topic Re: Change disk on Smart Array 5i in Operating System - Linux

Change disk on Smart Array 5i

JBR — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 07:34:03 GMT

Hi all, I´ve a Blade BL20p G2 with the following configuration:

1. SmartArray 5i
2. 2 x 36 Gb disks, Mirror 1
3. Red Hat Linux 3 Update 3 (one disk, three partitions : c0d0p1,c0d0p2,c0d0p3)

Its possible to change these two disks to others with more capacity (i.e 72Gb). What are the steps in Linux & hardware to do this?

Thanks in advanced.

Re: Change disk on Smart Array 5i

Steven E. Protter — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 10:40:38 GMT

Shalom,

It is possible. You actually are using hardware mirroring, so its simple.

You can pull the secondary 36 GB drive out of the server while its running and replace it with a 72.

It will take 2-4 hours to rebuild the mirror.

Then you should be able to do the same thing with the primary.

You will, depending on what volume manager you use need to reboot the system and then you will be able to create new filesystems including the new space.

Do note however that I would back up the systems prior to trying this, and I'd shut the system down prior to pulling the disk. There is no need to do this other than to satisfy my cautious nature.

SEP

Re: Change disk on Smart Array 5i

Uwe Zessin — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 14:19:54 GMT

> and I'd shut the system down prior to pulling the disk.

No, this MUST be done online while the SmartArray controller is running so it can do proper fault handling.

The controller is storing meta-data on the disk drive. If you put a 'new' disk with valid meta data into the server and power it up, you risk that the controller pulls the configuration information from the wrong disk - I know it, a colleage has destroyed one of my systems that way :-(

Re: Change disk on Smart Array 5i

Alan_152 — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 11:18:18 GMT

DO a full backup, first. Then replace the drives 1 at a time over the course of a week -- leaving 24 hours in between to make sure that the rebuilds do a good job. No need to shut anything down or break any mirrors. You can do this during live production, even, if you don't mind a period of less-than-optimal performance.