Disconnecting a NON hotswap drive disables the entire array?, SA p410

[lightman]

Hello

Last night, I was tired as hell after dealing with a performance issue, and pull out the wrong drive from the array.

It was an enterprise class SATA drive (not even partitioned but it was declared in the Smart Array controller. )

My intention was to take out one of the RAID 5 SAS drives to test if it will rebuild correctly later, not the SATA one which was alone.

so, right after I pull out the sata drive, the entire server lost ALL the drives in the controller (even the ones in the other port), I rebooted and nothing, still no drives detected at all (It scared the sh.. outta me) power cycle, and everything went back to normal.(Ufff!!...gee..)

Is this normal?.

Removing a non-hotswappable HDD disables the entire array? (or this only happens with SATA drives?)

I ask this because, if this is the case, using SATA drives on a SAS bay with SAS drives, would be suicide!.

Details:

Server DL180G6, Smart Array p410 with 256 and BWCC

5x 15K Seagate Cheetah

1x 7K2 WD RE4

W2008R2 all drivers applied, SAS drives using last available firmware.

thank you!

[RbBsmn]

I think its because one of the SAS drives in the array is connected to the same port as the SATA drive. Connecting SATA and SAS on the same port is not supported and can create "strange" issues.
Also by the naming you use for your hard drives it makes me suspect you are using non-HP hard drives, but correct me if I'm wrong.

[Jimmy Vance]

Actually SAS and SATA can be on the same port. The restriction is they cannot be part of the same array.  On a non-hotplug system the removal or addition of a device can, and usually will cause the controller bus to reset which can knock all the arrays offline

[lightman]

RbBsmn Thank you for your answer.

SAS drives are HP brand with current HP firmware (I just refer to them as cheetah because is the seagate name for this particular drive, but they are all HP)

SATA disk is Western digital (NON -HP)

By the same port you mean the same group of four?, as the p410 has 2 x4 SAS ports.

so I should separate SAS in one port group (1I:1:x) and SATA in the other (2I:1:x), is that correct?

Jimmy Vance thank you!, so if I understand you correctly, If I put a single NON-Hotswappable drive in a controller, I lost the ability to hot plug any drive in that controller (any part of the bus), or just cannot remove the non-hotswappable ones?.

the latter will not be so bad, and also quite obvious but if I lost the ability to hot-plug the SAS as well that will be inconvenient.

thank you!

[Jimmy Vance]

I've never messed with plugable, non-plugable on the same controller so I'm not sure how it will react. I was assuming you had the SA controller plugged into a sysem that doesn't have hot plugable bays.

As for the SAS / SATA on the same port group. They can exist on the same port, they just can't be part of the same array. i.e Array A would be all SAS disks, Array B would be all SATA disks

[lightman]

Hello

I have a Proliant DL180G6 with 8 hot plug bays, and i have mix of HP SAS Drives and SATA drives.

4x SAS are part of one array in RAID5

2x SATA are in a separate array in JBOD only (I use as scratchpad / temporary storage, where i need a lot of space)

(now I put all the SAS on port A, of the controller, and all the SATA on port B, just in case :))

I have never mixed SAS/SATA in the same array, I assumed that it couldn't be done from the start :)

thank you!

[Jimmy Vance]

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lightman wrote: 

I have never mixed SAS/SATA in the same array, I assumed that it couldn't be done from the start :)

thank you!

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Correct, SAS/SATA cannot be part of the same physical array

[RbBsmn]

Lightman, thats indeed what I meant.

[Jimmy Vance]

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@RbBsmn wrote:
Lightman, thats indeed what I meant.

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You don't have to put the SAS on one port and SATA on a seperate port. They can be on the same controller port (Some Smart Arrays only have one) the only retriction is the drives cannot be part of the same physical array

[lightman]

Crystal Clear

Thank you both RbBsmn and  Jimmy Vance for the excelent info and help!