Migrate raid 1 to raid 5

[Chui Kock You_1]

Hi,

I have 2 hdd running on raid 1. My plan is to upgrade additional 1 unit of hdd and them migrate the raid from 1 to 5.

Q1) Can i upgrade the bbwc to 256mb on smart array p410 controller card during online.

Q2) Do i need to backup the window os and the data before i start to upgrade the bbwc.

Hardware configuration
Model: HP DL160 G6 Proliant server
Controller card: Smart Array P410
Operating System: Window server 2008

Regards
Chui

[TTr · Accepted solution]

1. No. When you add memory to the P410 (or add memory anywhere) the unit must be powered off and unplugged. Also you must not have any battery plugged in either. (First you add the memory and then connect the battery).
2. It is always a good idea to backup your disks before making any disk changes.

In your case you might not be allowed to convert to raid5 directly because of the number of disks involved. (It might not allow you to add only one disk to a mirror array). If that's the case you may have to convert to raid0 first, add the disk, wait to restripe and convert to raid5.

[Chui Kock You_1]

Hi TTr,

Do you have step by step on how to convert the new hdd into raid 0 and them re-stripe back the new hdd into raid 5 on array configuration utility.

Secondly can i expand the array from raid 1 to raid 5 on the acu during online?

Regards
Chui

[Steve Reece_3]

In my experience, though the documentation says it's possible to upgrade from RAID 1 to RAID 5 without destroying the array, it never happens that way. You always end up having to blitz the array and start again.

Steve

[TTr]

> Can i upgrade the bbwc to 256mb...

It looks like you have the zero cache controller right now (no BBWC?).
You can not do any raid type migration if you don't have the BBWC option. So after you install the BBWC you can do the raid type migration. Many people have done it in this forum successfully, live and without losing the data on the disks. As I mentioned before you always take a good backup before you start any disk changes.

ACU user guide

http://docs.hp.com/en/9320/acu.pdf

1. Convert raid1 to raid0 (page 25 migrate logical drive). You have to migrate all logical drives if you have more than one.

2. Add the third disk, "Expand array" page 24.

3. Convert raid0 to raid5 (same as step 1).

[Chui Kock You_1]

Hi TTr,

Thank for help and the information.

Regards
Chui