HP SAN MSA1000 array and a 'basic' disk

[Glenn Brown_4]

Dear all,

We have a SAN using a MSA1000 fitted with 5 146g disks, this logical drive is know as drive E: in the Windows 2000 Server and is approx. 480g in capacity. We've added a further 5 146g disks and used the HP array config utility to add those new drives to the logical drive, under the HP array config utility, this now has an approx. 1TB capacity, but under Windows, the E: drive remains at 480g and there is now an 'unallocated' space of around 560g, BUT the E: drive is a BASIC and the option to 'convert to dynamic' is grey'd out - we were hoping that converting to dynamic would be available as we'd then 'grow' the E: drive using the unallocated space to make an E: close to 1TB in capacity.

Can anyone help here?

[Stephen Kebbell · Accepted solution]

Hi,

you can download diskpart for Windows 2000 from Microsoft which will allow you to expand basic disks.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;325590

Regards,
Stephen

[Uwe Zessin]

I'm not sure I understand the situation correctly. You first expand the disk drive array with additional physical disk drives. Then you have free space at the end of the array, but that is only visible within the ACU.

Next you extend the logical disk drive. After a reboot or rescan disks you have 'free space' after your partition, this time visible with the 'disk manager' on Windows.

Now you can resize the partition like Stephen wrote.

[Glenn Brown_4]

Many thanks both - that speed of reply is very impressive, if it helps, I've attached a document to show what the array utility shows now the extra drives are in the array (disregard the 2 spares), and what disk management in Windows shows - right clicking on disk 2 shows the 'convert to dynamic' option grey'd out, which is what we were hoping to do to then expand with the unallocated space. Do you still think the diskpark.exe routine/utility is the way to go now that you've seen the document?

[andy steven]

hi

if u want to expand using the dynamic disk utility the disk in question bust have been created as a dynamic disk, u can not migrate a basic disk to a dynamic disk at a later date and expand the disk in the way u want to.

the solution posted earlier will work though

[Glenn Brown_4]

Many thanks again, Stephen/Uwe - do you think it's still OK to proceed with diskpart after seeing the word document?

[Uwe Zessin]

It looks fine to me, although I would make sure I had a good backup - just in case.

Is this really a Windows cluster configuration?

What makes me a little puzzled is that the 'quorum disk' is a partition and part of a data disk. I don't consider myself a Windows administrator, but from what I have heard this is not a good idea (one could have created a small logical disk on the same disk array, though).

You also appear to have a dynamic disk (D:), but last time I checked, they were not supported in a cluster. On the other hand, this doesn't seem to be a disk on the MSA1000, because, according to ACU there is only one logical drive.

And there still seem to be two unused disk drives in the MSA1000.

[Glenn Brown_4]

Tks Uwe, Y, it is a cluster config, the quorum disk is a small logical disk off the main disk array.

Ref the D: - this is an internal disk on one of the servers, so isn't part of the shared storage array, the only drive that is in the external storage array is E:.

Tks again, we'll make sure we have a full backup before continuing.

[Stephen Kebbell]

Hi,

I agree with about the quorum. It's unusual to have it on the same Disk (what Windows sees as a Disk) as another partition. Are disks Z: and E: defined as separate resources in the cluster? It's normally recommended to create a seperate logical drive on the MSA for the quorum. It does not need a dedicated physical set of disks, though.

Oh, and read this MS article on using Diskpart in a Cluster:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;304736

Regards,
Stephen

[Doug de Werd]

yes this is an unusual - and NOT recommended - cluster configuration.

The quorum drive here is configured as a Widnows partition on a larger logical volume. This is not the correct way to set it up. It should be on it's own disk (as seen by Disk Admin). It is OK to use the ACU to create a small volume out of a larger array to use as the quorum. But Disk Admin will see this as a separate disk, not as a Windows partition on a larger physical volume.

To be honest, I would consider backing up your data and re-doing your storage from scratch. You are asking for trouble with this configuration - it will seem to work fine now, when there are no failures. But if you have a failure that causes a cluster failover, this configuration may not come up right (which defeats the whole purpose of clustering, doesn't it?)

Look on page 4 of this doc to see the difference between controller based partitioning (ACU) and software based (Windows), as well as for info on how to properly set up a quorum drive:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/solutions/enterprise/ha/whitepapers/16S3-0502A-WWEN.pdf

This has good info on adding storage to a cluster:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/solutions/enterprise/ha/5981-4606EN.pdf

Also look on page 22 of this doc:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/solutions/enterprise/ha/microsoft/win2003/5981-6902EN.pdf

Microsoft info on Quorum drives:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;280345

MS info on extending drives in a cluster:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263590

Hope this helps,
Doug