DL360p 2630 (646901-421) 5x600GB Windows 2012 boot part

[Mikael Östergren]

DL360p 2630 (646901-421) 5x600GB Windows 2012 boot part

Hi!

Can't figure this one out. As subject says. I'm trying to setup Windows Server 2012 on a 5x600 GB (RAID 5) volume. This as one large logical drive and partition.

All updates done in provisioning. 1.20.

P420i (firm HPD4) array; 1 logical (5x600 HP EG0600FBDSR) ~ 2,2TB RAID 5.

In provisioning, custom install Windows 2012, I can't allocate all space in the logical volume. Partition size maxes out at 2097144 MB. The size of logical volume is according to ACU 2289175 MB.

Is it possible to use all of the 2289175 MB as boot and only volume/partition available?

Attachment: pic of 187 GB not able use.

[Johan Guldmyr]

Hi,

http://tinyapps.org/blog/windows/201204220730_windows_disks_over_2tb.html

To boot on a > 2TB ntfs volume it needs to be in GPT and your server needs to support UEFI boot.

[Cederberg]

This is probably not a windows limit (haven't read up on windows 2012) but a limit with MBR. If you need partitions larger than 2 TB you need to use GPT instead.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverfiles/thread/b4207736-9a73-4350-8e88-54842b063984/

[Mikael Östergren]

I'm using the provision (1.20) (Gen8 server) to install Windows and that's where the limitation is I think.

(I read somewhere that Windows Server 2012 would not be fully supported in Provision until 1.30. Is there a way to get hold of 1.30? BETA?)

The storage is going to be used for Hyper-V machines and I would really like not to just leave ~180 GB unused... :-)

Any suggestions on how to utilize the 2,2 TB in a more effective way? Create a smaller logical(ACU) volume for WS2012 (50-80GB?)

[Dave73]

As said before:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725671.aspx

[Mikael Östergren]

I've got that part. That there is a problem how partition tables are defined. :-)

My curiosity lies in if I'm able to achieve this with the Provision based installation that comes with the servers. It is the Provision setup (ACU on Linux?) who creates partitions (MBR). I've not found anywhere if one could change from MBR to GPT during installation or at installation time.

A MBR disk can only be converted when empty as I understand it. My first thought was to convert from MBR to GPT while in setup of WS2012. But, Provision has copied all files needed for installation to the volume already. Anyway to get the provision installation guide to create GPT partitions maybe?

I'm beating a dead horse here? Or is it something I don't understand maybe?

Thank you very much for your input on the case. I think I'll go with creating two logical volumes in ACU to begin with. I'll get back here and explain which route I went. You're very welcome to reply with other ideas here if you come up with something.

Brgs,

[Mikael Östergren]

I've got this totally backwards it looks like. Don't know what I was talking about. A logical drive in ACU always gets the size of the RAID volume. So making two logical drives on a set of discs is not possible... or... Sorry for the confusion.

[Johan Guldmyr]

With a Smart Array Controller it is possible to within a RAID array create multiple logical drives.

I haven't played with the provisioning tool though in the G8..

I'd say go with a smaller drive as the first logical drive and then a larger second one for the data. This is how HP's storage servers are set up (X1000) anyway.

[Mikael Östergren]

Thank you! Good call!

Didn't stop and really read what the page where you created logical volumes said. Right as you say, "custom" allows me to create very exotic configurations of logical drives in ACU.

I ended up with a 64GB (to small?) logical drive for 2012 and its Hypert-V roll. Then one more logicdrive which I'm going to use for the guests. The 2nd logic drive had to be a GPT to be able to grab the rest of the space available; ~2,1TB.

I think the above config is a keeper.

FYI: The final product is going to be two machines, 2 x (DL360p, 48GB, 5x600GB). Both running Hyper-V and replicating guest disks between them. To begin with there is only going to be one guest/host. The guests are a SQL 2008 and Exchange 2013 (~60 users).

Still have some performance testing to do. Stripe Size, Dynamic or fixed, ...

Thanks again! First time I use the hp-forums. I'll be back to contribute with my experiences :-)

[Johan Guldmyr]

Nice!
Don't forget to look into the interconnect between the servers. This can probably be tuned as well.