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How to add hotspare?
i have a R610 machine with H700 controller.
i have 3 disks in it configured as raid5. all 3 disks are SAS 136.12 GB product id ST9146852SS (as shown in OMSA)
i am now trying to add a hotspare. i inserted another SAS 136.12 GB disk (product id ST9146853SS). i go in OMSA to virtual disks->Assign dedicated hot spare.
for some reason i am getting an error "Storage Management only displays those disks that can be used as a hot spare. There are currently no disks that are available, large enough, or of the correct type to be used as a hot spare for this virtual disk."
what am i missing here? it should be pretty straight forward
theflash1932
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January 13th, 2013 09:00
Is your new disk showing as Ready or Foreign in the Physical Disks screen? If Foreign, you MUST clear it before you can do anything with the disk. You clear it by going to OMSA, PERC, Information/Configuration (link at top of page), and Foreign/Clear from the dropdown menu of Available Tasks for the controller).
Also Seagate lists the following:
ST9146852SS - 146.8GB
ST9146853SS - 146GB
I realize the 136.12GB you posted is likely what OMSA is showing as its capacity, but there may be a reason Seagate specifically listed the '.8' on the older drives. If, for example, the actual size is 136.124 vs 136.121, both would be rounded to 136.12, but the 3MB difference in size would be enough to keep the smaller disk from being a suitable replacement.
If your disk is showing Ready, then I'd have to think it is a size problem ... getting another '2' should work fine ... or if you are so inclined, capable, and willing to risk voiding the warranty, you might be able to use a disk editor to change the size it advertises to the controller.
theflash1932
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January 13th, 2013 22:00
SOMEwhere on the screen of the Foreign Configuration preview screen, should be an option to clear. If you can't find it, you will need to do it in the CTRL-R utility during POST.
DaniAvni
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January 13th, 2013 22:00
the disk shows as foreign.
when I went to OMSA->PERC->Info/Config, the tasks I have are (I am using OMSA 7.1):
Create Virtual Disk ...
Reset Configuration ...
Export Log ...
Set Patrol Read Mode ...
Change Controller Properties ...
Foreign Configuration Operations ...
Manage Encryption Key ...
Manage Physical Disk Power ...
when going into Foreign Configuration Operations I see a disk from a raid0 layout with a name "IR Virtual Disk". I do not see anywhere a command to clear the current config stored on the disk.
how should I proceed?
thanks
DaniAvni
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January 14th, 2013 00:00
using iDRAC I went into CTRL-R utility. I see the foreign disk but do not see any clear command. all I can do with the disk is blink it's LED.
am I missing something?
DaniAvni
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January 14th, 2013 07:00
it seems I am getting blind as I simply did not see the giant "clear" button on the OMSA foreign config screen.
for some reason I kept clicking the import/recover button and did not see the clear button next to it. I guess turning 40 years old really changes you :-)
anyway disks were cleared and added as hot spares (despite the small size difference)
any recommendations on the following settings from the controller properties (this is my first hot spare so I am not sure about best practices for these settings)?
Set New Rebuild Rate (0-100): %
Set New BGI Rate (0-100): %
Set New Check Consistency Rate (0-100): %
Set New Reconstruct Rate (0-100): %
Abort Check Consistency on Error
Allow Revertible Hot Spare and Replace Member
Auto Replace Member on Predictive Failure
Persistent Hot Spare
many thanks for all your help!
theflash1932
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January 14th, 2013 07:00
Are you missing something? Yes :)
That is just how this controller works ... you MUST be able to clear the config, but I don't have this particular sitation (nor am I in a position 'today' to create one), so I can't tell you exactly what - and where - you should be seeing in OMSA, other than the manual is very clear that the option should be there (and from the hundreds of Dell servers I've worked on, it has always been there - variations depending on the OSMA version - but always there).
In CTRL-R, go to the VD MGMT screen (default), highlight the controller, hit F2, Foreign Configuration, Clear.
theflash1932
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January 14th, 2013 08:00
"despite the small size difference"
There is some threshold for size differences, but I do not remember what it is (it is very small though).
DaniAvni
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January 14th, 2013 09:00
thanks. do you have any recommendations for the settings I mentioned in the post above?
theflash1932
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January 14th, 2013 09:00
Sorry ... I did mean to respond to those as well.
These should have default settings, so I would leave most of them. The only one you might want to look more closely at is "auto replace on pred fail" ... a pred fail (short for predictive/predicted failure) is when the drive's SMART logic has determined that the disk is defective and communicates this to the controller. If auto replace is turned on, then the pred fail drive will be taken offline and the hot-spare rebuilt in its place. This is a good idea, because pred fail drives have not yet failed, so their defects can cause corruption and other issues (poor performance, etc.).
The others are not so important, but if you have questions about any of them, let me know.