SES-2 ANSI Specification
January 2nd, 2009
The ANSI SCSI Enclosure Services (SES-2) specification can be downloaded here.
Example SES (SCSI Enclosure Services) Reports
January 2nd, 2009
Below is a dump from a Xyratex SES compliant enclosure, using SANtools smartmon-ux software. Portions in blue are vendor-specific.
root@morph smartmon]# ./smartmon-ux -E+ /dev/sdc SMARTMon-ux [Release 1.23, Build 30-NOV-2003] - Copyright 2003 SANtools, Inc. http://www.SANtools.com SEAGATE ST336753FC S/N "3HX00LE3" on /dev/sdc [SES] (Not Enabling SMART)(35003 MB) Discovered XYRATEX RS1600-FC2-FFX2 WWN=20-00-00-50-CC-00-7B-8E: Configuration switches numbered from 1-12 as viewed from rear, top to bottom Vendor-specific features (Notes) [SWITCH SETTING] SoftSelect Mode (Disabled) [SW11-OFF] Drive Speed (2 Gbit FC Mode) Read more...
Example SAF-TE Report
December 30th, 2008
Below is a dump from a DotHill SAF-TE compliant enclosure, using SANtools smartmon-ux software. The text in RED indicates the SAF-TE components. This was run on a Windows-based O/S, but the software is ported to Solaris, LINUX, IRIX, AIX, HP-UX, and other UNIX Variants.
smartmon-ux -I+ -E+ \\.\SCSI3: SMARTMon-ux [Release 1.13, Build 4-SEP-2002] - Copyright 2002 SANtools, Inc. http://www.SANtools.com Discovered CNSi JSS122 S/N " " on \\.\SCSI3: (processor) [SAF-TE] [Adapter/ID.LUN=0/0.6] Inquiry Text Page Data - ANSI defined fields Device Type: processor Peripheral Qualifier: Connected to this LUN Removable Device: NO ANSI Version: 3 (SPC ANSI X3.301:1997) ISO/IEC Version: 0 ECMA Version: 0 Vendor Identification: CNSi Product Identification: JSS122 Firmware Revision: L421 Read more...
SCSI Enclosure Services (SES & SES-2) Management
December 30th, 2008
SCSI Enclosure Services, referred as SES or SES-2, depending on the revision level, is a command set that is used to manage and sense the state of the power supplies, cooling devices, displays, indicators, individual drives, and other non-SCSI elements installed in a fibre channel or SAS (host-attached) enclosure. Intelligent enclosures that connect to the host via a SCSI cable will normally speak the SAF-TE protocol.
The command set is defined as an ANSI specification, and utilizes the SCSI commands to obtain configuration information for the enclosure as well as reprogram it to light external indicator LEDs or audible alarms to inform the user about the health and maintenance information for attached RAID controllers and disk drives.
SAF-TE Specification
December 30th, 2008
SAF-TE: SCSI accessed fault-tolerant enclosures interface specification
(Editor’s note: Below from Intel’s SAF-TE site)
This specification defines a set of SCSI commands for setting drive status information, including status for RAID arrays, into a (SAF-TE compliant) disk drive array enclosure. The drive array enclosure may be a separate enclosure, or the same enclosure. The specification also defines commands for managing hot-swap drive slots and returning environmental health information for a drive enclosure.
The status commands are typically used by the enclosure manufacturer to assert lights or other indicators Read more…
Are there any industry standards for managing intelligent enclosures
December 30th, 2008
Yes – SES, which stands for SCSI ENCLOSURE SERVICES, is the ANSI standard by which Fibre Channel-attached subsystems adhere to. SCSI enclosures “speak” SAF-TE, which stands for SCSI Accessed Fault Tolerant Enclosures.
The SES specification has a great deal of intelligence, which allows for not only reporting health, but changing fan speeds, manipulating the LEDs, and controlling audible alarms. SAF-TE is a rather dumb interface that reports the most basic information in more of a pass/fail form.
Where can I get firmware updates
December 29th, 2008
Disk (tape, autochanger, whatever) firmware is intellectual property, and is owned by the manufacturer and/or a particular OEM that purchases the peripheral from the manufacturer.
In general, don’t bother calling Seagate, WD, or any of the other drive vendors and ask them for the firmware update. Unless somebody posts otherwise, it is almost onheard of that they will just send it to you. You typically need to get that from the company that sold you the hardware.
Helpful places to look Read more…
How to change a disk’s block size
December 29th, 2008
With few exceptions, disk drives are set to 512 bytes per block, and operating systems expect disks to be formatted to 512 bytes per block. In fact, some operating systems and/or disk controllers won’t even “see” disks that aren’t formatted to 512 bytes/block. Certain RAID controllers require disks to be formatted to 520 or 528 bytes/block. EMC, and NetApp are two vendors that format their disks to use these extra bytes. (In case you were wondering, they do this in order to increase data integrity, as the extra bytes are used for ECC.
I have gotten a great deal of calls from people who bought used EMC or NetApp gear Read more…
Changing the reported capacity of disk drive
December 29th, 2008
Disk devices that speak the SCSI protocol (SCSI, SAS, Fibre channel, and even USB memory sticks) have a built-in command designed to specify the drive capacity. The block size and count is defined as mode page settings, so any software product that incorporates a mode page editor has the mechanism to allow you to change the capacity (or block size) of a device.
Why you might want to do this …
- You have some older equipment running an operating system such as VMS, or certain RAID controllers that have an upper limit on the maximum disk size which they support.
- You want to be really sneaky and hide information on a disk drive. (Once you resize the disk, the “hidden” area is hidden from everything, including low-level formats, partition managers, and anti virus software).
- You are trying to mirror disk drives, and while they are both advertised to be 146GB large, they have a slightly different number of total blocks. As such, some RAID software won’t let you mirror the two drives.
Security warning — If you do not want to risk data theft, you should always insure that the disks in your storage farm report 100% of their actual capacity before running software to view the contents, or run a secure erase.
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