Move 2 arrays fom DL380G3 to DL380G4

[Jonathan_K]

L.S.

I have a working Exchange 2000 Server on a DL380G3 which I would like to migrate to a new platform, a DL380G4. Disk configuration is like this:

Smart Array 5 controller
Slots 4 + 5 > 2x36GB RAID1+0 containing OS
Slots 0,1,2,3 > 4x72GB RAID1+0 containing Exchange software, Mailbox stores and transaction logs.

My predecessor who installed this machine clearly didn't read the manual extry where it says the first scsi channel is connected to slots 0 and 1 and the second channel to the rest of the slots. Otherwise he would have put the two 36GB disks containing the OS in slots 0 and 1.

Anyway, I would like to move the entire set of disks to a DL380 G4. It has the onboard Smart Array 6i controller and the optional 256MB cache module with BBWC.

Would I be able to just shut both machines down, move the OS disks to slots 0 and 1 in the G4, move the other disks to the remaing slots, accept the changes and fire it up?

Any comments, recommendations and good advice would be welcome.

[Terry Hutchings · Accepted solution]

You should be able to move the drives around to the configuration you are looking for (ID's 0&1 on port 2 for the OS and 2-5 for data). As long as these drives are all attached to the same controller (5i) and there is nothing wrong with any of the drives, then it should work fine. Obviously you will want to make sure you bring the server down before doing any of this.

As far as moving the drives to the G4, I would take a look at the following thread: http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=857289
All you should have to do is add this registry key before attempting to move the drives from the G3 to the G4.

[Gus Kwong]

I think the Logical RAID sets were set up such a way is because (perhaps) to do with duplex SCSI? So that 0,1 and 2,3 are on 2 SCSI channels, whereas 4,5 piggy-back on the second channel --- OS RAID drains less bandwidth, but the Exchange needs all the resources.

Anyway, to make you feel more confortable --- I have previously migrated a DL380g3 (with PSP) to a DL585, and it worked. But they were both SA5i so I can only guess SA6i should read SA5i HDs without problem.

The only concern for using the new DL380g4 is you should check if the old setup uses simplex or duplex SCSI because it may cause problem.

[Jonathan_K]

@Terry:
Thanks for the heads up. I'll try this method on a spare server first.

@Gus:
To make the story a bit more complicated: at the moment, the Exchange volume resides on an MSA1000 and the only disks present in the server itself are the OS disks. All twelve DL380 G3's that were installed along with this mailserver have only two disks, installed on the leftmost bays.

I will first create a 4-disk RAID10 volume on the G3, stop Exchange, move the data from the MSA1000 to the internal volume and start Exchange. This is a procedure I've tested before for recovery purposes and I'm pretty confident it will work this time.

The next step is the one I was worrying about (see above).

BTW, the G4 has the optional SCSI configuration kit (two cables and a terminator) that came as standard on the G3 but costed 89 euros on the G4...