Adding a 12G SAS Expander Card to a DL380 Gen 9

[mc71]

Hello,
I would like to add a bay with 8 disks to a DL380 Gen9 server. Can the 12G expansion card be added to the current controller (Smart Array P440ar) without destroying the existing RAID? Since the cables from the P440ar to the 12G SAS expander will have to be moved, I suspect that everything needs to be redone but I can't find any information about it.

[Suman_1978]

Hi,

Before you play around with Storage or RAID configurations, please take a valid backup of data from the server.

Refer to QuickSpecs for supported configurations.
727250-B21, HPE 12Gb SAS Expander Card with Cables for DL380 Gen9

12G SAS Expander Card cabling.

NOTE: It’s important to keep data backup before performing this activity.
Data integrity is customer responsibility. HPE recommends having data backup frequently and before performing any activity so that it can be restored during disaster recovery.

Thank You!
I work with HPE but opinions expressed here are mine.

[ngnear · Accepted solution]

Thank you for reaching out.
The Raid information is stored on the RIS of the HDDs, and we are adding new HDDs to the server, new cables and an expander card, there are high chances of raid being at risk.
There will also be a change in the numbering of the HDD depending on where the new drives are placed and you would require to Expand the array if you need additional storage in the current raid config.

Our suggestion is to take a valid data backup, Plan for a downtime, add the expander card, the drives and then to recreate the array offline for optimal data security.

Here are installation instructions for installing SAS expander -
https://techlibrary.hpe.com/docs/iss/ML350_Gen9/setup_install/GUID-D9F5C1ED-B10B-4EBB-9B76-D802B5B85C2D.html#:~:text=The%20SAS%20Expander%20requires%20an,card%20to%20the%20SAS%20Expander.

You can configure Offline Raid using Intelligent Provisioning -

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=sd00001085en_us&page=s_FirstAccess.html

Let us know how it goes.

Good luck!