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controller Commands : Dell Command Line Interface Reference Back to Contents Page

controller Commands

This chapter discusses the controller commands listed in Table 1.

Table 1. controller Commands

Command Summary Description

controller battery_recondition Reconditions the controller's battery

controller details Displays details about the open controller

controller list Lists all controllers

controller pause_io Pauses all I/O activity on the open controller

controller rescan Rescans the SCSI buses on the open controller

controller reset_scsi_bus Resets a specific SCSI bus on the open controller

controller resume_io Resumes all I/O activity on the open controller

controller set automatic_failover Turns on or off automatic failover

controller show automatic_failover Displays a controller's automatic failover status

controller show channels Displays all of the channels on the controller along with the characteristics of each channel

Use the following syntax for controller commands:

controller command [object] [/switch{=value}] [parameter]

controller battery_recondition

To recondition the controller's battery, use the controller battery_recondition command. The reconditioning process takes approximately eight hours and the controller's performance may degrade during this period.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

This command is available on the previously listed operating system or systems only if your controller supports a battery.

Notes

The batteries for the controller preserve the contents of the controller's nonvolatile cache memory in the event of a power loss. Power loss can occur due to sudden interruption of power to the server or whenever the server is powered down for maintenance, hardware upgrades, etc. See the installation guide for your controller for information on maintaining the controller's battery.

Syntax

controller battery_recondition

Examples

The following example reconditions the controller's battery:

 AFA0>  controller battery_recondition
 Executing: controller battery_recondition

Related Information

mail Commands:

mail clear message (mail clear message)
mail set message (mail set message)
mail show message (mail show message)

controller details

To display details about the currently opened controller and software, use the controller details command. These details include the controller type and software revision levels.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Syntax

controller details

Examples

The following example shows sample output as a result of using the controller details command:

 AFA0>  controller details
 Executing: controller details
 Controller Information
 ----------------------
      Remote Computer: YETI
          Device Name: afa0
      Controller type: PERC 2
          Access Mode: READ-WRITE
   Controller serial number: Last six digits = 7A1C21
      Number of Buses: 4
      Devices per Bus: 15
       Controller CPU: Strong Arm 110
 Controller CPU speed: 233 Mhz
    Controller Memory: 48 Mbytes
            Battery State: Ok
 
 Component Revisions
 -------------------
                 CLI: 2.1-0  (Build #2881)
                 API: 2.1-0  (Build #2881)
             Service: 2.1-0  (Build #2881)
          Remote API: 2.1-0  (Build #2881)
     Miniport Driver: 2.1-0  (Build #2874)
 Controller Software: 2.1-0  (Build #2874)
 Controller BIOS:     2.0-1  (Build #2874)
 Controller Firmware:        (Build #2874)
 Controller Hardware: 1.0

The following sections provide more information on the items that the controller details command displays.

The Remote Computer and Device Name Items

If the open controller resides on a remote computer, then the controller details command displays the Remote Computer: item followed by the remote computer name. This is the remote computer name specified when you opened the controller with the open command. In the example, the controller displays YETI, the name of the remote computer on which the controller resides.

The Device Name: item displays the name of the controller. This is the controller name specified when you opened the controller with the open command. In the example, the controller name is afa0.

The Controller type Item

The Controller type: item displays the controller type. In the example, the controller type is PERC 2.

The Access Mode Item

The Access Mode: item displays the acess mode of the controller. The command displays the value READ-WRITE if you opened the controller for read-write operations. Otherwise, it displays READ-ONLY if you opened the controller for read-only operations.

The Controller serial number Item

The Controller serial number: item displays the controller serial number. The command displays the last six hexadecimal characters of the controller serial number. These six hexadecimal characters match the last six characters displayed on the "SN =" sticker located on the controller itself.

The Number of Buses and Devices per Bus Items

The Number of Buses: item displays the number of buses actually found on the controller. In the example, the number of buses on the controller is four.

The Devices per Bus: item displays the number of SCSI disk devices that can be put onto each SCSI bus for this controller. In the example, 15 SCSI disks can be put onto each SCSI bus.

The Controller CPU Item

The Controller CPU: item displays the type of central processing unit (CPU) that the controller uses. The controller details command can display the controller CPU type listed in Table 2.

Table 2. Controller CPU Types

Controller CPU Type Meaning

Strong Arm 110 The CPU type on the controller is a Digital Strong Arm 110. The example uses this CPU type.

The Controller CPU Speed and Controller Memory Items

The Controller CPU Speed: item (if available) displays the clock speed (in megahertz) of the CPU that resides on the controller. In the example, the speed is 233 Mhz.

The Controller Memory: item displays the total amount of memory on the controller that programs and buffer data can use. In the example, the total memory is 48 MB.

The Battery State Item

The Battery State: item displays the state of the controller's battery. The controller details command can display the battery states listed in Table 3.

Table 3. Battery States

State Meaning

Ok The battery is in good working condition.

Reconditioning The battery is in the recondition state.

Low The battery is low on power.

Not Present The battery has no power or there is no battery present on the controller.

The Component Revisions Items

Table 4 describes each of the Component Revisions: items. This information is useful if you ever need to contact a technical support representative.

Table 4. Component Revision Items

Component Revision Item Meaning

CLI: Displays the revision level of the Command Line Interface. In the example, the revision level is 2.1-0 (Build #2881).

API: Displays the revision level of the controller's application programming interface (API). In the example, the revision level is 2.1-0 (Build #2881).

Service: Displays the revision level of the network services software. This item displays only if the open controller resides on a remote computer. In the example, the revision level is 2.1-0 (Build #2881).

Remote API: Displays the revision level of the API that the network services software uses on the remote computer. This item displays only if the open controller resides on a remote computer. In the example, the revision level is 2.1-0 (Build #2881).

Miniport Driver: Displays the version number of the miniport portion of the FASTFSA.SYS device driver. This item displays only if the controller runs the FASTFSA.SYS device driver. In the example, the revision level is 2.1-0 (Build #2874).

Controller Software: Displays the revision level of the controller software. In the example, the revision level is 2.1-0 (Build #2874).

Controller BIOS: Displays the revision level of the controller BIOS. In the example, the revision level is 2.0-1 (Build #2874).

Controller Firmware: Displays the revision level of the firmware. In the example, the revision level is (Build #2874).

Controller Hardware: Displays the version of the controller hardware. In the example, the version is 1.0.

Related Information

General Control Commands: open (open)

controller list

To list all controllers on a specified computer or display specific information about the currently opened controller, use the controller list command.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Syntax

controller list [/domain{=string} [{string}]

Parameters

{string}

Specifies the computer name from which you want to display a list of controllers or specific information about the currently opened controller. If you do not specify a computer name, the command displays only the controllers on the local computer.

Switches

/domain{=string}

Specifies the domain in which the specified computer resides.

If you do not specify this switch, the command assumes the local domain.

This switch is supported only on Windows NT.

Examples

The following example shows how to list all controllers on a local computer:

 
 AFA0>  controller list
 Executing: controller list
 
 Adapter Name      Adapter Type       Availability    Clustering
 ------------      ------------       ------------    ----------
 \\.\AFA0          PERC 2             read/write      No

The following sections provide descriptions of the items in the display.

The Adapter Name and Adapter Type Items

The Adapter Name item displays the name(s) of all controllers on the local or remote computers. In the example, there is only one controller on the local computer and it is called AFA0.

The Adapter Type item displays the controller type. In the example, the controller type is PERC 2.

The Availability Item

The Availability item displays the availability of the controller. Table 5 lists the values that can display in this item.

Table 5. Controller Availability Status

Controller Availability Meaning

Unavailable The controller is not available.

Unknown The controller availability is unknown.

read only The controller is available for read-only access.

read/write The controller is available for read/write access. In the example, the controller is available for read/write access.

Related Information

controller Commands:

controller details (controller details)

controller pause_io

To pause all I/O activity on the currently opened controller, use the controller pause_io command. While I/O activity is paused, you can make changes to devices attached to the controller without rebooting. For example, you can add, remove, or change SCSI bus assignments.

Before using this command, you should consider the following points:

The controller pause_io command allows a maximum delay of 150 seconds (that is, 2 1/2 minutes) for all I/O activity on the currently opened controller. This delay is based on an internal driver timeout (not on any network timeout) of three minutes.
The network timeout is client-based, and different clients are likely to have different timeout values. Thus, pausing all I/O activity on the open controller can cause network timeouts, particularly if the specified delay is for more than one minute.
If you find it necessary to pause the system for more than a minute, then network timeouts are usually preferable to rebooting.
Taking the maximum delay of 2 1/2 minutes increases the chances that a network timeout will occur. If you cannot perform the hardware reconfiguration changes in less than 2 1/2 minutes, then you should shut down the system. Even if you take the maximum delay, you can usually resume the I/O sooner. This is the reason for making the pause I/O default time 2-1/2 minutes.
The safest amount of time (that is, timeouts are unlikely to occur) to delay I/O operations is no more than 30 seconds.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Notes

The controller automatically performs a rescan of the SCSI bus before the I/O is resumed.

Using this command when there is a pagefile on a container could cause unexpected behavior.

Use of the controller pause_io command is not permitted while a container task is running on the controller. (Use the task list command to display a list of currently running container tasks.)

Syntax

controller pause_io [{integer}]

Parameters

{integer}

Specifies the amount of time, in seconds, to cause the controller to wait before automatically resuming I/O.

The parameter defaults to the maximum value of 150 seconds. This is necessary because the controller resume_io command may not be able to access the controller under some circumstances.

Examples

The following example pauses all I/O activity on the currently opened controller for 100 seconds:

 AFA0>  controller pause_io 100
 Executing: controller pause_io 100

Related Information

controller Commands:

controller resume_io (controller resume_io)

task Commands:

task list (task list)

controller rescan

To rescan the SCSI buses on the currently opened controller and update all underlying structures, use the controller rescan command. The effect of this command is to verify currently connected disks or to recognize new disks added to the bus.

This command rescans the disks for the containers and loads the volatile container and the partition tables from disks again. If nothing on the disks has changed, controller rescan should have no visible effect. However, if any disk partition structures have changed, this command causes those changes to be reflected in the container and partition lists in the controller memory. If you add disks to the controller, the rescan enables you to use those disks.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Syntax

controller rescan

controller reset_scsi_bus

To reset a specific SCSI bus, use the controller reset_scsi_bus command.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Syntax

controller reset_scsi_bus {integer}

Parameters

{integer}

Specifies the controller channel (for example, 0, 1, 2, 3, etc.) on which you want to reset this SCSI bus. See the installation guide for your controller to determine the number of channels it actually supports.

Examples

The following example resets the SCSI bus on channel 1:

 AFA0> controller reset_scsi_bus 1
 Executing: controller reset_scsi_bus 1

controller resume_io

To rescan the SCSI buses and resume all I/O activity on the currently opened, previously paused controller, use the controller resume_io command. You use this command after pausing the controller with the controller pause_io command.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Syntax

controller resume_io

Examples

The following example resumes all I/O activity on the currently paused controller:

 AFA0>  controller resume_io
 Executing: controller resume_io

Related Information

controller Commands:

controller pause_io (controller pause_io)

controller set automatic_failover

A failover disk is a disk that you configure to automatically recover data from a failed partition/disk in a redundant container. To assign one or more failover disks for a single container, you use the container set failover command. To assign one or more failover disks for all containers, you use the container set global_failover command. Although all container types accept failover assignments, only mirror sets and RAID-5 sets use the failover assignment if a disk fails. (Mirror sets and RAID-5 sets are often referred to as redundant containers). The main characteristic of these commands is that you must "manually" assign the failover disk to one or more containers. In fact, you might consider the previously described failover mechanism as "manual failover".

Automatic failover allows you to replace a failed disk with a replacement disk. The controller then automatically assigns the disk you insert as a failover disk without your having to first assign it with the container set failover or container set global_failover command.

Note that the automatic failover feature works only with disks that reside in a SAF-TE enclosure management device.

To turn on or off automatic failover for the specified controller, use the controller set automatic_failover command.

Caution: The controller deletes any data on the replacement disk when automatic failover is enabled and you remove the failed disk and insert the replacement disk in the failed disk's slot.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Syntax

controller set automatic_failover [/failover_enabled{=boolean}]

Switches

/failover_enabled{=boolean}

Specifies whether to turn on or off automatic failover on the specified controller. You must set this switch to TRUE if you want to turn on automatic failover on the specified controller.

To turn off automatic failover on the specified controller, set this switch to FALSE. The command defaults to FALSE, which means the command turns off automatic failover on the specified controller.

This switch is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Examples

Before turning the automatic failover feature on or off, check its status by using the controller show automatic_failover command. The following example shows that the controller's automatic failover is currently off (disabled):

 AFA0> controller show automatic_failover
 Executing: controller show automatic_failover
 
 Automatic failover DISABLED

The following example turns on (enables) the automatic failover feature for the currently opened controller:

 AFA0> controller set automatic_failover /failover_enabled
 Executing: controller set automatic_failover 
/failover_enabled=TRUE

The controller show automatic_failover command indicates that the controller's automatic failover is currently on (enabled):

 AFA0> controller show automatic_failover
 Executing: controller show automatic_failover
 
 Automatic failover ENABLED

Related Information

container Commands:

container set failover (container set failover)
container set global_failover (container set global_failover)

controller Commands:

controller show automatic_failover (controller show automatic_failover)

controller show automatic_failover

To display the automatic failover status (enabled or disabled) for the specified controller, use the controller show automatic_failover command.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Syntax

controller show automatic_failover

Examples

The following example shows that the controller's automatic failover is currently off (disabled):

 AFA0> controller show automatic_failover
 Executing: controller show automatic_failover
 
 Automatic failover DISABLED

Related Information

container Commands:

container set failover (container set failover)
container set global_failover (container set global_failover)

controller Commands:

controller set automatic_failover (controller set automatic_failover)

controller show channels

To show all of the channels on a controller and the associated characteristics of each channel, use the controller show channels command. See the installation guide for your controller to determine the number of channels it actually supports.

Command Availability

This command is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows NT
NetWare
UNIX

Syntax

controller show channels

Examples

 The following example displays the channels on the currently 
opened controller:
 AFA0>  controller show channels
 Executing: controller show channels
 
 Ch# Host ID Targets Type      Max Usage
 --- ------- ------- --------- ---------
 0   7       15      NoInfo    NoInfo
 1   7       15      NoInfo    NoInfo
 2   7       15      NoInfo    NoInfo
 3   7       15      NoInfo    NoInfo

The following sections provide more information on the items that the controller show channels command displays.

The Ch# and Host ID Items

The Ch# item displays the number of the channel on the controller. In the example there are four channels on the currently opened controller. See the installation guide for your controller to determine the number of channels it actually supports.

The Host ID item displays the SCSI device ID of the host controller, which in the example is 7 for all channels.

The Targets and Type Items

The Targets item displays the number of SCSI device IDs not including the controller ID, which in the example is 15 for all channels.

The Type item displays the SCSI bus type the channel is capable of supporting, which in the example is NoInfo for all channels. The controller show channels command can display the SCSI bus types listed in Table 6.

Table 6. SCSI Channel Types

Type Meaning

Fast The controller supports SCSI bus type Fast. This bus type is not currently supported.

FastWide The controller supports SCSI bus type FastWide. This bus type is not currently supported.

FibreChnl The controller supports SCSI bus type Fibrechannel. This bus type is not currently supported.

NoInfo No information is available on the SCSI bus type supported by this controller.

Slow The controller supports SCSI bus type Slow. This bus type is not currently supported.

SlowWide The controller supports SCSI bus type SlowWide. This bus type is not currently supported.

Ultra The controller supports SCSI bus type Ultra. This bus type is not currently supported.

Ultra2LVD The controller supports SCSI bus type Ultra2LVD.

UltraWide The controller supports SCSI bus type UltraWide.

Unknown The controller SCSI bus type that the controller supports is unknown.

The Max Usage

The Max Usage item displays the best speed the channel is running at, which in the example is NoInfo for all channels. If drives other than Ultra-2 are present on the system, the entire channel is limited to UltraWide.

Related Information

controller Commands:

controller details (controller details)

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