Move array from server A to server B

[Jimmy Vance]

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scharchouf wrote:

if ther's an issue on motherboard you don"t lose any data :)

if you have an issue with controller card and disque is OK (all disks ) the replacement of the same controller enable automatic replication

So in your case you need to move HDD from server A to server B with same controller card

the both server need to have same reference of smart array controller card

for example in server A you have P400 under server B you need to have P400 card also

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You can move arrays between different controllers. There are some stipulatons, basically you can move disks from an older controller to a newer controller, but not the other way around.

[Torsten.]

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@Jimmy Vance wrote:

That is not a correct statement. The RAID information for the array is stored in what is known as the "RIS" area on each hard disk. The array configuration is NOT stored on the Smart Array controller itself.
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Is this correct now? Not entirely, I think.

The RAID information is stored in the RAID information sector (RIS) on the disks AND in the NVRAM of the controller.

For moving such array (called ROAMING) you need to power off both servers, pull all disks that belong to a RAID and insert them to the other server, then boot this server.

Only this ensures all drives have the same information is RIS.

If the controller AND several disks have different information, you will see 0 logical drives.But if all disks have the same set of information, the controller will accept the RAID. This works within the same controller models and even between several models, as Jimmy wrote. The firmware versions should be the same level.

See also

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/mostViewedDisplay?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_efb5c0793523e51970c8fa22b053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3DdocId%253Dmmr_kc-0112214-3%257CdocLocale%253Den_US&javax.portlet.tpst=efb5c0793523e51970c8fa22b053ce01&sp4ts.oid=374803&ac.admitted=139574...

[Moderator edit: Removed the broken. Please refer to https://support.hpe.com]

[waaronb]

Ditto what others said... the array information is stored on the controller NVRAM *and* on the disks themselves.

You can tell this is true because if you remove all disks from a system and try to boot, the array controller gives errors about missing disks... the controller knows what the array config *should* look like.

Similarly, you CAN move disks from one server to another (same or newer controllers only... don't try to downgrade without checking if that's allowed).

You *MUST* move disks when both servers are powered off. Don't try to do it with either system running or the new system is likely to see the newly inserted drive as a blank one, available for adding to existing arrays.

I've moved disks from older systems to newer ones, or across the same model, many times with no issues.

If you move disks and the old array is not recognized, try not to panic... move the drives back to the original system and boot into the ACU just to make sure everything is still there.

Do not, under any circumstance, try to recreate the array configuration with the same # of disks and same RAID level... you will lose your data. If it doesn't auto-detect the array from the drives themselves, then something's wrong... move the disks back before you lose any important bits and bytes.

It helps to move the drives so they're in the same bays as on the old system, but the controller is able to see when drives have simply moved around. I wouldn't recommend it though... for a 2 drive RAID 1 it's probably not an issue, but if you have a RAID 50 with 6 or more drives across different channels of the controller, then you're asking for trouble if you lose track of which drive goes where. It might figure it out, but why risk it?

[brianbonham]

Had some major problems with my server(spectra) , moving from A to B which runs on my cPanel. Glad I sorted it myself on how to the the configuration when doing transfer.

[AlexKous]

Moved my drives one by one so as to ensure they stayed in the same layout, but the new server could not recognise the array at all and had a seizure, saying that the drives had moved location.

[Sunitha_Mod]

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