Hi Ryan, That is excellent information! Thank you so much!! My external enclosure does support hot-swapping. I will begin the expansion in a few hours. I'd also rather expand the existing filesystem. Here's some output that might be useful: # fdisk -l /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 1169.3 GB, 1169304846336 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 142159 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 142159 1141892136 83 Linux # parted /dev/sda print Disk geometry for /dev/sda: 0.000-1115136.000 megabytes Disk label type: msdos Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags 1 0.031 1115129.069 primary ext3 boot Any help on this would be great too! (and do let me know if I need to give more info/details.) Thanks again! Best Anil On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 10:26 PM, Ryan Wagoner<rswagoner@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I've expanded a RAID 5 volume on a PERC controller in a Dell PowerEdge > 2850. If your external enclosure supports hot swapping you can do this > with the system up and running. Otherwise install the new hard drive > and start up the server. Once the drive is installed open the > OpenManage Server Administrator. Expand the Storage and PERC > controller sections on the left pane and click Virtual Disks. Select > the reconfigure task from the list for the RAID 5 virtual disk. The > wizard will walk you through specifying the additional drive to be > part of the RAID 5 array. Depending on the number of drives and speeds > this process can take from a few hours to tens of hours. > > I recommend doing this while the system is not being utilized after > hours. With the system idle you can speed up the rebuild rate, which > should help it complete faster. Click on the PERC controller in the > left pane and select Information/Configuration on the top bar. The > controller tasks list should give you the option to set the rebuild > rate. Just remember to set it back down when done. > > After it completes you still need to expand the underlying file system > or create a new partition and file system on the additional space. If > you need assistance with this please provide the partition layout on > the RAID 5 volume and the file system being used. > > Ryan > > On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 5:14 PM, Anil Raj<anil.calvin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> Hi David, >> Thank you very much for you detailed and patient response. >> >> My RAID controller is PERC 5/E and the external Dell drives are setup >> up in RAID5. (I installed Dell's OpenManage Server Administration >> which gave me the details of my existing RAID). Here's some output >> (that might be useful): >> >> $ cat /proc/scsi/scsi >> Attached devices: >> Host: scsi0 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00 >> Vendor: DELL Model: MD1000 Rev: A.00 >> Type: Enclosure ANSI SCSI revision: 05 >> Host: scsi0 Channel: 02 Id: 00 Lun: 00 >> Vendor: DELL Model: PERC 5/E Adapter Rev: 1.00 >> Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 05 >> Host: scsi1 Channel: 00 Id: 06 Lun: 00 >> Vendor: PE/PV Model: 1x2 SCSI BP Rev: 1.0 >> Type: Processor ANSI SCSI revision: 02 >> Host: scsi1 Channel: 01 Id: 00 Lun: 00 >> Vendor: MegaRAID Model: LD 0 RAID1 34G Rev: 521X >> Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02 >> >> I also updated the controller's ancient firmware and drivers (though >> these will take effect only after a reboot). >> >> Once all users on my system have backed-up their data, I will be able >> to do a reboot and any further maintenance (which hopefully should be >> soon). (This was my only reason for not being able to do a reboot >> yet.) >> >> However, after reading through all the documentation on the Server >> Administration software and the controller manuals, I'm still unsure >> if expanding a hardware RAID is possible (and if so, how to perhaps do >> it). (Some parts of the manuals seem to indicate that simply >> installing the additional HDs is enough; the raid controller (during >> reboot) will automatically detect the new drives and expand the RAID - >> not sure if I've interpreted this correctly or not). >> >> Any tips at all would be very helpful! >> >> Thanks >> Best >> Anil >> >> On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 12:33 AM, David Lethe<david@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>> The answer to #2 is a function of the make/model of hardware RAID, and the >>> configuration. Sorry. While there are standards for what RAID-5 means, >>> there is no built-in universal program that will configure all RAID >>> subsystems. >>> >>> Dell supports several RAID controllers. >>> >>> The answer to #1 is also, unfortunately a function of the make/model of >>> RAID. You can enter cat /proc/scsi/scsi and see if PERC, or DELL or LSI >>> shows up in the vendor field. If so, highly probable it is RAID, but that >>> won't tell you if it is RAID0, 1, 10, 5, etc... If there are entries in >>> /dev/mpt, then it is a LSI-based RAID controller. (But not necessarily in a >>> hardware protected RAID mode) >>> >>> If it says PERC or LSI, it is definitely a RAID config, but the config could >>> be set up so you see individual disk drives, or it could be a n-DISK RAID5 >>> that is partitioned into individual disks. >>> >>> If it is hardware RAID, then I suggest, based solely on the newbie questions >>> that you find the documentation and read a bit, and run whatever software >>> that comes with it to assess the situation. Expanding a hardware RAIDset, >>> can be dangerous, especially if you are unfamiliar with it. >>> >>> For example, maybe the firmware is ancient, or you have a lot of bad blocks >>> because you never fixed them, or even knew about running consistency/repairs >>> . If you don't know what you are doing, then you can easily lose everything. >>> >>> So FIRST thing I would do before so much as powering off is a full backup. >>> If you don't know what you have, then obviously you can't properly maintain >>> it. (Not trying to put you down, but if you aren't willing or able to >>> examine the configuration while it is powered on, and you don't want to do a >>> reboot indicates the system may be unstable, or is mission critical and has >>> no maintenance window, or you just don't know how to bring it back up >>> properly. If any of those are the case, back up before something fails. >>> >>> Remember disk drives have a 100% probability of failure ... Eventually. You >>> just don't want it to happen while you are responsible for the system. >>> >>> >>> P.S. Did you just try the simple thing of logging onto Dell's support site >>> and entering the service tag and get the configuration that they originally >>> shipped? >>> >>> >>> >>> On 8/31/09 7:53 PM, "Anil Raj" <anil.calvin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>> >>>> current RAID setup to include >>>> the new drives. Is there any documentation on expanding hardware RAID? >>>> ( I found doc on growing software RAID on the mailing list's wiki but >>>> none on hardware RAID.) >>>> >>>> I really really hope someone can help me with these questions, please. >>>> Also, if this is not the right forum (and there is a more relevant >>>> forum) for these questions, please do let >>> >>> >> -- >> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in >> the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html >> > -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
