Adding hard drives - ML350 G4

[h3ctic]

Hi,

this weekend I'm scheduled to upgrade a ML350 with both 2 new harddrives and some memory.

I've found nice documentation for memory-configurations so I hope that one will go just fine.

As for the drive upgrades:

Current config:

SMART ARRAY 641 CONTROLLER
Controller: Smart Array 641 Controller
Bus Interface: 64-Bit PCI
Controller Location: Slot 5
RAID ADG status: Disabled
Hardware rev.: B
Firmware ver.: 2.34
Rebuild Priority: Low
Expand Priority: Low
Current Surface Scan Delay: 15sec
Number of Arrays: 1
Number of Logical Drives: 1
Number of Physical Drives: 2
Physical Drives Attached to Port 1:
SCSI ID 0, 72.8 GB (Parallel SCSI)
SCSI ID 1, 72.8 GB (Parallel SCSI)
All Physical Drives Assigned: Yes

ARRAY ACCELERATOR
Present: Yes
Cache Status: Enabled
Accelerator Ratio: 100% Read / 0% Write
Total Memory on Crontroller: 64 MB
Battery Pack Count: 0

I'm going to add 2 harddrives:

289044-001 - HotSwap 145GB,U320,10K

The question is if there exists any guide on how to do this, a url would be nice. The software installed on the server is:

HP Array Configuration Utility 7.30.9.0

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

:)

[Artem V. Bashkin]

I don't think that any guide may be really useful. You just plug your hard drives and create a new array through HP Array Configuration Utility. That's all.

Here you'll find maintenance manual for ML350 G4

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/CoreRedirect.jsp?redirectReason=DocIndexPDF&prodSeriesId=397642&targetPage=http%3A%2F%2Fbizsupport1.austin.hp.com%2Fbc%2Fdocs%2Fsupport%2FSupportManual%2Fc00218063%2Fc00218063.pdf


HP Array Configuration Utility manual is here:

docs.hp.com/en/9320/acu.pdf

[KarloChacon]

what do you want to do?
create a new RAID or extend the existing one
since they different procedure

[h3ctic]

Thanks for replying!

I'm not sure of the drawbacks/benefits of creating a new RAID vs. extending?

As it is now the server only have C: If possible I'd like to avoid adding a new drive in Windows Server and just extend the C volume instead of adding a new D:

[Rancher]

I don't think you can extend the system drive.

[KarloChacon]

yes it can be expanded but you will need after using Array configuration utility a 3 party partitioner software for W2003

I added the expand and extend procedure - PDF file -

[WFHC-WI]

Hi Karlo, I can't seem to open your attachment...

Regardless, I agree. You can only expand the system partition (in this case C:) with a third party program like Partition Magic. One thing you may wish to consider is creating an image of the drive, wiping and recreating the array, then restoring the drive (most imaging programs allow you to declare the size of the drive during restoration.)

You'll be backing your data up first anyway right? :)

Good luck!

[h3ctic]

Ok, thanks again guys for helping!

After some considerations I've come to the conclusion that its ok to add another drive. I'll try to move most of the real "data" that this customer has now on C: to the new D: and use other benefits that comes with another drive in win srv.

So; I want to do as described in my initial post except I want to add them as a RAID 0+1 (is it called that?) and make them into one D: drive in win srv 03

Can I then follow your guide` or do I need to follow another one?

[KarloChacon]

you just insert the 2 new HDDs and create RAID option and go from there it is easier

[h3ctic]

Do I need to power down the server?

Do I use the ACU to create the new array or do I have to press some key-combo during bootup?