Support FAQ

What is the RAID monitoring daemon named?
What types of notifications may I subscribe to through the Event Management System?
What is the CDN Asia Premium package?
How to verify if MPIO is configured correctly in *NIX OSes
Why is my BIOS asking for a password?
I've lost my password to my server, how can I recover it?
What is the RAID monitoring daemon named?

At SoftLayer we primarily utilize Adaptec and LSI based RAID cards with a few exceptions for legacy hardware. The chart below outlines the RAID manager locations, monitor locations, configurations, and RAID alert settings.

RAID alerts can be configured to bypass our portal monitoring process by changing the SMTP server and notification E-Mail destination in the configuration for a given RAID card. Please note, when these configurations are changed SoftLayer will be unable to notify you of RAID issues or automatically track the problem until resolution. It is highly recommended that the configuration provided is not altered unless you are aware of the risks.

 

LSI - Linux

LSI - Windows

Adaptec - Linux

Adaptec - Windows

Manager Name

LSI MegaRAID Storage Manager

LSI MegaRAID Storage Manager

Adaptec Storage Manager

Adaptec Storage Manager

Manager Location

/opt/MegaRAID/storcli

C:\Program Files (x86)\MegaRAID Storage Manager

/usr/StorMan

C:\Program Files\Adaptec\Adaptec Storage Manager

Monitor Name

MR_Monitor

MRMonitor

Adaptec Event Manager

Adaptec Event Manager

Monitor Location

/opt/lsi/mrmonitor/bin/mrmonitord

C:\Program Files (x86)\LSI\MRMonitor

/usr/StorMan

C:\Program Files\Adaptec\Adaptec Storage Manager

Process Name/opt/lsi/mrmonitor/bin/mrmonitord   

Log Location

Default Message Log Location for OS e.g. /var/log/messages

GUI Only

/usr/StorMan/RaidEvtA.log

GUI Only

Notification E-Mail Destination

hwraid@softlayer.com

hwraid@softlayer.com

hwraid@softlayer.com

hwraid@softlayer.com

Notification E-Mail Source Format

accountid_privatemac

@softlayer.com

accountid_privatemac

@softlayer.com

accountid_privatemac

@softlayer.com

accountid_privatemac

@softlayer.com

E-Mail Port

25

25

25

25

SMTP Serverraidalerts-smtp.networklayer.comraidalerts-smtp.networklayer.comraidalerts-smtp.networklayer.comraidalerts-smtp.networklayer.com

Alternate Notification Options

 

Change SMTP Server to a local SMTP server. The local SMTP server will need appropriate firewall configurations.

Change SMTP Server to a local SMTP server. The local SMTP server will need appropriate firewall configurations.

Change SMTP Server to a local SMTP server. The local SMTP server will need appropriate firewall configurations.

Change SMTP Server to a local SMTP server. The local SMTP server will need appropriate firewall configurations.

 

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What types of notifications may I subscribe to through the Event Management System?

We currently offer four types of notifications through the Event Management System - RAID Alerts, UIP Notifications, Planned Maintenances, and Autoscale:

  • RAID Alerts are issued to subscribers if any device on the account experiences a RAID failure. These alerts are issued on top of the auto-generated ticket that is already in place through our monitoring system. Unsubscribing to RAID alerts will not impact the automatic ticket creation in the event of a RAID failure.
  • UIP Notifications are issued to subscribers when there is an unexpected service-impacting event that has occurred. UIPs include, but are not limited to, infrastructure issues, outages and unplanned maintenance.
  • Planned Maintenance are issued to subscribers when there is an expected service-impacting event that is scheduled to occur at some point in the near future. 
  • Autoscale are issued to subscribers for actions or events related to the autoscaling service.
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What is the CDN Asia Premium package?

The CDN Asia Premium package is available on all new and existing CDN Accounts. This offering extends the Content Delivery Network to points of presence (POPs) in the following locations:

  • Hong Kong
  • Osaka
  • Singapore
  • Tokyo

The Asia Premium package provides access to all of EdgeCast's CDN POPs located in the Asia Pacific (APAC) Network and offers premium route preferences. It provides faster responses and access times to content requested from the APAC Region.

Existing users may create a ticket to request the Asia Premium package for CDN. For additional questions concerning the Asia Premium Package, including bandwidth pricing, contact our Sales Team.

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How to verify if MPIO is configured correctly in *NIX OSes

To check if multipath is picking up the devices, only the NETAPP devices should show up and there should be two of them. 

root@server:~# multipath -l 3600a09803830304f3124457a45757067 dm-1 NETAPP,LUN C-Mode size=20G features='1 queue_if_no_path' hwhandler='0' wp=rw |-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=-1 status=active | `- 6:0:0:101 sdd 8:48 active undef running `-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=-1 status=enabled `- 7:0:0:101 sde 8:64 active undef running

Check that the disks are present, and there should be two disks with the same identifier, and a /dev/mapper listing of the same size with the same identifier. The /dev/mapper device is the one that multipath sets up:

root@server:~# fdisk -l | grep Disk Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0009170d Disk /dev/sdc: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes Disk identifier: 0x2b5072d1 Disk /dev/sdb: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes Disk identifier: 0x2b5072d1 Disk /dev/mapper/3600a09803830304f3124457a45757066: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes Disk identifier: 0x2b5072d1

If it is not correctly setup, it will look like this: 

No multipath output root@server:~# multipath -l root@server:~#

This will show the devices blacklisted:

root@server:~# multipath -l -v 3 | grep sd Feb 17 19:55:02 | sda: device node name blacklisted Feb 17 19:55:02 | sdb: device node name blacklisted Feb 17 19:55:02 | sdc: device node name blacklisted Feb 17 19:55:02 | sdd: device node name blacklisted Feb 17 19:55:02 | sde: device node name blacklisted

fdisk shows only the sd* devices, and no /dev/mapper

root@server:~# fdisk -l | grep Disk Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0009170d Disk /dev/sdc: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes Disk identifier: 0x2b5072d1 Disk /dev/sdb: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes Disk identifier: 0x2b5072d1

To ensure a proper MPIO configuration, please refer to our KnowledgeLayer Article on setting this up from Start to Finish:

http://www.softlayersolution.com/procedure/accessing-block-storage-performance-storage-linux

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Why is my BIOS asking for a password?

Currently we do not provide customer's with direct access to their BIOS. This is for a various number of reasons, but that is not to say you cannot make changes to the BIOS. If you need anything modified in the BIOS, including boot order, please create a ticket under Support > Add Ticket and request the specific changes you need.

**NOTE** This will require a reboot of your server to do, so please be ready to approve a reboot and/or provide a time frame for when you would like the change made.

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I've lost my password to my server, how can I recover it?

If the root or Administrator password to your server is suddenly not working, there are a few things that you can check before contacting Support.

  • Are you copy/pasting the password? If not, please try to. Please also paste the password in a notepad to ensure no spaces are accidentally being copied with the password.
  • If the server has cPanel on it, is it possible that cPHulk has blocked your IP address due to failed logins? If so, you can access the server via the KVM or IPMI and whitelist your IP address in cPHulk with "/scripts/cphulkdwhitelist" followed by your IP address.
  • Has someone recently tried to change the password for the server by modifying the password in Portal? Changing the password in the Portal, only changes what you see as the password. It does not change the password the server is using. If this has happened, you can contact Support and we can usually recover the original, working password.

If these have all been checked and you are still unable to connect to the server using the password, please contact support via a ticket and request a password reset. We will have to reboot the server in order to reset the password, so please ensure you are prepared to approve the reboot and/or provide a maintenance time frame in which you would like it done. Most password resets can be accomplished in 15 minutes or so. You can create a ticket by going to Support > Add Ticket and use the subject "Reboots and Console Access".

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