Extending logical drive ML570 with 5300 Controller

[Scot Ferguson]

I inherited this box from another product division.

The Compaq Array Configuration Utility shows 1 logical Drive (104Gb). In Disk management under win2k, the C:(9Gb) and D: (91Gb) drives are on Disk 0 (the only logical drive).

I need to add another 36k disk to the logical drive (104Gb) because our D: drive on this box is running out of disk space.

Since the C: drive (boot partition) is on the same physical disks as the D: drive, I can't just blow away the logical drive and recreate it with the new size. Ideally, I'd just like to extend the logical disk then extend the D: partition but I'm worried about something going wrong and not being able to boot the system.

Any suggestions on how to do this without reloading the machine?

Thanks in advance,
Scot

[Patrick Rouse · Accepted solution]

SA5300 User Guide:

ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/supportinformation/techpubs/user_reference_guides/135606-6.pdf

What's happening is the drives are setup as a RAID5 Array using the SMART Array Controller, so the OS only sees on Drive with the available space being the sum of all the drives, minus the size of one for parity. So you've probably got 4x36GB Drives.

Always have a reliable, tested backup before you perform this operation, regardless of the capabilities of the controller.

You can add the new drive and assign it to the current RAID5 Array using the Compaq Array Configuration Utility. If it doesn't automatically expand the available space in the Logical Drive, then you'll have to mount the volume in D to expand the available space.

If I were you I'd take this chance to fix the design error of your predecessor, by putting the OS on a RAID1 array & your files on a RAID5 array. This would involve restoring the system from backup, because you'd have to delete the current array configuration.

You'd need 2x9 or 2x18 for the OS then use your current disks + another 36GB disk for DATA.

If the system isn't running SQL or Exchange & isn't taxed you can just keep the current RAID5 configuration, but having the OS on it's own RAID1 array & data on a RAID5 array is a fairly standard setup.

[david_747]

I would try the following . .
a: Backup server.

1. add the extra hot plug disk to the server

2. start the ACU, Try to expand the array to include the new disk

3. start Disk Man. the new space should be added to your existing logical drive (D:)

4. Reboot server

This assumes there is one array. I f you could I would try this on a dev. server first if possible.