Symptoms: HBA Firmware Mismatch Causing I/O Errors

• A fleet of 24 servers connects to a NetApp SAN via Emulex LPe32002 Fibre Channel HBAs.
• A firmware update was rolled out to the HBAs last week, but only 16 of 24 servers were updated before the maintenance window closed.
• Since the partial update, the 8 un-updated servers are experiencing intermittent I/O errors on SAN-attached volumes.
• Applications report "I/O error" and "device not ready" messages sporadically.
• The SAN admin confirms no changes on the storage side and the fabric switches are healthy.
• Multipath shows paths flapping between "active" and "failed" on the affected servers.
• The errors are not constant; they occur in bursts every 10-30 minutes and self-resolve.
• The updated servers (firmware 14.2.579.6) are running without issues.
• The un-updated servers are on firmware 12.8.351.49.
• The storage team suspects a SCSI reservation or ALUA negotiation incompatibility.