MegaRAID Storage Manager used on STAR servers


Notes about the use of MegaRAID Storage Manager (MSM) with STAR servers.  This page was initially created August 10, 2022 with hastily prepared notes, with more details and cleanup expected to come. 

Versions of MSM for many years included Java JREs with log4j software versions that were unsupported and flagged by the Nessus scans.  Somewhere between MSM 17.05.02 and MSM 17.05.06-00, Java was dropped from the MSM bundle.  However, MSM still uses Java, so Java must be installed separately, and configuration is necessary for MSM to know what Java to use.

For RHE/Sc Linux 7.x, the Java needs can be met by installing java-1.8.0-openjdk and java-1.8.0-openjdk-headless (though there are other alternatives for supported java installations) and creating /etc/profile.d/MSM-Java.sh with the following content (assuming the use of "stock" java packages from RHE/Sc Linux 7 repos that update /etc/alternatives/java):
JRE_HOME='/etc/alternatives/jre'
export JRE_HOME
(by using /etc/alternatives/java, I *hope* that updates to the java package will not require any manual intervention...  TBC!  - of course, one can instead use a direct full path for JRE_HOME, such as /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.342.b07-1.el7_9.x86_64/jre/bin/java , but keep in mind it may require manual ongoing maintenance with java updates and restarting of MSM components)

Update in October 2023:  RHE/ScLinux 7.x and RHE/Sc/Alma Linux 8.x also has java-11-openjdk (and java-11-openjdk-headless), though I have not tested MSM with java-11 on 7.x.  For RHE/Sc/Alma Linux 8.x, there is also java-17-openjdk (and java-17-openjdk-headless), but my tests with MSM using java-11 and java17 on RHEL 8.8 were NOT successful - though the vivaldiframeworkd starts, and the user GUI starts, MSM email alerts were broken.  I did not take much time trying to troubleshoot this.  In short, at this time, I'm sticking with java-1.8.0.

We typically install MSM with the "local" option ("install.csh -l"), though there are other options that were selected at installation in some instances, so the startup may not be the same in all cases.  (IMO, there's very little value in inter-machine communication for RAID monitoring.)

The default MSM alert configuration should be adjusted for new installations.  The main items are to set email recipient(s) and SMTP parameters, and to enable emails for critical events.  Additionally, the default settings may produce some extraneous emails that can be disabled per event (and may vary machine-by-machine).  A common .xml file can be used with only a little bit of per-machine customization for the <nic> and hostname in the <sender>.  (Actually, there is one additional detail for the <servername> depending on the server's location on the network - either adminmail.rcf.bnl.gov or bnl.gov should be used as the mail relay host (<servername>).  Unfortunately, upgrading MSM seems to lose the existing alert configuration - one can usually save it before upgrading and re-import it after the upgrade.

As of August 18, 2022, the latest MSM software I could find was available here: https://docs.broadcom.com/docs/17.05.06.00_MSM_Linux-x64.zip




Server MSM Software version
db01.star  17.05.06-00
db02.star   17.05.06-00
db04.star  17.05.06-00
db06.star  17.05.06-00
db07.star  17.05.06-00
db08.star  17.05.06-00
duvall.star  none, but it appears to have MegaRAID controller (TBD)
fc1.star  17.05.06-00
fc2.star  17.05.06-00
fc3.star  17.05.06-00
fc4.star  17.05.06-00
heston.star  17.05.06-00
robinson  17.05.06-00
stcn01.star  17.05.06-00
stcn02.star  17.05.06-00
   
   
stcn03.star  17.05.00-02
stcn04.star  17.05.00-02
   
cephmon02  17.05.06-00
onldb2  17.05.06-00
onldb4-new.starp?  17.05.06-00?
stargw1.starp  17.05.06-00
stargw4.starp  17.05.06-00
stargw5.starp  17.05.06-00
sun  
sunbelt  17.05.00-02
   
 lots more...?