Adding Hard Disk to existing Array

The PERC 3/di controller supports it but the drives on the containers have to be configured as dynamic disks in Windows 2003 Server.  If they're not, you'll need downtime to modify the partition size.  You can do all the work online and then take down the server to expand the partition.  Make sure you have a good backup of the server and data.

 

1. When you receive the drives, install them in the carriers and insert them in the empty slots.

 

2. Open the OpenManage console and initialize the new drives.

 

3. In the OpenManage console, reconfigure the virtual disks.  You can add the new drives to the array but it will only use 36Gb of the 72Gb drive.  For RAID-5, it picks the minimum size of the drives as the size of all the pieces.

 

3. One you've added the disks, the array will begin to rebuild.  This slows down the server.  You can still use it but it will be slower.  I'd wait until it's fully initialized just to make sure all the drives are working OK.

 

4. If the disk is dynamic, use the device manager to expand the partition.  If it's a basic disk, follow the instructions here on how to use the extpart utility.  If you're running a version of Linux, you're on your own.

 

 

Thanks JCN --

 

I have a very old version of OpenManage and I am sure that the PERC3/di controller firmware and drivers have not been updated as well.  Should I upgrade these before adding the new disks and initialize the new drives?

 

Kevin

If you can schedule downtime, I'd do the following:

• Update the driver version to the version matching the controller firmware
• Take the system down and do the following
  • Update the firmware to the latest version.
  • Power off the machine.
  • Insert the 2 new drives.  If you want to be really safe, pull out the current drives part way so they're not connected.  If you remove the drives from their slots, make sure you keep track of what slots they go in.
  • Power on the machine and press Ctrl A to enter the Controller firmware.  Ignore any errors.
  • Initialize the new drives.  Don't install them in any containers yet.
  • Power off the system.
  • Put the old drives in exactly where they were.
  • Power on the system and enter the controller firmware.  Ignore any errors.
  • Check the container status and make sure it's OK.  If it's rebuilding, boot the machine and let it rebuild.
  • Add the new drives to the existing array.  The container should start to rebuild.
• Reboot the server and let the container rebuild.
• If you have dynamic disks in Windows 2003 Server, you should be able to expand the partition to fill the new container size.  If you don't, you'll have to use an offline tool to change the partition size.

As always, make sure you have good backups of everything before you start this.  If things go wrong (as they have been known to do) you need backups to restore.

 

Hope this helps.