Adding more disks to RAID on ML350

[John Parascak]

I'm a newbie to IT matters but I've been elected, so here goes...
Our server has 3 36GB drives in the array that are striped RAID 5. I'd like to add another 3 drives but hate the idea of losing space to RAID 5 since the new storage needed is for large temporary files. Is it possible to add the new drives and have them appear as a seperate physical drive that's striped RAID 0? When the new drives are inserted will I be prompted with a wizard or formatting utility or do I format everything from the Win2K Computer Management Control Panel? Thanks for the help.

[Terry Hutchings]

Yes you should be able to create a separate raid 0 or raid 5. Depending on the array controller, you may also be able to expand the existing array and also possible extend the existing logical drive too.

If protecting the data on these temporary files isn't critical, then you may be able to use raid 0. This would also be the safest course, at least as far as the existing raid 5 is concerned.

What the array configuration utility will do will also depend on which version you have installed. When you launch the array configuration utility, you will have a wizard come up and will walk you through the procedure.

[e4services]

John,
You are correct in your thinking. You do not want to add these new drives to you existing RAID. You do want to create a Set of drives bound together into one large drive for you temp. files.
Just insert the new drives and create a RAID 0 with the 3 drives with one logical drive. You should then be able to claim the space by formating in Windows Disk Manager.

[John Parascak]

Our RAID controller is the Smart Array 532, but as far as using an array configuration utility I don't see one that was installed. I have the Compaq software on CD but would the Windows 2K disk management do the same thing?

Thanks again for the help!

[Douglas Young]

Hi John...

No, you need to load up the Array Configuration Utility (ACU) from the SmartStart CD. Once you have that up you should be able to add the three drives and see them in the ACU. You then need to take the drives and use them to create a new array. It's pretty intuitive once you get into ACU. An Array of Drives just appears as one drive to the system. You can create "logical drives" from the ACU and then partition these using Disk Administrator in WinWhirld.

Hope this helps,

Doug

[Douglas Young]

I'm sorry John....let me be a little clearer. I'm not sure Win2000 will see the drives if they are just mounted and not made into an array. Most likely it would but then the second point comes into play. Using Win2000's Disk Manager to do the Striping would just put additional burden on the OS. Why not use the Array Controller for what it is designed to do, provide hardware/software Array/Disk Management capability. Your server will run a lot smoother if you offload the RAID Management to the Array Controller and not expect the OS to run it.

Sound logical???