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Few RAID questions
Hi,
I purchased R815 with 2X500GB SATA drives (with mirror RAID configuration) and I would like to ask few questions:
- How many RAID-1 configurations can I create? (I already have the 2 500GB disks in RAID-1) I want to put 4 more disks and have each 2 of them in RAID-1 so I'll have 3 RAID-1 arrays. Is it possible?
- The server is running ESXi and I cannot take it down. I know that I can stick the disks inside without shutting it down, but how can I configure the RAID without shutting down/rebooting the server?
- I just read an article about Western Digital's new 1TB 2.5" disks with very good performance (you can read it here: http://goo.gl/0yNo7). My question is - are those drives "kosher" to work on R815?
Thanks
Dev Mgr
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July 30th, 2011 12:00
The answer to question 1 depends on which raid controller you have.
If you have a SAS6iR, I think it's limited to 2 raid sets (e.g. 2 raid 1's). But the PERC6i or PERC H700 can run many more (32 or 64 or so).
If you have installed OMSA 6.5.0 for ESXi (requires 2 reboots to install and enable completely), you can create the extra raid sets on the fly (and do a lot more too).
WDC "Blue" drives are meant for desktops and laptops, and not for servers. I wouldn't recommend using desktop rated drives in servers. If you want good performance 2.5" drives, but not immediately pay SAS prices, look at WDC's Velociraptor (10k SATA) drives. These are available in 2.5" (the 3.5" offering is really a 2.5" drive on a cooling bracket for a 3.5" bay) and are rated for server/raid usage.
hetzbh
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July 30th, 2011 14:00
Hi,
Thanks for your answers, that helps a lot.
As for OMSA - do you have any URL which describes what is it and what it can be used for? any manual for it? (I only found links about how to install it, but not how to run it etc...)
As for WDC drives, I was looking to use them because I don't need some big performance, I only need them for backup purposes, NFS for low volume transfer, stuff like that. They are 9MM in size, so I was wondering if they can fit to Dell's backplanes..
Thanks again,
Hetz
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July 31st, 2011 05:00
OMSA is an application that allows you to monitor the hardware of your (physical) server.
To use it on ESXi, you install the ESXi component with the help of the vCLI or vMA. This needs to be done in maintenance mode. Once installed you reboot. Now you need to enable 1 setting and then reboot again.
After that you need to also download the Windows version of OMSA 6.5.0 and install that on any Windows system (Dell or non-Dell and can even be a desktop OS). Now you open the "Server Administrator" on that Windows system. At the opening screen it asks for what system you want to manage. Here you put in the ESXi server's DNS name or IP address, the user (root) and the password.
From this web interface you can look at the hardware's health, get firmware versions, check how many DIMMs you have, how many open DIMM slots you have, configure the raid setup, change the raid setup, etc.
Documentation on OMSA 6.5.0 can be found here: support.dell.com/.../index.htm