Proliant DL360 RAID shows activity after server shut down

[jproman]

I'm running linux on a ProLiant DL360 G2 with two 72 Gb hard disks in RAID-1 configuration. When I shut down the system, after linux is completely halted, both hard disks show intense activity indefinitely (at least for more than 48 hours).

Why do the hard drives show this behaviour? Can I power down without compromising hard disk and data integrity?

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

[Jimmy Vance · Accepted solution]

Generally when a Smart Array controller is idle for 60 seconds it will start doing surface scans of the disks looking for defective media

More info can be found here

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00687518/c00687518.pdf

[Patrick Terlisten]

Hello,

this is normal. The controller is checking the disks, disksurface etc. Everything's fine with it.

Best regards,
Patrick

[jproman]

Hi Jimmy and Patrick

Thank you very much for your quick and helpful answer.

Based on your comments, now I guess that when the system is halted the controller becomes idle, and after a few seconds it starts checking.

If I ever need to shut down the server, I guess I can power off just after linux is halted, before the checking begins. This should be safe for the disks.

Best regards,
Jose Pablo