LH3000 scsi controller question

[Edward Ulpindo_1]

I have an LH3000r with a RAID5 array on a NetRaid-2M (running Windows 2000). It is the only logical drive in the box. Everything runs fine & dandy. I want to add an additional stand-alone hard drive for the purpose of enhancing pagefile performance.

Given that the system has 6 SCSI channels (NetRAID-2M card, Integrated NetRAID, Integrated U2 SCSI), I'm not sure where I should attach the drive. My first inclination is to use a common tray SCSI drive on the integrated SCSI (least expensive solution). If I do this, will the BIOS remember that my primary disk is the RAID array? Any gotchas here? Any recommendations?

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Edward
eulpindo@hotmail.com

[Mark Young_2 · Accepted solution]

Edward,

The only "gotcha" I can forsee is that you will want to be sure you go into the Symbios (Ctrl-C) and turn off the BIOS. This WILL NOT make the disk inaccessable but it will prevent the server from trying to boot to the SCSI BIOS. You may also have to go into the system BIOS and change the boot priority.

To Turn Off SymBIOS:
1. Ctrl-C on boot.
2. Select "Change Adapter Status".
3. Hit enter on the highlighted controller and you should see "Next Boot" change to OFF. This is what we want.

Boot Order in system BIOS:
1.F2 on boot.
2.Boot settings
3.Hard Drive Priority -MAke sure it is set to bootable cards.

That should be it.

Mark

[Greg Carlson]

Edward,

If you have space in the drive cage you can add another hot swap hdd and create a new raid 0 with the single hard drive on the same controller.

Otherwise you can set up a common tray hdd and cable it to SCSI A,B and run it either on the integrated netraid as a RAID 0 or as JBOD with the integrated netraid turned off and LVLD SCSI enabled.

You'll need to go into F2 boot setup and set your boot priority to PCI raid adapter as 1st priority.

Ciao,
Greg

[Sean T. Craig]

Hi Edward,

If you want to connect to the embedded SCSI, then follow Mark's advice but your best bet is to go with Greg's recommendation of creating a RAID-0 as Logical Drive 1, (your RAID-5 will be LD0). This is pretty simple and you can do it from within the O/S using the NetRAID Assistant. If you don't already have it, you can download it from here:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software1/ns1962_1/ns1962_1en/ut_ntw2k_nr_nra_b0200.exe

After you install the utility, it will see the new drive as "Ready". From here you can follow these steps to create a RAID-0:

1. Click "Configuration" --> "Wizard"
2. Select "Custom" and click "Next"
3. Click on your ready drive to highlight it and click "Add to Array" then "Accept Array" and then "Next"
4. You can change the stripe size and policies by clicking the "Advanced" button but I recommend just using the default values. Click "Accept" and "Next"
5. Click "Finish"
6. Accept the configuration changes and initialize when it prompts you.

Voila! You now have a 2nd logical drive in a RAID-0. Check your Disk Administrator and set it up however you like.

Hope this is helpful,
Sean

[Edward Ulpindo_1]

You guys rock. Thanks a whole lot...

Edward