Convert existing 2-disk Raid 1 to 4-disk Raid 1+0 in ONLINE mode

[Jeff_Siegel]

Hello,

I have a Proliant DL380p Gen8, currently with 2 disks configured as a Raid 1. I run the HP-supplied-image of Vmware 5.5U1 on the server. I just purchased 2 more SAS drives of the same size as the existing disks (4TB each). I have a P420i controller with firmware 5.42. I would like to:

1. Convert the existing 4TB Raid1 logical drive to an 8TB Raid 1+0 logical drive without losing my existing data. Can this be done?
2. As this will take some time to do, I would like to do with the virtuals machines still running. This means using hpssacli on the ESXi 5.5U1 host. Can some give me the exact sequence of hpssacli commands for this procedure?
3. Expand the VMFS5 datastore. This part is a VMware question, not an SSA question, but I mentioned it in case anyone has insight to this step as well.

Regards,

Jeff

[Jeff_Siegel]

Here is a report of what I currently have:

/opt/hp/hpssacli/bin # ./hpssacli controller slot=0 show config detail

Smart Array P420i in Slot 0 (Embedded)
Bus Interface: PCI
Slot: 0
Serial Number: 001438030BD1A00
Cache Serial Number: PBKUD0BRH6WEYQ
RAID 6 (ADG) Status: Enabled
Controller Status: OK
Hardware Revision: B
Firmware Version: 5.42
Rebuild Priority: Low
Expand Priority: Medium
Surface Scan Delay: 3 secs
Surface Scan Mode: Idle
Queue Depth: Automatic
Monitor and Performance Delay: 60 min
Elevator Sort: Enabled
Degraded Performance Optimization: Disabled
Inconsistency Repair Policy: Disabled
Wait for Cache Room: Disabled
Surface Analysis Inconsistency Notification: Disabled
Post Prompt Timeout: 15 secs
Cache Board Present: True
Cache Status: OK
Cache Ratio: 15% Read / 85% Write
Drive Write Cache: Disabled
Total Cache Size: 2.0 GB
Total Cache Memory Available: 1.8 GB
No-Battery Write Cache: Disabled
Cache Backup Power Source: Capacitors
Battery/Capacitor Count: 1
Battery/Capacitor Status: OK
SATA NCQ Supported: True
Spare Activation Mode: Activate on physical drive failure (default)
Controller Temperature (C): 55
Cache Module Temperature (C): 33
Capacitor Temperature (C): 25
Number of Ports: 2 Internal only
Driver Name: hpsa
Driver Version: 5.5.0.60-1OEM
Driver Supports HP SSD Smart Path: False

Array: A
Interface Type: SAS
Unused Space: 0 MB
Status: OK
Array Type: Data
HP SSD Smart Path: disable

Logical Drive: 1
Size: 3.6 TB
Fault Tolerance: 1
Heads: 255
Sectors Per Track: 63
Cylinders: 65535
Strip Size: 256 KB
Full Stripe Size: 256 KB
Status: OK
Caching: Enabled
Unique Identifier: 600508B1001CF6300791CD4C58937ABD
Disk Name: vmhba0:C0:T0:L1
Mount Points: None
Logical Drive Label: A2F9883F001438030BD1A00F1FC
Mirror Group 0:
physicaldrive 1I:1:1 (port 1I:box 1:bay 1, SAS, 4000.7 GB, OK)
Mirror Group 1:
physicaldrive 1I:1:2 (port 1I:box 1:bay 2, SAS, 4000.7 GB, OK)
Drive Type: Data
LD Acceleration Method: Controller Cache

physicaldrive 1I:1:1
Port: 1I
Box: 1
Bay: 1
Status: OK
Drive Type: Data Drive
Interface Type: SAS
Size: 4000.7 GB
Native Block Size: 512
Rotational Speed: 7200
Firmware Revision: HPD5
Serial Number: Z1Z3VYJG0000C4395ZEQ
Model: HP MB4000FCWDK
Current Temperature (C): 33
Maximum Temperature (C): 47
PHY Count: 2
PHY Transfer Rate: 6.0Gbps, Unknown
Drive Authentication Status: OK
Carrier Application Version: 11
Carrier Bootloader Version: 6

physicaldrive 1I:1:2
Port: 1I
Box: 1
Bay: 2
Status: OK
Drive Type: Data Drive
Interface Type: SAS
Size: 4000.7 GB
Native Block Size: 512
Rotational Speed: 7200
Firmware Revision: HPD5
Serial Number: Z1Z3X27P00009439LQC6
Model: HP MB4000FCWDK
Current Temperature (C): 33
Maximum Temperature (C): 47
PHY Count: 2
PHY Transfer Rate: 6.0Gbps, Unknown
Drive Authentication Status: OK
Carrier Application Version: 11
Carrier Bootloader Version: 6

unassigned

physicaldrive 1I:1:3
Port: 1I
Box: 1
Bay: 3
Status: OK
Drive Type: Unassigned Drive
Interface Type: SAS
Size: 4000.7 GB
Native Block Size: 512
Rotational Speed: 7200
Firmware Revision: HPD5
Serial Number: S1Z0AJ6A0000K448F46G
Model: HP MB4000FCWDK
Current Temperature (C): 30
Maximum Temperature (C): 33
PHY Count: 2
PHY Transfer Rate: 6.0Gbps, Unknown
Drive Authentication Status: OK
Carrier Application Version: 11
Carrier Bootloader Version: 6

physicaldrive 1I:1:4
Port: 1I
Box: 1
Bay: 4
Status: OK
Drive Type: Unassigned Drive
Interface Type: SAS
Size: 4000.7 GB
Native Block Size: 512
Rotational Speed: 7200
Firmware Revision: HPD5
Serial Number: S1Z09VMD0000K4490T6Q
Model: HP MB4000FCWDK
Current Temperature (C): 31
Maximum Temperature (C): 33
PHY Count: 2
PHY Transfer Rate: 6.0Gbps, Unknown
Drive Authentication Status: OK
Carrier Application Version: 11
Carrier Bootloader Version: 6

SEP (Vendor ID PMCSIERA, Model SRCv8x6G) 380
Device Number: 380
Firmware Version: RevB
WWID: 5001438030BD1A0F
Vendor ID: PMCSIERA
Model: SRCv8x6G

/opt/hp/hpssacli/bin #

[waaronb]

I'll start by saying that I'm not familiar with the CLI itself, so I can't help you out there.

But it is possible to add the extra drives to an existing array while the system is running.  I've only done it from the Windows config utility though, so I can't help with doing it the way you need to.

Basically, once you've physically installed the drives, you would go to the array you want to modify and add the new drives to it.  Once that's done you can change the array from a RAID 1 to RAID 1+0 and it will start the online expansion.

As soon as the expansion is done, it's up to you (and if the OS supports it) whether you want to extend the current logical volume or create an additional volume in the new free space of the array.  In Windows, if you extend the existing logical volume, that works fine and you'd just go into the disk manager to extend the partition (or create a new partition in the new space).  As long as you don't wind up with a boot partition too big.

In ESX, I'm not sure what it's capabilities or any limitations are, but you're probably ready for that part of it.

[Jeff_Siegel]

All,

I finished my RAID conversion from 2 disks to 4 disks using information I gleaned from other web sites. There seems to be very little information about hpssacli on the web, so I'm showing here what I did in the hopes that it helps someone else.

To review, I started off with 2 disks, 4TB each, as a Raid 1. I have ESXi 5.5U1 installed. A single logical drive was partitioned by ESXi into multiple partitions when I installed the server originally. The datastore is the last partition on the logical drive. Here is the procedure to move to a 4-disk Raid 1+0 and grow the datastore:

0. Note: you must have a flash-backed-write-cache (FBWC) or battery-backed write cache (BBWC) attached to your Raid controller to be able to do this.

1. Insert the 2 new disks into the server.

2. Go on the physical console, log on to ESXi, go to Troubleshooting Options, Enable SSH Shell.

3. SSH into ESXi

4. cd /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin

5. ./hpssacli ctrl slot=0 ld 1 add drives=allunassigned

6. This automatically changes the Raid type from 1 to 1+0. An "array transformation" will begin. For me, it took ~60 hours for the transformation to complete.

7. Use this command to monitor the status of the transformation: ./hpssacli controller slot=0 ld 1 show detail

8. After the transformation is complete, the logical drive will still be the same size. Now expand the logical drive using this command:

9. ./hpssacli controller slot=0 logicaldrive 1 modify size=max forced

10. Now you are ready to grow the datastore. Open the "vSphere Web Client" in your web browser and log in.

11. Navigate to "Storage" and locate your datastore. Right-click on the datastore and choose "Increase Datastore Capacity". Follow the prompts, click Next, and the datastore will be expanded.

Regards,

Jeff