Raid controller upgrade.

[mgayasuddin]

I am planning to upgrade my existing server 2008 from raid 0 to raid 5. Please advise whether I have to reinstall the server after upgrade or can we upgrade without reinstalling.

Thanks in advance for your help. Regards

[AnthonySN]

you need to recreate the array hence you have to reinstall the OS.

[kris rombauts]

It depends .... you should provide the details of how many disks you have now in RAID0 and if you can add additional disks into your server (minimum one).
Are those disks in RAID0 on a raid controller or are you just referring to disks on a non raid controller (JBOD) ?

With the right SmartArray controller and options (i.e. BBWC) you can indeed migrate from RAID0 to RAID5 without re-installing the OS, but again you need to provide details, without details this is just the theory.


HTH

Kris

[mgayasuddin]

Infact, I have installed 3x146 on raid0 and has SBS svr 2008 on it. I really want to avoid reinstalling the OS & MS Exchange on it. It is a huge task. Kindly, let me know the options to upgrade to Raid5.

[kris rombauts]

again .... how can we help you if you do not provide us with information like the server model and the number of free disk slots ????

Pls provide server model, smartarray controller type and options (BBWC?) etc

Without that we cannot help you.


Kris

[mgayasuddin]

I have DL380 G6 Entry Svr with P410i zero memory controller which supports only raid0, inorder to upgrade I have 512 cache with BBWC and we have atlease 4 empty bays for adding harddisk. at present I have 3x146 installed.

[kris rombauts]

Good, that is the kind of information that is needed to allow us to answer your question in the forum.

So per the quickspec's:

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13234_na/13234_na.html

As a minimum,you need to buy the 256 MB SmartArray cache/battery upgrade and then the SmartArray advanced pack license to enable the RAID features.
Then, you can add one hard disk and migrate the 3 disk array from RAID0 to a 4 disk RAID5, so you'll have the OS disks protected when a disk fails.
In addition you can add a hotspare disk so that , when a disk fails, a rebuild of the array will start automatically and after some time (i.e. one hour) you are again protected in RAID5 and have the time to get you another disk.


These are the options possible for the p410i:

============================================
Optional Upgrades

256 MB Cache Module
NOTE: Supported on HP Smart Array P212 Controller and as an upgrade on HP Smart Array P410i (Zero Memory). 462968-B21

512MB BBWC 462967-B21
1G Flash Backed Write Cache
NOTE: Supported on the Smart Array P410i Controller only. 534562-B21

512MB Flash Backed Write Cache
NOTE: Supported on the Smart Array P410i Controller only. 534916-B21

Battery Kit upgrade
NOTE: To enable BBWC on the 256MB cache.
NOTE: Supported on HP P410i Smart Array (integrated), HP Smart Array P212 Controller, HP Smart Array P410 Controller, and HP Smart Array P411 Controller only. 462969-B21
============================================


RAID Support RAID 6, 6+0 (Advanced Data Guarding)
NOTE: RAID 6, 6+0 can be enabled with either


Minimum of 256 MB cache, Battery kit and Smart Array Advanced Pack License key option upgrades

Minimum of 512 MB BBWC and Smart Array Advanced Pack License key option upgrades


RAID 5, 5+0 (Distributed Data Guarding)
NOTE: The 256 MB is required to enable RAID 5, 5+0 support of the Smart Array P410i
RAID 1+0 (Striping & Mirroring)
RAID 0 (Striping)


HTH

Kris

pls assign points to the people in the forum that gave you ways to solve your issue.