Bad San disk

[Adam Winebaugh]

I have a bad San disk. What steps do I need to go through to replace the disk. I already know that I have a support contract. I have already opened a case. The device is a va7400. I know it is hot swappable, the disk is not used for any data storing at this time it is just an "extra disk" Can I just throw a new one in the device?

[Torsten.]

If you have an open case you should wait for the results of qualification.

Each disk in a VA7400 is used, BTW.

Unless it is faulty, of course.

This will give you more information:

# armdsp -a

[Court Campbell]

I forget the exact names, and commands. But I can say this:

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT remove the disk before the array has finished rebuilding. Wait for the CE to come out and he will check out if the rebuild has finished and then replace the drive.

You can run the command amdsp (or armdsp, sorry I can't remember which one) with the -a or -w option. You will also need the the alias of the array. But is should let you now if the rebuild is in progress.

[Torsten.]

To display the status of a rebuild use

# armrbld -p

As mentioned - be patient ...

[Adam Winebaugh]

This is the status of the armrbld -p

Rebuild status:
Vendor ID = HP
Product ID = A6218A
Rebuild progress = No rebuild in progress

Auto Rebuild is = ENABLED
Rebuild priority is = LOW

The array is not currently rebuilding.


And again I believe that this disk has no data on it.

[Torsten.]

"And again I believe that this disk has no data on it."

Believe it or not ... that's autoraid technology ...

[Adam Winebaugh]

Wow torsten thanks for the insight. Now if we can get to the issue of replacing the disk and not focusing on one little comment it would be great.

[Torsten.]

Nothing to advise without more info, sorry.

See my first post again.


Regarding the autoraid technology.
Without trying to explain all the details, the goal for the array is to utilize all available disks. You cannot specify certain disks to create a LUN on.

[Court Campbell]

Adam,

What is the deal? If you want to pull the disk, go ahead. We cannot stop you. Either wait for the CE to do it, or do it yourself. Do you have a spare disk to put back? If so replace it.

[Adam Winebaugh]

That is my question. Is there anything I need to do when I put the new disk in?

[Court Campbell · Accepted solution]

No, just replace it. I guess you could do a little dance before you do it, if that makes you feel better.

[Adam Winebaugh]

HA! It might actually. Sorry for the frustration, but as you can tell I am a bit of a noob here, and I have about 50 people jumpin me at the moment. So I apologize for the sarcasm and the troubles.

[Adam Winebaugh]

I have an extra disk, so I am gonna throw it in there since the rebuild is already complete. Thanks everyone.

[Court Campbell]

No problem. We have all been there. Tell the peeps to bite it. And now for some lagniappe.

If the VA7400 is in AutoRAID mode you will at some point hear about what is called the magic capacity. By default if you are using less than half of the arrays storage you will be in raid 1+0, or 0+1 (been awhile, can't remember which). Well, once you go over the using half your storage the array will convert everything to raid 5. Your users will notice this pretty darn quick. The way around this is to create large enough luns in your redundancy groups to get you over the magic capacity. You'll want to do this during a weekend or something -- when you have little to no activity on the array. This will put you in raid 5. Then as you start adding used luns you will eventually be able to remove the large luns you created since you will be over the magic capacity point.

You may not have needed all that info, but you never know. I will have to say that the VA's were not my favorite array. And I specifically did not like AutoRAID.

[Torsten.]

Court, IMHO some of your information applies to the old 12H more than to the VA. But the magic inside is still there ...


Anyway, check the "armdsp -a ..." output for any warnings or errors before doing anything (or just wait for your experienced CE) ...

;-)

Have fun and good luck, Adam!

[Court Campbell]

Torsten,

Here is the HP doc. You can't find this anymore.

[Torsten.]

IIRC every later firmware version did slightly change parts of this behaviour, but too long ago to remember ...

Anyway, thanks Court!