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Storage Center Alert: How to Troubleshoot a Storage Center's Fibre Channel Path Down to a Server Error

Summary: How to troubleshoot and determine a reported a path down between Storage Center and a Server.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Instructions

Storage Center has reported a path down between Storage Center and a Server. 

Review any recent network or environment changes to make sure that they are not responsible for the connection issue.

Follow these steps to verify which ports are down.

  1. In Enterprise Manager, click the Storage view.
  2. In the Storage pane, select the Storage Center.
  3. Click the Hardware tab.
  4. In the Hardware tab navigation pane, expand Controllerscontroller nameIO Ports.
  5. Note whether the ports are up or down.

If any ports are down

  1. Log into the Fiber Channel switch and disable/enable switch port in which the array port is plugged into.  Note: before disabling the FC port verify it shows down, if the port is listed as up, the port not the correct port. 
  2. Reseat the cable on both ends.  Before reseating the cable, verify it is the correct one, the link/speed LED should not be illuminated.
  3. Reseat the SFPs on the switch and array (if present).
  4. Replace the cable with a known good cable.         
  5. Test with a known good SFPs on the switch and array (if present).
  6.  Move the cable to different switch port.  If port comes online, depending if port zoning or WWN zoning was implemented, the zoning may need to be updated to establish the connection.

If the issue isn’t resolved, and the port is still down, contact your service provider.

If ports are up

If the connection between the array and switch are up, the next step is to check the connection between the switch and the server.  If you are not physically at the system, initial troubleshooting can be done remotely with the switch. 

  1. Log into FC switch.
  2. Verify that HBA is logged in successful, and no/low error counts.
  3. If the server is not logged in, use these steps to isolate the problem.  If the server is logged in, continue to step 4.
    1. Verify port is enabled, if it was disabled, enable it.
    2. Disable/enable switch port in which the server is plugged into.  Note: before disabling the FC port verify it shows down, if the port is listed as up, the port not the correct port. 
    3. Reseat the cable on both ends.  Before reseating the cable, verify it is the correct one, the link/speed LED should not be illuminated.
    4. Reseat the SFPs on the switch and server (if present).
    5. Replace the cable with a known good cable.         
    6. If you have an additional port on the server HBA, test it.
    7. Test with a known good SFP on the switch and server (if present).
    8. Test on different switch port.
    9. Check drivers, firmware match requirements in Admin Guide, reboot server.  When rebooting, boot into HBA BIOS and scan for devices.
    10. Contact your HBA vendor for additional troubleshooting.
  4. If the array and server ports are both logged into the switch, verify that the server HBA & Storage ports are in same zone (refer to the Storage Controller Deployment Guide)
  5. Confirm physical topology matches the Fault Domain configuration.
  6. Contact service provider. 
Reseating a component, (cable, SFP, HBA, etc) may fix an issue, however if the same component was resetting previously within the last 6 months, replacement may be a consideration.

Affected Products

Compellent (SC, SCv & FS Series), Dell Compellent SC4020, Dell Storage SC8000, Dell Compellent Series 40, Dell Storage SCv2000, Dell Storage SCv2020, Dell Storage SCv2080, Dell Storage SC5020, Dell Storage SC7020, Dell Storage SC9000 , Dell Storage SCv3000, Dell Storage SCv3020 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000118604
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 06 May 2021
Version:  4
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