HP ACU delete logical drive issue

[Jake M_1]

Hi,

My problem is that i need to delete the top logical drive (1.5TB)to free up enough space to create 6 smaller logical drives.

The ACU will allow me to delete the bottom logical drive but none of the above. This means that to delete the top drive, i need to have deleted all of the drives which sit below, thus deleting EVERYTHING on this server.

This is not possible as it is a live real-time replicated backup solution which needs to remain online.

Does anyone know another way of deleting a particular volume without having to delete everything below it?



We are running a
* HP DL 380 G4
* Smart Array 6400 controller with
---------Firmware 2.68
---------Driver 5.72.0.32 (19/05/2006)
* Array Config Utility (ACU) (7.60.18.0)
* 14 x 300gb SCSI U320 disks (3.7TB)
* Windows Server 2003 standard

The view of logical drives, using the ACU (Array Configuration Utility) is the following, starting at the top,

-Smart Array 6400 Controller in Slot 3
------Parallel SCSI Array A with Spare
-------------Logical Drive 1(1536000MB)
-------------Logical Drive 2(307200MB)
-------------Logical Drive 3(102398MB)
-------------Logical Drive 4(71678MB)
-------------Logical Drive 5(40959MB)
-------------Unused Space, 1489510MB

Thats 5 logical drives and approx 1.5TB of unused space at the end.



Any help/pointers appreciated

Thanks,
Jake

[Jake M_1]

Further to this,

An alternative acceptable option would be to shrink this Logical Drive in the Array Configuration Utility (ACU) to something much smaller although i cannot find a way of doing this either!

Any ideas would be much appreciated,
thanks in advance,
Jake

[KarloChacon]

hello

are you getting any specific error when you're trying to delete that?

my recommendation update:

firmware for your 6400 controller, 2.80 (C)
http://tinyurl.com/2859sn
controller for your 6400 controller, 5.78.0.32
http://tinyurl.com/2d9tk2
Array diagnostic utility report, 7.85
http://tinyurl.com/2fjyo6

and try again

regards

[James ~ Happy Dude]

Hi Jake,
Is that the Active partition that cant be deleted ?

Regards.

[Jake M_1]

Hi There,
Thanks for your responses.

Its not an active partition in fact its nothing to do with the operating system. This is a data array. The os and page files etc are on a completely seperate array.

I am not getting any errors from ACU because it wont let me delete the drive.

I have attached 3 screen dumps as examples of my issue. I have checked on other servers with multiple logical drives and the same stands. It will only let you delete them in reverse order!

Its bizarre that it lets you extend/migrate raid size etc but wont let you delete anything other than the bottom logical drive...

There must be a way somehow to delete the middle or top logical drive without deleting the ones underneith first?!

[Jake M_1]

Hi There,
Thanks for your responses.

Its not an active partition in fact its nothing to do with the operating system. This is a data array. The os and page files etc are on a completely seperate array.

I am not getting any errors from ACU because it wont let me delete the drive.

I have attached 3 screen dumps as examples of my issue. I have checked on other servers with multiple logical drives and the same stands. It will only let you delete them in reverse order!

Its bizarre that it lets you extend/migrate raid size etc but wont let you delete anything other than the bottom logical drive...

There must be a way somehow to delete the middle or top logical drive without deleting the ones underneith first?!

[kris rombauts]

Hi Jake,


The fact you cannot delete any logical drive but the latest and backwards to the first is normal and by design, it has always been like this and is not limited to the SmartArray controller, i have seen other PCI raid controllers in the market and they behave the same..

Since all of the logical drives are inside the same array A, there is no way to remove any logical drives in between the first and last, if it were different arrays with each a logical drive then it would have been possible in a few steps that i tried myself and which works fine.

So i am afraid you have to backup and restore the data and re-create the logical drive(s) you need in between those two steps.

HTH

Kris

[Jake M_1]

Nightmare!!

Thanks for your help with this, i will crack on with a full backup in that case!!

Such a shame, what a useful feature this would be!

Thanks again
Jake