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Title
Windows keeps trying to initialize IBM SAN disks for LAN-free backups -
Description
Despite being presented to the vRanger Windows 2003/2008 server correctly, iSCSI or Fibrechannel LUNs on an IBM DS4700 SAN keep prompting to "initialize" disk when examined in Microsoft Windows. Backups read from the presented LUNs, but extremely slowly (ca. 5MB/sec).
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Cause
Even if the Microsoft iSCSI initiator is installed with multipathing (MPIO) support, or the Fibrechannel HBAs connecting the vRanger machine to the datastore LUNs have updated drivers/firmware, the appropriate Device Specific Module (DSM) for multipathing support needs to be installed on the vRanger machine for proper IBM SAN multipathing support. In this case SMIA-WSX64-01.03.0305.0504.exe packaged in ibm_sw_ds3-5k_10.77.xx.16_windows_x64.zip from IBM (this is the specific download for the Windows 2008 64-bit platform, but others exist, all available from IBM).
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Resolution
Resolved by installation of DSM. In this case SMIA-WSX64-01.03.0305.0504.exe packaged in ibm_sw_ds3-5k_10.77.xx.16_windows_x64.zip from IBM.
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Additional Information
Other SAN manufacturers (Hitachi, EMC, etc) also have specific multipathing software that needs to be installed for similar problems using those SAN platforms. Consult the SAN manufacturer's websites/support departments for specifics.