HPE SmartArray RAID6 - Time to expand logical drive using unused space of the array

[Archetim_1]

Hi folks,

we are using a SmartArray P441 mit 1GB FBWC on a DL380 Gen9 with a SAS-attached D3710. There are currently 14 2TB SAS HP MM2000JEFRC hard drives, 13 configured in an Array with a logical Volume as RAID6 (don't blame me) with the 14th HDD as spare. I recently added one additional drive, and expanded the array to the current size. The transformation took about 3 oder 4 days, with hefty impact on the perfomance of the array. This was expected and completed without issues. The state of the array is now OK.

So now we have an array with 13 2TB disks, summarizing to a size of 23.6 TiB, with 2.1 TiB unused (from the newly added disk). I now want to expand the logical drive to use all available space.

My Question: Will the expansion of the logical drive take a similar amount of time and performance impact as the expansion of the array?

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[Archetim_1]

I know how to extend a logical drive. I want to know, how long it will take...

[ngnear · Accepted solution]

First of all, make sure that you are running latest Controller Firmware and lastest Smart Storage Administrator Version. 

The Smart Storage Administrator does no longer need to first expand and than extend like the old ACU. As long as I know, there is currently one action olny.

Open the SSA, select configure--> select the controller--> select the array you wish to extend and than click on "manage data drives" on the right side in the "actions" menu. The possible extend option will show up. 

But it depends on various factors such as RAID configured. 
Write Read speeds on the cache.

To answer the query, it might take sometime and we'd suggest to keep the server out of production for maximum output as accessing array in that period might hinder the expansion.

FYI, According to "HPE Smart Storage Administrator User Guide":

IMPORTANT: An array expansion, logical drive extension, or logical drive migration takes
about 15 minutes per gigabyte. While this process is occurring, no other expansion, extension,
or migration can occur simultaneously on the same controller.