MegaCli error 0x97 when trying to create new VD / Logical Drive

Written by Claudio Kuenzler - 0 comments

Published on January 10th 2024 - last updated on January 18th 2024 - Listed in Hardware Linux

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After adding new physical drives to a DELL server with a PERC Raid Controller, I ran into an unknown error.

PERC (PowerEdge Raid Controller) controllers are somewhat of a DELL-branded LSI (MegaRaid) storage controller; they can usually be managed using the megacli command.

Note: Starting with PERC series 8, these controllers should be managed using PercCli.

root@dellserver:~# megacli CfgLdAdd -r1 [134:3, 134:4] WB RA Cached -a0

Adapter 0: Configure Adapter Failed

FW error description:
  Unknown error

Exit Code: 0x97

Unfortunately the mentioned exit code (0x97) is not very well described in the LSI documentation:

0x97    The LD or device does not support the requested policy.

At first I thought the reason of the error is a typo. I read somewhere that all sub-commands, including "CfgLdAdd", need to be invoked using a leading dash. But this turned out to be a bogus information, as the sub-commands also work without the leading dash:

root@dellserver:~# megacli PDList -Aall | egrep "(Enclosure|Slot)"
Enclosure Device ID: 134
Slot Number: 0
Enclosure position: N/A
Enclosure Device ID: 134
Slot Number: 1
Enclosure position: N/A
Enclosure Device ID: 134
Slot Number: 2
Enclosure position: N/A
Enclosure Device ID: 134
Slot Number: 3
Enclosure position: N/A
Enclosure Device ID: 134
Slot Number: 4
Enclosure position: N/A

Rather through additional try and error I found out that the "Cached" option was not supported by this RAID-1 Logical Drive. Instead the "Direct" option must be used. According to the help output, there's only either Cached or Direct option available:

root@dellserver:~# megacli -h | grep CfgLdAdd
MegaCli -CfgLdAdd -rX[E0:S0,E1:S1,...] [WT|WB] [NORA|RA] [Direct|Cached]

After adjusting the command to use the Direct option, the creation of the new VD / LD worked:

root@dellserver:~# megacli -CfgLdAdd -r1 [134:3,134:4] WB RA Direct -a0

Adapter 0: Created VD 1

Adapter 0: Configured the Adapter!!

Exit Code: 0x00

To explain it best, error 0x97 most likely means you have selected an option which is not possible in this Logical Drive setup. As I could not find any other example on the WWW, I thought I'd write that down.

Update January 18th 2024: Updated article with new findings. The leading dash in the sub-command was not the reason for the 0x97 error.

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