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New Poweredge T130 with server 2012 foundation preinstalled .. But want RAID 1 Mirroring
Hi Guys,
A client bought a New Poweredge T130 with two 1TB drives inside + a PERC H330 RAID Controller.
He got the Windows server 2012 R2 foundation preinstalled by Dell but seems he did not instruct them to setup RAID 1 - I can see the two drives in Windows Explorer
SO - with the Dell Lifecycle Controller utility it seems I can add RAID 1 to mirror the main drive. Here are the Qs:
1. If I go ahead with this will the previous intsall of Server 2012 be removed? Will I have to reinstall Server 2012 Foundation?
2. Any way to do this and leave the factory Server install?
3. Is it actually worth going to trouble of leaving the factory install, just deploy again via LifeCycle controller?
Their is NO DATA or software except for vanilla windows server 2012 installed on the system
On boot up into Server 2012 foundation it asked me to partition the OS drive - I gave it 120GB
BTW - will RAID 1 Mirror the whole OS Drive, 2 partitions ( C, D ) to the empty 2nd iTB Drive already in there?
This is a simple setup - only 5 workstations off this unit. No real security required. Only reason for server is it is needed to run certain practice management software. The client asked me to do Mirror ..
DELL-Daniel My
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July 25th, 2017 13:00
Hello
You will need to reinstall the OS if you switch to RAID.
Partitions are just data segmentation. The RAID array has nothing to do with partitions. All of the data is mirrored, including partitions.
Thanks
aidanodr
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July 26th, 2017 04:00
Thanks Daniel for the advice. I have now done this .. bit the bullet and went for RAID 1 and a reinstall.
It is now about to DEPLOY the OS.
In step 2 it asks BOOT MODE: BIOS or UEFI
If UEFI then Secure Boot - Enabled or Disabled .. And secure boot policy STANDARD
What would peoples best advice on this be baring in mind the spec and OS?
As i mentioned we have 2 x 1TB drives in the system & will be running Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation.
EDIT: I elected to go the UEFI route, Secure Boot enabled. And then MANUAL INSTALL.
I then inserted the media disc that said "Windows server 2012 R2 Foundation" ( this was only disc that came in the box ) and at the start of installation when setting up partitions it then said INSTALL WINDOWS STORAGE SERVER.
Is that OK?
BTW - in the OS Deply wizard their is no mention of Windows server 2012 R2 Foundation, I selected Windows server 2012 R2.
AND FINALLY - another opinion Q. Main drive partitions. Does a server actually need the main drive partitioned ( in my case a 1TB drive )? Leave it all as C:? OR partition it to about 120GB for the system partition ( C: ) and the rest as a data partition ( D: )?
Except for Windows install itself, in my case, the C:\program files folder might contain practice management software.
UPDATE - Went through a load of windows updates ( 119 ) .. rebooted and now stuck at "We couldnt complete the updates .. Undoing changes" ....... Secure Boot issue?
aidanodr
21 Posts
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July 26th, 2017 15:00
Hi Guys,
Brand new Poweredge T130: 2 x 1TB Drives, 16gb Ram, Raid 1, UEFI, Secure boot .. Server 2012 R2 Foundation.
Using the Lifecycle Controller to setup the RAID 1 with the 2 x 1TB drives and the deploy OS. UEFI and Secure Boot enabled.
119 updates were added from the get go. On reboot got:
"we couldn't complete the updates undoing changes"
I am wondering is this a secure boot enabled issue? Temp disable it ??
Any order of updates, or updates that should / should not be installed first??
Thoughts / experiences around this appreciated ..