Disk extension takes 24hours !!!!

[Jerome_15]

Hi,

I have added a disk in my Raid 5 (now I have 5 disks)
and the extension takes near 24hours!!!!

I'm using a Smart Array 641 controller.

why its so long???

[Stephen Kebbell]

Hi,

probably because the 641 controller does not have any write cache (unless you added a BBWC option). Write cache definitely makes expansions faster. Depending on disk size, it could really take that long.

Regards,
Stephen

[Terry Hutchings]

This may be normal. What are the size of the drives? How much data do you have on the current array? What is your expand priority (found in ACU)? Is this being done offline or within the OS? If in the OS, is the server busy? Do you have the BBWC installed on the 641? All of these things will have an impact on how long this will take.

[Jerome_15]

ok...
I have 5 * 36Gb disks (migrating from 4 disks in raid 5 to 5 disks in raid 5)

I have set the expand priority option to high.

there is no write cache, only 64mb read cache.

there is some activity on the server, but not so much.

the disk usage is 70%

[Steven Clementi]

Jerome:

This process can take days if your lucky ;o)

I've seen it before, it's normal (usually).


Steven

[Ryan Goff]

this is normal, should take 20-40 minutes per GB

[Jerome_15]

thanks for your feedback.

I'm surprised because on other servers the time is less then mine.
but we have write cache enabled...

[Felipe Martinez]

Jerome:

Did you set to HIGH the Expand Priority? before the expansion and returned to LOW after expansion for no impact in the server operation.

I expanded my array (from 3 x 72GB RAID5 to 5 x 72GB RAID5) the procees was compelted during the nigth, unfortunatly i don´t have the total time but in the morning when i arrived the expansion was completed.

[Adrian Clint_1]

I'm sure HP quote 4GB per hour for expansion on the MSA1000. And thats at high priority. Does this sound about what you are getting?