Question

diskpart WIndows 2003 cluster and EMC SAN

Asked by: mrsmileyns

I run a Windows 2003 SP1 SQL2005 active/passive cluster using an EMC Clarion CX300 for shared storage.  I need to do a LUN migration to expand the size of two luns using the clarion and then a diskpart at the windows level.  The disks are basic at a windows level.  I have spoken to EMC about this and obtained the recommended precedure but I have found one discrepancy between EMC's instructions and Microsoft's.  EMC states when using disk part I need to select disk, then partition and extend with the focus on the partition while the Microsoft article states I should select volume as the focus and extend as per this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304736

I showed the article to EMC and they state I still need to extend at the disk and part level, not volume level.  I wanted to get a second opinion before I do this.  Any ideas?



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Asked On
2007-07-04 at 06:47:11ID22675119
Tags

diskpart

,

windows

,

emc

,

2003

,

san

,

Clarion

Topics

Databases Miscellaneous

,

Hard Drives & Storage

,

Windows 2003 Server

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: andyalderPosted on 2007-07-04 at 08:40:12ID: 19419109

From http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300415/en-us
extend [size=n][noerr]

Use the extend command to cause the current in-focus volume to be extended into contiguous unallocated space. The unallocated space must follow (it must be of higher sector offset than) the in-focus partition. The intended use of this command is to grow an existing basic data partition into newly created space on an extended hardware Raid logical unit number (LUN).

If the partition had been previously formatted with the NTFS file system, the file system is automatically extended to occupy the larger partition, and data loss does not occur. If the partition had been previously formatted with any file system format other than NTFS, the command is unsuccessful and does not change the partition.
-------------------------------------------

So basically MS are using the words volume and partition unterchangably. It is possible for diskpart to succeed in extending the partition but not the volume - then you see no space gain under My Computer but you see a bigger partition under disk manager. You cannot however chose to extend the partition and then the volume, it's a single command that does both.

If it does fail there's a program called fsextend.exe that will extend the filesystem (volume) that MS used to email you but there's a hidden option under diskpart now. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832316/en-us for this but it only happens when the server is busy doing other things, since you're taking the cluster offline to do the expansion it shouldn't happen.

 

by: mrsmileynsPosted on 2007-07-04 at 09:23:31ID: 19419351

So basically, it really shouldn't even matter which diskaprt option I use - be it partition or volume - if i do the partition option it will try to extend the volume as well?

 

by: andyalderPosted on 2007-07-04 at 09:39:45ID: 19419461

I don't think the extend command works if you just select partition, you have to do "select volume X" then extend.

BTW, you've put this question under Clarion which is a database, there isn't a seperate area for EMC Clariion

 

by: meyersdPosted on 2007-07-04 at 15:37:20ID: 19420933

Depending on the FLARE code of your CX300, you can do a migration on the CX300 from one LUN to another seamlessly - right click on a LUN and see if you have a 'Migrate...' option. You can then migrate to a larger LUN. Once the migrate completes (and the host OS is completely unaware of what's going on under the covers), the additional space will be available and you can then run diskpart.exe to extend the volume into the available space.

The migration tool preserves all LUN characteristics such as alignment offset, WWN and so on.

 

by: mrsmileynsPosted on 2007-07-04 at 17:02:22ID: 19421138

meyersd - yes that is exactly what i want to do and it will work - I have the correct flare code and the migrate option - that is the route i am going to take

my question was concerning the actual usage of diskpart to make the space usable for each of the drives in question - do i extend with focus on volume...or focus on partition - i saw a discrepancy between emc's information and the article listed above from microsoft

 

by: mrsmileynsPosted on 2007-07-30 at 08:06:53ID: 19592972

i used the emc migrate option and then used diskpart and expanded it at the volume level - worked like a charm

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