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MD 1000 setup and shared by 2 servers
We have a PowerVault MD1000 (with three 1TB SAS drives) in our office. Originally it was setup as a virtual disk and connect to a PE2950 as S drive. We trying to setup this array so that it can be shared by another Dell R905 server. Once we connect the MD1000 to both the R905 server and the PE2905 server. The R905 sees it and import the configuration, and the virtual disk now is E drive on the R905. However, the virtual disk S drive disppeared from the PE2950.
My questions: 1) Can this kind of "clustering" be setup like that? Two different servers shared one MD1000 see/share the same folder structures?
2) If it can be done, how do I get the virtual disk back on the PE2950 server? (The server sees the MD1000 but it does not see the virtual disk and there is no import configuration from OMSA)
3) If it cannot be done, and I need it back on the PE2950, starting the virtual disk setup wizard from OpenManage SA on the PE2950, will be wipe the whole array and start all over, and I'll lost all my 3TB data?
Need help and many thanks in advance!!
ttse
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October 20th, 2009 12:00
To clarify, the PE2950 has a PERC 5/E and the R905 has a PERC 6/E. Not sure if it can be done.
Dev Mgr
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October 20th, 2009 13:00
What you're wanting to do isn't possible with the MD1000. The reason there are 2 controller on it is to allow to split the enclosure so that 1 server gets 8 drive bays and the other server gets 7.
Also, if you were to buy an MD3000, MD3000i, PV220S (would have to buy 2nd hand as Dell stopped selling them (on their website, but cannot say about if you call them (though I suspect the same)), or other SAN solution, 2 Windows servers can only share a block-level device (like a harddrive) if the 2 servers are clustered; otherwise the filesystem will corrupt (changes that 1 server applies (write a new file to the disk) cannot be seen by the other, so when the other server needs to write something to the disk it may overwrite the data that the first server wrote to the disks, causing data corruption).
mrokkam
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October 20th, 2009 15:00
The solution that you are looking for will probably be possible with a NAS solution.
I believe that you should be able to disconnect the R905 and then import the disks into the 2950 without losing the data (the same way you imported the config to the R905) As long as the R905 is connected, it is probably the primary owner of the disks and that is why you cannot import it back.
-Mohan
Dev Mgr
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October 21st, 2009 07:00
To put it in more common wording; you use the MD1000 with 1 server, create a share on the disk, and on the other server you map to this share.
ttse
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October 21st, 2009 08:00
Thanks to both of your advises. Yeah, I was facing two different issues. First, the 2950 has a PERC5 and the R905 has a PERC6. Since the R905 has a newer PERC6 controller, somehow it automatic assigned itself as the primary owner, therefore the 2950 can't see the MD1000. Secondly, this kind of share same folder structure is not possible for non-clustered servers. The only way is a network share.
Well, the plan is to disconnect R905 and reboot everything, with high hope the 2950 will see its original virtual disk from the MD1000, get it back and not wipe my data.
Thanks a lot!!!
ttse
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October 26th, 2009 13:00
Just to give an update on my problem/fix.
Disconnecting the R905 from MD1000 allow the 2950 to see the array again. However, since R905 uses the PERC 6 and took ownership at some point. 2950'sPERC 5 cannot see any virtual disk when reconnected, probably PERC 6 overwritten something on the virtual disk that PERC 5 cannot understand. So.... need to rebuild the virtual disk...
Thanks.
mrokkam
154 Posts
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October 26th, 2009 15:00
ttse,
thanks for the update and sorry to hear about having to rebuild the virtual disk! Did you try Dell support to see if this was something they could fix?
-Mohan.