Testing RAID 1

Question

Hi,

I have 2 Dell Poweredge R610 servers and I'd like to do some testing.Both servers have 2 x 150GB Dell Perc 6i SCSI disks configured in RAID 1.

As part of my test plan, I want to:

1. power down server and pull out a single disk
2. power server back on and see if it boots OK with a single disk
3. after 10 minutes power server off and put the disk back in
4. power server back on and allow RAID 1 to rebuild mirror

Would this work? Bearing in mind both servers are to be production servers,

The only thing I'm a littke worried about is that disk failures are most likely to occur during a RAID re-build. I'd hate to be in a situation where the servers are killed all together.

Please advise if this is a fairly safe approach to take.

Thanks

DELL-Chris H · Accepted Answer

The Perc6/i controller can support you doing that all without having to power down the server, as long as the drives are hot swap. You can pull a drive and see the array go degraded, and then reboot under the single drive and then after reboot insert the pulled drive and watch it rebuild to optimal.

ettringite99 · Answer

Thanks, I figured it was a low risk operation, but just wanted to double check. I think I'll power down anyway.

theflash1932 · Answer

Rule:  If it's hot-swap, swap it hot.  Not doing this can cause your system to lose the correct config and not boot at all, then your attempts to fix it can be dangerous.

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

Testing RAID 1

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