HP A6826A How to use

HP A6826A Fibre Channel Mass Storage Adapter
Release Notes
Manufacturing Part Number: J6374-90009
March 2004
U.S.A.
© Copyright 2004 Hewlett Packard Development Company L.P.

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HP A6826A Fibre Channel Adapter Release Notes
Announcement
Chapter 1 3
1HP A6826A Fibre Channel Adapter Release
Notes
Announcement
This release note contains information pertaining to the A6826A driver provided with AR0304.

HP A6826A Fibre Channel Adapter Release Notes
What’s in This Version
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What’s in This Version
The following information is for version B.11.23.01 of the driver for the HP A6826A Dual Port Fibre Channel
Adapter.
Features
The A6826A is a dual port 2 Gb/s-capable Fibre Channel adapter that operates in PCI 33Mhz/66Mhz and
PCI-X 66Mhz/100Mhz/133Mhz bus speeds with a 64-bit bus width.
Each port supports Auto-Speed Negotiation, and is independently capable of a 1 Gb/s or 2 Gb/s data transfer
rate. Auto-Speed Negotiation allows each port on the adapter to automatically negotiate the highest speed
that is common to the port and to the infrastructure connecting the port.
The fcmsutil diagnostic tool can be used to display link speed and other VPD (Vital Product Data)
information.
The A6826A dual port adapter is capable of Online Addition and Replacement (OL*). OL* refers to the ability
of a PCI card to be replaced (or added) without shutting down and rebooting the system. See your system
hardware documentation to determine if OL* is supported. For detailed information about OL*, see the
Interface Card OL* Support Guide. You can view, download, or print it from http://www.docs.hp.com.
Platform Support
Support for HBAs
The driver (FibrChanl-01) for the A6826A also supports the A9782A and A9784A Fibre Channel/Gigabit
Ethernet Combo HBAs. The A9782A is a 2 port HBA with 1 optical Fibre Channel port and 1 optical Gigabit
Ethernet port. The A9784A is a 2 port HBA with 1 optical Fibre Channel port and 1 copper Gigabit Ethernet
port.
Table 1-1 Platforms Supported
Systems that
Support the
A6826A Card
Minimum Firmware
Version Required
rx2600 2.21
rx4640 2.03
rx5670 3.23
rx7620 1.9.0
rx8620 1.9.0
Integrity Superdome 1.20

HP A6826A Fibre Channel Adapter Release Notes
Driver Versions
Chapter 1 5
Driver Versions
The following table shows the driver versions for each release of the A6826A driver:
Table 1-2 Driver Versions
Release HP-UX 11i v2.0 Driver Name Bundle
Application
Release 0304 B.11.23.01 fcd FibrChanl-01

HP A6826A Fibre Channel Adapter Release Notes
Documentation
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Documentation
Additional documentation, covering the A6826A and other HP Fibre Channel adapters, is available from the
web at http://docs.hp.com under the Fibre Channel area of the Networking and Communications section. The
HP Fibre Channel Mass Storage Adapters Support Guide, available from the web, is the primary source of
support documentation for HP Fibre Channel adapters. The HP Fibre Channel Mass Storage Adapters
Support Guide includes adapter installation details, supported hardware platforms, supported software
versions, adapter configuration, and maintenance information.

HP A6826A Fibre Channel Adapter Release Notes
Known Issues, Problems, Workarounds, and Recommendations
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Known Issues, Problems, Workarounds, and Recommendations
1. Issue: Spurious error messages may be displayed during installation of HPUX 11i v2.0 on a system which
has A6826A, A9782A or A9784A HBAs installed.
The following error messages do not indicate a real problem and should be ignored:
“WARNING: The configuration is supposed to include a module 'fcd_fcp' which is not installed on the
system. The system will attempt to proceed without it, but the resulting kernel may fail to boot or
function properly.”
“WARNING: The configuration is supposed to include a module 'fcd_vbus' which is not installed on the
system. The system will attempt to proceed without it, but the resulting kernel may fail to boot or
function properly.”
2. Issue: There is a general issue when using ioscan when krm (kernel resource monitor) is not running.
When ioscan is run with the “-fn” or “-Fn” option and kernel resource monitor (krm) is not running, there
could be stale krm device files in the system which would correspond to different devices, including fcd, in
ioscan output. This issue has no impact on the functionality of the A6826A, however, ioscan output may
be confusing. The ioscan output can be returned to normal by either deleting the stale krm device files, or
by starting krm, which will recreate the device files. This issue can impact any card accessible with
ioscan and is not specific to the A6826A.
3. Issue: There is a change in behavior in HP Fibre Channel SNIA HBA API for A6826A HBAs. It also
applies for other HBAs (such as A9782A, A9784A Comb cards) controlled by FibrChanl-01. This behavior
is different from the current behavior of FibrChanl-01 for 11i v1.0 (FibrChanl-01 versions B.11.11.01 and
B.11.11.02).
Previously, the SNIA HBA API functions HBA_GetFcpTargetMapping() and
HBA_GetFcpPersistentBinding() would incorrectly report LUN 0s that have no storage attached (such
as LUN 0s with SCSI Peripheral Qualifier of 0x1). With FibrChanl-01 version B.11.23.01, these SNIA
HBA API functions will no longer report such LUN 0s when they are seen through A6826A, A9782A and
A9784A HBAs on HPUX 11i v2.0.
Previous versions of SNIA HBA API for FibrChanl-01 and FibrChanl-00 incorrectly report LUN 0s with
SCSI Peripheral Qualifier of 0x1. These LUN 0s are also incorrectly displayed by ioscan.
This behavioral change will also be included in the next release of FibrChanl-01 (version B.11.11.03) for
11i v1.0 in AR0604, and will be rolled into FibrChanl-00 as well. However, ioscan will still display LUN
0s with SCSI Peripheral Qualifier of 0x1.
4. Issue: There is a problem which may occur on some A6826A HBAs. It may also occur on the Fibre
Channel ports of other HBAs (such as A9782A, A9784A) controlled by FibrChanl-01.
An error may be reported when a request for link statistics is issued on a Fibre Channel port that has
never been online (such as Fibre Channel ports that have been unconnected since boot). This is not a real
error and customers are advised to ignore it if they see it.
This problem impacts the following:
•fcmsutil < FCD device file > stat
This command may output the error message ERROR: Unable to get link stats. Firmware
returned error under the Link Statistics section of the port statistics if it is called for a port which
has never been online. Other statistics reported by this command are unaffected.
• SNIA HBA API function HBA_GetPortStatistics()

HP A6826A Fibre Channel Adapter Release Notes
Known Issues, Problems, Workarounds, and Recommendations
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The function HBA_GetPortStatistics() may return HBA_STATUS_ERROR if it is called for a port
which has never been online.
5. Recommendation: In configurations where HP Fibre Channel HBAs are connected to an FL port
through a hub, the following are recommended:
a. FL ports that are connected to a hub should be locked into loop-only mode wherever possible. With HP
StorageWorks SAN 2/8, SAN 2/16, SAN 2/32 or Core 2/64 switches this can be done using the
portCfgLport command. The portCfgLport command is documented in the switch man pages.
b. Always have at least one non-FL port connected to the hub when there is an FL port connected to the
hub.
c. Plug the FL port into the hub last.
d. Do not reboot all hosts connected to the hub at the same time.
e. Do not reset all HBA ports connected to the hub at the same time.
f. HBA ports should not be connected to adjacent ports on a hub wherever possible.

HP A6826A Fibre Channel Adapter Release Notes
Compatibility Information and Installation Requirements
Chapter 1 9
Compatibility Information and Installation Requirements
Software Requirements
The following software (or later versions) must be installed before installing the A6826A, A9782A or A9784A
HBAs into a system:
• FibrChanl00 version B.11.23.02. This can be obtained from the March 2004 AR Media; or from
http://www.software.hp.com.
• PHKL_30309 (Needed for fcmsutil support for A6826A, A9782A, and A9784A)
• Product number B6191AAE, OnlineDiag bundle version B.11.23.02.22, released in Mar 04 (HWE0403).
NOTE Patches are available from either http://www.software.hp.com or http://ITresourcecenter.com.
OnlineDiag is available at http://www.software.hp.com. OnlineDiag is also available from the
HP Support PLUS CD (March 2004 and later). Installation instructions are available from
http://docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/diag/st/st_inst.htm.
Requirements for Boot Support
To boot through the Fibre Channel ports of the A6826A, A9782A or A9784A HBAs, the following are required:
• EFI driver version 1.30 or later
• ROM firmware version 3.2.168 or later
NOTE EFI driver and ROM firmware versions can be displayed by running fcmsutil <fcd device file>
vpd

HP A6826A Fibre Channel Adapter Release Notes
Software Availability in Native Languages
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Software Availability in Native Languages
This product is available only in the English language.