docker-megacli

Docker container for running MegaCLI and StorCLI on Debian / Ubuntu / RedHat / CentOS / SUSE

Using MegaCLI

MegaCLI is a very complicated tool that requires you to enter case-sensitive arguments that seem to have no rhyme or reason. It is virually impossible to guess a command, and even the executable MegaCli can be found spelled in many different cases. To add to the madness, there is abysmal support for Debian-based distros like Ubuntu. Since this container runs CentOS inside a Docker container, it can run seemlessly on Ubuntu from the CentOS runtime and RPM package.

Note: There is a similar command called StorCLI, also made by LSI. This command is also included as storcli inside this container.

Running the container

You can run this container without installing anything except Docker:

docker run --rm -ti --privileged kamermans/docker-megacli

Note that the --rm will delete the container for you when you exit it, and privileged mode is required so the container can talk directly to the hardware.

Once you start the container, you will find yourself at a bash prompt:

steve@steve-hq:~$ docker run --rm -ti --privileged kamermans/docker-megacli

      MegaCLI SAS RAID Management Tool  Ver 8.07.14 Dec 16, 2013
      Storage Command Line Tool  Ver 1.03.11 Jan 30, 2013

[root@ed2f45d425f2 megacli]#

You are dropped into the /megacli directory, which has lots of helpful scripts in it to get you going:

[root@ed2f45d425f2 megacli]# ls -1
list_adapters
list_drive_summary
list_enclosures
list_logical_drives
list_physical_drives
list_physical_drives_summary
lsi.sh
show_battery_status
show_cheat_sheet_urls
show_event_log
show_full_config
show_summary
show_system_info
silence_alarm
start_bbu_learn
update_time_from_system

Note: All of the scripts are non-destructive, they simply show you information about your RAID Controller or perform non-destructive actions (setting the date/time, starting a BBU learn cycle, silencing alarms, etc).

This directory (/megacli) is in your PATH, so you can run those commands from anywhere. You should probably start by taking a look at the controller summary:

[root@ed2f45d425f2 megacli]# show_summary

System
        Operating System:  Linux version 3.16.0-49-generic
        Driver Version: 06.803.01.00-rc1
        CLI Version: 8.07.14

Hardware
        Controller
                 ProductName       : PERC H700 Integrated(Bus 0, Dev 0)
                 SAS Address       : 5782bcb0204ea700
                 FW Package Version: 12.3.0-0032
                 Status            : Need Attention
        BBU
                 BBU Type          : BBU
                 Status            : Replace Battery pack        PD

Well, it seems my battery (BBU) is dead, great.

Let's see how this script works:

[root@ed2f45d425f2 megacli]# cat show_summary
#!/bin/sh -e

MegaCli -ShowSummary -aALL

As you can see, these scripts are mostly one-liners that you could also run manually.

You can get a full list of the MegaCLI commands with man megacli. It is a huge, virtually-uncommented list of commands, so you probably want to check out a cheat sheet for more information, so try show_cheat_sheet_urls:

[root@ed2f45d425f2 megacli]# show_cheat_sheet_urls
https://calomel.org/megacli_lsi_commands.html
http://erikimh.com/megacli-cheatsheet/
https://things.maths.cam.ac.uk/computing/docs/public/megacli_raid_lsi.html
http://www.vmwareadmins.com/megacli-working-examples-cheat-sheet/
http://hwraid.le-vert.net/wiki/LSIMegaRAIDSAS

The lsi.sh script

There is a script included called lsi.sh, which comes from calomel.org and can be used for some more advanced things.

You can run ./lsi.sh with no arguments to see the options available:

            OBPG  .:.  lsi.sh
-----------------------------------------------------
status        = Status of Virtual drives (volumes)
drives        = Status of hard drives
ident $slot   = Blink light on drive (need slot number)
good $slot    = Simply makes the slot "Unconfigured(good)" (need slot number)
replace $slot = Replace "Unconfigured(bad)" drive (need slot number)
progress      = Status of drive rebuild
errors        = Show drive errors which are non-zero
bat           = Battery health and capacity
batrelearn    = Force BBU re-learn cycle
logs          = Print card logs
checkNemail   = Check volume(s) and send email on raid errors
allinfo       = Print out all settings and information about the card
settime       = Set the raid card's time to the current system time
setdefaults   = Set preferred default settings for new raid setup

Note: lsi.sh is maintained by calomel.org. Since I didn't write it or code-review it, it may be capable of destructive actions!

Updating the container

You can update this container with docker pull:

docker pull kamermans/docker-megacli