Break RAID 0+1 array without human actions

[Dbourcier]

Hello Gurus,

I'm currently looking for a way to disable one of the disk of my RAID 1+0 array without human actions.

I've checked at the following link :

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00378986/c00378986.pdf

But in any case, a human action is needed to remove one of the disk physically.

Let me explain with more details.

Let's say I want to patch my system but I'd like a possible rollback thanks to the Array configured with the ACU.

Let's say I'd like to patch it on a Sunday when nobody is available in front of the server to remove / replug the disk

Is there any way to disable temporary one of the disks of the array, and any way to configure this disks I've disabled as primary in case I need to rollback the patching done.

Here is what I thought possible but kind of a pain to implement.

+ Create 2 raid 0 array at ACU level
+ Create the 0+1 at Windows level
+ Disable one of the disk through the disk management MMC
+ Create a second entry into boot.ini that pointing out to the second disk.

In case I need to rollback, I'd just need to boot from the new entry I've created into the boot.ini and recreate the raid 0+1 from there

Don't know if this sounds feasable or not, or if it's just soubnd crazy. But I would really need a way to perform those operations without human actions and only with operations from ILO / ACU.

I'm kind of surprise that HP does not allow a such possibility so far.

Thanks in advance for your answers and don't hesitate to ask more details I'll be glad to answer.

David.

[Víctor Cespón]

You don't say in which kind of server is this, or what Smart Array model, but Smart Array controllers do not let you remove a disk from an existing array. And there are no command to fail or disable a disk manually.

[Dbourcier]

Hi,

The hardware is BL460c with a SMART ARRAY E200 , the OS is a Windows 2003 ... But you answered everything just by telling that no command allowed that.

And what about the Windows Raid solution, do you think this might be possible ( even if it's sound risky )

Cheers.
David.