DS8100-DS8300-DS8700 - DDM Firmware Issue – Possible Undetected Data Loss or Data Error

Here's a flash alert which is issued for three DS8000 models : DS8100, DS8300 and DS8700. You can find it over here.

I'm taking over the most important parts. Go to the alert itself for more details.

Abstract

Certain disk drive modules (“DDMs”) shipped between April 2010 and January 2013, running DDM firmware levels F520, F522, or F527, may be exposed to a possible undetected data loss or data error during a proximal write. (The “proximal write” feature does a skip operation on the data transfer from DRAM to disk to improve performance.) This issue occurs when the starting logical Block Address (“LBA”) is a reassigned LBA. A firmware update designed to address this issue is now available.
Note: DS8800s and DS8870s are not exposed to this issue. DS8000 DDMs that use drive-level encryption are also not exposed to this issue.

Content

Fix / Mitigation Options

A Concurrent DDM Firmware update with firmware F529 using Install Corrective Service (ICS) CD for machines running Bundles 64.20.xx.xx or higher (8100/8300) and 76.20.xx.xx or higher (8700) is now available. Clients with DS8000s below these minimum bundles and deciding to update the DDM firmware need to either perform a code load to one of the bundles identified above and then apply ECA 866, or contact IBM to evaluate other options.

Identification Methods

1. DDM firmware levels can be queried by an IBM Service Support Representative (“SSR”) using the service panels, or by clients using CLI commands (see examples below).
2. An Info Alert is being released to notify SSRs of subsystems containing DDMs with F520, F522, or F527 firmware. An as required ECA [“Engineering Change Action"] 866 is also being released to provide SSRs with instructions describing how to update the DDM firmware for clients that request this update
3. If clients determine they have a system with the affected DDMs, IBM Service can be contacted to schedule the update.
4. Please contact IBM Service, or contact the DS8000 Quality team at the following Email address, DS8KQWT@US.IBM.COM or DS8000QWTeam/Tucson/IBM, for any questions or to request additional assistance.