Want to add a hot-swap drive to MSA500 2

[1nterpol]

We have a Hp storageworks MSA500,

There are 5 drives in it at the moment, all 36.4 GB hot-swap drives.

3 of the drives have a raid 5 array and are used to store our database.

I have a spare 36.4 GB hot-swap drive(exact same as other drives) that i want to add to this array.

How complicated is this?

Can i add the drive to the array without breaking and rebuilding the one that is there already?

any help would be great, thanks

 

[TheLad]

Usually you can plug the disk into the unit, and then use the Array Configuration Utility (ACU) to extend the existing RAID5 array across the new disk. However as usual, ensure you have a decent backup prior to this and best practice is to perform this out of hours so the restriping does not affect performance.

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[1nterpol]

Thanks Lad,

It will be performed out of hours and a backup will definitely be done.

 

[blister911]

If I remember correctly, I think extending the array takes approx 20 minutes per GB of the finished array size.

So (3 * 36.4 * 20) / 60 (1 less because of the raid 5) = about 36.5 hours. Granted that was with the older 5300 controllers, so if you have newer ones, hopefully it will be a bit quicker.

 

[1nterpol]

36.5 hours! start it on a friday evening so, thx