I really Have to say that service agent actions aside - this was a very
poorly designed VIOS solution.
Obviously a single VIOS server presenting disk to client server luns from
internal disk
sorry but to me this beggers believe, the design is just full of single
points of failure (which in reality is no different to an IBMi hosting
server)
All our vios servers are dual vios with dual SEA and dual paths to disk -
aka redundant
Split backplane allows for the dual VIOS's installation with the
individual rootvg on separate RAID sets and separate controllers
Yes I am more of a AIX guy but sorry to say the client / business partner
brought this issue onto themselves
As for the service agent actions, try being elsewhere in the world for
agent knowledge / skills
Shaun
Shaun Ryan
Systems Administrator SAP Basis
[1][USEMAP] [2]P: +64 3 363 6939
[3]M: +64 21 974 587
[4]E: Shaun.Ryan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[5]167 Main North Road, Christchurch 8140
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, 25 March 2021 8:37 am
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
Vern Hamberg <vhamberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Hardware support: VIOS service vs IBM i Service
Was VIOS guy, actually I think AIX. Clearly not an IBM i guy no way. At
the time of this problem IBM i existed only on Tape and the hopes and
dreams that the blown up RAID set could be recovered. It wasn't.
- L
On 3/24/2021 3:33 PM, Vern Hamberg wrote:
> Have to believe that tech wasn't true IBM i service person - I bet
> this would never happen with our real service people.
>
> Vern
>
> On 3/24/2021 9:16 AM, Jeff Crosby wrote:
>>> Turns out he had reached end of shift and just put us on hold and
>>> went
>> home.
>>
>> Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 9:20 AM Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis <
>> midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> I have one customer who lost their entire system years ago due to
>>> IBM #FAIL with a system that had VIOS for hosting (Internal disk) of
>>> three IBM i partitions. Improper understanding of the configuration
>>> meant IBM couldn't find the failed disk that the HMC had reported
>>> and thus left without repairing it. When drive two failed some time
later, bye bye.
>>> They had gone into all three IBM i partitions and Service Tools
>>> reported all disks were good!
>>>
>>> Some months later that SAME customer lost their entire system once
>>> again when a failed drive replacement procedure took out the RAID
>>> set containing the hosting storage. After this failure we rebuilt
>>> with IBM i hosting replacing VIOS. To them VIOS is indeed a 'four
>>> letter word.' At one point before throwing all the VIOS disks into
>>> the dumpster and making the call to host with IBM i, we were waiting
>>> on the phone with a tech and couldn't get him to respond. Turns out
>>> he had reached end of shift and just put us on hold and went home.
>>> Once we discovered he was gone, and national duty manager struggled
>>> to find someone to help us, that was the instant the IBM i tape came
>>> out of my bag and we began reconfiguring the system.
>>>
>>> Your absolute best friend when you run VIOS is to 'know a guy' who
>>> who runs strong with the AIX. No joke here.
>>>
>>> - L
>>>
>>> On 3/24/2021 9:02 AM, Rob Berendt wrote:
>>>> I'm so used to when a disk drive needs replaced in IBM i you log on
>>>> to
>>> the system, get into STRSST, step back and let the hardware
>>> repairman do his thing.
>>>> It's a whole different animal in VIOS.
>>>>
>>>> First of all when you open the ticket with IBM they ask you the
>>> stupidest question: What operating systems are running under this?
>>>> Why is this a stupid question? Well if you tell them IBM i then
>>>> they
>>> send someone out who knows IBM i and doesn't have a clue about VIOS.
>>> So when you start a putty session and get them into the vios console
>>> and they type in STRSST and get command not found you already know
>>> you can tack hours on to the call.
>>>> The next thing is that they assume the customer is all knowing and
>>> comfortable with VIOS and/or AIX and know how to unmirror disk
>>> drives and all sorts of stuff that were all set up for me. Since
>>> you are not you will have to open a software ticket also.
>>>> And Heaven help you if you are not at a version 3 of VIOS. You get
>>>> a
>>> reply like, your choices are:
>>>> - Upgrade to a supported version of VIOS
>>>>
>>>> - Contract with IBM Lab Services for a minimum of 40 hours
>>>> at
>>> several hundred dollars an hour
>>>> - Sign an extended support contract for the expired version
>>>> of
>>> VIOS
>>>> It doesn't help that you drove hours to a remote data center on
>>>> Monday
>>> for an appointment you scheduled with the IBM hardware guy the week
>>> before. AND HE NEVER SHOWS NOR CALLS! The national duty manager
>>> had a tough time finding anyone in Indy and had to get back to me.
>>> Service man claims he was at a customer site with his phone in the
>>> car and doesn't know when he'll ever get out of there. Who leaves
>>> their phone in the car?!?
>>> The only time I can think of this is my son has to because the Navy
>>> really frowns upon anyone taking a phone into a secure area. He
>>> lost it for a few days while they scanned it to see if he took any
>>> pictures, etc.
>>>> So you drive back down on Tuesday.
>>>> I wonder if the NCAA having their tournaments in town had anything
>>>> to do
>>> with this. Like did the serviceman score tickets?
>>>> Oh well, driving out of town allowed me to check out some shops on
>>>> the
>>> way home and I scored a little powder to reload some rounds...
>>>> Rob Berendt
>>>> --
>>>> IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1 Group Dekko Dept
>>>> 1600 Mail to: 7310 Innovation Blvd, Suite 104
>>>> Ft. Wayne, IN 46818
>>>> Ship to: 7310 Innovation Blvd, Dock 9C
>>>> Ft. Wayne, IN 46818
>>>> [6]
http://www.dekko.com
>>>>
>>> --
>>> IBM Champion for Power Systems
>>>
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>>> [8]www.iDevCloud.com - Personal IBM i Hosting [9]www.Frankeni.com -
IBM i
>>> and Power Systems Consulting.
>>> --
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>
--
IBM Champion for Power Systems
[13]www.iInTheCloud.com - Commercial IBM i and Power System Hosting
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