Upgrade SBS RAID 5 2

[rjr]

I have run out of room on my RAID 5 array on my SBS 2003. I wish I could install larger hard drive to increase capacity, but my IT firm says I may as well buy another server. I know I can only have one DC, do not want another server, as there is no CPU or I/O challenge to the existing server.

Is there no way to say, image the server, swap the SCSI card (current is maxed out with hard drive size), swap hard dirves to larger versions, and restore image. What should I do? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[LWComputingMVP]

Ok,

1. Fire your IT provider.
2. What is full? Your C: drive? Your D: drive? Something else?
3. You can have 50 DCs in an SBS domain if you wanted (it would be a silly idea, but you could do it. The limit is that the SBS server MUST be your FSMO master. Other than that, you can have as many DCs and servers as you want.
4. $500 - External Storage - add 1 TB of space using an eSATA controller that supports RAID, an External Enclosure, and an appropriate cable. I setup a client with this and it runs fine. The enclosure supports 4 drives at up to 750 GB each for 2.25 TB if we used the max available drive size with a RAID 5.

 

[markdmac]

Hi RJR,

Yes, you could do as you are asking. What you would want to do is use NTBackup to create an ASR backup. You would then Yank your old drives and install new ones. Setup the RAID then boot off of the Windows installation CD and choose the option for ASR restore. It will go through a Windows installation, then restore your data using the Floppy/Tape combination from the ASR.

You have zero risk doing this since you are not messing with the original drives. If anythign goes wrong, just put them back in and you are where you started. I would suggest doing this over a weekend as it can take a while to do the ASR restore.

When you increase your drive space you need to remember to accomodate that change with your backup solution as well.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time while getting more work done, get the Admin Scri

 

[rjr]

Thanks to both of you for the sound advice. IWcomputing, both drives (C & D partions on the RAID 5 array that consists of 4-72 gig drives, or 280 gigs of space) are filling up. Would you mind sharing with me the specific hardware you used for your external RAID 5 solution? Any problem with the SCSI Raid 5 array and the eSATA Raid 5 array coexisting in the same system? I assume I would have to assign additional drive letters to the external solution, and redirect programs to use that storage location in lieu of the existing drives C & D.

Mark, when you say "it will go through a Windows installation", do you mean it will run the SBS installation program, just like in an original SBS installation? And in that case, I have to be prepared to provide all the correct responses?

 

[markdmac]

It will just go through the Windows part of the installation RJR. Then the ASR takes over and restores all your data and settings. Note that ASR ONLY backs up and restores the C partition, so have a backup available for the rest of your data.

I'm not a big fan of going the external route, but Granite Digital has a nice external SATA RAID system. Watch out though, I have found the included CPU fans tend to die after about 1 year, at which point you will start to get alarms. You can either replace the fans or unplug them to get the alarm to stop. At $8 a fan it is not a big deal, but troubleshooting the alarm down to that component drove me crazy.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[rjr]

Thanks markdmac, replacing my controller with one with larger capacity, buying larger drives and doing the very safe swap you suggest sounds like the route I will pursue.

You have been very helpful on this and other threads, so thanks very much for your valuable time.

 

[markdmac]

Always happy to help.

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Check out my scripting solutions at

http://www.thespidersparlor.com/vbscript

Work SMARTER not HARDER. The Spider's Parlor's Admin Script Pack is a collection of Administrative scripts designed to make IT Administration easier! Save time, get more work done, get the Admin Script Pack.

 

[SkreeM]

You could also look into the option of installing a NAS device for your data storage, I have installed a couple of HP all in one NAS boxes, this then frees up space on the SBS for the exchange database etc.

 

[rjr]

Thanks SkreeM. Trying to avoid new drive letters and moving programs or data folders around so users do not have to adapt to new enviornment. I assume additional NAS requires additonal drive letter.

 

[adamc1115]

Most raid controllers allow you to expand your array by adding another drive.. then you use DISKPART to extend the partition...

 

[wahnula]

rjr,

I really like this device:

http://www.norcotek.com/item_detail.php?categoryid=8&modelno=ds-500e

It comes complete with PCI or PCI-E card.

I have a RAID 5 array on my SBS server using a 3ware 9500s card, I contacted 3ware tech support about increasing the array by swapping drives, one at a time, with larger capacity drives. They replied it could be done but they would need to write a script for the controller to expand the array...and they would do it for free! Gotta love a company like that.

Tony