LC2000 Netraid disk removal

[James_49]

Hi All

Help needed fast if possible.

I've 4 18gb scsi disk that are controlled by the NetRaid 1M. None are redundancy raid configured. I what to simply swap two of the drives over (so they will be in different positions) then remove one completely from the system. I had a look at the navigator cd and the GUI doesn't allow me to remove/delete a drive. Ctrl -M looks even worse to play with and I'm alittle reluctant to rebuild the raid as I'm unsure whether the server would behave on reboot. The system is a Win 2k srv with AD and running the company exchange system, so I need to get this right first time. System is backed up by I don't won't the hastle of a complete rebuild (not that it's going to happen!)
Answers on a post card pls. Thks

[CA706919]

Hello James,

Moving drives from 1 positition to another is supported (only offline of course) on HP Netservers Netraid Adapters. You will see a little message during post that it is finding the right disk positions again.

As I read you message I read that you have 4x18GB disks configured as RAID 0.
It's not easy to have this changed to a new Raid 5 (because you will be using 3 disks in the future as you mentioned).

I would do it like this:
- start by making a good backup with including disaster recovery option.
- make a full (offline) ghost image to tape or a other network location.
- remove the current raid set and create a new one with the RAID 5 setup
- reload the GHOST image again

I would say: HP doesn't support these kind of actions but in your custom environment it probably the most easiest one to perform without re-installing th whole OS.

goodluck! REgards, Jeroen

[kris rombauts · Accepted solution]

Hi James,

not sure if i understand your configuration and goal completely,since you talk about raid but having no redundancy and don't want to rebuild the raid .... let me summarize:

1) you have 4 disks each as a raid0 disks (no redundancy) on the 1M controller and you want to physically move 2 of them to another position inside the same server disk cage, right ?

=> this is not a problem but cannot be done
ON-LINE since you have no RAID protection.
So this needs to be done OFF-LINE (power
off, swap disk from location and power up)
This is not a problem since the Netraid 1M
will notice this change and just display a
message at the next bootup that it found
disks at different locations and just
continue to boot, at the next reboots you
won't see this message anymore. You can
even do this with disks in a redundant RAID
configuration.
Nomatter if you have disks in RAID0 or any
other RAID level, they always have a small
piece of data on them that identifies them
about who, what and where they they are
in the RAID, even for RAID0.


2) if the above is about what you wanted ,
then now you want to remove a disk , i
assume physically remove it and use
elsewhere maybe in another system.

The Netraid Assistant utility (on line
utility for Windows) allows you to remove a
logical drive one at a time, starting from
the highest number (the one you created the
last).
Select the logical drive with the highest
number, right click it and click delete.
Doing so will make your disk (you only have
one per array and logical drive since you
have RAID0)and will show it as READY again.
All disks with a READY status can be removed
without a problem since they are not part
of any RAID configuration.

If the logical disk you want to remove is
not the last one then this is not possible.
Their is a way to do this still but it's a
bit more tricky , in short you should
remove the disk you want to get rid of,
clear the Netraid configuration,
reconfigure the remaining disks with the
exact same parameters as they were
initially setup (here it should be simple
since you have RAID0 for each disk) and
save the config again WITHOUT initializing
the logical drives. The Netraid controllers
do a vey good job at this and this works
good, doing this on your companies
production system is something i leave you
to decide upon..... a good backup is
obviously mandatory in case something does
go wrong.




3) the Netraid Assistant utility can be
downloaded from :

http://h20004.www2.hp.com/soar_rnotes/bsdmatrix/matrix74369en_US.html#Utility



hope this helps, if not clarify so more pls since i had to make some assumptions here due to missing details.

Kris

[kris rombauts]

Hi James,

looking how Jeroen interpreted this config with 4 disks in one RAID0 array changes the possibilities of course and what i wrote in my answer is not fully applicable in that case, pls specify how exactly your config is made:


1) 4 disks in ONE raid0 array

or

2) 4 disks with each individual disk in a raid0
array (one disk/array)

You still can move disks from physicall position as i metioned but their is no way you can ever remove a disk from this configuration
since it would mean data loss due to the raid0 level. Backup/restore is the only option if you want to revert back from 4 disks to 3 disks finally.


HTH

Kris

[James_49]

Thanks Jeroen and Kris

Your both correct about the raid config it's raid 0. The drive I'll be removing has no data on it.

The drive that will be removed is Drive LD1/ID1 on Array 1 and being swapped with Drive LD3/ID8 on Array 3

Kris I've now discoved that I could remove the last disk added but unfortunatley this disk is staying, so I'll have to take your second option which is what I was afraid to do.

I do believe, I'll have to replace the drive I want to keep, removing the extra, experience a headache from the speaker, then clear the configuration and rebuild. I just hope the operating sys likes what I'm doing and behaves on reboot.

Thanks, will dished out points tommorrow. :-)

[kris rombauts]

Hi James,

i am still puzzled why you want to swap these disks (besides a difference in disk capacity you might need), i don't see the reason for the physicall swap first and finally removal of one of those disks after the swap.

But from your last input it looks like my first assumption on the config was correct and you seem to have 4 arrays with each one disk in it and probably each divided in only one logical drive (so each LD is equal to the full array capacity which is in this case equal to the disk capacity since their is only one disk)


So your config should look like this:

Array 0 = LD0 = first disk (SCSI id=0)
Array 1 = LD1 = 2-nd disk (SCSI id=1)
Array 2 = LD2 = 3-th disk (SCSI id=2)
Array 3 = LD3 = 4-th disk (SCSI id=8)

Now you have no data on Array 1 and you want to remove this disk. You could leave the other disks in their slots and only remove this
Array 1 disk in physicall slot 2 and go through the clear config and reconfig of the Netraid controller without changing ID=8 from physicall position (but you could if you really want).

Make sure you verify each LD's properties and write them down first, the stripe size is a importent parameter that should match with the old value if you reconfigure the Netraid card again.

good luck

Kris

[James_49]

Hi Kris/Jeroen

Re-booted sys into NetRaid assistant. Removed Spare disk, cleared config. Re-booted back to Netraid Ass, reconfigured each array, didn't initializing logical drives and re-booted to system.

Worked like a dream!

Thanks