Investigating storage errors using OMSA on a Linux server

When storage is mentioned in Dell EMC OpenManage (OMSA), this is referring to the RAID controller (if a RAID controller is present), all the physical drives, and all the virtual drives (or RAID arrays). When an error occurs related to storage, this would normally mean that there is an error with a physical drive, which has then effected the RAID array it is configured within. This is for the majority of cases; however, there can be other issues related to storage, which can cause errors.

To check for errors relating to storage, run the following command:

Command 1
Command Description	The following command shows the current status of the server and displays the server’s alert log, as monitored by OMSA.
Command	omreport system alertlog
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Image of a Successful Result of Command

This command will list all the errors with the server; including errors relating to storage. In my example, you can see that there are several errors relating to storage; all caused by Physical Disk 0:1:3 being missing/removed.

You can use the information in the log to identify which Controller, Connector, Virtual Disk (VD) and Physical Disk (PD) the errors relate to.

With this information, you can find out more details about the physical drive that has failed. Run the following command, inputting the controller number from your error:

Command 2
Command Description	The following command lists all the Physical Disks attached to the controller you specify; and all the Physical Disk’s details.
Command	omreport storage pdisk controller=[Insert Controller Number]
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Image of a Successful Result of Command

Here you will now be able to see a list of Physical Disks attached to this controller. You will also be able to see any errors and the state of each Physical Disk.

At this point, it is good to know what the configuration of your server should be, especially related to RAID arrays and disk configuration. As an example, the server below is meant to have 4x Physical Disks attached to the RAID controller, however, only 3 are listed. This is normally caused by a drive completely failing; causing it to disappear from the monitoring. The monitoring may not show this, but by comparing your knowledge of the server’s configuration to what components are currently listed, you can see a drive is missing.

These details can be used to identify any drives that may have an error, may be fault, or may be missing from OMSA’s monitoring; and can help locate a drive for it to be replaced.

You can use this information to decide what you wish to do next. If you do encounter any drives with an error and wish for this drive to be replaced, please see the section on having a disk replaced using OMSA for more details.

If you have any further questions about OMSA, please look through our FAQ section. If our FAQ page does not have the answer, please feel free to raise a support ticket, and we will be happy to help.