problem with raid configuration

[pippo_20]

Hi all,

I installed a brand new DL360 G4 with 2 ULTRA320 SCSI disks, each 36 GB. I configured it using a single logical drive split in two partitions (raid 1).
Using the diag tools, this is the output (see below), which looks fine to me.
However, when I shutdown the system and remove one disk, the system complains no OS was found, If I remove it when the system is online, it crashes (windows hard error)...

Anyone knows what is wrong ?
Thanks in advance !



Logical Drive Information

A: Removable Drive (Floppy, LS120, Zip, etc.)
C: Hard Drive (System) . . . . . 14.002 GB (10.679 GB Free)
D: Hard Drive (Data) . . . . . . 19.906 GB (18.385 GB Free)
E: CD/PDCD/DVD/CDRW Drive

Physical Drive Information

COMPAQ CD-ROM SN-124 CDROM
Firmware Revision . . . . . . N104

HP SA6i Array Controller
Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Firmware Revision . . . . . . 2.36
Daughterboard Type . . . . . . NONE
Installed Memory . . . . . . . 32MB
Total Cache . . . . . . . . . 32MB
Read Cache Size . . . . . . . 32MB
Write Cache Size . . . . . . . 0MB
Battery Count . . . . . . . . 0

HP LOGICAL VOLUME Disk Array
Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . 33.913 GB
Firmware Revision . . . . . . 2.36

COMPAQ BF03688284 RAID Hard Drive
Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . 33.917 GB
Firmware Revision . . . . . . HPB3

COMPAQ BF03687B54 RAID Hard Drive
Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . 33.917 GB
Firmware Revision . . . . . . HPB2

COMPAQ PROLIANT 6L2I SCSI Backplane
Serial Number . . . . . . . . Not Available
Firmware Revision . . . . . . 0.09

Slot 0 RAID Hard Drive

Slot 1 RAID Hard Drive

Slot 2 RAID Hard Drive

Slot 3 RAID Hard Drive

Slot 4 RAID Hard Drive

Slot 5 RAID Hard Drive

Removable Hard Drive
Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . 36408 MB

[Steven Clementi]

Marco:


The first thing I would do, based on this output, is update HDD firmware so that they match. Though not likely the problem, it could cause issues.

Second, check your array. Make sure you actuall have the 2 drives defined in the array. Within Windows, run the Array Configuration Utility to check things out. Alternatively, you can reboot and enter the bios setup utility for the SA Controller when prompted (just after initialization, hit F8).

Other than that, and not having any more information, I am not sure if I can provide any more suggestions.



Steven

[Steven Clementi · Accepted solution]

Just noticed you had two different drive models as well. Might be that combination with different firmware, even though I still feel that it's unlikely.


Click here for 7.40 Maintenance CD and offline utilities to update HDD's to latest firmware...

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/23331.html


Steven

[pippo_20]

Thank you very much Steven for taking the time to look at this problem. I didn't notice this. I will look at i9t . Hope this is it !

Regards.

[Anthony Koay]

Hi Marco,

The firmware of the HDDs & SA6i has very little to do with the issues you are facing.

Possibly, this is what happened in the two scenarios:-

1. When you shutdown & remove either one of the HDD, you must acknowledged the new status when prompted by the RBSU upon next POST. You must either press F1 or F2 to acknowledge it, otherwise, it will chose F1 by default(which will disable any logical drives it found). To continue to boot up from OS, you should select F2 to fail the physical drive that is not responding (is this case - "removed already"). The OS should boot up nicely with single HDD.

2. The only reason why the OS crashed when you tried to remove either HDD is because; whenever you re-hotplugged the HDD back to the original slot, the rebuilding process takes place immediately. During rebuild process, any removal of HDD should be prevented till process completed. In your case, you could have pull out the HDD while the rebuilding is still in progress.

You can use ACU to check the status of your logical drive. If status is OK, then you could safely remove either one HDD while OS is running.

Hope this helps.


Cheers!!

AK

[e4services]

I concur with AK. This firmware talk has nothing to do with it and is not needed. AK has id'ed the most probably cause, that the unit is rebuilding.
I would also suggest that the configuration has changed some how and each drive is now configured seperately and the original RAID1 is broken, therefore the removeal of the drive could cause a crash since there is no longer redundancy