migrating RAID 0 configuration to another server

You're getting an error when trying to "rebuild" the drive, because it is impossible to "rebuild" a RAID 0.  Once it's dead, it's dead.  However, you can often resurrect it by forcing online the drive that failed.

Seeing now as you have moved them, we'll have to see if the configuration settings on the drives have been wiped out or not.  Best to put them back in the original system (unless you know for a fact that the server has other faulty hardware - but what you have seen is not an indication of faulty hardware other than possibly a bad drive - it is by design).  Hopefully, you will get the same thing as before ... all online and one failed.  If so, then go to Objects, Physical Drives, and Force Online the failed drive.  If you're getting anything different, then you may be limited on what you can try, and what you can try may or may not be successful.

Keeping in mind that sometimes a failed drive is a dead drive and assuming that the drive that "failed" is actually still functional, you can run a Verify Media on that drive.  That will include turning off RAID in the BIOS (you'll see a scary message about data loss - you can ignore it), booting to CTRL-A, Disk Utilties, Verify Media (do NOT format), then changing back to RAID (same scary message again), then attempting.

Thanks for the reply. I won't be in front of the machine again to try it until tomorrow. In the meantime, assuming I can force the drive online, are there built-in utilities etc to try to repair the drive? (chkdsk type functionality, eg to detect & recover from a bad sector or something?)

Thank you,

T.

Hm, I also see that the drives in the RAID setup utility are 'mismatched' in that bay 4 (ID 4 in RAID Ch-0) has "ONLIN A00-05" while bay 5 (ID 5) has "ONLIN A00-04".  I don't *think* I reversed these when moving them between chassis but now I'm worried.... Is there some way to check on the disk itself what order they should be in (physically)? Does it even matter?

I forced the drive online and the LED is no longer flashing etc. However, now when booting I get this message:

"unresolved configuration mismatch between disk(s) and NVRAM on the adapter"

Any suggestions on next steps?

Thanks,

T.

To resolve the mismatch, you need to go to CTRL-M, Configure, View/Add.  If you go into Disk View and NVRAM View, what do you see (careful not to SAVE either yet)?

The PERC 4 supports drive roaming, so it shouldn't matter, however ... you might try swapping the disks to see if it shows any differently.

"I forced the drive online and the LED is no longer flashing etc. However, now when booting I get this message:

"unresolved configuration mismatch between disk(s) and NVRAM on the adapter"

Any suggestions on next steps?"

Again:

To resolve the mismatch, you need to go to CTRL-M, Configure, View/Add. If you go into Disk View and NVRAM View, what do you see (careful not to SAVE either yet)?

You said you forced online the drive, but which configuration did you use - NVRAM or Disk?  In order for this to work, you have to first resolve the mismatch, so the controller knows which configuration to use.  Choosing the wrong one could result in a corrupt array once you force online the drive.  Have a backup (I hope)?

I swapped the two disks in bays 4/5, it actually shows the same thing (!?), ie, a00-05 in bay 4 and a00-04 in bay 5.

In any case, I went to Configure>View/Add, but I don't see any way to see the NVRAM config, and the disk info is very sparse, not sure what I'm looking for here. I posted a couple pics of what I am seeing:

First screen after configure>view/add

http://employees.org/~tstevens/temp/IMG00038-20110331-0805.jpg

After pressing F2 for drive info:

http://employees.org/~tstevens/temp/IMG00039-20110331-0805.jpg

After pressing F3 for Logical Drives:

http://employees.org/~tstevens/temp/IMG00040-20110331-0805.jpg

When I press F10 on the view/add screen, it just drops back one screen (ie, exits view/add).

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

T.

It didn't ask which to use, I selected force online and it did so. I was not given any option to choose a config. (I did this from the objects>physical drives screen).

I don't have a backup, but might be able to clone these drives in another machine before trying anything potentialy destructive...

T.

I'm wondering if I have a really old controller bios or something - as I said, there is no option to select from disk or NVRAM configuration when I go to view/add configuration.

I did find an option that appears to just force the controller to read the disk configuration on boot ("BIOS configuration autoselection: User/Disk" under the controller). I guess that's my best option.

T.

How did that go?  I'm not sure you have many options left at this point.

Well, so much for that. I had hope when, after forcing the drives online & selecting this option, ESX did load up, but the disks were completely hosed.

I had already made peace with losing my data at that point, so - I started over with a new server, this time with 4 disks in a RAID 1E array. Luckily I had an old copy of a key script that I was concerned I'd have to rewrite from scratch. The rest is just tedious busy work.

Anyway, thanks for the replies & suggestions. Lesson learned I guess. :emotion-4:

Tim

Yep - thanks again.