NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[Anil Raj]

Hi all,
 I have a dell PowerEdge 1850 server with 146gb HDs setup using (I
think) hardware RAID.

1. Is there anyway that I can confirm if the HDs are indeed setup
using hardware RAID? (hopefully without rebooting the system) And if
so, how do I determine the tech details of the RAID setup?

2. I'm planning on buying additional dell drives and was wondering how
I could go about growing/expanding the 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 me know.

Thanks much in advance!

Best,
Anil

Re: NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[David Lethe]

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@gmail.com> 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

Re: NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[Alex Butcher]

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009, Anil Raj wrote:

> Hi all,
> I have a dell PowerEdge 1850 server with 146gb HDs setup using (I
> think) hardware RAID.
>
> 1. Is there anyway that I can confirm if the HDs are indeed setup
> using hardware RAID? (hopefully without rebooting the system) And if
> so, how do I determine the tech details of the RAID setup?
>

Assuming things haven't changed since I last used Dell's hardware RAID
controllers, you'll need 'dellmgr' from the driver kit/utils. You should
have received this on one of the CDs, or you can use the Dell tag to look up
the appropriate downloads for the machine on Dell's support site.

> 2. I'm planning on buying additional dell drives and was wondering how
> I could go about growing/expanding the 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 don't think this is possible; I think you'll need to backup, upgrade, then
restore onto the new discs. Again, using the Dell support site will find you
the manuals for the RAID controller installed in your machine.

> 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 me know.
>
> Thanks much in advance!
>
> Best,
> Anil

HTH,
Alex

Re: NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[Ryan Wagoner]

I would start by installing the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator
software, which will provide you with a web gui on
https://yourserver:1311 From here you can monitor the internals of the
server, check firmware versions, and perform RAID tasks on the PERC
controller, if it has one. You should be able to download the Red Hat
version of the Open Manage software from the Dell support site. Last
time I checked the latest version was 6.1.0.

Ryan

On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 8:53 PM, Anil Raj<anil.calvin@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>  I have a dell PowerEdge 1850 server with 146gb HDs setup using (I
> think) hardware RAID.
>
> 1. Is there anyway that I can confirm if the HDs are indeed setup
> using hardware RAID? (hopefully without rebooting the system) And if
> so, how do I determine the tech details of the RAID setup?
>
> 2. I'm planning on buying additional dell drives and was wondering how
> I could go about growing/expanding the 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 me know.
>
> Thanks much in advance!
>
> Best,
> Anil
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>
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Re: NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[Anil Raj]

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@santools.com> 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@gmail.com> 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@vger.kernel.org
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Re: NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[Ryan Wagoner]

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@gmail.com> 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@santools.com> 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@gmail.com> 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@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>
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Re: NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[Anil Raj]

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@gmail.com> 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@gmail.com> 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@santools.com> 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@gmail.com> 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@vger.kernel.org
>> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>>
>
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Re: NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[Ryan Wagoner]

Your welcome! I would wait to expand the ext3 file system until the
hardware RAID expansion completes as you will need to run fsck on the
drive before expanding the volume. This is data intensive and will
just slow the system to a crawl if done during the RAID expansion.

I'm assuming that /dev/sda is not mounted at / since this is an
external enclosure. If this is your operating system drive you will
need to use a rescue CD or live CD to perform the resize. The resize
procedure below requires you to unmount the volume making it
inaccessible.

You need to start by resizing the partition. Since there is only one
partition on the RAID volume this is easy enough. I use fdisk to
delete then recreate the partition. As long as the start block is the
same and the end block is greater than the current block, which it
will be, you will not effect the ext3 file system.

Then you can use resize2fs to expand the file system to the partition
boundary. It will prompt you to do a forced fsck before it will
resize. This will probably take around 30-45 min on a TB volume. The
resize itself should only take a few minutes.

The commands you will be using are below. Since data is involved I
will give the normal caution to proceed at your own risk.

umount /dev/sda
fdisk /dev/sda (delete and recreate the partition to fill the entire volume)
mount /dev/sda (make sure your files are accessible to verify you
repartitioned it correctly)
fsck -f /dev/sda
resize2fs /dev/sda
mount /dev/sda (df -h should show the volume with the additional space)

Ryan

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 2:03 PM, Anil Raj<anil.calvin@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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@gmail.com> 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@gmail.com> 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@santools.com> 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@gmail.com> 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@vger.kernel.org
>>> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>>>
>>
>
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Re: NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[Ryan Wagoner]

Forgot to mention that after you mount /dev/sda to verify that fdisk
was done correctly you must unmount it before running fsck.

umount /dev/sda
fdisk /dev/sda (delete and recreate the partition to fill the entire volume)

mount /dev/sda (make sure your files are accessible to verify you
repartitioned it correctly)
umount /dev/sda

fsck -f /dev/sda
resize2fs /dev/sda
mount /dev/sda (df -h should show the volume with the additional space)

Ryan

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Ryan Wagoner<rswagoner@gmail.com> wrote:
> Your welcome! I would wait to expand the ext3 file system until the
> hardware RAID expansion completes as you will need to run fsck on the
> drive before expanding the volume. This is data intensive and will
> just slow the system to a crawl if done during the RAID expansion.
>
> I'm assuming that /dev/sda is not mounted at / since this is an
> external enclosure. If this is your operating system drive you will
> need to use a rescue CD or live CD to perform the resize. The resize
> procedure below requires you to unmount the volume making it
> inaccessible.
>
> You need to start by resizing the partition. Since there is only one
> partition on the RAID volume this is easy enough. I use fdisk to
> delete then recreate the partition. As long as the start block is the
> same and the end block is greater than the current block, which it
> will be, you will not effect the ext3 file system.
>
> Then you can use resize2fs to expand the file system to the partition
> boundary. It will prompt you to do a forced fsck before it will
> resize. This will probably take around 30-45 min on a TB volume. The
> resize itself should only take a few minutes.
>
> The commands you will be using are below. Since data is involved I
> will give the normal caution to proceed at your own risk.
>
> umount /dev/sda
> fdisk /dev/sda (delete and recreate the partition to fill the entire volume)
> mount /dev/sda (make sure your files are accessible to verify you
> repartitioned it correctly)
> fsck -f /dev/sda
> resize2fs /dev/sda
> mount /dev/sda (df -h should show the volume with the additional space)
>
> Ryan
>
> On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 2:03 PM, Anil Raj<anil.calvin@gmail.com> wrote:
>> 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@gmail.com> 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@gmail.com> 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@santools.com> 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@gmail.com> 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@vger.kernel.org
>>>> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
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Re: NEWBIE Q: expanding hardware RAID

[Ryan Wagoner]

Thanks for pointing that out as that could cause some major issues for
people. I have expanded a number of hardware RAID and ext3 volumes,
but I never write out instructions. What seems like common knowledge
to me is not for others. Sorry for the confusion over leaving out the
partition number.

Ryan

On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 11:51 AM, Bill Davidsen<davidsen@tmr.com> wrote:
> Ryan Wagoner wrote:
>
> Forgot to mention that after you mount /dev/sda to verify that fdisk
> was done correctly you must unmount it before running fsck.
>
> umount /dev/sda
> fdisk /dev/sda (delete and recreate the partition to fill the entire volume)
>
> mount /dev/sda (make sure your files are accessible to verify you
> repartitioned it correctly)
> umount /dev/sda
>
> fsck -f /dev/sda
> resize2fs /dev/sda
> mount /dev/sda (df -h should show the volume with the additional space)
>
>
> I would say people should ignore these instructions, as they are flawed,
> since the fdisk applies to partitions, and all of the mount, umount, and
> *e2fs operations are shown on the entire disk. If you know enough to know
> when he means /dev/sda1 and when he doesn't, you probably don't need this
> anyway.
>
> Please don't save or use these instructions, used as written they don't
> work!
>
> --
> bill davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com>
>   CTO TMR Associates, Inc
>
> "Now we have another quarterback besides Kurt Warner telling us during
> postgame
> interviews that he owes every great thing that happens to him on a football
> field to his faith in Jesus. I knew there had to be a reason why the
> Almighty
> included a mute button on my remote."
> 			-- Arthur Troyer on Tim Tebow (Sports Illustrated)
>