Adding new drives, not expanding current RAID 1

[stussy]

Hi

Hopefully Nick can help with this one!

We have 2 drives in a raid array (just mirroring). We now have 2 extra drives to add some space, but this space is not really needed in the current array. Can I just plug the new drives in and create a new array?

Cheers

Mike

 

[NickFerrar]

Yeah all the PERC controllers I've used support multiple RAID containers so you can create a second mirror with a new volume in the OS.

 

[stussy]

Excellent, cheers Nick. Last question - can I do this while the server is up, or do I need to down it and run the container config thing in the bios? (I already spent 2 late nights last week...)

 

[NickFerrar]

As long as the server model supports hot-plugging of hard drives (most if not all PowerEdges from the last couple of years would) then you can do it on-line using Dell's Array Manager. Occassionally though I've found hot-plug drives aren't detected until a reboot (even after forcing controller scans etc).

 

[stussy]

Nick, you're a star, so have one....

Did I say last question in my previous post?! I've added the disks, initialized them and they show up as drives 0:2 and 0:3 in array 0. The only place I can see to create anything 'new' is if I r-click on array group 0, it offers me 'create virtual disk' - is this where I need to be to add the 2 new drives as a new mirror? I don't want to screw with the existing array!

Cheers

Mike

 

[NickFerrar]

It should work from there (array groups only really mean anything on the more sophisticated storage arrays). The standard way though is to select 'Quick Access Windows' from within the View menu and then click the 'Create Virual Disk' button (or you should also have the toolbar button to press on the far left).

The wizard will default to Express mode which should be fine for you (all you need to worry about is setting it to RAID-1 as the type) if you have specific stripe size/cache settings you need to go into advanced mode. I can't test it here but I'm pretty sure Express mode defaults to showing you all the available (i.e. not already in an array) disks, advanced mode gives you a bit more control over which disks are included.

It's been a while since I did a RAID-1 (usually do RAID-5) but it will probably take a while to scrub the disks while creating the array, you should avoid doing much with them whilst they're in this state.