topic Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA in StoreVirtual Storage

Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

conXO — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 19:48:50 GMT

I have an ESXi 6.0 HA cluster with 2 DL380 Gen9 (P440ar), each with 2x 1.6TB SSD in RAID-1 + 6x 1.8TB SAS HDD in RAID-6.
Storage is configured as a single 7.8TB N-RAID-10 volume with Adaptive Optimization (Lefthand OS 12.6).

I want to add 5x 1.8TB SAS drives to each host, so (besides drives) I have ordered a drive cage, a SAS expander card and a VSA license upgrade for each host.

I have made the following plan for the task, but I would really like to know if this is a viable plan (especially the marked parts), and if I have missed something:

Backup, backup, backup!
Disable High Availability

For each host:
. vMotion all VM's (except VSA) off host
. power off VSA (with CMC or ESXi?)
. set host maintenance mode
. power off host
. mount drive cage, SAS expander card and cables
. power on host
. hot-add disks
. confirm added disks with: /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli ctrl slot=0 pd all show
---> expand array (and logical drive) with: /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli ctrl slot=0 ld 2 add drives=au
---> refresh datastore/array controller and add "new" storage
---> add new disk SCSI(1:2) using "new" storage to the VSA
. increase momory to 12GB for the VSA
. power on VSA
. rescan storage
. wait for full syncronization with other node in CMC

Rinse and repeat for the other host.

Next in CMC:
---> Cluster->Systems->VSA01: Add disk to RAID (Tier 1?)
---> Cluster->Systems->VSA01: Add disk to RAID (Tier 1?)
. check storage is available
. Cluster->Volumes->[Name]: Edit Volume: Adjust "Reported Size" (or should I create a new volume?)

Finally rescan storage on both hosts.

Any comments are welcome! :)

Regards
Kristian

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

giladzzz — Sat, 14 Jan 2017 15:41:10 GMT

If you are adding disks to existing array you must create a new logical drive

you can not expand the current logical drive.

12.6 HPE StoreVirtual Storage VSA Installation and Configuration Guide

read page 34 Adding storage capacity to a StoreVirtual VSA

Regards

give a Kudo if this helps

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

conXO — Sun, 15 Jan 2017 12:16:03 GMT

Thanks for your reply - and pointing me to the manual.

What you (and the manual) are saying is, that I cannot expand the disks in the VSA, which was not my plan either.

My plan is:
1. expand the RAD-6 array (and th logical volume) on the P440ar with the added disks
2. rescan storage in ESXi and either expand the exising datastore or add a new datastore
3. add the extra capacity as a new disk SCSI(1:2) to the VSA
4. finally in CMC use "Add disk to RAID" to make the capacity available for new volumes

Since the VSA supports hot-adding disks, can all this all be accomplished with the VSA running?
Will the added disk "automagically" pop-up in CMC?

I am a little worried about this in all the Smart Array guides:
"An array expansion, logical drive extension, or logical drive migration takes about 15 minutes per gigabyte
While this process is occurring, no other expansion, extension, or migration can occur simultaneously on the same controller."

I assume that this is all happening "under the hood", and that the new capacity is available after initiating the expansion.
Is this true?

If this is all doable, I think I will split my plan in
. the "mechanical" part (mounting parts and physically adding disks on both hosts) and
. the logical part (expanding array, adding volumes etc.).

Again: Any comments are welcome! :)

Regards
Kristian

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

giladzzz — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 07:24:35 GMT

you can do it without down time if you install smart array command line and

do all changes from esx CLI in command line but this is more difficulte than

bringing the the server down and using smart storage administrator gui

adding the new disk to the VSA itself is online.

very important to create a new disk and not expand existing disk

in the array controller ( new logical drive).

Regards

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

conXO — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 08:38:58 GMT

Thanks again,

When you say:

very important to create a new disk and not expand existing disk
in the array controller ( new logical drive).

do you mean I should expand the array and create a new locigal volume in the Array Manager, and NOT extend the existig logical volume?

The reason I wanted to expand the array AND extend the logical volume was, that it's a ome-step operation.

I was afraid that once an array expansion was initiated, I could not do anything else before it was completed (which according to the manuals can take several days/weeks)..

But if you say, I can create a new logical drive on the array during the expansion, then that is what I will do. :).

Regards
Kristian

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

giladzzz — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 12:44:15 GMT

you must create a new logical drive because VSA can only except a new phisical disk

you can not expand the existing disk.

I don't know how long it take to expand the array but I think you can do it in the background

also as I said you can do everything from CLI on vmware but you need to add smart array CLI

to vmware.

Regards

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

conXO — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 13:03:06 GMT

Thanks again,

I would not expand the disk in the VSA, BUT:

expand the array and the logical drive on the controller
rescan storage in ESXi
add the storage either to the existing datastore or create a new datastore
add a new disk (vmdk) to the VSA

Don't you think tis is doable?

TIA
Kristian

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

giladzzz — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 13:29:15 GMT

You are right

you can only add new disks to the VSA guest you can not expand existing disks!!!!!

I usually work with RDM disks for the VSA this is less confusing.

Regards

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

conXO — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 15:10:43 GMT

Hi again,

Yes, I know I should have used RDM, but that would require better planning from the start. :)
It can be confusing with all those datastores in vSphere.

Again, thanks for all your help! I am now much more confident with this task.

Regards,
Kristian

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

mvbk — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 12:22:28 GMT

Good afternoon,

Can you give me a hint how to expand the disk in the CMC when using RDM-volumes? I extended the array, RDM is also larger now in VMware andthe Raw capacity of each VSA-node is larger. Only the Usable space doesn't increase, so I can't use the extra space. When I remove one VSA-node from the management group, the Usable space is correct but gets smaller as soon as I add it again to the management group. I have rebooted both VSA-nodes and both VSA-nodes have been expanded the same way and with the same capacity.

Kind regards!

Re: Adding disks to StoreVirtual VSA

Assen — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 12:27:36 GMT

Hi mvbk,

you have to reconfigure the raid of the VSA in CMC, when VSA is in available systems.

Otherwise the VSA will not be able to use the expanded disks.

Assen