Compaq DL380 G2 HotSwapHDD Upgrade 1

[PhoneGuy555]

I have a client with Compaq DL380 G2 that I am upgrading HDD that are a larger than previous. RAID 0+1. One of four existing drives bad. How do I upgrade them with the larger drives? Thanks, Kevin

 

[blister911]

What OS are you running? Replace the failed drive first, do 1 drive at a time and ALWAYS let it finish rebuilding before doing another.

Here is a previous post which may help you out (there is also another link within the thread:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1331327

Good Luck

 

[TheLad]

To add to this, once your disks are all replaced you will have to take a two stage approach to getting the space visible.

Stage one is to extend your existing logical volume or create a new logical volume using the unallocated space. Your server will not automatically see the extra diskspace.

Stage two is to extend your Operating System partition(s). If the server is Windows, you can use DISKPART on a non OS partition or use a 3rd party utility if the partition is OS (C.

As always, backup before, during and after to ensure you do not loose any data.

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[PhoneGuy555]

Thanks guys. I will begin this process tomorrow at this site. The OS is Windows 2000 Server. I have two 18G HDDs RAIDed to two more 18G HDD, making 2 - 36G logical drives in one array. Everything that is on the first two is supposed to be on the second two. (This is my backup, right?) The 18G in slot 0 is very bad, the one in slot 1 is intermittantly bad. I will follow your directions to install new 36G in its place and install 2nd 36G in slot 1 to complete a 72G logical drive. Once this is done, and have confirmed data from drives in slots 2 & 3 have rebuilt to 0 & 1, I can extend, expand, etc., whatever, these two into one 72G logical and then replace the two 18G drives in slots 2 & 3 with the other two 36G drives I purchased.
Did I get it? I will review all threads before beginning Tuesday afternoon.
Thanks. K

 

[burtsbees]

That's pretty much it. Your name wouldn't happen to be Kevin, would it?

Burt

 

[burtsbees]

Ha ha---looks like you said that in the first post...you wouldn't happen to be in St. Louis, would you?

Burt

 

[TheLad]

I would seriously NOT consider your 2nd pair of 18Gb disks as your backup, you should be taking regular backups using another method. Should your server develop a problem (such as a virus for example), this would automatically transfer to your "backup" copy and therefore you would have an unusable server on both your standard and backup disks.

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[burtsbees]

That's right---a backup, in other words, should not be contained on any single point of failure (like the same SCSI backplane).

Burt

 

[PhoneGuy555]

Burt, sorry, not in St. Louis, but Lodi, CA.
Thanks - all. I will bak all up to another system before beginning and then follow directions. Can't start project till this afternoon. I'll update later. - Kevin

 

[blister911]

PhoneGuy,
Am I reading your post correctly? You are replacing 2 drives(18GB) with larger drives(36GB), but not the mirrored pair. If you are running RAID 0+1 all drives have to be the same size if you plan on utilizing all the available space. You will not be able to expand the array if the mirrored pair of drives are smaller. You need to get all 4 drives replaced before doing anything with the array or volumes.

 

[PhoneGuy555]

Blister911,
The existing 1st 2 drives are mirrored to the 2nd pair of drives. All 4 are 18GB each. All 4 I have replacement 36GB drives for. The drive in slot 0 is very bad. Slot 1 is intermittantly bad.
This being said, should I now use a different approach to the replacement and subsequent expansion so that I can use all 72GB of two drives mirrored to the other two totalling 72GB. I will then have two 18GB drives as spares to install in slots 4 & 5.
Let me know your new prospective please.
K

 

[blister911]

Kevin, I think your process is still the same you just need to replace the mirrored pair of drive, as well, before expanding the array and extending the volume. You cannot mirror a 72GB volume to a 36GB volume. Below are the steps I would follow.

Replace drive 1 (slot 0)
After drive 1 has completely rebuilt replace drive 2
After drive 2 has completely rebuilt replace drive 3
After drive 3 has completely rebuilt replace drive 4
After drive 4 has completely rebuilt then you can go about the process of expanding the arry and extending the volumes.

The rebuild processes may take some time so be patient.

Burt/Lad do you guys agree? A second/third opinion would be welcomed.

 

[TheLad]

I agree, it is a process that I have followed quite a few times and it works well. I have only ever had one issue with an old and cranky Proliant which corrupted the logical volume during the rebuild process - this is why decent backups to tape or another media are essential.

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[burtsbees]

I agree, but keep in mind that you CAN mirror a 36GB volume with a 72GB drive---the drive will only have the 36GB available.

Burt

 

[blister911]

Burt,
From what I interpreted (maybe a mistake on my part), Kevin was going to try and mirror 72GB volume to 36GB volume.

I can extend, expand, etc., whatever, these two into one 72G logical and then replace the two 18G drives in slots 2 & 3 with the other two 36G drives I purchased.

I was just trying to make sure he didn't run into issues.

By the way congrats on tipster of the week.

 

[burtsbees]

Oh crap---you're right. Tipster of the week again? Wow...thanks!

Burt

 

[TheLad]

Show off

Congrats!

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[burtsbees]

Ha ha---I really didn't mean it that way

 

[PhoneGuy555]

Okay guys, it worked!

I have replaced and rebuilt all four of the drives. I went to expand the RAID 1+0 drive from 36GB to 72GB and only find that I can create a new one. Looks like if I "delete last logical drive" I will loose everything. Am I reading that right?

 

[PhoneGuy555]

Hey, I also installed the known-good drives from slots 2 & 3 and put them in slots 4 & 5 for additional storage. I think I will mirror one against the other for a single 18GB drive. Thoughts?