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May 4th, 2020 13:00
Upgrading with RAID1
Just want to be sure this is a valid method for upgrading our PE R410 from 2008 R2 > 2012 R2 > 2019. My plan is in order to ensure I have a "live" backup, take the mirrored drive offline, upgrade the primary HD to 2012 R2. If all goes well, then resync the drives. Make sure all is well prior to proceeding for repeat process to 2019.
The question is: if something breaks can't I then pull the primary HD from it's bay, put the mirror in there and boot from it. It looks like when I get to the PERC controller boot screen it's going to complain, but if I tell it to accept (I think that was the wording) the FOREIGN configuration and proceed, then I can boot into the mirrored drive.
Assuming that works, I'm guessing I'll be able to reset everything in OpenManage.
Thanks for any input!
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DELL-Joey C
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May 4th, 2020 18:00
Hi,
PER410 only supports up to Windows 2012 R2. Windows 2019 isn't tested and verified on the server, so it may have some errors.
The way that you are intending to install, would not work. The mirror RAID have both data and RAID containment info in it, therefore after you have install the new OS in 1 of the drive, it will not sync into the other drive, unless the other drive data have been erased.
The usual recommended way would be to backup Windows and data, and do a fresh install.
cavkirov
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May 5th, 2020 07:00
That doesn't seem to answer the main question. If I understand correctly you agree that I could upgrade to the new OS on the primary HD of the RAID. The main question is: should the upgrade fail, can I then take the mirror HD (which has been disabled prior to upgrading and therefore is still on the pre-upgrade OS) and boot from it?
If the upgrade goes fine, then if I have to completely wipe the mirrored HD and resync it, so what? That's exactly what I want to do.
Did I misunderstand something?
theflash1932
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May 5th, 2020 12:00
Generally, this will work, but it merits the following lecture:
RAID is NOT a backup! RAID is a first line of defense against downtime, and is ONLY implemented for that purpose. It's design is NOT to rollback changes, bad updates, etc. You should not do the OS upgrade without a solid tested/validated backup of the system. RAID may save you like you describe, but you should not rely on it to save you in case things go south.
Joey has a good point that Servers 2016 and 2019 are not supported on this server, so I would recommend against upgrading that far. Some hardware (including some RAID controllers) are simply incompatible with 2019 (2016 AND 2012, now that I think about it -- which RAID controller do you have?).
Upgrade to 2012 R2, then replace the server before 2012 R2 end of life ( end of 2023, I think? -- IF you can even upgrade to that version).