Adding 3 drives to RAID 5

[mkaddour]

I have HPE Smart Array P408i-a SR Gen10 controller and it is configured as follows:

RAID5: 3x 2.4TB HPE SAS HDD

I bought additional 3x 2.4TB HPE SAS HDD.

Would like to increase space "without loosing data" and reach the following:

RAID5: 6x 2.4TB HPE SAS HDD

Is that possible?

Thanks.

[TVVJ]

Hello,

Yes, it is possible.

Before performing this activity, ensure that valid backup of server's data is present and downtime has been scheduled.

First, the drives needs to be made part of the logical drive. Once they have been added to a logical drive, then the logical drive's capacity can be extended to the additional capacity so added.

You may add the drives to the logical drive using the setting "Add Drives(s) - Expand Array" under section "6.15.1 Managing Data Drives" on page 31 of the HPE Smart Storage Administrator GUI User Guide for GUI access or section "7.3.24 Expanding an Array" on page 29 of the HPE Smart Storage Administrator CLI User Guide for CLI access.

You may download the HPE Smart Storage Administrator for the relevant operating system.

Alternatively, you may also perform these steps from within the server's UEFI System Utilities.

• Restart or power on the server. Access the server's UEFI System Utilities by pressing the key "F9" at the server's POST prompt.
• Then at the System Utilities screen, select "System Configuration". Here, select "HPE Smart Array P408i-a SR Gen10".
• Here, select "Array Configuration".
• Here, select "Manage Arrays". Select the array to which the installed hard drives needs to be added.
• Here, select "Manage Data Drives".
• In the "Manage Data Drives" page select "Add Drives(s) - Expand Array".
• Here add the hard drives to be part of the array.
• After this process is completed, once again, in the Array details page select "List Logical Drives".
• Here select the logical drive which has to be extended with the additional space.
• In the target Logical Drive page, select "Extend Logical Drive".
• Here, specify the required space or continue with the total available space and click on "Submit Changes".
• Once this activity is completed reboot the server with changed configuration.

Also, please ensure that the hard drives being intended for additional capacity are of the same type of hard drive such as SAS or SATA and I/O speed as that of those already in the array. Also, if additional drives are the same type but work at a lower speed, then the speed of the entire array will be that of the lowest speed drive. Also, if any of the additional hard drive installed has a higher storage capacity than that of the drive in the array, that extra space is not utilized as part of the array. Hence, it would pertinent to have the drives having the same option or spare part numbers!

Regards