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Extend single Raid-5 on a Perc 6/i and 2950
Hi folks, and thanks in advance. The other posts I have searched out here have been helpful, but, have not exactly matched my issue, so here I am. :-)
2950 with 6/i controller.
The 6i is responsible for 6 x 1tb SATA drives, with a single virtual disk for data storage. (not booting an OS)
Windows 2012r2 server on the system, OpenManage admin version 8.5.0
Bios as up to date as it should be.
In an effort to expand the capacity of the system, within it's physical chassis, I have one by one, replaced the 1tb drives with new 2tb drives, and let the raid-5 rebuild each time. That has happened successfully, and the virtual drive shows green light.
All 6 of the new drives are identical, right down to the revision number.
All 6 show a total capacity of 1862.5Gb, used raid space of 931.0Gb, and avaialble capacity of 931.5Gb.
(the last replaced showed zero capacity avaialble, until I rebooted, now it's fine too)
If I choose Reconfigure the virtual disk, it shows me all of the drives already selected, and it's greyed out.
If I hit continue, the only option it presents me with, is to create a Raid-0 with a max capacity of 5,586Gb. (which doesn't even really add up, although that is half of 11tb, not far off the 12tb total physical capacity prsent)
I understood that I should be able to extend my VD by this approach, but am not seeing any options in that regard... do I need to go into Bios for this? Or is there something I am doing incorrectly?
thanks much, in advance!
Andrew
DELL-Daniel My
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December 27th, 2018 12:00
No, the PERC6 does not support OCE in this context.
There are two forms of online capacity expansion.
The PERC6 only supports #2. On controllers that support #1 the controller is basically performing a retag, it is rewriting the virtual disk size parameter.
Changing RAID levels is RAID level migration.
DELL-Daniel My
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December 27th, 2018 11:00
Hello
The feature you are looking for is online capacity expansion. I don't think that feature was added until the generation of controllers after the PERC6. On controllers that support OCE you can choose the reconfigure option and if there is available space on every disk it will ask if you want to expand the capacity.
For older controllers that do not support this feature you can either delete and recreate or retag. It is best to make sure you have a valid tested backup before making any hardware or software changes.
To perform a retag you will delete and recreate the virtual disk using the same parameters. The only change you will make is the total size of the virtual disk. You will have it use all available space. So, you will start by making note of the current characteristics, stripe size, number of disks, RAID level, etc. All of those parameters need to remain the same. Delete the virtual disk and then create a new virtual disk using the same disks and parameters. Make sure that you do not choose to initialize. If you choose to perform a full initialization it will be data destructive.
http://www.dell.com/storagecontrollermanuals/
Also, changing the size of the virtual disk will not change partition sizes in the OS. You will need to perform additional steps in your OS for the additional space to be available there.
Thanks
Andrew Bienhaus
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December 27th, 2018 12:00
In reading the whole section of the manual on conversion... it describes converting from raid this to raid that.
If I take the 6 disc raid 5, and let it convert it to raid 0, will it give up a disk? (as in, finish with 5 x raid 0, plus a spare)... or, will it end with raid-0 across 6 discs?
Andrew Bienhaus
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December 27th, 2018 12:00
ok, thanks Daniel... I'll build a second VD then, and just manage my space usage over time. :-)
Andrew Bienhaus
11 Posts
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December 27th, 2018 12:00
Hi Daniel,
thanks for the quick reply.
Do you mind a few more minutes of discussion?
If OCE is indeed what I am speaking of, the manual for the Perc says it can do it:
https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_dell_adapters/poweredge-rc-6i_user%27s%20guide_en-us.pdf
although, it describes it slightly differently, so maybe OCE is a different thing?