Re: Proliant DL380/G2 - RAID Expansion

On Mon, 26 Dec 2005 19:51:37 GMT, Eric H wrote:

> "John" <jbielot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:82327fbvrqj7.16xsyi7w36kfu.dlg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 02:07:07 GMT, Doug Holtz NOSPAM in adress wrote:
>>
>>> "John" <jbielot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>> news:w2pwmcucdnxp$.109tqwnhclnid.dlg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I have a 2+ yr old DL380/G2 server with a RAID5 array consisting of (5)
>>>> 36gb drives. I purchased a 6th drive so that I can expand the array. I
>>>> popped the drive in, and it's recognized by the server and the HP Array
>>>> Manager Software (v7.40.8.0). I ran through the Expand array wizard.
>>>> When
>>>> I
>>>> clicked on the last button to save the config to the RAID adapter, the
>>>> red
>>>> X lit up on all (6) drives and the server hung! I had to power cycle the
>>>> server. It came back up OK, but without the change to the configuration.
>>>> The server has the latest available firmware. Can anyone explain why
>>>> this
>>>> is happening?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks.
>>>>
>>>> John
>>>
>>> John;
>>>
>>> How is the array configured with 5 drives? Is there one or two
>>> partitions?
>>> Where is the operating system?
>>>
>>> Doug
>>
>> Hi Doug,
>>
>> 3 partitions. windows 2000 Server/SP4.
>>
>> I tried it again on Friday evening, and this time it appears to be
>> working,
>> without locking up. However, it's taking *forever* to actually expand.
>> It's
>> been running since Friday evening ('round 5pm) (currently around 8:30
>> sunday) and it's only about 50% complete. I certainly didn't expect it to
>> take this long, although at this point, I have little choice except to let
>> let continue.
>>
>> John
>
> I would only use a maximum of 4 disks for raid 5 and configure the other(s)
> as hot spare(s).
> The other two can be configured as Raid 1.
> I would configure the extra drives as hot spares then if a disk fails it
> will rebuild itself onto the hot spare and when the failed disk is replaced
> the system will again rebuild itself to reinstate the original hot spare.
>
> By adding extra disks in a Raid 5 configuration you get a slight increase in
> storage but a great decrease in the read / write access times.

Hi Eric,

Well, If I was replacing the server, I'd set it up with a pair of mirrored
drives for the O/S and the other 4 (3 + hot spare) for the data. But, I'm
not replacing the server and I don't have the budget to replace all / 4 of
the 36gb drives with 72gb drives, so I have no choice but to add the 6th
drive. Next year I'm going to evaluate our storage issues (other servers
are running out of space also (SQL/Exchange) so I'm thinking that the long
term solution is a SAN to consolidate storage and allow me to migrate to a
disk-disk-tape backup scheme. But that won't be doable until '07.

John
.

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