Netfinity Server, Hardware RAID5, W2K and 4 Drives

[scoobydoo26]

I will be replacing the four (3 hot swap, 1 hot spare) drives with new ones sent to me by IBM. My question is, as i'm fairly new to RAID, if i replace the drives, configure RAID 5 for these drives (setting up logical drives etc as i need them), install the OS, and finally restore from backup (full backup with services stopped)........ will i have any problems?

If i do run into problems, would i be able to place the old drives back in and have them function as before?


Thanks in advance

 

[lej]

Hi, are the drives the same size? If you are increasing your array size you may have other options that can save you time, e.g. Drive Migration, which is supported on the IBM ServeRAID adapter at flash level 4.3 or later.

If you wish to replace the drives and recreate the array and logical drives, that should work also with out any problems if the logical drives are at least the size of the old ones.

The Old drives will not be damaged if removed with the system POWERED OFF. The ServeRAID adapter is a busmaster and as such is functioning as long as it has power. If the drives are removed with power on, the adapter will set the drives as DDD.

The ServeRAID stores the RAID config data on the adapter and on each ONL or RDY device. This will allow you to simply insert the old drives, set defaults on the RAID adapter and Import the config from the drives to get them back on line. Be sure to note which position each drive is in. The adapter will remind you if the drives are out of position.

Good luck.