MSA2000 G3 SAS

[mo_2]

hi all, i have a msa2000 g3 sas with 12 600gb hard drives. it will be connected directly to a windows 2008 server. i havent configured this kind of msa's before, so i am looking for some best practices or tips on how to do this. i want to create a raid5 with no spare - do i create the raid on the msa or on the server - from what i have read i need to configure the msa2000 g3 via command line first. any general info on this process will be appreciated
thanks

[Johan Guldmyr]

Hi,

are you sure you want a RAID5 with 12 disks and no spare? Seems a bit risky to me.

You create the raid5 on the MSA.
You do not have to do it via CLI, you can do it via the SMU - storage management utility - it is a web interface.
After it's created you need to add the host and then you need to present the disk to the server.

It's the P2000sas G3 you have right?

Do you have a SAS card in your server with at least one external port? Is the card supported?
If you have a multipath environment (two p2000sa controllers and more than one SAS external port) you probably want to look into installing MPIO on the server as well.

Manuals and user guides for the P2000 are here:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=SupportManual〈=en&cc=us&docIndexId=64179&taskId=101&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=4118559

[mo_2]

hi, yes it is a P2000 G3 sas - two modules.
on the server i have a two port sas card - i have 2 sas cables - i've read that i can use a multi-path using two cables. for now i dont have any spare drives but i am looking to get a couple of new hard drives to use as spare. i guess i can add the spare hard drives at any time - right? so far i have connected to the msa via the web interface and assigned ip addresses to both modules - i see a vdisks listed - i've read that i need to configure it andthen provision the system. on the 2008 server i have installed the capi proxy, vds, and vss drivers.
will attemtp to configure the raid on the msa - thank you

[Johan Guldmyr]

Sounds great.

Yes, you can add spares later. Actually adding as a spare is what you do when you replace a disk.

Beware that expanding the array takes a long time.

[mo_2]

it seems to be working ok now - i have set two volumes and added them to the server. if i shutdown the server, do i need to shut down the modules as well? once the modules are shutdown, how do i turn them on again? will i be able to access them via the web interface to turn them back on. or do i connect via telnet for example to turn them back on again? thank you

[Johan Guldmyr]

Which modules do you want to turn off?

For best practices, you always want to shut off the server in a controlled manner _before_ turning off the array. Just to be sure that the server is not trying to access the disk on the LUN.

[mo_2]

hi, for general troubleshooting/maintenance - i would turn off the server first then the 2 modules on the msa - but how do i turn the 2 msa modules back on again? if the 2 msa modules are off, can i still use the ip address of 1 of the modules and connect via telnet to turn them back on? or do i have to connect via a usb connection (outband) to turn them back on? havent try any of these things yet but i will be moving the server to a rack and later will be moving them to a newer rack - thanks

[Torsten.]

The USB provides the same CLI than telnet/ssh do.
I would prefer to configure via CLI, because not everything is available/working from the GUI. Consider to set "dynamic sparing" to on, otherwise replacing a disk is not plug'n'play.

[Johan Guldmyr]

I doubt it's possible to turn on the P2000 via the CLI, either USB or ip.