Using Ghost Enteprise 8.2 with ML110 (RAID1)

[Louis Vézina]

I'm trying to take a Ghost image from a mirror array on a ML110 but when I want to select source drive in Ghost, the computer freeze. Ctrl-Alt-Del doesn't work, nothing else than press the power button work. If I use the version 1.00 BIOS that include an older version of the RAID controller firmware, it work but I get something like 20% of the normal speed. When I use a newer BIOS, nothing to do, it doesn't work. Anyone as a trick to make Ghost work in this situation?

Thank you!

[Stussy]

Its possible to take an image with ghost even with the latest bios.
You have to start the server with ide turned on in the bios and then you can take only a working ghost that is the exact size of you're harddrive.
With this command ghost -id -fis
so the array information is also in the image
Don't forget to change in the bios back to raid before you start windows!

[Louis Vézina]

And how can I push the image on a RAID 1 volume? If I create the array after pushing the image on the first disk, all data is erased...

Thank you!

[Stussy]

You have to start with only you're disk with the image on, the array is recognized (its in you're image) Start windows and restart. (new hardware detected).
Then you have too put in the second disk, be certain its formatted (so there is no array information on it).
And know you can create a hot spare in you're storage manager and it will start rebuilding.

[Louis Vézina]

And there is no way to do this operation without making tweak like that? I have 50 ML110 installed each week by technician on the road. The server already have the second hard disk installed. I'm thinking about returning to IBM, I've never had difficult with the Adaptec RRAID Controller.

Thank you again for your support.

[David Godbold]

We are just evaluating a ML110 and have found the same problem, we have been unable to load a gost image on this box when the using SATA RAID 1. We have use SATA RAID on other Hardware and have had no issues in loading a Ghost Image. We are conducting a 3 year tender to purchase over a 1000 units so HP needs to resolve this issue or we will be looking for another vendors product that works with Ghost.

[Peter Malakhov]

Same problem but with HP Proliant ML310 G3 and HP Embedded SATA RAID controller.

When SATA RAID is enabled in BIOS and I boot from a DOS floppy, Ghost 8.0 does not see the hard drives or freezes when selecting source drive.

I can ghost the drive after disabling SATA RAID, but then I cannot re-enable RAID on the cloned server. I get a warning that all my data will be erased.

previous poster said to enable IDE in BIOS instead of SATA, how do I do that? provided instructions are not clear. Please be more specific or detailed.

Thank you!

[wahyudi]

I experience the same problem with ML110G4, I'm using Acronis true image server. The symtom is exactly the same as mentioned above.
After booting with acronis boot CD then freeze after the main menu displayed.

[Peter Malakhov]

An update on the resolution:

- Build ML310 G3 server chassis with a single SATA HDD; do not enable SATA RAID in BIOS.

- Boot from a network bootable floppy (I used Bart's MODBOOT floppy with Broadcom NIC drivers), use Ghost 8.0 to load Disk > From Image, located on a network share.

- Boot into Windows, run through the mini-setup, restart.

- Install software that is not currently in the image (these are deficiencies):
* Uninstall Adaptec Storage manager, install HP Storage Manager
* Install Microsoft Update client
* Install MDAC 2.8

- Add second hot-swap SATA HDD, restart.

- Upon restart, enable SATA RAID in BIOS Advanced Options, and press F8 to start BIOS SATA RAID Config Utility.

- Use "Configure Drives" menu to select both HDDs. There will be a warning:

"One or more selected devices has a valid partition. There is a risk of losing data if configured. Continue? (Yes/No)"

- Ignore the warning and press Yes.

- Use "Create Array" menu to create a RAID 1 array using Build method (THIS IS IMPORTANT!). There will be a warning:

"A member drive contains valid partition table or boot block. When a RAID array is created, this info will be destroyed. Continue? (Yes/No)"

- Ignore the warning and press Yes to create the array.
IMPORTANT: Select Drive 00 as Source Drive. This is the original drive that sits in the lowest hot-swap slot.

- Array will be rebuilt, it takes more than 6 hrs with 80 GB SATA drives, so do it overnight.

- After array is completed, mark it as Bootable by pressing Ctrl-B and quit the BIOS Array Config Utility.

- Voila! The system boots to Windows, and array is recognized in HP Storage Manager.

[Cesar C. Cheng]

I tried the updated solution from Peter M. and was unsuccessful. After the last step, it boots into the Windows 2003 splash screen and goes into a rebooting loop.

The only difference I can think of is that I'm using HP ML310 G4 with a Windows 2003 image. Also, I am using the latest BIOS and RAID SATA firmware.

Does anyone have a fix or a working solution in which we can ghost an image to and from a RAID 1 drive using the embedded HP SATA RAID? Can any HP moderator help me?