RAID 1 migration on HP Smart Array 6402/128 controllers

[shermaine_1]

Hi, There,
We are running MS SQL database on HP Proliant G4 380 With RAID 1 Configuration. Currently we have 2 set of RAID 1, One for OS drive and another for Database drive. The 2 HDD for database drive are 15K SCSI UTRA320.
However we are still facing Disk I/O performance issue, so we plan to migrate to RAID 1O configuration which in turn will have 4 HDD to support the database read and Write.
I was told that there is a way of RAID migration from RAID 1 to RAID 10 with my database continue on line and without any harm, but myself do hv any idea on this, and I need carry out this activity on production server directly, I will be very apprecitated if any one can give some information on this.

Best regards
Shermaine

[Steven Clementi]

Shermaine:

On all Smart Array controllers, RAID 1 is actually RAID 0+1 (or is it 1+0?) Eitherway, it is the same when talking about a sart array.

So what that means is that your 2 disk array is already in the configuration you want, you just need to add more drives to the array.

Add the drives to the server then run ACU. In ACU, EXPAND the array with the 2 new drives. Once the expansion is complete, the 4 drives will be working together to handle the i/o of your database.


At this point, you will have some extra space to work with. You can either EXTEND the logical drive to give your db more space to work with or you can simply create a new logical drive to hold additional DB files or even other data.

The process is fully ONLINE and should not require any downtime at all. The only downtime I would plan for is if you want to expand the partition of the existing logical drive IN the OS. While expanding a partition in windows, it is suggested that you do not have any i/o to the disk, or limit it as best possible.


Steven

[shermaine_1]

Hi, Steven,
Thanks for you information provide.
Maybe I did express my question properly, actually we have existing configuration of RAID 1 which have 2 hdd, I am going to migration to RAID 10 Which include 4 HDDs for better I/O performance, and because I don't hv an environment to test, we don't have any space issue, only purpose for migrate RAID 1 to RAID 10 for better disk performance for my database, not extend disk vollumn.

Thanks and best regard
Shermaine

[shermaine_1]

Hi, Steven,
Thanks for you information provide.
Maybe I did express my question properly, actually we have existing configuration of RAID 1 which have 2 hdd, I am going to migration to RAID 10 Which include 4 HDDs for better I/O performance, and because I don't hv an environment to test, we don't have any space issue, only purpose for migrate RAID 1 to RAID 10 for better disk performance for my database, not extend disk vollumn.

Many thanks
Shermaine

[Mike Crowley]

I was confused on this as well, and contacted HP via phone for clarification.

First let me say that RAID 10 is NOT the same thing as RAID 01 a quick internet search will educate you on this matter.

In the HP software, when creating a RAID 1 array, its actually listed as RAID 1 / 10. These are not the same thing, but if you were to expand RAID 1, of course this would be impossible if it weren't converted to RAID 10 for you. Therefore, a RAID "Migration" (as HP calls it) is not necessary. You are simply expanding the array and logical drive as defined on page 24 here: http://docs.hp.com/en/9320/acu.pdf

I realize this post is old, but I just wanted to clear that up for future searchers!