RAID 5 issues HELP! PERC 3/di Adaptec Controller

Hi Hits83,

 

  Ok first off backup everything and review the backup logs to make sure all the files were actually backed up. That covers the data loss portion and is the most important step.

 

  Next, you collect the controller logs (DSET report) and review them for any medium errors, ask server support for assistance if medium errors or smart errors are found, you want to make sure you have a good foundation prior to doing the reconfiguration.

 

  Now that you have a good array with no bad drives or other problems, you'll want to run F/W updates and driver updates (hard drives, RAID controller, System BIOS, System ESM)

 

  Finally you're ready to reconstruct your RAID 5 from 5 drives to 6 or more drives. You'll need drive carriers and compatible drives. These can be ordered from Dell Sales. You should have two available drive slots, the things in the empty bays look like they're carriers, but they are just drive blanks for airflow management. It does no good to order larger drives, the extra capacity will be unused.

 

  The previous will get you prepared to proceed, there are tutorials and manuals for most of your tasks, and many many postings where we have walked customers through the process, please spend some time reading and using the search feature. As well as the tutorials and white papers we have stickyed.

 

Regards,

Dell-GaryS

Dell-GaryS

Hi,

 

Thanks for the advice. I have spoke with dell and they go its best to use Dell Open Manage Server Admin to do this task.

 

I have had a look but cannot seem to find any guides or whitepapers which give a walkthrough

 

Is there any chance you know any links/ documents or whitepapers which will give me some more information on what steps i need to take

 

Thanks

 

 

manuals for the server administrator

manuals for the Array Manager

< ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

 

See the walkthroughs at the top of this forum page for how to use diskpart to extend the partition.

 

  Do you have a test machine to practice on?

 

You actually perform the change by selecting the reconfiguration option and select the new drives you're adding, make sure it still says RAID 5 and commit the change. Plan on doing this over the weekend, the reconfiguration will need a good chunk of the disk I/O and will cause performance slowdown till it's done, which may be half a day or more.

 

Good luck,

Dell-GaryS

 

 

 

 

Yes you have it right, I was just covering the bases.

From the array manager manual:

"When Array Manager creates a partition on a basic disk, Array Manager checks whether the partition is the last one on the disk, and then reserves 1MB at the end of the disk for future upgrade needs. When you upgrade from basic to dynamic, the partition needs to align with the cylinder boundary, which may result in a cylinder size (usually 7.8MB) that is left on the disk. This cylinder size is displayed as unallocated disk space.

Warning! After you upgrade a basic disk to a dynamic disk, you will not be able to revert back to a basic disk until you first delete all the dynamic volumes on the disk. Then you can use the Revert to Basic Disk command to revert the disk back to a basic disk. Make sure to back up your data in this scenario before deleting any volumes, or your data will be lost!"

  So you lose the 1MB at the end of the basic disk that allows you to make changes like adding drives to the volume. Ok so now we know, you will not be able to meet your stated objectives, the increase in storage will require a deletion of the array and a rebuild of the server. Time to go back to the manager and lay out the options.

1) add two drives to the array, requiring a reinstall of the O/S and restore from backup, and about 1 day of down time.

2) add two drives as a RAID 1 (perhaps 300 GB drives)

3) get a 2nd server build it up and move the data to it, then do the upgrades to the primary, and when done, move the data back.

4) option I did not think of.

Regards,

Dell-GaryS

I was just looking at the current situation and you are right i think i will have to use diskpart..

 

Its un usual as the extend volume is greyed out i have never come accross this before :s

 

where can i find a walkthrough for disk part.

 

you said its at the top of the forum page but i cant see it ?

 

 

here

is expart.exe the same as diskpart.exe

 

im a little confused as i wont be able to use this as the disks are dynamic and it says they should be basic.

 

i always thought that becuase they were dynaic i could just increase the volume but that option is greyed out?

 

any ideas why this might be greyed out?