Rebuilding a raid 1 array on HP Proliant Microserver Gen 8

[Straylight]

Hi.

I've been looking around at similar queries but could do with some specific pointers.

I have the above system which is running VMware Esxi off a usb stick. There are 4 x 2TB disks configured in raid 1 and formatted as per vmware. These are hosting a number of Linux VMs.

Problem:

Due to various read write errors when using the VMs, I checked iLo, which says the raid array is in a degraded state. I am blind FWIW so hadn't seen the flashing orange light. I'm using jaws screenreader.

iLo seems to indicate the physical disks are all OK but the array is degraded.

I reboot the system and with sighted help see the message about pressing F1 to try for automatic data recovery or F2 to continue as normal.

However, when I press F1 it continues to boot into Esxi as normal.

SO my question is. Is the array being rebuilt in the background whilst allowing the OS to boot?

If not, why did F1 do nothing?

How do I know it's rebuilding? I can't hear much disk activity other than the odd click. Normal click I mean, like when it's busy but infrequent.

Is iLo reliable? It says the physical disks are OK. They're WD reds.

Any pointers on how to bring this back to life / reliability. It's a bit tricky as I can't do anything in the bios without sighted help but if there's something I've missed, I can take notes for nex time.

Cheers.

[shiva_jr]

Hi @Straylight ,

        This message may occur due to -

a)  System and storage controller firmware may be older version or updated incompletely.
      Solution :  Try to update the system and storage controller firmware to the latest.
b)  Disk failure or its predtion from the controller, 
      Solution:  Run the hardware diagnostic tool, validate the physical disks in BIOS, RAID.
c)   BIOS, RAID configurations might be modified.
      Solution:  Verify the RAID array configurations, boot order etc.

Let me know if the issue still persists.

Regards,
Shiva_JR
Please mark as 'Accepted solution' and give 'Kudos' if my post worked.

[Straylight]

Thanks. It may be a while before I can try accessing the bios again.

Anyone know if the fact it continued to boot to the OS after I pressed F1 for auto data recovery attempt, means that attempt failed? I have left it on, in case it's rebuilding the array in the background.

[shiva_jr]

Hi @Straylight 

I believe, you will be in any one of the following result after pressing F1-
1) If it identifies the issue and recovers successfully, then it loads OS and won't prompt for F1 on further reboots.
2) If it identifies the issue and if it found non-critical and no issue in loading the OS, then it loads the OS but prompts for F1 in further reboots.
3) If it identfies the issue but no recovery then, it asks for F2 or throws an error in loading the OS. 

Regards,
Shiva_JR

[support_s]

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[Straylight · Accepted solution]

Just to address couple of points above. 

I can't upgrade the server's firmware as I do not have an HP support contract.

The host OS is Vmware Esxi custom image. I tried to use the command line tool hpacucli or hpssacli to examine the raid array. This didn't recognise any arrays. 

However, could not update Esxi, which might have updated the above tools, as Broadcom now no longer offer a free version of this product and it's a nightmare finding anything on their site.

This week finally got some eyes on the boot process. The smart array indicated auto data rebuild needed on bay 4. iLo basic version did not suggest a disk error, however, I don't have agentless management. SO took a punt on just replacing disk 4 with a WD Red+, closest match to the other 3 disks.

It seems to be working again now. No flashing orange.

TLDR. I guess if I'd been able to see the screen myself or the iLo thing indicated a disk failure, I'd probably have fixed this weeks ago with a simple disk replacement...

[Sunitha_Mod]

Hello @Straylight,

That's Excellent! 

We are extremely glad to know you were able to find the solution and we appreciate you for keeping us updated.