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Re: ML310 G5 SATA RAID configuration

 
Huijboos
Advisor

ML310 G5 SATA RAID configuration

Hi,

I recently bought a HP ml310 G5 server to use at home with ESXi 3.5 u4. Just to get it started i bought just one SATA disk with it.
It is running VMWare just fine.
Only, now i want to expand the server with 4 SATA disks, instead of just one. (they're 160GB 7.2 SATA disks from HP)
I would like to setup a RAID10. Now before i start adding the disks, my question is, how can i expand and change the RAID setup without destroying the data on the allready excisting disk? Or do i have to backup the datastore, destroy all data and reinstall vmware after i upgraded the RAID aray?

Thanks!
Sander
7 REPLIES 7
TTr
Honored Contributor

Re: ML310 G5 SATA RAID configuration

With SATA drives there is not much you can do. Do you have the embedded SATA controller or a SAS controller?
Huijboos
Advisor

Re: ML310 G5 SATA RAID configuration

Hi,
Thanks for your reply!
I'm using the embedded SATA controller.
It's not really a disaster if i have to start from the ground up and reinstall ESXi on a newly made partition, but i just wondered if it could be done without loosing the data.
Also, does anyone have some benchmark results showing the difference in performance between a RAID10 and RAID0 array?

Thanks again!
TTr
Honored Contributor

Re: ML310 G5 SATA RAID configuration

Not much you can do with the embedded SATA controller. It has limited features and functionality. With the "smarter" SA controllers you could have done what you were thinking, live and without loss of data.
Huijboos
Advisor

Re: ML310 G5 SATA RAID configuration

Are you sure about this?
On another thread i just found this: (Also a thread for a ML310 G5):

Hi All,

Did you know that we can migrate from Jbod to Raid 0/1 on Embedded SATA RAID Controllers.

What does that mean:

1. Install OS with Embedded SATA RAID Disabled(No Drivers or F6 required) on one Harddrive.
2. Once OS is installed, Extract the Embedded SATA RAID Drivers to a folder.
3. Goto Control Panel-> Add New Hardware->Device is connected->New Hardware->Raid Controller->Have Disk->Browse to the folder where the Embedded SATA RAID Drivers were extracted. Select the .inf file->Install Adaptec Raid Driver.
4. Restart the Server goto BIOS enable the Embedded SATA RAID.
5. Press F8 and goto Sata Raid BIOS->Configure the Drives->Create Array->Raid 0/1 A warning message will appear "Warning: Configuring the drives will erase all Array information from the selected drives, if that drive is part of an array. Arrays using any of these drives as members will be affected! Do you want to continue?(Yes/No):". Press "Y" to continue.
6. If Raid 1 is selected it will ask you what is the Source Disk, select the Right Disk in which OS was installed previously. Warning message might appear again. Select "Y".
7. Rebuild will take sometime, once rebuild is complete restart the server.

Found the info here:
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1209664

Once my disks are in, i will try it out for myself, and will update you with the results.

TTr
Honored Contributor

Re: ML310 G5 SATA RAID configuration

Let us know how it turns out. It appears that it may be possible to go from a single disk to raid1 (mirror pair). It is certainly not mentioned anywhere in the user guide. Even in the BIOS dialog the raid1 conversion is buried in the mirror creation dialog. Of course don't expect any advance features such as raid or lun expansion, etc.

http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00771065/c00771065.pdf
Huijboos
Advisor

Re: ML310 G5 SATA RAID configuration

Small update:
Yesterday i received the disks, so i pulled a backup of the datastore, so experimenting could begin! :)
Anyway, what i did was i shut down the server, put in one disk in slot 2, booted the server into the RAID config menu, where i created a RAID 0 (striping) array with the new and allready excisting disk. The config menu has an option to "migrate" the excisting data from one source disk. This is what i did. The migration took several hours, and since it was allready getting quite late, i went to bed. This morning i checked the server, and migration was successfull. Nice!!
however, once i rebooted the server and started ESXi, the boot failed as there was no bootable partition. (no time to dive into this, had to go to work..)
So, next step for tonight is to make the partition with the migrated data bootable; not sure this is possible though. Worst case is to delete all data and reinstall the server. (no problem, backup of the datastore was successfull.)

Ultimate goal is to create to 2 RAID0 arrays and put them in a RAID1 for striping / redundancy.

Will let you know how it works out.
Huijboos
Advisor

Re: ML310 G5 SATA RAID configuration

update:
i ran into a more serious problem.
While i could do anything with the RAID array without loosing my data (create RAID 0, 1 or 10 arrays) i just found out that the ICH9 controller is not supported in ESXi, in other words: when i don't use RAID, the installation will find all 4 loose drives, but not the array. I can install on one of the disks without problems, but it won't boot from the array.