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DELL NX3000 Disk Light
I have a DELL NX3000 storage server running W2008 Storage Server.
It has four (4) 750Gb drives in a raid array.
Three of the drives have a green light that stays pretty constantly on.
The Fourth drive's light alternates off, green then orange.
I have no error reported and the blue (all is good) light stays on.
Should I be worried that this drive is failing?
Experts---1.jpg
It has four (4) 750Gb drives in a raid array.
Three of the drives have a green light that stays pretty constantly on.
The Fourth drive's light alternates off, green then orange.
I have no error reported and the blue (all is good) light stays on.
Should I be worried that this drive is failing?
Experts---1.jpg
ASKER
ASKER
What is the max number of drives this controller can handle? Can I add two additional and increase my storage, or would that necessitate a new controller?
The drive sent out an alert that the S.M.A.R.T. predictive failure is imminent.
Order a replacement now. Backup now, and replace the drive. SMART is not infallible, but it is designed to give you a 24-48 hour notification of impending doom.
Order a replacement now. Backup now, and replace the drive. SMART is not infallible, but it is designed to give you a 24-48 hour notification of impending doom.
ASKER
I vaguely remember the array kinda rebuilds itself. Do I need to do much to help it along?
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If the system has rebuilt the array before and you never replaced disks, then go shopping for replacement disk(s). Your data is at risk. For all you know several disks are in stress and a rebuild could very well just make a 2nd HDD fail...
As you probably know, if you lose 2 disk drives in a RAID5, then you have 100% data loss.
As you probably know, if you lose 2 disk drives in a RAID5, then you have 100% data loss.
ASKER
So the controller can handle more than four drives then?
I just looked at the open manage server administrator on my other server and it is reporting that three physical disks are "online" and the fourth is "Foreign" . What does that mean?
I just looked at the open manage server administrator on my other server and it is reporting that three physical disks are "online" and the fourth is "Foreign" . What does that mean?
The controller can handle 32 disks. Of course you also have to have that many HDD bays and sufficient power, but the controller will let you do it.
The 4th disk is foreign??? Then it is NOT part of the array. You have NO redundancy. Next error means data loss. The drive failed, and the controller bounced it out of the array. The HDD is spun up now, so it is showing OK.
Back up now.
(I am going under assumption that you have a 4-disk RAID array, and this disk isn't a hot spare). You'll have to go to the configurator LOGICAL array config and see health and config of the arrays to verify.
The 4th disk is foreign??? Then it is NOT part of the array. You have NO redundancy. Next error means data loss. The drive failed, and the controller bounced it out of the array. The HDD is spun up now, so it is showing OK.
Back up now.
(I am going under assumption that you have a 4-disk RAID array, and this disk isn't a hot spare). You'll have to go to the configurator LOGICAL array config and see health and config of the arrays to verify.
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configurator LOGICAL array config? How do I access this?
I think all drives are in the array.
On this server each drive is 465Gb and there are four
465 x 4 x (1-1/4) = 1395 and that is the space windows reports as available.
This is odd.
I think all drives are in the array.
On this server each drive is 465Gb and there are four
465 x 4 x (1-1/4) = 1395 and that is the space windows reports as available.
This is odd.
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There is an option to clear the foreign state. From my old friend google:
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To clear the Foreign flag from the drive, you will go into OMSA ... Storage, PERC 5, Information/Configuration link at the top of the page, Clear Foreign Configuration from the drop-down menu of available tasks. Do this ONLY when the system is running fine and there is only one drive showing Foreign. If you have more than one disk showing Foreign, then you have to Import the Foreign Config. Anytime there is a config/timestamp different from the controller's config, it will show Foreign, so if it is only on a single disk, clear it and move on.
I would test your original drive, as it may not be bad. Make sure your system firmware (BIOS, ESM, RAID) and RAID driver are up to date ... this can help prevent Foreign configs.
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To clear the Foreign flag from the drive, you will go into OMSA ... Storage, PERC 5, Information/Configuration link at the top of the page, Clear Foreign Configuration from the drop-down menu of available tasks. Do this ONLY when the system is running fine and there is only one drive showing Foreign. If you have more than one disk showing Foreign, then you have to Import the Foreign Config. Anytime there is a config/timestamp different from the controller's config, it will show Foreign, so if it is only on a single disk, clear it and move on.
I would test your original drive, as it may not be bad. Make sure your system firmware (BIOS, ESM, RAID) and RAID driver are up to date ... this can help prevent Foreign configs.
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How do I replace the drive? Do I do it hot while the server is running using the openmange server admin app, or do I need to reboot and use the raid controller config mode that looks a bit like the bios setup?
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So I use openmanager to make the dodgy drive blink.
Identify it.
Pull it out.
Pop the new one in.
And that's it?
I'm dubious!
Identify it.
Pull it out.
Pop the new one in.
And that's it?
I'm dubious!
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I have replaced a disk on the NX3000. It is the same model number as the DELL drive but is not from DELL. State reads Ready, but it is not rebuilding. Can I force it to rebuild?
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OK. Didn't wait long enough it is rebuilding
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One comment I will add. Always run "consistency check" before pulling out a drive for replacement.
More important ... run a consistency check weekly as part of the care and feeding of any RAID array.
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