"Manage Drives" does not appear in Smart Storage Administrator

[IslandBoy]

I've got a ProLiant DL 180 Gen 10 server running Windows Server 2019 Standard. I've got two RAID arrays, with Array A for the operating system and Array B for data.  Array B currently consists of three 960GB SATA 512e SSD drives.  I've purchased three identical drives (identical model number, etc.) to expand the array.  I go into Smart Storage Administrator (3.40.3.0), navigate to configure, select "Logical Drives"  and then select "Array B - 1 logical Drive(s)."   Under actions, I know I'm supposed to have a "manage drives" option.  I don't.  My only options are to "Manage Spare Drives"; "Delete Array"; "Disable HPE SSD Smart Path"; and "Identify Device."

The three new drives show up under "Unassigned Drives".  I was able to add them as spares under "Manage Spare Drives" as a test to make sure that they were being fully recognized.  But I cannot get to "Manage Drives" so that I can expand the array. 

Only difference I can spot between the existing drives in Array B and the new ones is that the existing drives are using firmware version HPG2 and the new ones came with firmware version HPG4.  Could that be the problem?  Any other ideas?  TYIA.

[Ihaqueit]

What the type of RAID?

Which array you want to expand?

[IslandBoy]

I want to expand Array B, which is a Raid 5 array. 

[I did check Array A, which is a RAID 1 array consisting of two SSD drives to see if the Manage Drives option was there and it was not there, either.]

[Ihaqueit]

Run SSA, select the array (see sample picture) and click manage data drives, then you can add an available disk

[IslandBoy]

That's what I've been doing.  It doesn't give me the "manage drives" option.   (I'm new to the Community and from reading the FAQ understand that it will be a couple of days with repeated logins before I can post a screenshot.)

[IslandBoy]

And to further clarify, none of the options shown in your screen shot that appear above "Manage Spare Drives" are shown as options for me. 

[Ihaqueit]

Is manage data drives option availale or not?

1. Update firmware RAID controler
2. Install the latest version of SSA for Windows
3. Ensure that you are starting the latest version of SSA cause the old version is staying. (or uninstall the old version before)
4. Enjoy expanding your RAID5

[IslandBoy]

No, it is not. That's the entire problem. It is not an option.

Andy Simpson
340-719-3900 (o)
340-514-6073 (c)

[Ihaqueit]

1. Update firmware RAID controler
2. Install the latest version of SSA for Windows
3. Ensure that you are starting the latest version of SSA cause the old version is staying. (or uninstall the old version before)
4. Enjoy expanding your RAID5

[IslandBoy]

Thanks. I'll give those a try and report back. (Going to take some time.)

[sudhirsingh]

Hi,

Please update Intelligent Provisioning then check the status,(SSA is part of it)

** CRITICAL ** Intelligent Provisioning for Gen9 Servers

https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/swd/detail?swItemId=MTX_f490ec96d57444f0a4c7fc3668#tab5

Also try to disable the smart path, then reboot and enable cache for the logical drive and check.

Regards,

Sudhir

[IslandBoy]

I've updated intelligent provisioning by downloading and installing the
SSP. Now all of the hard drives have the same firmware version and I have
a current version of SSA.

"Manage Drives" still does not appear.

Tonight after no one is accessing the server, I will try your next steps ("
Also try to disable the smart path, then reboot and enable cache for the
logical drive and check")

Andy Simpson
340-719-3900 (o)
340-514-6073 (c)

[IslandBoy]

Updating did not solve the problem.  (It did update the firmware on the SSDs so that they are now all operationg on the same firmware, so we can rule that out as the issue.)

I plan to try the additional steps recommended by Ihaqueit this evening and we'll see if that does the trick.

[IslandBoy]

I updated yesterday and that didn't solve the problem.  Just now I disabled the smart path, then rebooted and believe that I enabled the cache for the logical drive although every time I go to modify caching settings, it only offers me the option to select the drive for which caching is to be enabled (which makes me think that I haven't actually enabled it). See photo.Modify cache settings screen

Here's a screen shot of the Controller Cache screen;

After doing all of the above, I still do not have an option to "Manage Drives."  See next photo.  (I'm trying to add the 3 unassigned drives to Array B.)  The three existing drives and the three new drives are identical.

Actions available for Array B

Here's a screen shot of the unassigned drives in case it helps.

[IslandBoy · Accepted solution]

I just finished chatting with HP Support. Very helpful, although not the answer I wanted.  For my particular Raid Controller, a Smart Array S100i SR Gen 10, there is no Manage Drives option. The only solution to expand my array is to back up the data, delete the array, build a new array with the 3 new SSDs included, and then restore my data. 

Thankfully, this is a data drive only. My OS is on a separate array.  So it is literally just a matter of mirroring the drive, delete the array and create the new one, and restore the mirror.