Playing musical chairs with RAID configuration

I currently have a Proliant 1200 with a SMART-2SL RAID controller. There
is one drive installed in the system, naturally configured as RAID 0.
What I'd like to do now is have 2 drives in the system and configured as
RAID 1.

I also have a 7000 with an empty drive bay, so I figured what I'd do is:

1) Put a blank pair of drives into the 7000 and set them up as a RAID 1
array;
2) Take the drive from the 1200, and put it into the 7000 as a RAID 0
array;
3) On the 7000, do a dd from the RAID 0 drive to the RAID 1 drive;
4) Take the pair of RAID 1 drives out of the 7000 and put them into the
1200;
5) Delete the RAID 0 array from the 1200 and set the drives up as a RAID
1 instead.


Now question is: I've noticed that when you delete an array
configuration from the server, it takes the drives out with it. How do I
change the array type without nuking the drives?

why go to all that trouble?

why not just put 2 drives in the 1200, configure as RAID1, and install your
OS ? Seems pretty convoluted what you are suggesting, unless i'm missing
something.

- LC


"." wrote in message
om.au...
I currently have a Proliant 1200 with a SMART-2SL RAID controller. There
is one drive installed in the system, naturally configured as RAID 0.
What I'd like to do now is have 2 drives in the system and configured as
RAID 1.

I also have a 7000 with an empty drive bay, so I figured what I'd do is:

1) Put a blank pair of drives into the 7000 and set them up as a RAID 1
array;
2) Take the drive from the 1200, and put it into the 7000 as a RAID 0
array;
3) On the 7000, do a dd from the RAID 0 drive to the RAID 1 drive;
4) Take the pair of RAID 1 drives out of the 7000 and put them into the
1200;
5) Delete the RAID 0 array from the 1200 and set the drives up as a RAID
1 instead.


Now question is: I've noticed that when you delete an array
configuration from the server, it takes the drives out with it. How do I
change the array type without nuking the drives?

In article ,
says...
why go to all that trouble?

why not just put 2 drives in the 1200, configure as RAID1, and install your
OS ? Seems pretty convoluted what you are suggesting, unless i'm missing
something.


Simply because I build all my operating systems from a Stage 1 tarball,
and with the 1200, that means the hard drive spins for about 2-3 days
compiling it all. Besides, it's my firewall machine now so it's mission
critical and I don't want to be off the air for that long.

I figure if I do the 'dd' thing using another machine, then my downtime
will only be a short while. The only thing that concerns me is that I
don't end up nuking anything playing around with the array controller.

It's been a while since I've messed with 2sl's, but I think that you
can simply expand the arrary and make it a mirror, rather than jumping
through your hoops. I am certain you can do it with later S/A's, but
it seems like a pretty basic feature.

Basically, you have to install the 2nd drive into the 1200, run ACU
from either the f10 partition or a smartstart cd, and change the raid
level on the existing array. Now, depending on your version of ACU /
SmartStart, this process can differ slightly, but it is either going
to involve expanding the array and making it raid 1, or simply
migrating it raid 0, but like I said, I think you can do this without
the 7000's help.

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:04:42 +1000, . wrote:

I currently have a Proliant 1200 with a SMART-2SL RAID controller. There
is one drive installed in the system, naturally configured as RAID 0.
What I'd like to do now is have 2 drives in the system and configured as
RAID 1.

I also have a 7000 with an empty drive bay, so I figured what I'd do is:

1) Put a blank pair of drives into the 7000 and set them up as a RAID 1
array;
2) Take the drive from the 1200, and put it into the 7000 as a RAID 0
array;
3) On the 7000, do a dd from the RAID 0 drive to the RAID 1 drive;
4) Take the pair of RAID 1 drives out of the 7000 and put them into the
1200;
5) Delete the RAID 0 array from the 1200 and set the drives up as a RAID
1 instead.


Now question is: I've noticed that when you delete an array
configuration from the server, it takes the drives out with it. How do I
change the array type without nuking the drives?

In article ,
says...
It's been a while since I've messed with 2sl's, but I think that you
can simply expand the arrary and make it a mirror, rather than jumping
through your hoops. I am certain you can do it with later S/A's, but
it seems like a pretty basic feature.

I thought that too, but you can't with the SMART-2SL. Because it's not a
battery-backed controller card, it just point-blank refuses to let you
expand the array in any way whatsoever, hence my resorting to using the
7000 as a middleman between the new and old drives.