Adding drives to an existing array

[Greg Marco]

I would like to get suggestions on the best way to add drives to an existing array. Should I add them one at a time and expand the array for each one separately, or should I add all the drives (3) and then expand the array over all the drives at the same time?

Our environment:

Proliant ML530 G1
5304/128 Array Controller
6x36 GB Hot Plug drives in RAID ADG
NetWare 5.1 SP7
**New drives will go into the 2nd Drive Bay

Thanks,
Greg

[JohnWRuffo]

Greg:
Here is the Smart Array 5300 Users Guide:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/supportinformation/techpubs/user_reference_guides/135606-6.pdf

Here is the ACU users guide:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/supportinformation/techpubs/user_reference_guides/239449-004_rev4_us.pdf

Also, improtant! ! You will need the redundant power supply (Spare Part Number: 157793-001) installed in the ML530G1 to add drives to the second cage. The ML530 G1 needs the second power supply to route power to the second cage... go figure!

[JohnWRuffo]

I hit enter too soon...

You should add all the drives at once. Expansion can take a long time and you do not want to keep rebuilding for each one.

[Greg Marco]

John,

Thanks for the quick reply. It was pretty much what I figured, but this is the first time I will have done multiple drives. I wanted some confirmation on what I was thinking.

We already have the extra power supplies running, as the server will not even boot if the second drive bay is installed and the server doesn't have at least 2 working power supplies.

Thanks, again.
Greg

[SAKET_5]

Hi Greg,

Depending on the size of your existing logical drive, I would just like to highlight the fact that array extension could take a significant amount of time.

Hp documentations that I have come across suggest that for every 1GB, array extension will takes 15 minutes. Mind you, when I extended an array on SA 5i + Controller on a Proliant DL80 G3, time estimate provided by HP was far away from being correct.

Can you not create a seperate logical drive out of the new drives and then use OS level tools to extend your OS level logical volumes?

Anyway, If you decide to extend the array, I would recommend ensuring that you are running the latest SYSTEM BIOS, the FW of the array controller and the latest Proliant Support Pack.

Hope this helps,

regards,