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135183
June 6th, 2013 12:00
Adding drives to Raid set
I have a Dell PowerEdge T110 running Windows 2008 server. It has a RAID 0 (two mirrored drives) that are running out of space. I purchased two new drives and would like to add these drives to the existing set. It's my understanding that you can't add drives to a mirrored set. Can I then add the drives as a separate mirrored set? I am using the PERC S100 RAID controller.
If I add these drives as a separate RAID set, can I extend the D: or data partition on the server. Or Do I have to create a completely new partition.
Lastly, how do I use the Dell OpenManage software to create the new RAID set. Is there documentation that explains the creation of a RAID set using the OpenManage software.
Thanks!
DELL-Josh Cr
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June 6th, 2013 12:00
Hi justguessing,
With the S100 controller there is not any way to extend the existing array, so you will have to create a new array with the new drives. This will be a separate drive in Windows and will require its own drive letter.
ftp.dell.com/.../dell-opnmang-srvr-admin-v7.1_User&Guide_3_en-us.pdf
page 238 shows the steps for creating a new virtual disk.
theflash1932
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June 6th, 2013 12:00
Just need a clarification: RAID 1 is a mirror; RAID 0 is a non-redundant stripe ... which do you have?
You can't add disks to a mirrored set (assuming you meant RAID 1 before) as RAID 1 requires exactly two disks, but depending on your controller, you can convert a 2-disk RAID 1 to a 4-disk RAID 5. The S100 cannot do this; you would need to swap the disks for larger ones - a risky proposition in itself.
Yes, you can add a second array/RAID 1 though. This second VD/array will show up in the OS as a separate "disk", so its space cannot be joined with any space on your original/existing "disk". You could, however, move data from D: to the new/larger partition/disk and create it as the new D: drive.
In OMSA, go to Storage, PERC, Information/Configuration, and Create/New from the dropdown menu of Available Tasks for the controller. It will ask you for the available disks you want to use and the RAID level (RAID 1 = mirror).
justguessing
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June 6th, 2013 13:00
The existing set is a RAID 1 - mirrored set. The link Josh provided does not work.
theflash1932
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June 6th, 2013 13:00
The forum is kind of quirky with links, particularly poorly-written links by Dell's publishing team (which isn't Josh, btw):
http://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_electronics/esuprt_software/esuprt_ent_sys_mgmt/dell-opnmang-srvr-admin-v7.1_User's%20Guide3_en-us.pdf
DELL-Josh Cr
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June 6th, 2013 13:00
Thanks for fixing that.
justguessing
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June 10th, 2013 08:00
The new link worked. I haven't added the drives yet, but I feel I have all the info I need to proceed.
justguessing
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June 11th, 2013 10:00
For some reason OpenManager can see the drives, but it won't allow me to configure them. If I try to run the new virtual disk wizard it tells me I have no available disk space. There are no tasks available for the new drives. How do I get OpenManager to allow me to configure the drives?
justguessing
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June 11th, 2013 10:00
I'm assuming you can't add a secondary RAID 1 set with the Perc S100. Windows sees the drives and can use them, but I was hoping on using them as a secondary RAID 1 set.
theflash1932
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June 11th, 2013 11:00
The S100 supports up to 8 virtual disks.
When you go to the Virtual Disks screen, what does it show? Does it show the new disks in some virtual disk (like RAID 0, non-RAID, or volume)?
justguessing
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June 11th, 2013 11:00
The controller can support up to 8 virtual disks, but can it support two separate RAID 1 configurations?
justguessing
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June 11th, 2013 11:00
The new drives are listed as non-RAID. When I try to initialize them from the RAID utility it says they are already in a RAID set.
theflash1932
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June 11th, 2013 12:00
Virtual Disk = RAID array. It can support up to 8 RAID arrays of any combination. What options are available in the dropdown for each "non-RAID" virtual disk?
justguessing
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June 11th, 2013 19:00
No task available for each non-RAID drive. Once again, I don't think the S100 supports two RAID sets at one time.
theflash1932
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June 11th, 2013 20:00
The S100 clearly supports multiple "RAID sets" (virtual disks), as documented:
"VIRTUAL DISK — A virtual disk refers to storage created by a RAID controller from
one or more physical disks. Although a virtual disk may be created from several
physical disks, it is seen by the operating system as a single disk. Depending on the
RAID level used, the virtual disk may retain redundant data in case of a disk failure." (p. 110)
"Maximum number of virtual disks: 8" (p. 30)
"A maximum of eight virtual disks can be created with the PERC Virtual
Disk Management utility." (p. 51)
http://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_dell_adapters/poweredge-rc-s100_User's%20Guide_en-us.pdf
I don't believe in these low-end controllers, so I don't have one to test with to tell you how to do it, but you should be able to, somewhere/somehow, to delete the virtual disk that the non-RAID disk is assigned to or set the disk to/from non-RAID to RAID/ready, etc.
justguessing
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June 13th, 2013 21:00
After much hand-wringing and agony, I figured out that I had to delete the new drives from the virtual drive list. This made them available for a new RAID set. Evidently the controller saw them as virtual disks even before I configured them as virtual disks. Kind of counter-intuitive.