Netserver LH Pro / WinNT4 Server

[Wayne_91]

Hello All;

HP NetServer LH Pro |
1 x 4gig drive
6 X 9gig scsi drives.
256mb memory
?? That is all that I really know about the system right now :-)

I just got this Netserver a few months agao, and am reinstalling it with WinNT4 Server. This is the problem that I am experiancing: ?

In NetRaid Tool. / Configure / View/Ade/Delete Config .....
It shows.
Channel-0 =
1 through 5 = Onlin
6 HotSp

OK, So now I know that the 6x9gig scsi's are being seen.

But in Windows, My COmputer....
It is now seen, and when I bring up "Disk Admin" it is not seen there either?

Also, to point out, the server was running before a WinNT4 SP6a system. Belonged to a collage here. ( I bought the NetServer for $20.00 dirt cheap )
The system showed all drives ( Or at least I think it did, it shows
C:\ D:\ E:\ F:\
F:\Drive. = Showed 36Gig Drive.
Like it was taking all the " 9gigs" and putting them together.

If someone knows why I am not seeing my 6x9gig scsi's, please let me know what to do.
And also, I do not want the drives to be like they use to: I do not want them to all be "1-drive"

Thank You All

Wayne

[JohnWRuffo]

Wayne:

What you are seeing is the effect of RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) where the drives are built to be as one large volume with the ability to recover from a failed drive.

Your specific configuration is called RAID5. Striping with parity and you also have a drive reserved as a hot spare. This is a typical configuration for a server. This configuration will keep the server running even if there are Catastrophic failures to the drives.

The drive volume is defined as follows:

6 disks total
5 in RAID5 + 1 Hot Spare

RAID5 = (5 disks x 9GB) - (9GB Parity) = 36GB

In order to get all of these disks to show up individaully, you will need to delete the RAID5 array (this will delete everything you have installed) and create 6 x RAID0 arrays with logical volumes on each array. Or, you will have to attach the drives to the internal controller instead of the RAID controller you have installed.

What is your intent for this server? It may be that this configuration is ideal for your needs.

Here is a document that you can read to get an idea of what RAID is and how it can benefit you:
http://www.uni-mainz.de/~neuffer/scsi/what_is_raid.html

Let us know if you need more info? -john

[Wayne_91]

Thank you so much for your reply.

OK, I can understand why it is the way that it is, as I am very new to SCSI Raid drives, so this is a brand new feature for me.

But you forgot to assist on the MAJOR ISSUE :-) But that is OK, I will ask again?

In First Posting
[But in Windows, My COmputer....
It is now seen, and when I bring up "Disk Admin" it is not seen there either?]

What this means? The Huge Raid Drives, are not showing up? There is nothing to indicate that they even exist on the computer "Under WINNT4, only in the [NetRaid Tool] "

What can I do to get the drives showing, so that I can edit them?

---------------
Since the drives are all together. Would it be best to "NOT Partition them?" (or) "CAN I partition them"

What the server is going to be used for primarly, is a "Search Engine" So depending on how big my MySQL Database's grow, are depending on how much space that I will need.
See the Search Engine " Internet Search Engine, like "Yahoo" " I purchased a while back, and that is the purpose of this server, and why it needs to get up and running, as the Internet Search Engine is the "TOP" service that myu company is offering our visitors.

Thank You and please reply soon, with some information on getting the drives to show up in My Computer/Disk Management?

Thank You
Wayne

[JohnWRuffo]

Wayne:

Ok... the reason the "individual" drives do not show up is because they are represented to the O/S as one physical "volume" by the Array Controller. The O/S does not have any idea that this is a RAID (with a bunch of disks) or one 36GB disk. To the O/S, it is just a disk.
There are special utilities that can talk to the controller and see each individual disk, but that will not help you do what you want without deleting the array.

If I were you, I would keep the current configuration. This RAID5 will offer you the ability to read from multiple spindles of the disks at the same time. The read performance will be MUCH better than from any single disk. And that will likely give your users better performance from the search application. Not only that, but, should any one of those drive fail, you will not loose data. The array controller will activate the hot spare, rebuild the array, mark the failed drive as bad and let you know that a drive had failed. Be sure to review your system logs!

Yes, you can partition out several logical volumes (drive letters) from the O/S. That is good organization of your data. Treat this as if you had one disk in the server.

Does this answer your question? Let me know if you need more info?

[Wayne_91]

Thank you once again for your reply.

But unfortunantly that did not answer my serious issue here.

The 36Gig Drive... Is not showing up?
Not the indivisual drives, as they are the 36Gig Drive, it is the HUGE 36Gig Drive that is not appearing?

Thank You
Wayne

[Wayne_91]

I got it.

I had to install the RAID Drivers for it, and now I finally see the "D & F" Drives. that was originally configured. Now I am going to 'kill' them and recreate a few partitions, and get everything ready for installation of all the software and such to run the Internet Search Engine.

Thank You for your time.

Wayne