ML350 G6 and EFI / GPT

[Stefano Costantini_2]

Hi all, i have a problem: my ML350G6, with controller P410, has 5 1TB disks in raid 5.

I'd like to have 1 boot partition of 100 GB and a data partition to fullfill the volume.

To have partitions > then 2 TB i need to switch from MBR to GPT, and to boot from GPT i need to have an EFI compliant hardware.

This server is EFI (UEFI) compliant? If yes, how to "enable" EFI to install windows server 2008 R2 X64? Tks

[TTr]

> I'd like to have 1 boot partition of 100 GB and a data partition to fullfill the volume.

You can also create two separate LUNs in the raid5 array that you have, one for boot and one for data. These will show up as separate disks and you will have one partition in each LUN.

[Stefano Costantini_2]

That should be an idea, but how to do it with p400?

[TTr]

See the section on creating LUNs (Logical Drives) in ORCA. Page 10, 11 in

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c00729544&docLocale=en_US

Creating two LUNs with one partition in each will give you two independent phusical disk i/os. With one LUN and two partitions, you would have one physical i/o for both partitions.

[Moderator edit: Updated the working link. You may also refer to https://support.hpe.com/]

[Stefano Costantini_2]

I can only create logical drive ... without specification of size, so it fullfilled disks ... why? o i have to buy a license???

[TTr]

You don't need a license. The license if for advanced features.

Even the zero memory option allows two logical drives.

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/docDisplay?docId=c04200238&docLocale=en_US

What exactly are you doing when you create the array/LUNs? Can you take pictues and post back here?
Have you tried playing around with other options such as raid1 to see what happens?

Do you have the latest firmware installed on the server and controller?

[Moderator edit: Updated the link.]

[gregersenj]

Unless they have added new features to the ORCA. Then you can't create multible logical drives on the arrays.

You can do that from the ACU.

From the ORCA you can create multible Arrays with 1 logical drive on each Array.

From the ACU, you can create multible Logical drives within an Array.


In Smart Array Terms:
An Array = A groupe of disks, belonging together. RAID level not defined yet.

A logical drive = a drive created in an/on an Array. RAID level and size is defined when you create the logical drive.
To the operating system, a logical drive appear as a physical drive.

If you use the ACU you can put all 5 drives in the same array.
Then create a 100 GB RAID 5. (Or 1+0)
Then create a RAID 5 on the remaing space.

There's one downside having multible logical drives in an array.
If you add more drives or in any other way add more space to the array, you will be able to extend the upper/last logical drive only.

BR
/jag

[TTr]

> I can only create logical drive ... without specification of size

It was not clear if you are allowed to specify the size or not. If you are allowed to specify the size, create one logical drive and as 100GB for the logical drive. Then install the OS and use the ACU to create the second logical as gregersenj mentioned.

[gregersenj]

>TTr

If I remember correctly, and if it hasn't been changed!

Then you only get to select wich drives to include in an array, and what RAID level to use.
When you configure it using the ORCA.
And it will use all available space on the selected disks.

BR
/jag

[Stefano Costantini_2]

Ok, now i have 2 volumes, 1 of 100 GB and one to fullfill the space, but question is still partially open: does this server support EFI (or UEFI)?

[gregersenj]

I don't think so.

I have been searching the internet.
And have only found UEFI from Dell servers.

And ofcouse EFI on the HP Integrity servers.

BR
/jag

[Ralph Frampton]

According to my experience in trying to do the same thing with a DL180 G6, HP stated in an Aug 2010 ISS newsletter that they weren't supporting UEFI on servers at this time even though they started adding UEFI support to notebooks in late 2008.

This leaves us with the traditional BIOS setup for a multi terabyte server & forces us to use multiple logical drives. 2 TB is the max you can work with on a MBR partition (eg. is using MS OS media directly instead of Easy Setup Cd) & it precludes you from accessing the remainder of the storage if you created a single large logical drive (eg. 20 TB in my case for the first attempt at installing OS).

From what I've gathered, this means that we have to make a smaller MBR boot compatible partition for the OS & a larger GPT compatible partition for the data storage volume. I have chosen 256 GB (OS) and a 20 TB - 256 GB (Data) for this particular server.

After you get the OS installed into the smaller MBR partition, you can use the Disk mgmt tools to then create the larger GPT partition. This second partition allows me to access/manage the remaining 20236.71 GB available in this system.

You may of course want to structure your logical drives / partitions differently depending on what other applications are intended for the server (ie. ours is to be a large file server).