XTORE SAS JBOD Expander Firmware Release Note

Last updated: Nov-22nd-2006

Ø         1.06d Release Note (APR-11^th-2006)

Ø         1.07C Release Note (JUL-17^th-2006)

Ø         1.09D Release Note (SEP-15^th-2006)

Ø         1.09G Release Note (OCT-17^th-2006)

 

1.      Release note for 1.06d   Date: April-11^th -2006                Back to Top

• Added support for new models:
• ecm7153c_a1_12d-1.06d.s3r: for 2U 12bay JBOD
• Continuing improvement to SES support:
• Fixed some bugs to better comply to SES and SSP transport spec..
• Partially support of controlling enclosure indicator/alarm via SES:
• Fully functional on all 7153 based models
• No action for all 7154 based models due to hardware limitation. This will be addressed in later version
• Fully support of controlling access LED (blue) on disk tray for all models
• * Support for error LED (red) control will be addressed in later version.

 

Some corrections to last release announcement:

• The release version in the subject line was incorrect; it should be 1.06d, not 1.06a.
• For those models with two version of backplane (most of them, except the new 2U12 and 1U10), the support of SES control on the disk tray access LED only works with version 2 of backplane; the old backplane may never be supported since it's too difficult to make it right and reliable. Except this, I also recommend all upgrading their old backplane for performance issue and to enjoy planned enhancement to support different LED flash patterns in different conditions.

As said, this is a correction to the release information. The firmware remains intact; you don't have to upgrade again if you had already done.

 

2.      Release note for 1.07C Date: July-17^th-2006         Back to Top

　

Major Improvement:

1. Fixed the 'PHY error 16 (24 in case of 7154 based expander) ... ' error message while login Windows with LSI 8408/8480 RAID.
2. Fix the problem of BIOS utility of LSI 3442 and 3800 HBA not able to display disks attached to our expander or even failed to display SAS topology.
3. Added support for the SCSI 'Report LUNS' command.
1. The added support only replies one Logical Unit (0:0 of the SEP).
2. This should fix the hidden problem of LSI 3442/3800 tooking long time to inquiry up to 255 non-existent logical units and thus should speed up OS boot up time.

FW Filename Naming Convention:

1. For 7153 based model, the FW filename has this pattern:
   eT53C-VER-bpA n_NNd.s3r
• 'T' : could be 'd' for dual expander daughter card model or 'm' for single expander module
• 'C' : denotes the 7153 chip version; 'b' for 7153b, 'c' for 7153-02.
• 'VER' : denote FW version; such as '1.07B'.
• 'n' : denotes the backplane revision; such as '0' or '1' or '2'.
• 'NN' : denotes the supported drive slots; such 10, 12 or 24.

Example:

• ed7153b-1.07B-bpA2_16d.s3r:  for daughter card supporting 16 drive based on 7153B chip.
• em7153c-1.07B-bpA1_12d.s3r:  for module supporting 12 drive based on 7153-02 chip.
1. For 7154 based model:
   Similar but simplified since all of them support 24 drive.

 

　

3. Release note for 1.09D  Date: Sep-15^th-2006     Back to Top

 

1.09D FW for VSC-7153x/7154x based SAS JBOD were put on-line.

1. Due to some critical issues related to fan control/monitoring.
2. Except sub-version stamp changed from 'd' to 'D', there are following differences from the beta 1.09d:

The syntax of 'tZoneCfg' console command was enhanced to support clearing zone configuration of a single phy. The help message for this command was also corrected.

3. For your convenience, the release note for 1.09d beta is included.

Major Improvement in 1.09D:

1. Adding support for the revised 1U-10 JBOD:

Fully support the redesigned fan subsystem:

1. Total 4 fans instead of 3.
2. Each IOM (I/O module) controls the 2 fans directly connected to it, but every module can monitor all 4 fans.
3. 2 additional 'fan error LED' are supported to alert fan error event; one LED for each fan set.
4. In a single IOM enclosure, a dummy I/O module mounted with 2 fans must be installed in the empty I/O module slot and both fans must work normally otherwise fan fault event will be fired (enclosure system error LED, fan error LED, enclosure beeping and SES status report).
1. Adding support for dual boot with a single EEPROM chip on revised IOM:
1. On the 4 revised IOM for 1U10 and 2U12 JBOD and server, a new 2-pin jumper header is added for selecting one of two booting FW image in a single EEPROM chip (must be in 8 Mbit size):

Jumper	FW Image Address Space Primary / Secondary	Boot Address
Open (default)	BFC0:0000 / BFC8:0000	Primary at BFC00000
Close	BFC8:0000 / BFC0:0000	Secondary at BFC80000

2. With this dual boot capability, we'll have much less danger of rendering an IOM totally non-bootable due to burning error.
   When burning failed, either the Primary image is intact (not yet touched) or the Secondary image was already updated successfully; we can just blindly try booting from either image by opening or closing this jumper.
3. With the 'fwupdate -seconly' console command, we can burn different version of FW onto the Secondary image location and boot it up to test new FW before official deployment.
2. A lot of improvement in fan control and monitor:
1. A bug in setting fan speed on most server models was found and fixed:
   The bug caused under-run of fans and may be the cause of overheat problem of most of our server models. The fix has been verified OK but currently all fans are still forced to run in max speed (In previous versions, all fans run only at about 50% to 70% of its max capacity even we set it to run at max speed because the base clock was set too slow).
2. We now have more specific PWM parameters based on combination of fan spec, IOM and backplane revision. With later version of IOM and backplane, we should now be able to get correct reading of fan RPM. With early buggy IOM/backplane, we are more confident in determining its running or stop state.
3. Fan status monitoring and reporting is added back to 3U server with A2 version backplane.
3. Some modification to AIC add-on console command set:
1. The 'tShowState' functionality has now been distributed to two new commands ('tShowState' is still kept):
1. 'tEnclosureState': display thermal related states.
2. 'tExpanderState': display expander states (phy related)
2. 'tUptime' cmd is added to tell how long the IOM has been up and running.
   * Output of 'tEnclosureState', 'tExpanderState' and 'tShowState' also has one line reporting uptime information.
3. 'tZoneConfig' cmd is now really functional and its help message revised to better explain usage of each sub-command.

• Note: Because of the large scale of modification, we must test each model intensively and carefully; bug is to be expected.

　

4. Release note for 1.09G  Date: Oct-17^th-2006   Back to Top

                 

Bugs fixed:

　

1. With Adaptec SAS 4800/4805 RAID controllers, disk hot plug doesn't work Symptoms:

1. Disk inserted in any slot that is empty when expander powered up won't be recognized by the mentioned HBA.
2. However, after removing and then inserting disk in the same slot again, the disk will be correctly recognized.

　

Fixed:

1. The fix is tentative though reliable and effective from my surface test; It's just a replacement of the offensive library (libSMP) with the one copy from Vitesse original 1.10 FW.
2. Using 'stat' console command, you can get the version stamp (01.10) of 'libSMP'