)
>>  >
>>  > VMS_SHOW EFI output
>>  >
>>  > fs0:\> \EFI\VMS\VMS_SHOW
>>  >
>>  >   Searching    6 NET Device entries...
>>  >   Searching    7 UEFI Device entries...
>>  >   Searching   66 PCI Device entries...
>>  >   Searching   65 VMS Device entries...
>>  >
>>  > VMS: DKA0        EFI: fs0       Vol: V8_4_2L1   DevInfo: HP     
>> LOGICAL
>>
>> VOLUME  6.64
>>  > fs0:\>
>>
>> No files found on fs1:
>>
>> The Device Manager was also unable to see the SAN adapters
>> Device Manager output
>> /--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> ----\
>> |                               Device Manager
>>
>>     |
>> \--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> ----/
>>
>> Devices List                                          Configure the
>> iSCSI
>>    iSCSI Configuration parameters.
>>    Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:0 -
>>    E4:11:5B:62:80:8A
>>    Emulex 10G NIC: Bus:Dev:Func 09:0:1 -
>>    E4:11:5B:62:80:8C
>>
>> The various scenarios described in the document refer to i4 or i6
>> servers (this server is an i2).  The only scenario mentioned using i2
>> servers, was an example ("Use Case 2") whereby the customer was
>> attempting to replace i2 servers by i4 or i6.  The inference from
>> this is either that i2 servers don't need any such special steps, or
>> that i2 servers cannot boot from an MSA 2050 SAN using an B9F24AR  HBA.
>>
>> Customer opened a support call, and apparently the i2 is compatible,
>> but since the HBA can't be seen from the EFI environment, it must be
>> a hardware fault, despite the fact that once booted, VMS can see the
>> drives.
>>
>> Any suggestions/experiences/comments gratefully received.
>>
>> ---
>> Tom Wade
>> OpenVMS Consultant and Enthusiast
>> tom dot wade at tomwade dot eu
>