Add Disk Drive to PERC H700 Integrated RAID 5 Array

If I understand the process correctly I will

* Power down the server
* Install the new hard drive
* Power on the server
* At the Windows Desktop, launch OMSA
* go to storage, PERC, Virtual disks, choose Reconfigure from dropdown menu for RAID 5
* The disk will be added to the RAID 5

So after installing the hard drive I will see the hard drive as a physical disk in OMSA but it won't be a part of the RAID-5 array yet I assume? And Reconfiguring doesn't delete any data (OS, files, etc)?

• Insert drive HOT (never power down to replace or introduce a hot-swappable drive)
• Launch OMSA, make sure it shows under Physical Disks as "ready" (not foreign)
• Then reconfigure

Reconfigure is the term OMSA uses to describe the RAID controllers "Online Capacity Expansion" feature ... it is designed to expand the size of the VD while online, without affecting data.  There will be a moderate performance hit during the expansion.

*Doh* You're so correct. I completely forgot one is to not power down a server to replace or introduce a hot-swappable drive. Thanks for the reminder.

This sounds simple. Thank you very much the quick and helpful responses. I appreciate it greatly!

Great! Thanks.

Hi again. Is the process the same for a PowerEdge R710, same drives, with a PERC 6/i integrated RAID controller for a RAID-5 array? Add the drive(s), go to OMSA, Reconfigure?

Yes, the process is the same. 

If you are just going to wipe the OS anyway, you should delete the existing VD, then create/initialize the new/larger VD to include the new disks BEFORE installing the OS.

DBAN may know how to see/talk to the RAID controller, but if you "wipe" the VD with it, it will ONLY wipe the file system level data on the VD.  DBAN cannot alter the RAID configuration.

I appreciate you talking with me about this. I'm new to PowerEdge servers and how RAID works with them. What do you think about the following?

* on the server, in OMSA, delete the VD, thus breaking the RAID config
* restart server, boot into DBAN from the CD and delete/wipe the drives. After DBAN is finished, power down the server.
* Install the new drives into the PowerEdge server.
* Power on server.

Now this is where I'm lost on what to do next. PEdge servers, as I understand, don't have BIOS RAID configuration utilities right? OMSA is the only tool to configure RAID right? So will I have to install the Windows OS (in my case 2012) on the server, then install OMSA, then configure the RAID setup? If so, how does that work? Won't the OS be installed on one of the drives? I'm lost on this process.

The PERC does not support non-RAID, so in order for disks to be seen by the OS, they must first be configured on the controller in a RAID array.  I don't use DBAN, but it won't be able to wipe the disks if they are not configured ... only the virtual disks (arrays) can be seen by DBAN.  So, if you are getting rid of your existing disks and want to wipe them first, then configure RAID, run DBAN to wipe the data on the VD, then delete the VD.  Then you can put in your new drives, configure them in RAID, then install the OS.

Now this is where I'm lost on what to do next. PEdge servers, as I understand, don't have BIOS RAID configuration utilities right? OMSA is the only tool to configure RAID right? So will I have to install the Windows OS (in my case 2012) on the server, then install OMSA, then configure the RAID setup? If so, how does that work? Won't the OS be installed on one of the drives? I'm lost on this process.

No ... you are talking about software RAID.  RAID managed by hardware is configured independent of the OS.  You will boot to the CTRL-R utility, configure and initialize RAID, install the OS, then install OMSA (which provides a way to manage the drives from the OS).  Once you configure RAID, the VD you create will be used by the OS as if it were a single hard drive, and the OS doesn't know or care how many disks make up the array that it sees as a "disk".

Hi Flash1932,

Question, you can use larger storage/slower RPM drives when expanding, correct?

Currently I have 5 1.2TB 15,000RPM SAS

I am looking at getting 3 - Dell 7200 RPM Near Line Serial Attached SCSI Hard Drive - 4 TB

Should work OK?

Hi Flash1932, Question, you can use larger storage/slower RPM drives when expanding, correct? Currently I have 5 1.2TB 15,000RPM SAS I am looking at getting 3 - Dell 7200 RPM Near Line Serial Attached SCSI Hard Drive - 4 TB Should work OK?

It is possible to expand an existing virtual disk with larger and slower drives, but it would not be very smart at all.  Your virtual disk will operate at the slower speed disks and you will lose the additional capacity of the 4TB NL SAS disks.  You will only get 1.2TB of space from the new 4TB NS SAS drives and ALL disks will spin at 7.2k RPM.

I'm sure you bought 15k drives for a reason, so optimally, you want to match the existing disk speed and size without wasting space and performance.  If you add 3 new 7.2k NL SAS, then they should be added as a separate virtual disk RAID5 and you will have to split your data between the different volumes.

Hi,

We need more space for our server DELL PowerEdge R710 (PERC h710).

So I have added 2 HD to my RAID5 with "Reconfigure" tool under OMSA. But problem is that LVM shows the new space as uninitialized entity with unpartitioned space, and I am not able to initialize this free space.

Did I miss some step?

Thanks in advance.

Flash, What should I do if it says, "foreign?"