Drive Replacement Procedure

[Ayman Altounji]

Hello to all,

I'm replacing a drive on a Proliant ML570 with a SMART-431 Controller. There are two drives arrayed as a mirror set. One drive failed. The Net Adman is off site and has instructed me to power the machine down before inserting the replacement drive. I've already pulled the failed drive out to get the replacement part # while the server was still running.

I thought the point of hot plug gable drives was to avoid the need to power down. I'll do as I'm told, but wouldn't I be safe to plug the drive in while the server is running? Then wouldn't the controller rebuild the array, while the server continues to be in production? Please tell if I do not understand the concept. I don't mind working off hours, but would rather do so only when it is truly necessary.

I'm also concerned that replacing the drive while powered down might lead to the server not booting to the so until the array is rebuild (more hours away from home for me). Perhaps there is some cautionary reason of which I am unaware. Backups are up to date and not an issue of concern.

Thanks, Skip

P.S. This thread has been moved from Disk to ProLiant Servers (ML,DL,SL). -HP Forum Moderator

[Ayman Altounji]

I did perform a shutdown, inserted the drive, booted and pressed F1 at the prompt to rebuild the array. The server was up in minutes and the array was rebuilt when I got back from lunch.

Question remains -did I need to shutdown?

Thanks in advance, Skip

[Ayman Altounji]

I'm not from Compaq, but I've replaced numerous failed drives over the years. My opinion - the shutdown was unnecessary, and possibly "dangerous". When you have a two drive set mirrored, and one fails, you're in a precarious position because your 'failsafe' is now non-existant. Shutting down means that your only drive will have to spin down, and spin back up again. Though the chance is probably infintesimal, if THAT drive was on its' last leg, it may have refused to boot at all - THEN you're screwed. My experience has taught about 50 % of all drive failures occurs during startup - the other 50% would obviously be during up-time...a fairly substantial number IMHO, one that keeps me from shutting down unless absolutely needed.

Bottom line - hot swap means that you pull the drive and (as quickly as you can) replace it with a new one. The rebuild will automatically occur.