Question

Dell PowerEdge 2600 single disk install --> migrate to Raid 1

Asked by: Hoeglund

Hi I have a PowerEdge 2600 that crashed, server is now running on single disk installed server 2003, does anybody know if I have to option in the Raid config software for the PowerEdge to add a extra harddrive and make a Raid 1 array out of the 2 drives, and also copy the data from the single drive to the new drive instead of having to do install all over ?  Please rush an answer since this is urgent for me.

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Asked On
2009-11-03 at 04:46:42ID24866810
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Power Edge RAID

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Computer Servers

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Miscellaneous Hardware

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DriveCopy

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Answers

 

by: dlethePosted on 2009-11-03 at 05:05:53ID: 25728494

If this is a PERC4 then there is a wizard in the GUI to convert the single-disk into a dual-disk RAID1 & preserve data.   Assuming the disk is at 0:00, and the 2nd disk is at 0:1  (See the BIOS to verify), then you can use the CLI to enter:
omconfig storage vdisk action=reconfigure controller=0 vdisk=0 raid=r1 size=max pdisk=0:0,0:1

(NOTE: instead of pdisk you should use adisk on older versions of OMSA)
Where 0 is the controller ID as reported by 'omreport storage
controller' and 0 is the vdisk ID as reported by 'omreport storage
vdisk' and 0:0 and 0:1 are the disks to make up the new RAID 1 volume.

=====
A few caveats
 * BACK UP 100% just in case.
 * If you did not do the F6 when you installed to add the PERC drivers to the O/S, then your system may BSOD on a boot. Sorry.  There may be a work-around but I am not aware of it.  

The GUI is a lot easier because it walks you through the process.
I would also take opportunity to insure that you have updated the RAID firmware & drivers ahead of time.

 

by: HoeglundPosted on 2009-11-03 at 05:11:22ID: 25728539

How can I find out if its a PERC4,  main problem here is that I´m situated in Europe, and remotecontrolling this server in the Philliphines, so I have to also "remote Control" any hardware and boot procedures/swaps.

 

by: dlethePosted on 2009-11-03 at 05:19:23ID: 25728600

Get the service tag for the machine and look it up at the Dell site, or run IE on the remote computer, goto the support dell site, and then download the applet that performs hardware detection.  I know the PERC4 has this capability. The Dell site said this particular machine also could have a PERC3 family controller.   I do not know, but I suspect both controllers have this capability.

You'll need to go to the support site anyway to download the RAID utilities, if they are not installed anyway, so I have no doubt that if you run the GUI and your hardware won't support a single-disk RAID0 -> RAID1 migration then you won't have the option.  Make sure the 2nd disk is installed before you try, and it is important to do a backup.

If the DELL PERC management programs aren't installed, or driver is not installed, then you can pretty much assume they weren't installed into the kernel at installation time, so like I said before, the system may BSOD if it boots to a RAID1, even after you successfully migrate.

 

by: eabeukesPosted on 2009-11-03 at 05:19:39ID: 25728603

You can add a new drive and then use the Dell OpenManage software (download from Dell) to 'grow' your array fropm a sngle drive to a 2 drive mirror.

Alternatively you can use Windows software mirroring to do this - see:
http://www.netadmintools.com/art439.html

 

by: HoeglundPosted on 2009-11-03 at 05:23:34ID: 31649361

Thanks guys, will look at this issue tonight.

 

by: dlethePosted on 2009-11-03 at 05:40:39ID: 25728774

Unless something has changed, MSFT does NOT support a software mirrored disk for booting. Something about it not working reliably if the 1st disk dies.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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