Removing a ds2405 from a va7400

[uk2999]

We have had a problematic 2405 ever since it was installed. I am looking to pull it out of the va configuration and use it as a standalone device to further troubleshoot some possible HW errors.

I've read through the service manual and have an idea on what do to but was hoping for some feedback. I've already removed any associated luns that were on the 2405.

- Down any servers that utilize storage through VA.
- Down affected drives in the enclosure
- Shutdown VA through arm commands
- Power off VA
- Disconnect 2405
- Power VA back on
- Let it go through rebuild process

Not sure if I need to down the drives before power off or not. I do have some data on the VA7400 itself and don't want it to puke on rebuild after I pull the attached enclosure.

[Torsten.]

>> I've already removed any associated luns that were on the 2405.


How do you want to know where the LUNs are?

It is specific for this array to put the data everywhere.

[Uwe Zessin]

Yep. If I remember correctly, the VA7400 creates two redundancy groups (RG) and a LUN is 'striped' across all disk drives in an RG. By default, one group uses all disk drives from the odd numbered bays in a disk enclosure. The other RG takes the disk drives from the even numbered ones.

What you could try is remove all LUNs from one RG, shutdown the VA and remove the disks. Then move the disks around (I've never tried it myself, but was told that the VA supports 'drive roaming'.

But I don't know if you can really remove an RG. Maybe there is some critical meta-data stored in both RGs so I would not try that without a good backup.

Well, seriously, for a production system I would not try it at all. Backup all data, wipe the configuration, reconfigure the hardware, rebuild the RGs + recreate the LUNs/presentations - then restore the data.

[Torsten.]

You always need 5 disks minimum in each RG.