Possible DL380 Disk Upgarde

[PaulD_1]

Hi!

Currently have an arrayB/Raid5 with x4 140Gb disks (we used the hot spare last year to increase the logical drive). We will be shortly running out of disk space again and I have been looking into upgrading the disks to 300Gb each. Would like to draw on other peoples experience as to the procedure involved, not sure if the process is a tricky one.

1. Would you remove/replace all 4 disks then go container config to setup a a new Raid5?
2. Boot and format free space for new logical drive (d:\)
3. Could the old disks be replaced (in same sequence) if there were any problem with setting up new disks.
4. Any opinions regarding using a disk as hot spare or adding to the Array? We would have next day cover if we lost one disk.

Would really appreciate some thoughts, many thanks in advanced!

[raadek]

Maybe slightly off-topic but I would create RAID 1+0 instead of RAID 5 + hot-spare: same capacity, much better performance (especially for random writes) & could be considered as only slightly less secure (you would need to loose simultaneously both drives from the same mirror to screw up your array).

[Steven Clementi · Accepted solution]

Paul:

First question I have is, is this Windows? I assume it is since you mentioned "D:\"


1. No. I would replace each drive, individually, letting each one rebuild before swapping the next. After replacing all the disks, you will have the extra room to extend a logical drive, or create a new logical drive, or both. If you Extend the Logical Disk, you can then use Diskpart to extend the partition.

2. No need to based on above.

3. No, since the data will have changed since the first pull, if you use the method above.

4. As mentioned, you would get about the same amount of usable drive space if you went with RAID 1+0 vs. RAID5 (3 drives + HS). Either way, you can lose a disk and be ok. The only thing you gain with RAID5+HS is that you can then lose any second disk, after the HS rebuilt and be ok where as in the RAID1+0 config, if you lost the mirror disk to the original disk that filed, your SOL.


Steven

[PaulD_1]

Thanks for response guys! Sorry Steven should have mentioned it is Windows 2003 (SP1).

1. Would drive replacment/rebuid be feasible with the server on-line (itâ s our main file/print server). Presumably users would just see some lesser performance during this period. If I remember correctly adding one 140Gb hot spare to the array took something like 2 weeks using a 5i controller (going up about 7% per day) â just wondering about the pitfalls!

2. Will check for some related HP documentation but what are the basic steps for a rebuild (with no hot spare) - replacing each disk in turn (starting with disk3) - presume that the rebuild is automatic and progress would be monitored from the ACU.

Again thanks in advanced!

[Steven Clementi]

Paul:

1. Would drive replacment/rebuid be feasible with the server on-line (itâ  s our main file/print server). Presumably users would just see some lesser performance during this period. If I remember correctly adding one 140Gb hot spare to the array took something like 2 weeks using a 5i controller (going up about 7% per day) â  just wondering about the pitfalls!

1a. Yes. The rebuild process is NOT like the "expand" process. Dependong on the amount of data on the replaced drive, sure... it can take a while, but not 2 weeks. More like a few hours to maybe a day TOPS. I would do it 1 per night, before you leave. By the morning, it should be done.

2. Will check for some related HP documentation but what are the basic steps for a rebuild (with no hot spare) - replacing each disk in turn (starting with disk3) - presume that the rebuild is automatic and progress would be monitored from the ACU.

2a. That is basically it. If you grab the older Graphical ACU (v2.9 I think), you will get a fancy percentage bar that shows progress. If you just use the newer web based ACU, you don't get the progress bar. Rebuild should be automatic. You can set the priority as well... low/normal/high. If doing it at night, you might want to set it high, then reset it in the morning for the rest of the day to normal, or even low... if the rebuild is still running. I don't expect that it would be, but every environment is different. You can start with any disk.

Definitely have a good backup before hand.

Steven

[PaulD_1]

Thanks Steven - much appreciated information!