topic Re: P400 RAID 5 in Disk Enclosures

P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 01:33:35 GMT

Hi,

I wanted to increase the size of one of the 2 volumes on my RAID 5 arry,

To give a little backgroud,I have 3- 750 GB ata drives in RAID 5 array with one logical drive and 2 volumes.
One of my volumes is running out of space therefore i added another 750gb drive and increased the size of the logical frive.

My problem is,what do I need to don in order to increase the size of the volume.

Have I done something wrong here.

The server is 2003 R2.

Re: P400 RAID 5

Sivaramakrishna_1 — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 06:03:52 GMT

There is no details about the server model which you are using etc.. If it is using Smart Array Controller then I hope you can do the expand the Array by adding one more disk on to the existing array and then you can extend the Logical drive. I have done it quite long back and its a online activity. It may take a long time. Once activity is completed then using windows you can extend the voulme using diskpart.

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:31:42 GMT

Thanks for your help.

I have done what you advised.
It took about 2 days for the logical drive to be extended.
Now the physical drive list inside the RAID 5 array,but when I went to use disk part it tells me there is no space more then 1 mb to extend.

Could someone please help.

Re: P400 RAID 5

toomas_aas — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:33:05 GMT

Sounds like you have expanded the array, but you haven't extended the logical drive. You have to do that separately.

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:13:19 GMT

I have extended the logical drive,I know it was a two step process when I did it.

During the expansion of logical drive I was asked ,what amount I wanted to increase it by and I selected the whole.

Re: P400 RAID 5

Sivaramakrishna_1 — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 02:30:55 GMT

If the Logical drive expansion is completed, then you can notice the unallocated space left on the partition from the Windows Disk Management console.

If it is not noticing any space try to do a "rescan disks" on the Disk management console after logical drive expansion activity completed. Verify the same from ACU.

Suppose the volume to be extended is like F drive, then follow the below commands to extend the volume from the OS side.

1. Open cmd (command prompt)
2. run diskpart. then you will get a prompt DISKPART>)
3. on that promnt type "select volume F" and press enter
4. It will show that volume X is selected
5. then type command "extend" (this will extend the full remaining space to the existing volume)

Hope this will be useful.

Siva

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 05:21:36 GMT

I hate to sound like a broken record, but it says that- the specified disks have less then 1mb f disk space,please specify another disk.

The logical drive shows the extended size in brackets but disk management does not display the extra space.

Re: P400 RAID 5

gregersenj — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 06:59:23 GMT

It would be easier to hlp you if you post screenshots from the ACU and The Windows diskmanager.

BR
/jag

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 21:40:51 GMT

I have attached a file with screen shots of both.

I have circled the logical drive and the volume of interest.
Please advise.

Re: P400 RAID 5

gregersenj — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 07:11:35 GMT

Can't open the file.

Please try another format.

BR
/jag

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 21:08:26 GMT

I have inserted another file.

Re: P400 RAID 5

gregersenj — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:47:21 GMT

Well, as we allready know, you have added the physical disk to the array. Array B.
That's good.

Now we need to check if you have extended the logical drive in the acu
Please post a screen shot of the logical view also.
On the second screen shot, please choose logical view (Top right or in the right pane).

Beware to extend a logical disk is a 4 step procedure:
1. Install physical disk. - Done.
2. Expand Array (ACU). - Done.
3. Extend Logical Drive (ACU). - Need to recheck.
4. Extend partition (Windows). - Waiting for step 3?

BR
/jag

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:59:13 GMT

I have and that is the first picture if you notice.

Thanks.

Re: P400 RAID 5

gregersenj — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 05:47:23 GMT

Sorry, my mistake, so you have :)

That's ood.
ACU reporting 2000 GB, and Windows 1300 GB.

A re-scan from device manager has been suggested. So I beleive, you have done so also.
In this case I have no better idea, than try with a shutdown / Power cycle.
Or if there's a bug in the FW, on the P400.

BR
/jag

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:04:01 GMT

Thanks for assisting.

Would there be anyone else with some idea on why this is happening.

Re: P400 RAID 5

gregersenj — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 10:41:23 GMT

You're welcome.

I havn't seen this before.

If you're on a older FW, you could try with an upgrade.

BR
/jag

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:54:10 GMT

The Array Configuration Utility I'am using is running 7.70.12.0, would there be an upgrade to this which I require to get this issue sorted.

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 04:41:28 GMT

I have just updated the Array Configuration Utility to 8.25.5.0, the options are the same,any help please.

Re: P400 RAID 5

gregersenj — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:50:13 GMT

What aboute the FW on the controller?.

The ACU is the management software only.
It's the smart Array controller, that report the logical disk size to the operating system.

Have you tried to reboot the server.
Hit F8 during POST, and check the logical disk size?

Latest FW is 7.18
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=dk&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=1121516&swItem=MTX-d2785ac661bb497fb1bb64fad7&prodNameId=3288134&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&taskId=135&mode=5

Do beware of dependencies.
Read the release notes.

BR
/jag

Re: P400 RAID 5

Kunal Raiker — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:57:50 GMT

THe problems fixed by the firmware update on the RAC does not meet the problem I'am having.