Need help adding hot swap drive to Dell Power Edge T320 Server
I have added two 600GB drives to my server but do not see any additional storage space. Can anyone help?
I have a Dell PowerEdge T320 server running Windows 2019 Server.
The server uses hot-swappable 2.5 inch drives.
There is room for 16 drives.. we purchased the server with 7
The system is configured with one of the raids, I can find it which if needed
Each drive has an LED above it which normally lights green, but one of the drives has been flashing yellow. We need more drive space as well, so I purchased two new drives and installed them one at a time.
Upon adding each drive it flashed green for a while, then became steady green. They look normal, however, no additional disk spaces has shown up..
File explorer shows:
Local Disk (C:)
DVD Drive(D:) VMware Tools
Local Disk (E:)
Each drive I added in about 600GB so I am expecting some additional space to show up somewhere.. but the amount of space available in my Local Disk E:, which is where I need to add the storage, has not changed.
I installed the drives with the machine running, I have also rebooted...
Can anyone help?
I have a Dell PowerEdge T320 server running Windows 2019 Server.
The server uses hot-swappable 2.5 inch drives.
There is room for 16 drives.. we purchased the server with 7
The system is configured with one of the raids, I can find it which if needed
Each drive has an LED above it which normally lights green, but one of the drives has been flashing yellow. We need more drive space as well, so I purchased two new drives and installed them one at a time.
Upon adding each drive it flashed green for a while, then became steady green. They look normal, however, no additional disk spaces has shown up..
File explorer shows:
Local Disk (C:)
DVD Drive(D:) VMware Tools
Local Disk (E:)
Each drive I added in about 600GB so I am expecting some additional space to show up somewhere.. but the amount of space available in my Local Disk E:, which is where I need to add the storage, has not changed.
I installed the drives with the machine running, I have also rebooted...
Can anyone help?
Last Comment
strivoli
You must enter RAID configuration in order to use additional space. This doesn't mean you can use additional space in any case because it depends on RAID level and on the RAID CTRL features available. Please POST RAID Array (RAID6?) how many HDDs you have and size of each one, if there are any Spare HDDs, ...
You can go into OMSA and use online capacity expansion (OCE) with any of the controller that server takes including the fakeRAID S110. There is a short video of expanding at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkFDzerdD0w
Oops, that was the offline video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHdHwrz-4aM is online using OMSA.
Oops, that was the offline video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHdHwrz-4aM is online using OMSA.
When you add drives to a server, the server will not assume you want to expand your existing RAID. Perhaps you want them to be spares, or perhaps you want to set up a second RAID.
If you are looking to adopt those new drives into your existing RAID, follow this guide:
How Reconfigure a Virtual disk or add additional hard drives. | Dell US
HOWEVER...
You mentioned one drive has a flashing warning light. If that drive is failing get it replaced quickly. I'd probably take care of the failing drive BEFORE trying to expand the RAID. In fact since you've got 2 new drives I'd probably use one of these to replace the failing drive. After that let the RAID repair itself. Once all drives are back to normal status only then would I expand the RAID.
What level is your RAID? RAID 5? 6? 10? If you have a RAID 5 that means you can only afford to lose ONE drive. If a second drive fails then you've lost your data.
Back up all your data before attempting any RAID changes.
If you are looking to adopt those new drives into your existing RAID, follow this guide:
How Reconfigure a Virtual disk or add additional hard drives. | Dell US
HOWEVER...
You mentioned one drive has a flashing warning light. If that drive is failing get it replaced quickly. I'd probably take care of the failing drive BEFORE trying to expand the RAID. In fact since you've got 2 new drives I'd probably use one of these to replace the failing drive. After that let the RAID repair itself. Once all drives are back to normal status only then would I expand the RAID.
What level is your RAID? RAID 5? 6? 10? If you have a RAID 5 that means you can only afford to lose ONE drive. If a second drive fails then you've lost your data.
Back up all your data before attempting any RAID changes.
ASKER
Thanks all.. a question for E C though..
How do I replace the drive that is blinking amber? I thought that installing the new drive would cause that to happen automatically... ugh.. should never assume.. I know that..
So at this point I have the flashing amber drive... that is part of the raid.. I was told I could lose two drives.. not sure how to figure out which raid I have yet.... and I now have two new drives.. steady green... but not showing up anywhere.. so what do I do to get the raid to rebuild without the flashing amber drive?
How do I replace the drive that is blinking amber? I thought that installing the new drive would cause that to happen automatically... ugh.. should never assume.. I know that..
So at this point I have the flashing amber drive... that is part of the raid.. I was told I could lose two drives.. not sure how to figure out which raid I have yet.... and I now have two new drives.. steady green... but not showing up anywhere.. so what do I do to get the raid to rebuild without the flashing amber drive?
While the system is up and running unplug the amber flashing drive and replace it with one of the new drives in the same slot that you removed the failing drive
You're meant to use the "replace member" procedure in OMSA for predictive failure disks but as David says you can just pull and replace.
ASKER
Thank you David Johnson and andyalder...
but keep in mind.. I have already inserted two drives into a new bay and they are both now steady green.
Can I remove one of these drives and then use it to replace the drive with the amber light?
Or is it too late because its already been installed in another bay?
Thanks
but keep in mind.. I have already inserted two drives into a new bay and they are both now steady green.
Can I remove one of these drives and then use it to replace the drive with the amber light?
Or is it too late because its already been installed in another bay?
Thanks
If you go into OMSA and set one of the new disks as global hot spare then offline the blinking one it should rebuild onto it, otherwise I think you can just pull one of the out and fit in place of the blinking one.
If OMSA is not installed then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbnB8D6lW-U shows you how to do that.
If OMSA is not installed then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbnB8D6lW-U shows you how to do that.
ASKER
Thanks, everyone for your help.
I have been watching the videos on OMSA (thank you andyalder) and I plan to give this a try.
The instructions say to backup the server before starting.
I'm not actually sure how to do this.
I have a Synology NAS drive on the network but have only used it in the past to backup files.
What is the proper way to make this backup, or is this requirement when using OMSA just an abundance of safety?
Thanks
I have been watching the videos on OMSA (thank you andyalder) and I plan to give this a try.
The instructions say to backup the server before starting.
I'm not actually sure how to do this.
I have a Synology NAS drive on the network but have only used it in the past to backup files.
What is the proper way to make this backup, or is this requirement when using OMSA just an abundance of safety?
Thanks
Backup is always important moreover when performing such tasks. You can use several Backup Software. I suggest Veeam Agent since it can create a Full Backup Image you can use to perform a Bare Restore.
ASKER
Update: I am still working on this and will report back when finished. I have installed a Synology NAS drive, it has been backing up the data drive for three days now (lots of small files).
As soon as the data is backed I intent to try the backup tool suggested making a copy of the main drive with the OS.
Hoping to get to this before Monday.. thanks all
As soon as the data is backed I intent to try the backup tool suggested making a copy of the main drive with the OS.
Hoping to get to this before Monday.. thanks all
ASKER
Still stuck here for several reasons, if anyone can help it would be appreciated.
I want to be sure that my server can be restored if something goes wrong so I would like to make an image backup of the boot and data drives.
I attempted to install Veeam Agent on a workstation, however, the installation fails. I do not get any other error messages. I have retried from a cold boot and get the same problem every time.
I have installed a Synology and am attempting to use it to backup. I've used the PC Backup Program with synology a dn it seems to do a good job of backing up files. There is a "Physical Machine" and "Virtual Machine" backup program with Synology, does anyone know which one to use?
My server is configured with a drive C, drive D is a media drive with virtualization software, and drive D: is my data drive.
I believe the PC Backup of the Synology has backed up my data drive D:, however, I believe I need to take an image of the drive C to restore if a problem occurs????
Any help is appreciated.
I want to be sure that my server can be restored if something goes wrong so I would like to make an image backup of the boot and data drives.
I attempted to install Veeam Agent on a workstation, however, the installation fails. I do not get any other error messages. I have retried from a cold boot and get the same problem every time.
I have installed a Synology and am attempting to use it to backup. I've used the PC Backup Program with synology a dn it seems to do a good job of backing up files. There is a "Physical Machine" and "Virtual Machine" backup program with Synology, does anyone know which one to use?
My server is configured with a drive C, drive D is a media drive with virtualization software, and drive D: is my data drive.
I believe the PC Backup of the Synology has backed up my data drive D:, however, I believe I need to take an image of the drive C to restore if a problem occurs????
Any help is appreciated.
Physical vs Virtual is a no brainer..
Physical is the actual hardware
virtual is run inside the hardware and can be many different machines.
I believe I need to take an image of the drive C to restore if a problem occurs???? if not an image but a full backup is required.
you only need to backup the volue (logical drive) that has the failing/failed drive
in your raid manager how many logical disks do you have?
For instance in my servers I have 3 or 4 logical disks that span 12 physical disks.
Hopefully you don't just have 1 logical disk that contains all the physical disks
For instance in my servers
1 logicl disk is 2 physical disks raid 1 for the OS on one server the boot volume is logical volume 4
another logical disk is 8 x 4TB in RAID 6
and now 2 i2 x 900 GB n raid 1
Physical is the actual hardware
virtual is run inside the hardware and can be many different machines.
I believe I need to take an image of the drive C to restore if a problem occurs???? if not an image but a full backup is required.
you only need to backup the volue (logical drive) that has the failing/failed drive
in your raid manager how many logical disks do you have?
For instance in my servers I have 3 or 4 logical disks that span 12 physical disks.
Hopefully you don't just have 1 logical disk that contains all the physical disks
For instance in my servers
1 logicl disk is 2 physical disks raid 1 for the OS on one server the boot volume is logical volume 4
another logical disk is 8 x 4TB in RAID 6
and now 2 i2 x 900 GB n raid 1
ASKER
Thanks David, that helps.. but I am still confused.
Another company set up our server.. I know very little about the configuration..
It has two drive bays that support up to 8 SSF drives.. which are hot-swappable..
Currently, we have seven drives installed in the first bay and no drives in the second drive bay.
I don't how the raid is configured...and I don't know how to find out????
I tried to install OMSA but the machine does not seem to have a service tag.. and the dell site does not recognize it as a dell machine.. I know it was represented as refurbished when we bought it!
When I remote into the computer I see an C: drive which is mostly used for the OS..
a D: which is an optical with the VMware Tools software
and an E: drive with is my data drive called Local Disk E:
I used the Synology to make an image of the C: and E: drives today...
Keep in mind, my goal is to add two new drives to the cluster of data drives in drive E:
I'm not sure what to do next??
Another company set up our server.. I know very little about the configuration..
It has two drive bays that support up to 8 SSF drives.. which are hot-swappable..
Currently, we have seven drives installed in the first bay and no drives in the second drive bay.
I don't how the raid is configured...and I don't know how to find out????
I tried to install OMSA but the machine does not seem to have a service tag.. and the dell site does not recognize it as a dell machine.. I know it was represented as refurbished when we bought it!
When I remote into the computer I see an C: drive which is mostly used for the OS..
a D: which is an optical with the VMware Tools software
and an E: drive with is my data drive called Local Disk E:
I used the Synology to make an image of the C: and E: drives today...
Keep in mind, my goal is to add two new drives to the cluster of data drives in drive E:
I'm not sure what to do next??
Can you go into device manager and see what RAID controller you have then we can tell you what software you can use with it. OMSA does just about everything but there's also tools for just the controller.
the s100 is a software raid you have to use the windows program to modify it. it should be i n the taskbar
ASKER
David.. don't see anything in the task manager that relates to drives or raid.
Andy.. from the device manager: (screenshot in next post)
I checked the device manager but did not see the word RAID.
Does any of this help understand my configuration?
Disk Drives
VMware Virtual disk SCSI Disk Device
VMware Virtual disk SCSI Disk Device
Software Devices
Microsoft RRAS Root Enumerator
IDE/ ATA/ATAPI controldres
ATA Channel 0
ATA Channel 1
Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Standard SATA AHCI Controller
Storage controllers
LSI Adapter, SAS 3e000 series, 8 port with 1068
Microso Software Spaces Controller
Andy.. from the device manager: (screenshot in next post)
I checked the device manager but did not see the word RAID.
Does any of this help understand my configuration?
Disk Drives
VMware Virtual disk SCSI Disk Device
VMware Virtual disk SCSI Disk Device
Software Devices
Microsoft RRAS Root Enumerator
IDE/ ATA/ATAPI controldres
ATA Channel 0
ATA Channel 1
Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Standard SATA AHCI Controller
Storage controllers
LSI Adapter, SAS 3e000 series, 8 port with 1068
Microso Software Spaces Controller
ASKER
VMware Virtual disk SCSI Disk Device
VMware Virtual disk SCSI Disk Device
These don't touch the hardware These are virtual disks. and the OS is running in a virtual machine
VMware Virtual disk SCSI Disk Device
These don't touch the hardware These are virtual disks. and the OS is running in a virtual machine
ASKER
Thanks David, but what does that mean?
Remember, the issue is that I have added two drives to the server,
and hope to use the space to increase the storage of my E: drive, which I use for data.
??
Remember, the issue is that I have added two drives to the server,
and hope to use the space to increase the storage of my E: drive, which I use for data.
??
on the server you are probably running exxi .. see all the references to VMWARE
Are you sitting in front of this computer or accessing it remotely?
you have use the web interface of esxi and ADD the storage there before you can edit the virtual machine and crease a new virtual disk
Are you sitting in front of this computer or accessing it remotely?
you have use the web interface of esxi and ADD the storage there before you can edit the virtual machine and crease a new virtual disk
Since it is VMware you have to either reboot and manage the RAID in BIOS or install OMSA (might already be installed).
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-uk/000179481/how-to-install-openmanage-server-administrator-omsa-on-vmware-to-collect-logs will help in getting OMSA installed. Since there is no GUI in VMware you connect to it from a Windows PC to manage it. (ignore the log collection bit)
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-uk/000179481/how-to-install-openmanage-server-administrator-omsa-on-vmware-to-collect-logs will help in getting OMSA installed. Since there is no GUI in VMware you connect to it from a Windows PC to manage it. (ignore the log collection bit)
ASKER
Sorry to take so long to get back to you.. I needed to take some time off..
back now..
I have the option of sitting in front of the computer or remoting into it...I can do either...
How can I tell if OMSA is installed? I want to add/remove programs and do not see anything that resembles OMSA> Do not see it in the start menu either..
back now..
I have the option of sitting in front of the computer or remoting into it...I can do either...
How can I tell if OMSA is installed? I want to add/remove programs and do not see anything that resembles OMSA> Do not see it in the start menu either..
Confused... you say you are in front of the computer and have an add/remove standard windows options screen.. then WHY does the device manager show VMWARE disks/Display
should be seeing something like
should be seeing something like
ASKER
David..
I have the option of sitting in front of the computer or remoting into it...I can do either..
The Server is in the other room.. I can sit in front of it if that makes this easier.... the screen I sent before was through RDP
I have the option of sitting in front of the computer or remoting into it...I can do either..
The Server is in the other room.. I can sit in front of it if that makes this easier.... the screen I sent before was through RDP
You are logging into a Windows guest which is running on VMware hypervisor. The guest has no direct access to the hardware which is why you can't install OMSA on Windows. You have to install OMSA on a PC and connect to the VMware IP address and manage it through that (step 4 in the link above) but I don't think you know what the IP address of VMware is.
I think you are going to have to sit in front of the console, it will have the VMware IP address on the screen so you can enter that as the remote host in OMSA and see if it responds.
Assuming it does not respond you will have to reboot and configure the RAID through RAIDBIOS.
I think you are going to have to sit in front of the console, it will have the VMware IP address on the screen so you can enter that as the remote host in OMSA and see if it responds.
Assuming it does not respond you will have to reboot and configure the RAID through RAIDBIOS.
If it is just in the next room turn the screen on and see if it is grey/orange VMware screen.
You can probably configure the RAID through iDRAC as well but again you need an IP address for the iDRAC, it may be DHCP if it hasn't been set up but you may have difficulty identifying it from the scope on any DHCP server you have. Again rebooting and going into iDRAC setup would give / let you set the IP address.
ASKER
I turned on the screen and I see a black screen with white print.
This is what I see...certain details removed -not sure whether they should be publicly posted??
VMware ESXi 6.5.8
Dell PowerEdge T320
(followed by CPU and Memory info)
Then I see:
Download tools to manage this host from:
HTTP:// <MyDomain>-esxil/
HTTP: (A local IP address on my LAN) (Static)
HTTP:// [another address] (five groups of 4-character hex numbers separated by colons)
<F2> Customize System/View Logs
This is what I see...certain details removed -not sure whether they should be publicly posted??
VMware ESXi 6.5.8
Dell PowerEdge T320
(followed by CPU and Memory info)
Then I see:
Download tools to manage this host from:
HTTP:// <MyDomain>-esxil/
HTTP: (A local IP address on my LAN) (Static)
HTTP:// [another address] (five groups of 4-character hex numbers separated by colons)
<F2> Customize System/View Logs
You can find out if OMSA is installed by trying https://<A local IP address on my LAN>:1311
That local IP address is for the VMware hypervisor, port 1311 is for OMSA web console.
That local IP address is for the VMware hypervisor, port 1311 is for OMSA web console.
ASKER
(Unfortunately). when I enter the IP with the port I get a "site cannot be reached" message.
I think you're going to have to shut down and do it with RAID BIOS then.
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-uk/000178190/dell-poweredge-how-to-assign-a-hard-drive-in-global-hot-spare lists how to assign a global spare for the failed disk.
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-uk/000116592/how-reconfigure-a-virtual-disk-or-add-additional-hard-drives lists how to use online capacity expansion to get more capacity.
While in setup you can set a local IP address for the iDRAC so you can access the hardware via a web browser. Not needed now but useful for next time.
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-uk/000178190/dell-poweredge-how-to-assign-a-hard-drive-in-global-hot-spare lists how to assign a global spare for the failed disk.
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-uk/000116592/how-reconfigure-a-virtual-disk-or-add-additional-hard-drives lists how to use online capacity expansion to get more capacity.
While in setup you can set a local IP address for the iDRAC so you can access the hardware via a web browser. Not needed now but useful for next time.
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They just increased the VMDK file size using VMware, but they should have put OMSA on it and configured iDRAC as well so you could see any errors rather than relying on error lights.
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