HARD DRIVE showing Missing after replacement in Raid Controller R710

You can start by verifying you have back up of the data on the RAID 5.  Have you reseated the drive in the same slot or tried the drive in another slot if available on the server?  Is there a light on the drive when you insert?  It is possible that the drive is seen as a foreign drive.

I would suggest installing OMSA (Open Managed Server Administrator) on the server.  It is very useful tool that allows you to manage the hardware from inside the OS.  From that utility you can view the status of the drives.  If the drive does show up as foreign then you would want to look at clearing the foreign and then the drive would show up as ready and rebuild.

Let us know if you have any further questions.

Dell | Social Outreach Services - Enterprise

Yes the drive is in the same slot ans there is no other slot available

Yes there is a  green ligth when i insert the disk , so now where do i chek if the disk is mark as foreign drive?

I can't install the OMSA , this server is running an ESX Server , and client would not allow me to install any software on the server(policy)

CAn you tell me please precise step to check the foreign disk configuration?

Thx

If you can't do it in the OS, then boot to CTRL-R, go to the PD MGMT screen to look at the individual drives.  There may also be a Foreign screen.  To clear the Foreign Config, you need to highlight the controller on the VD MGMT screen, hit F2, Foreign Config, Clear.  If the drive has existing metadata on it, the controller will mark it as foreign.  The foreign config must be addressed before anything can be done with the drive.  Once cleared, you can assign the drive as a hot spare to begin the rebuild.

OK Thx for the reply ? My question is why do i need to assign it as Hot spare if the drive was part of Initial configuration?

and what is the rebuild process is doing exactly ? do I have to rebuild automatically to go to the initial state?

Excuse me Newbee question , I need to know what I'm doing

You said you replaced the failed disk with a new one, so it was not part of the "initial configuration".  Even if the drive was part of the initial configuration, the fact that the drive was out of the array for even a millisecond means that it must be rebuilt into the array.  "Rebuilding" is the process of putting data on the new disk to match and fit in to the array of other disks.  In a RAID 5 configuration, data AND parity (used to recreate/calculate data on a missing disk should one fail) are written across all disks in the array.  When one drive fails, the data stays accessible because the combination of data and parity can be used to calculate the data on the missing disk.  When replacing that failed disk (or if the original disk goes offline for even a millisecond), the data and parity for that missing disk must be calculated and then written to that replacement disk.

Assigning a drive as a hot spare is just this controller's way of starting a rebuild on a new drive.

OK , Theflash1932 , you are very Clear , I'll proceed as per your instructions. I'll come back to you

True.  It was over a year ago that the block was lifted (via firmware udpate) for non-certified drives.  So, assuming your controller has the latest firmware on it, it should allow you to use a non-certified drive.  If using non-certified, just be prepared for potential problems by staying on top of your backups.

Yes, good point.  I said "be prepared for potential problems" if  using non-certified drives.  If using a non-enterprise class drive as a replacement, that's just crazy.

Pretty sure that was taken out of the controller BIOS as of a certain date / firmware revision.

I got an information and i want you guys to confirm 

Is it true that  RAID Controller  PERC H700 does not recognize disks that are not DELL Certified ?   I'm not compliant with that requirement

The earlier firmware on the controller was set to block non dell drives.  That has changed with the newer firmware revisions.  Even with the new upgraded firmware the drive needs to be an Enterprise grade hard drive that is compatible with the server.

Here is a link to the current firmware available on the H700:

You can also hit F10 on the Dell splash screen to enter the USC on the server where you can run a platform update on the server.  This will scan the hardware installed then reach out to our FTP website and download the available updates for the hardware installed.  Then at that point you can select what updates you would like to run at that time and run them.

Let us know if you have any further questions.

Dell | Social Outreach Services - Enterprise

May not be so crazy if the store is not really a critical data store.    A busy server pounds the drives hard no doubt though.  I went through the buying the cheapest drives phase,  I am thouroghly over it trust me.  :)