Re-Inital Setup of DL380 G3

[Mike Jordan_1]

I have a DL380 G3 that has 2 18.2 gig hard drives set for Raid 0 on a 5i controller. I want to replace these with 6 36.4 gig drives and change to Raid 10. I'll be doing a fresh install of Win 2000 Server.

I inherited the IT department after two consultants that had been working here for the last 2 years left. I can't find the config disks for the 5i (although I did download the ACU CP003474.exe from HP which is suppose to work with the 5i). I don't know if I'll need anything since the controller is set up for Raid 0 and the two 18.2 drives.

I assume the first thing I need to do is install the new drives and then configure the contoller. I've never set up a raid controller before (past places have already had the servers configured or no raid controllers) so I'm not sure of the steps. I want to have a C: drive and a E: drive with the bulk of the space on the E: for a SQL database that is going there.

I've looked through the HP area and couldn't find any guidelines on doing this. Does anyone have a link or maybe some suggestions?

I did find the HP SmartStart ProLiant essentials release 6.10 and Server Setup and Management 4.90. Again, I'm assuming the 6.10 is the version to use to continue on and install 2000 server.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks

Mike

[David Lochhead]

This will delete ALL data on your drives !!!

Replace drives with the 6 X 36.4 Gb drives . Boot server with SmartStart 6.10 , Run system erase , reboot . Choose language and assisted install and then the ACU will start , HP calls RAID 10, RAID 0 + 1 , make your arrays (space) and then choose how many logical drives you want , reboot and install. Once you have everything installed download the SupportPaq 6.3 (6.4 is a little buggy still) and ServicePack 3 or 4 depending on how lax your management is . Apply the SP3/4 then BEFORE rebooting apply the SupportPaq 6.3 then reboot . Reapply the SupportPaq after ALL service Packs and Hotfixes. Install and configure SQL , make the necessary accounts then go for lunch

[Doug de Werd]

You might also want to check out the SQL Server section of hp's Active Answers web site at

http://h71019.www7.hp.com/ActiveAnswers/Render/1,1027,519-6-100-225-1,00.htm

and in particular, some of these papers:

http://h71019.www7.hp.com/ActiveAnswers/Render/1,1027,5108-6-100-225-1,00.htm

http://h71019.www7.hp.com/ActiveAnswers/Render/1,1027,5264-6-100-225-1,00.htm

http://h71019.www7.hp.com/ActiveAnswers/Render/1,1027,5266-6-100-225-1,00.htm

Thanks,
Doug

[Brian_Murdoch]

Mike,

The DL380G3 uses the Smart 5i+ (plus) controller.

The user guide can be downloaded from the following link.

http://h71025.www7.hp.com/support/reference_library/viewdocument.asp?countrycode=1000&prodid=2045|Smart+Array+5i+Controller&source=266328-001.xml&dt=264&docid=10462

This will explain how to configure the controller and the attached drives for Raid 1+0 or Raid 5 etc. You have a number of choices for this configuration. You can use the 6.10 Smartstart CD and ACU (Array Configuration Utility)or the Rom based ORCA (Option Rom Configuration for Arrays) which is within the controller. To use the ORCA press F8 when promted by the controller during bootup. All of this is explained in the user guide.

By the way, the 4.90 CD's are too old. The other suggestions regarding Support Packs etc are very good, particularly re-installing the 6.30 support packs whenever a change is made within the Operating system.

I hope this helps

Brian

[Mike Jordan_1]

Thanks for the suggestions and guidence. All 3 of you provided me with what I needed to get the server configured and Windows 2000 server up and running.

Although I think I made some assumptions that might not have been correct in configuring the 5i controller and raid.

I put in the 6 36.4 gig drives (they were fresh out of the package, so no worry about over writing anything) and went into the controller setup. It asked me how I wanted to set up the arrays with the 6 drives. I am wanting to set up a C: drive as a 4 gig boot drive ( saw that option as I went through the configuration). The rest of the drives I want to be E: drive (with the CD rom D:). When I set up the arrays I assigned one drive to array A and the rest to array B. Thinking two arrays make two logical drives. But after I had gotten though most of the config (sitting there watching installs gives you time to think) I began to think I should have made it all one array (or at leat 5 of them and left the 6th for a hot spare?) and then split up between two logical drives, the boot and the rest.

Does this sound right? Also, it only gave me the option for raid 5 on the second array and what I want is raid 0+1. I've dowloaded the user guide you suggested Brian but I haven't had a chance to go through it all yet. Before I finish configuring the Win Server I thought I would ask in case I need to go back and re-do it again.

Will I be able to have a hot spare with Raid 0+1 or will all 6 drives be used?

If I can, do I just not assign it to the array and it will be shown as a hot spare?

Thanks a lot for the help so far and I appreciate any other suggestions on the above questions.

Mike

[Martin Breidenbach · Accepted solution]

The operating system will only see logical drives. So if you create one big RAID5 (with or without hotspare) the OS will see one hard drive and you can partition it.

Depending on the purpose there may be reasons to use a different disk layout - for example one RAID1 for OS, one RAID5 for data (and maybe a hotspare). The advantage here is that for example the NT swap file will be on the RAID1 and will not 'take away' performance from the RAID5 drive.

[Martin Breidenbach]

Re: hot spare
For RAID0+1 you need an even number of drives. If you have 6 drives and you want a hot spare then you've got 5 drives for data. But RAID0+1 isn't possible with 5 drives.

[Mike Jordan_1]

Thanks Martin, that's what I was thinking as I sat there watching it load it's stuff. at least I know it's not that difficult and I haven't gotten so far I can't go back and re-do it. Plus I have downloaded the upgraded updates now too.

So I'll go do it again. Thanks for the clarifacation on this.

Mike