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Re: mirrored disk for disaster recovery on smartarray

 
Valerio Saltarelli
New Member

mirrored disk for disaster recovery on smartarray

Hi,

working with HP Netraid series controllers, I followed this procedure as a bonus to prevent from O.S. failures, etc. :
- configuration of 2 disks in RAID1 with OS and applications installed
- put one disk offline and replace it with a new one
- rebuild the data on the new disk
- store the old disk in a safe place
- in case of needing, restart the server with the old disk/clean system.
The trick always worked!


Now, I'm not sure about how to do this and if it'll work on a Smartarray series controller, due to its new feature of storing the meta-raid information on the disks and not only in the controller memory as like the netraid did.
Does anyone of you experienced this on the smartarray or has some hints to give me?

Thank you
5 REPLIES 5
MG_GM
Advisor

Re: mirrored disk for disaster recovery on smartarray

1. Make sure, Your mirror is consistent
2. Shutdown the server, remove one drive for backup
3. Start the server with one drive, enable Internim recovery mode
4. Add new disk and mirror will automatically rebuild
5. In case of disaster recovery, shutdown server, put in backup disk to original location, start the system, add another disk to rebuild mirror
Uwe Zessin
Honored Contributor

Re: mirrored disk for disaster recovery on smartarray

I know I am not gona make friends, but:

please realize that this is not a supported operation on SmartArray controllers. It usually works with one disk array and when you put the disk back into it's original slot, but you should consider yourself lucky and still maintain standard backup procedures.
.
e4services
Honored Contributor

Re: mirrored disk for disaster recovery on smartarray

"Supported"? Are you not the only one "supporting" your data? This is a common procedure these days to back up an installation, i.e. OS and programs, with the current state of Windows. If your OS gets corrupted, virus or bad program, you can always go back to where you considered a pristen point.
To the question, yes, the only point with the SmartArray controllers is that since both the controller and the disk know who and where each other are, ID data on both, the back up needs to go back exactly where it came from, otherwise the procedure works famously.
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Valerio Saltarelli
New Member

Re: mirrored disk for disaster recovery on smartarray

Thank you all for you help!!

Regarding if it is or not a supported operation, I intented that surely as a bonus, not an alternative to standard backup procedures, as like the many software solution for disaster recovery :)
Valerio Saltarelli
New Member

Re: mirrored disk for disaster recovery on smartarray

Although, the last post is giving me another doubt.

What will be the behaviour of the Smartarray in this situation:

I have a 3 disks in RAID5 array with 2 logical drives on it, one for OS , the other for data.
The goal is to leave this array only for data (not for the OS boot).
To do this my idea is:
- put offline the actual disks , to release the first SCSCI IDs in the cage
- insert 2 new disks in the first two slots, create a new RAID1 and installing the OS on it.
- then inserting again the old RAID5 array in the new position (the controller will find the ID mismatch but correct it)

Is this possible not even simple as I have described it or I will seriously risk a loss of data?

Hope I'm not bothering you with too less of knowledge..