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how to clear a 'foreign' state from a replacement sas drive on a perc 5/i
Our perc 5/i with a raid 1 configuration in a PE2900 had a virtual drive 'degraded'. Per dell server administrator a drive had a 'foreign' state. Not sure if the drive was bad or not, we got a used replacement drive, hot-swapped it and it also has a 'foreign' state. How can I erase the foreign state and have it rebuild the raid 1? I've been in server administrator but haven't found where I can clear the foreign state from the drive or have the raid rebuilt. Any help would be appreciated or maybe a link to the perc 5/i manual that decribes how to clear a foreign state. Or should I contact dell support?
theflash1932
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August 4th, 2010 09:00
To clear the Foreign flag from the drive, you will go into OMSA ... Storage, PERC 5, Information/Configuration link at the top of the page, Clear Foreign Configuration from the drop-down menu of available tasks. Do this ONLY when the system is running fine and there is only one drive showing Foreign. If you have more than one disk showing Foreign, then you have to Import the Foreign Config. Anytime there is a config/timestamp different from the controller's config, it will show Foreign, so if it is only on a single disk, clear it and move on.
I would test your original drive, as it may not be bad. Make sure your system firmware (BIOS, ESM, RAID) and RAID driver are up to date ... this can help prevent Foreign configs.
theflash1932
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December 11th, 2014 06:00
VD MGMT screen, highlight the controller, F2, Foreign, Clear.
jwulf2000
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September 17th, 2013 06:00
I know it's a really old post but still useful. Thank you.
kwilliams0154
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January 11th, 2014 09:00
What if I deleted the foreign VD? It happens to have been the OS drive. Can i create a new VD and install the OS again? The other Raid 5 VD is still there and intact.
theflash1932
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January 11th, 2014 14:00
Freedomgof
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December 11th, 2014 05:00
I'm running into the same problem, however the system will not boot and does not have Windows installed. It is an ESXi server. Is there another way to reset the "foriegn" status of the drive? A commandline/boot disk type tool?
theflash1932
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December 11th, 2014 05:00
Only if you have the OpenManage VIB installed. Alternatively, you can boot to t he CTRL-R utility for the PERC during POST.
Freedomgof
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December 11th, 2014 06:00
I have been doing ctrl-R, however there does not appear to be any way of changing the "foreign" tag using that utility. The only actions that appear to be available on that drive is to turn on or off the LED blinking.
Freedomgof
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December 11th, 2014 06:00
That did it. I was looking in the PD MGMT screen not the VD MGMT screen. Thanks!
DrawNear.net
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April 19th, 2015 13:00
This one also had me stumped for about an hour today. Thanks very much for keeping this useful thread active!
dcwcnd
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May 11th, 2015 16:00
Hey If you have NEW clean drives can you just hot swap them with the Foreign drives and do a rebuild ?
Dani0068
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September 17th, 2015 21:00
Hi
I'm having almost a similar situation...
I was installing updates on Dell power edge R 510, (Windows Server 2008) and the updates installation hanged, so I had to reboot the server.
After the reboot it gives me the error that one of my hard drive is in "Foreign" state.. I can't go through the BIOS , because server is hosted in a data center... I had the data center guy press a key to pass that error and boot into the windows.. Now when I check from OMSA I see that it says the VD is degraded, and for that physical hard drive I see the warning sign and also "Foreign State".
We are using RAID 10, on a PERC 6/i with 8 physical hard drives.
Would you please advise? Is it safe to clean the foreign state?
Thanks a lot in advance!
theflash1932
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September 17th, 2015 23:00
Yes, you need to CLEAR the foreign configuration. Do this in OMSA, Storage, PERC, Information Configuration link, Foreign/Clear from dropdown menu of Available Tasks for the controller.
Assign disk as hot-spare to start rebuild. Or replace. Either way, run diagnostics at the next onsite maintenance window. Replace if they fail. Update all firmware if they pass.
Dani0068
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September 18th, 2015 09:00
Thank you so much for your reply THEFLASH1932!
Just for a double check, in my OMSA it is not available directly through available tasks,
I should follow these steps to get into clear the foreign state:
PERC 6/i integrated-->Information/Configuration --> Controller tasks dropdown list--> Foreign configuration operation --> Execute--> Then it shows me "Orphan Drive 0" and for the state it says "Failed"...There is a clear button and if I press that this message comes up:
"
theflash1932
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September 18th, 2015 10:00
As long as your array is up and running, you want to clear the foreign configuration. Then assign it as a hot-spare.