DL380 G2 5i -> 5i Plus & MSA500 in DAS (ADG) mode

[Barry Allard]

DL380 G2 w/ integrated Smart Array 5i -> 5i Plus & BBWC & MSA500 in DAS (ADG) mode,

DL380 G2 w/ 5i <---> MSA500 (Smart Array Cluster Storage, original configuration, 1 array controller), only 1 device.

What's the chance of losing any data or config info by upgrading? Anyone done this before on a production machine?

Thanks.
-Barry

[Doug de Werd]

Sorry, but it's not clear to me what you are upgrading?

Could you please be more specific?

Thanks,
Doug

[Barry Allard]

This machine is basically production, or will be shortly:

ProLiant DL380 G2 Server

contains:
Smart Array 5i controller

(2) two 36G disks internally as one RAID-1 volume on the 5i.

Smart Array Cluster Storage (MSA500) (10x74GB as one volume in ADG) attached via the external HD scsi connector to the 5i.

This MSA500 has the basic configuration of one controller blade.


The server is running Win 2003

two volumes: COMPAQ LOGICAL VOLUME SCSI Disk Device (36 gb system partition internally)
COMPAQ LOGICAL VOLUME SCSI Disk Device (550 gb data partition on MSA500)


1) Is there a procedure to swap the "5i" on the DL380 for a ( "5i Plus" with the "Battery Backed Write Cache Enabler" (battery pack) ) w/o losing any data? Losing the array information is fine if it is regenable.

2) Is the MSA500's volume configuration stored on the actual MSA500 ?

3) I know that I will probably lose the system partition array configuration, there should be a way to recreate the partition.

4) Windows will just redetect the 5i plus controller, correct?

All we're running is filesharing on this box. Nothing really special.

[SAKET_5]

Hi Barry,

1) SA5i is an integrated array controller on DL380 G2 with no BBWC. So are you planning to replace the motherboard or are you just planning to disable this controller from the BIOS and use a PCI slot to install the SA5i +? If later option is your case, then I would say you should just be able to connect the SCSI interconnect cable plugged to SA5i to SA5i+ and you should be in business.

2)From what I know, the disk/array info is stored on both array controller and the disks so in the event of a array controller failure, you would replace the controller and no loss of data or array occurs. Similarly, in the event of losing drives, you replace the drives and no loss of drive/array info occurs. I do not believe any info would be stored on MSA5000. It would be in SA5i.

3) Not sure what you mean here.More info please.

4) Make sure you plug the 5i + in a supported PCI slot, correctly modify the boot controller order to reflect the change of controllers. Upgrade the firmware and install the latest driver or PSP for proliant.

Hope this helps and don't forget to assign points:)

Regards,

[Stephen Kebbell]

Hi Barry & Saket,

the Smart Array 5i Plus does not go into a PCI slot. To my knowledge, you replace the Smart 5i module on the mainboard with the 5i+ module, and attach the battery via the cable that comes with the option kit.
All Array info is stored on the disks, whether it's a Smart Array controller or an MSA Controller. You can connect them to any modern array controller and the data will remain intact (as long as the disks are in the correct order). Thus you could take disks from a server's internal drive cage and put them in an MSA unit without data loss (when everything's powered off, of course).
Since the 5i and the 5i+ use the exact same driver, Windows shouldn't have any problems.
You shouldn't lose any data, but make sure you have a working backup to be on the safe side.

Regards,
Stephen

[Doug de Werd]

All of the previous info is correct. The array and volume info is stored on the drives in the MSA500, so you should have no problems with data loss, but still, make sure to have a backup, just in case :-)

The BBWC is basically transparent to the OS, so again, you shouldn't have any problems. You should make sure that you have updated to the latest firmware on the Smart 5i (at least version 2.36 or greater), and also make sure to use the latest Windows drivers.

Here is a link to the installation instructions - it's pretty simple.

http://wwss1pro.compaq.com/support/reference_library/viewdocument.asp?source=274745-002.xml&dt=262

You can get more info on the firmware and drivers here as well:


http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/locate/5364.html

Thanks,
Doug

[Barry Allard]

Wow, great info from multiple sources. I'll give it a try tonight. Thanks everyone!