Possible to mirror boot disk at hardware level on N4000?

[Evelyn Daroga]

On 9000/800/N4000-55 system, I have 1 hard disk (Seagate ST39204LC, A5505) that I need to build as a bootable disk. (I'll use ignite for that.) I want to add a second disk (same model), and mirror it. Can mirroring be done at the hardware level between these two disks? What do I need to go about it? I've seen some procedures for mirroring at the lvol level, but am being asked to do it at the hdw level if at all possible. Thanks.

P.S. This hread has been moved from General to HP-UX > sysadmin. - Hp Forum moderator

[Tim Nelson]

Unless you have a RAID card or some other intelligent controller/subsystem supporting these jbods then the answer is no.

[Evelyn Daroga]

I'm assuming I do not have a RAID card installed (would I see "RAID" somewhere in the ioscan output? Or would it show up as something else?). How would I go about identifying exactly what raid card is available for this system?

[Torsten.]

Hi,

the internal disks are connected to fixed and built-in SCSI controllers. There is no way to mirror them other than a volume-manager based solution (LVM mirroring).

Of course you can boot the system from any supported external RAID (e.g. XP, VA, EVA) or you can install a smartarray card (SA 5304) and connect external disks as a hardware RAID.

[Tim Nelson · Accepted solution]

Evelyn,

The ioscan would indicate the RAID interface.

If these disks are internal drives then you do not have any option other than HP Mirror/UX ( software mirroring ).

As mentioned there are options, just not with the hardware you have.

If someone is asking that mirroring be done at the hardware level then a hardware solution capable of this needs to be purchased. (i.e. disk array ($$$), or raid controller( $2000+/ea) with external storage.) Keep in mind there are other issues and risks with booting externally.

The more cost effective appoach will be Mirror/ux. Simple, reliable, cost effective.

[Evelyn Daroga]

Thanks for the quick replies. I'll pass this information on to the decision makers.