DS2300 - RAID Card

[Vipul_2]

Hi ,

I had posted this message under the disks category.Sorry for posting it again.

I need to share a DS2300 box with my Two Intel based WIN2K servers (This are locally assembled) in a cluster mode (MS Cluster service)

I assume i will need a RAID card on both this system's but iam unable to figure out which RAID card should work .

Will smart array 532 or 642 work ?

Thanks in advance,

Vipul Bhadra

[Peter Mattei · Accepted solution]

You cannot share disks between two independent RAID controllers! This would lead to data corruption, because the two would not know of each others metadata.
There are two ways of sharing disk ressources in a MS Cluster:

- You either need a storage array with a built in raid controller and connect your two servers to this controller.

- The second choice would be to connect the DS2300 via SCSI to both servers. Here you will not have hardware RAID capabilities but will have to rely on software RAID of MS.

Cheers
Peter

[Vipul_2]

Hi peter ,

Thanks for your inputs. I suppose since its a JBOD i cant do hardware based RAID on it.

Now i have two questions :
1. Will Microsoft cluster do software based RAID ?
2. Will MSA30 do hardware based RAID?

Thanks & Regards ,
Vipul Bhadra

[Peter Mattei]

Yes, HW based raid for MSCS needs a Storage Array with built in controller.

SW raid for MSCS is not supported! So no JBOD like the MSA30 or the DS2300 can be used.

What you need is an Array like the MSA500 or MSA1000. (MSA500 is SCSI the MSA1000 Fibre Channel based)
If you do not already have the servers I suggest you buy a "Packaged Cluster" at very attractive pricing!
See http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11513_div/11513_div.html and
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11687_div/11687_div.html

Cheers
Peter

[kris rombauts]

Hello Vipul,

the DS2300 was certified with the Netraid 2M array controller for Windows cluster solutions on HP Netservers. This card is now obsolete but if you still manage to find one like P3411A then you could build a cluster with your DS2300.

Netraid 2M is not supported on Proliant servers.


regards, Kris

[Peter Mattei]

Thats right Kris

The Netraid 2M had a so called "Cluster Mode". This made the two controller aware of each other in order to share storage ressources in a cluster.
See a sample configuraton doc http://h200005.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/lpn14851/lpn14851.pdf

The Smart Array controllers are not built to communicate with each other!

Cheers
Peter

[Vipul_2]

Hi Guys ,

Thanks for all of your help.

After the first reply, i dropped the idea of RAID card altogether. Now iam thinking about a MSA500 box for my clustering needs.

Thanks & Regards ,
Vipul