Transferring 220s from one server to another

Question

Hi I have a 220S PowerVault. It is connected to one of the servers and it contains some very important data (about 1 tb of data). The thing is, the server is dying down and I want to transfer the vault to a newly built server. Is there any specific manner to transfer the vault from one server to another? The thing is, I tried testing the vault transfer from one server to another with a different vault. I set another 220s vault (say, TestVault) up with a dummy server (say, Server1), and after writing some data onto the TestVault on Server1, I disconnected it from Server1 and connected it to a different dummy server (Server2). After initializing the arrays on the Server2, I noticed that none of the data stored from Server1 were present. In fact, to use the volumes, I had to format the drives (I wonder if there is a work around). So, my question here is, if there is some specific manner I can transfer the existing vault from the dying server to a new server without any data loss. Thanks in advance. - LS

at5147 · Answer

First off, if the data is important, get a backup before doing anything.

Second off, if you are moving from one server to another you need to make sure that the RAID controllers are the same and at the same firmware rev. You cannot take a PV 220 attached to a PERC 2/DC and move it to a PERC 4/DC and expect it to work. If the controllers are the same, then you would not want to initialize the disk when adding it to the other controller; that deletes all data.

Depending on the controllers that you are moving the PV 220 from and to will depend on the process. If it is an LSI controller, then most likely you will get a NVRAM mismatch. If it is an Adaptec controller, then most likely it will ask you to accept the new configuration.

livestrong · Answer

Thanks for the reply. I should post back yesterday that I figured it out. Yes, I use the same raid controller. I transfered both the card and the drives. Anyways, the problem I was facing was that the data was being deleted because i used to initialize the arrays each time because the computer won't show the drives without initializing them. The reason for that is my own stupidity because before moving them to a different server, I would change those raid arrays to 'Dynamic Disk' instead of 'Basic Disk' in Disk Management. That was the problem. When I keep those raid arrays in the default 'Basic Disk' format, and transfer the card and the arrays to a different server, all the data shows up intact. And that's exactly what I wanted. Thanks nevertheless!

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Transferring 220s from one server to another

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