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PE 1900 with Degraded RAID1
I've got a PE 1900 that has a degraded RAID1 virtual disk. In OMSA, I can only see a single SATA drive at 0:1 and the 0:2 drive is listed at "foreign." I did power down the server and re-seat the cable for the 0:2 drive but it's still not showing-up correctly. The drive also doesn't show in the Control-R utility for the Perc5/i controller. I have ordered a replacement drive that I will add to get the RAID1 virtual disk health again.
My question is how do I add the new, replacement drive? Do I add it as a hot spare using OMSA or should I do this in the Control-R utility?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Ken
theflash1932
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March 30th, 2011 18:00
The drive might still be good. Foreign is what will happen any time a drive goes "offline" from the array. A drive can go offline for a number of reasons - physical drive failure is certainly one of them, but firmware, electrical, etc. can also cause a drive to go offline.
There are only two things you can do with a Foreign configuration: clear or import. If you are able to boot to the OS and your data is accessible, then you want to Clear the foreign config, test the drive, and replace if bad or rebuild if good. If you were unable to boot to the OS or that array was inaccessible, then you would want to Import it. Clear for single-disk, Import for multiple-disk.
You can do this in OMSA ... Storage, PERC, Information/Configuration (link at top of the page), Foreign Config from the dropdown menu, then Clear. The drive will then show as Ready. At this point, you can replace it if you wish, but I would test the drive using Online Diagnostics. If it passes, then make sure to update your system firmware (BIOS, ESM/BMC, and RAID).
Whichever drive you choose to rebuild, yes, you will need to set it as a hot-spare ... after clearing any foreign configuration.
theflash1932
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March 30th, 2011 19:00
You will need to rebuild the drive manually after clearing the foreign configuration.
You don't need to update any firmware (if you elect to) until things are rebuilt. Generally, the "rule" of not updating while degraded is good advice, but there are occasions where it is ok ... and even necessary (just in case one day someone tells you to do it :)) If you update your PERC firmware now, then you'll not need to worry about that potential problem (it is a problem isolated only with old firmware on a PERC 5/i).
Good luck.
shepcon
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March 30th, 2011 19:00
Thanks for your reply and clarification. I can successfully boot into Windows server, so it sounds as if the clear option is the way to go. I just get quite nervous when using a command called "clear" with a production server and RAID container. I certainly have good backups that I verify, but I'd prefer to not even go down that round of disaster recovery.
Following the clear of the foreign config and if the drive does become available again, will the RAID1 mirror know to add it back in or must I do this manually? Also, I did download the latest SAS/SATA firmware updates but I've always followed the rule to not apply any firmware updates to a RAID configuration that is in a degraded state. If the RAID1 rebuild is a succes, I certainly will flash.
Thanks again.
Ken