P4000 VSA | Increasing Storage Space

[Holger_68623]

Hi there!

I'm running a P4000 VSA on two DL380 G7 - everything's fine.

Now I've added some more hard drives to each server and extended the RAID. Capacity before: 1.4 TB, after: 2.6 TB.

Done in vShpere

1. updated from VMFS3 to VMF5
2. shut down the 1st VSA
3. added a new disk by editing client settings
4. started up the 1st vsa
5. made sure volumes are sync (via CMC)
6. shut down the 2nd VSA
7. added a new disk by editing client settings
8. started up the 2nd vsa
9. made sure volumes are sync (via CMC)

Now I want to either increase existings LUNs' size or create a new volume. But I can't find the disks in the CMC.

Any idea what to do?

Thanks-

Holger

[Emilo]

Hello,

Hopefully you have everything at NR-10.

If so then what you will need to do in order to regain the space is the following

Contact Support -
You will need to perform the following on each node.

1.Have them make sure you can maintain qourum

2. Putty into one of the VSA's. We need to make sure the store process is not running. (if you dont want to call support, you have reboot and before the store comes online take it out for repair). MAKE SURE YOU TAKE THE NODE OUT FOR REPAIR. DONT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF TAKING IT OUT OF THE CLUSTER!

3. Use the command servicectl dbd_store stop to stop the store process. You will need to stop the manager if you have not done so already. Make sure you have a virtual managager running or a FOM running or sufficent nodes to maintain quorum. (Skip this step if you did not contact support, it can only be performed by them)

4. In the CMC, right click on the node and select Repair Storage System .

5. Once the node is in Available system and ghost node has been created, select reconfigure RAID. It is at this point that you will see the space you added apperar. Check the size of the available space it should be there.

6. Once the Store is showing normal, start the manager if one had been running on it before the repair process

7. Add back to  management group

8. Select Edit cluster and exchange the node for the ghost.

9. Once the storage system is back in the cluster and restriping the data. The management group bandwidth can be increased to speed up the process of data restriping, but at the expense of application and user access. At this point the process is complete. The volumes can be monitored to ensure that the restripe completes without any issues.

You will need to do this for each VSA beofoe the space appaears ready for you to use.

[Holger_68623]

Hi Emilio,

many thanks for your reply.

Does it really have to be so complicated? I mean I've just added some hard drives to add space to the VSA. BTW: Except for the space that has to be added everything's up & running...

"2. Putty into one of the VSA's. We need to make sure the store process is not running. (if you dont want to call support, you have reboot and before the store comes online take it out for repair). MAKE SURE YOU TAKE THE NODE OUT FOR REPAIR. DONT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF TAKING IT OUT OF THE CLUSTER!"

How do I know the right point in time to take the node out for repair and how will I accomplish this?

Thanks,

Holger

[Emilo]

Unfourtnatly yes.

The VSA's wont reconize the drive space until you reconfigure the raid on each node.

Depending on the number of nodes and the amount of data it coud take a week.

If you have support you can just call them do it it will take like 20 mintues.

[Holger_68623]

OK, got it.

Is there anything like a walktrough or something like that? I don't want to make any irreversible mistakes or risk the VMs...

[Emilo]

No such thing as a walk through.

The only thing I can tell you is that if you have a contract just call support to take the node out for repair.