DL320 G6 - B110i RAID Controller - Rebuild Raid 1+0

[anyCOPY]

Hi all,

we have a HP DL320 G6 Server, running a Smart Array B110i RAID controller, with 2 x 750GB SATA disks.

Yesterday, one of the disks failed. We have replaced the faulty disk, and in the Option Rom Config ( BIOS ), it states RECOVERING. This message has been standing there now for almost 24 hours. Is this normal behaviour? Does a RAID rebuild really take this long?

Attached screenshot of the config screen ( through ILO )

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Kay Dieckmann

anyCOPY ApS

København - Danmark

[-Cisco-]

Hello the issue you are having is not common, can you check the status from the ACU (Array configuration utility)? and maybe post a screenshot.

[anyCOPY]

Hi,

sadly no, we are running ESXi on this server, so no Windows is available. Also, upon booting, I tries to boot up from C:, but stalls there.

Also, the server is located in a datacenter, so at this time, I dont have physical access to the server, unless I drive there. ( which is why I'm on ILO )

Any other thoughts?

[Goutham_Sabala]

Hi, 

One Gb will take about 15mins, this is theorteical value , it completely depends on the controller, rebuilding of the array happens when the controller is free, usually controller that has a cache works faster than the one without, B110 is a dynamic controller which simply means that the load is on the OS for rebuilding, It also depends upon the rebuild prioirty has been setup in the array config utility ( which cannot be changed untill the array is completely up )

[anyCOPY]

Hi Goutham,

Thanks for also answering in my thread.

By your statement, you are contradicting what Cisco said. He claims its not normal behaviour for a RAID rebuild to take this long, while you state that 1GB =15 minutes. With a 750GB SATA drive, that would equal 11.250 minutes=187,5 hours which is roughly 8 days.. for a RAID 1+0 rebuild. I hope you're not serious, because that is unacceptable in any enterprise environment

Also, we're not using an Array Configuration Utility. The screenshot I posted is the only way of telling what the RAID is doing, since we're not running a 'normal' OS on the server, but ESXi ( for 2 virtual machines in VMWare ).

Thanks for your input though, any other thoughts are greatly appreciated

[Torsten.]

>> One Gb will take about 15mins

Based on this it would take a week?

I have seen several cases with a smartarray 410 without cache when recovering took 1 day for a 300GB disk - seems to be normal. Obviously it is much faster with cache.

[anyCOPY]

hi Torsten,

Also thanks for contributing.

Based on what you said, 300GB in 24 hours, I should be able to have my RAID rebuilt tomorrow by the end of the day.

I will show some more patience, and report back in here when/if its done.

Kay Dieckmann

anyCOPY

[Torsten.]

This is a background operation, so you can continue to work. Depending on the load it could take a bit longer to sync the data.

[anyCOPY]

Well, thats the issue, its not a background operation for us.

It was the first disk in the array that failed. We shut down the server, replaced the faulty drive with a spare ( in slot 1 ), and booted the server up. In the Option Rom Configuration for Arrays ( see first post screenshot ) it states that the Status is Recovering, with no progress indicator. If I let the server go through the POST boot, it comes up with a message that it's trying to boot from C: , but nothing happens. So we're stuck with a non-working environment, I guess, untill the rebuild is completed.

In hindsight, should we have placed disk 2 ( the working one ) in slot 1, and put the disk to rebuild to in slot 2?

[Rashwanov]

@anyCOPY Am in the exact same situation now.

Can you please advise what you have done, if you managed to get ESXi boot once more ?