MSA 2050 Addon Tray- Query Id: #20216

[QFlux]

I'm hoping somone can sanity check me. Very long story but we've got an additional 2050 Disk Enclosure sat in our old server room. Which I'm wanting to connect to our main storage MSA 2050 storage as a third tray. Thats not an issue.

What I do know is that at somepoint there was another controller this was connected to and loosly configure on.

This controller has long since gone (long story). Is it safe just to connect this tray with its SAS cables to my current main setup or is there some other procedure to clear any configuration?

Am I also correct in assuming this can be done live?

Thanks

[SUBHAJIT KHANBARMAN_1]

@QFlux 

Your query not fully clear so difficult to answer. However you can follow User guide (page no 17 onwards) to get help on this.

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=a00017710en_us

Hope this helps!
Regards
Subhajit

I am an HPE employee

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!

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[ArunKKR]

Hi,

Any configuration done is saved on the hard drives and not on the enclosure itself. If the additional enclosure does not have any hard drives installed, you can go ahead and add it online. If it has hard drives with old configuration, you need to clear it by connecting to original MSA or any other MSA controller enclosure to clear configuration before adding it back.  Safest way to add an empty enclosure with no disks is to shut down controller A first, connect cable in controller A path, restart controller A, shut down controller B, connect cables in controller B path, restart controller B

[ArunKKR]

Hi ,

Please let me know whether the information shared addresses your query and whether the issue has been resolved.

[Shawn_K · Accepted solution]

Hello QFlux,

It sounds as if you have a MSA 2050 Disk Enclosure where the original storage enclosure is no longer working/functional. If you want to reuse that disk enclosure with a current working MSA 2050 controller, you can but you must take some care.

As mentioned previously, the disks in the MSA 2050 Disk Enclosure will likely contain metadata and possible Vdisks from the previous configuration. What you do not want to do is plug the Disk Enclosure into your existing MSA 2050 and have the possibility of multiple Vdisks with the same name becoming active. That would be very disruptive to your production environment! 

Only follow the below suggestions if the disks on the MSA 2050 Disk Enclosure do not contain valid or current data. The steps outlined below will remove any Vdisk, data, or metadata that was previously on the drives. This is a non-recoverable procedure.

My suggestion is to do the following. Remove any disk drives from the MSA 2050 Disk Enclosure. Set the drives to the side and we will deal with them shortly.

Connect the MSA 2050 Disk Enclosure into the exisitng working MSA 2050 Storage Array controllers using your SAS cables. Allow the disk enclosure to come online and confirm the health. This would also be a good time to check the firmware versions and upgrade as necessary.

Taking one disk drive at a time, insert into the newly attached MSA 2050 Disk enclosure. Allow the drive to spin up and come online. If there is metadata on the drive for an older Vdisk the drive will come online as an offline vdisk. However, because that metadata and timestamps are old the drive will enter a leftover or offline state. Once you confirm the drive health you can clear the metadata or delete the vdisk. This will permenantly remove all data from the drive and is a non-reversable action. Only perform this step if the data on the old disk is no longer needed and/or valid. Once the drive is in an available state you can insert the next drive and perform the same procedure. Work through the drives you set aside until all are marked as available. If a drive had no previous metadata on it, then once inserted the drive will automatically spin up and become available.

You can perform this procedure online. I woudl still suggest to do this during a time of lower host IO just so you do not disrupt your production environment. 

If you wish to check your firmware on your system you can now do so easily by checking this link: www.hpe.com/storage/msafirmware

Also, to check the overall health of your system and any available firmware versions you can use our new MSA Health Check Tool at the following link: www.hpe.com/storage/MSAHealthCheck

Download your MSA Log File from your MSA array
Upload the MSA Log File into the MSA Health Check website
Review the results by clicking through the tabs and saving the PDF report
Links to array, enclosure, and drive firmware are provided for easy access

I work for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The comments in this post are my own and do not represent an official reply from HPE. No warranty or guarantees of any kind are expressed in my reply.

Cheers,
Shawn

[QFlux]

@Shawn_K Hit the nail on the head there I think.

Thats exactually where my concerns were and that seems a promising solution.

Thanks for you time.

[ArunKKR]

Hi QFlux,

Please note that if the previous disks in old disk enclosure have old disk group information in it, once they are inserted QTOF disk group might appear in SMU interface. Deleting these QTOF disk groups would require a support case and engineering team engagement. Please refer to the below advisory:  https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docLocale=en_US&docId=a00066611en_us

[QFlux]

@ArunKKRThanks for the heads up. To be honest I highly suspect nothing was ever configured but just need to be cautious as there is no documentation realting to the device.

[QFlux]

Just thinking out loud but would it be safer to just plug the drives into my machine and format them one at a time?

[Shawn_K]

Hello,

You can plug the older drives into your existing MSA 2050 and either clear them and/or format them. My advice would be to do that one drive at a time. I would still be cautious you don't have a VDisk on those drives that conflicts with the existing VDisks on the system.

In the end, I would do this activity in the MAS 2050 Disk Enclosure. Just to save on the time and work needed in adding hardware. Do check array hardware and drive firmware versions when the hardware additions are complete. It would be a good time to upgrade your entire system with the additional capacity being put to use.

Good luck!

I work for Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The comments in this post are my own and do not represent an official reply from HPE. No warranty or guarantees of any kind are expressed in my reply.

Cheers,
Shawn