Swap MSA30 between two DL380 without loss of data

[daytrippin]

Hi,

Bit of a problem.... I have an MSA30 connected to a live server, the data on which is out of date. Unfortunately this content can't be updated while live and so I'm updating the content via another MSA30.

I have since discovered that it's not so simple to disconnect one MSA from the server and attach a new one... !

Does anyone know if this is even possible? I would like to avoid replacing the DL380 at the same time.

Thanks for any advise.

[Steven Clementi]

You should be able to attach an MSA30 to ANY server with a Smart Array controller in it and access the data.

Since it is a SCSI device though, you can not hot remove/hot add an MSA30. You will disrupt the bus and probably halt the OS.


One thing you can do is... if you have the available slots in the MSA30 that is attached, you can slip your drives from the updated MSA30 into it and the Smart Array controller should find the Array configuration and load up your logical drives. I would do this while the server is off to best preserve your data.


Steven

[daytrippin]

Thanks for the reply Steven.

I have attempted to switch the MSA between 2 DL380's without any joy. Both servers have an MSA30, I shut them both down and switch MSA's but when the server starts up with the new MSA it fails to boot.

It detects that the disks have changed and requests that the disks are put back correctly or run the ADU.

The ADU doesn't help, just reports that there are new disks. I can't even get the server to boot in to Windows, it's like it's unable to find the local boot disk.

I will try again and post the exact message in a short while.

Cheers.

[Andrew Davenport]

Hi,

I could be wrong but i think i remember that when you put the new MSA30 onto the server the drives hold all the array data.
I think you need to go into the RAID bios or command line config on power up and load the RAID configuration from the disks, this will then tell the controller how to read the array and disks and allow your system to boot.
Like wise you can take an array out of one MSA 30 and put it in another and then load the config from the drives. You have to put them in the correct order though to keep the disks ID's in sequence.