I am helping one of our network engineers at my work to install 3 harddrives in an existing server and add a raid 5 config onto the existing raid 1. The raid 1 has 1 harddrive on each channel (0 and 1). We are not sure to hook up the 2 drives on the same channel and the new 3 on the same one or not. Actually we tried that and got no results...server wouldn't boot. is this even possible to do? How can we do this, without erasing the info on the old drives? The main goal is to just add room on the server for files. She is also upgrading from 2000 server to 2003. Thanks for any help!
Raid 1 and Raid 5 in the same server?
- Thread starter Motero
- Start date
narzy
Elite Member
- Feb 26, 2000
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herm, interesting issue, the data on the raid one is mirrored so you can loose a drive and recover, what I would do is build the raid 5 and see if it will let you build it from one of the raid one disks.
google is your friend
look up convert raid 5 raid 1
google is your friend
look up convert raid 5 raid 1Narzy, I tried searching google before and came up with nothing. I don't want to convert raid1 to 5 I want to add it with raid 1 and be running 2 raids if possible...do i need another card?
Why would you want to do that? AFAIK, you cannot do this without erasing the data on the drives. All the RAID 1 would give you is extra redundancy if that particular drive happens to fail, which you already get over the whole array with RAID 5. If you are lookign for extra redundancy over that, I guess you could look into RAID 51 or 15, though you would have to buy in effect an extra drive for every drive in the RAID 5 array.
We are just trying to do what the customer wanted. They want more storage space, and upgrade their existing raid1 drives with 2003. So we were told we needed to add a raid 5. I've never actually worked with raid..so i have no idea what i'm doing, but I am supposed to hook them up correctly for her to get them to work.
Well, the easiest way would be to leave the RAID 1 alone and add a RAID 5 array as a secondary storage volume. Otherwise, maybe if you are lucky you could ghost an image off the RAID 1 and ghost it back to the newly formed RAID 5 array. Ghost is very picky about RAID arrays and controllers though.
Is raid 1 supposed to be set up 1 drive on each cable? How will I go about setting up a new raid 5 on the server without touching raid1?
As it's SCSI I am not altogether sure, but I would think you could have mutliple devices on the same cable. You may need a second controller to do two RAID arrays, but once again I am not familiar enough with SCSI RAID to be sure on that.
It is very possible, although I've never used that specific card. Does the scsi controller have two channels? You should be able to put the 3 drives on the second channel and create a new volume.
You might be better off with two cards though. Most of our older Dell systems, Poweredge 2450,2550,etc... that were purchased before we bought a SANS, have two cards. The onboard one is used to mirror the system volume, and then the secondary was used for a 3 disk raid 5 array.
I have to go in to do maintenance in the morning so if I get a chance, I'll pop some spare disks in and try to create a raid 1 and 5 volume on the same controller just to double check. Your controller may have limitations though.
You might be better off with two cards though. Most of our older Dell systems, Poweredge 2450,2550,etc... that were purchased before we bought a SANS, have two cards. The onboard one is used to mirror the system volume, and then the secondary was used for a 3 disk raid 5 array.
I have to go in to do maintenance in the morning so if I get a chance, I'll pop some spare disks in and try to create a raid 1 and 5 volume on the same controller just to double check. Your controller may have limitations though.
There are no channels on the card. It's run off the motherboard.
So you think I can just plug in 3 more drives on either cable and find it and configure it to be RAID5? Does a typical RAID 1 config have 1 drive on each channel, or can it be on 1 channel? If it can be on the same channel, should I try to move 1 of the drives to the other cable? Will it keep the info or lose it all?
So you think I can just plug in 3 more drives on either cable and find it and configure it to be RAID5? Does a typical RAID 1 config have 1 drive on each channel, or can it be on 1 channel? If it can be on the same channel, should I try to move 1 of the drives to the other cable? Will it keep the info or lose it all?
ultimatebob
Lifer
- Jul 1, 2001
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I don't know about an Adaptec 2000s, but most RAID controllers allow you to have multiple RAID arrays of different types on the controller.
If this was up to me, I would put the three new drives on just one of the two channels and set it up as a RAID 5. Then upgrade the existing RAID 1 array to Windows 2003 Server, and set up the new RAID 5 array as a "data drive".
Oh. And the next time your customer wants to upgrade their OS, recommend Linux, OK?
If this was up to me, I would put the three new drives on just one of the two channels and set it up as a RAID 5. Then upgrade the existing RAID 1 array to Windows 2003 Server, and set up the new RAID 5 array as a "data drive".
Oh. And the next time your customer wants to upgrade their OS, recommend Linux, OK?
beatle
Diamond Member
- Apr 2, 2001
- 5,661
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Yeah, it can be done. At work we'll use a RAID 1 array for system and RAID 5 for data, plus a hot spare.
IIRC, RAID 1 arrays are usually on the same cable, if you're using cables. Don't shuffle drives around or you'll break the array and lose all your data.
IIRC, RAID 1 arrays are usually on the same cable, if you're using cables. Don't shuffle drives around or you'll break the array and lose all your data.
Just add the drives, fire up the controller's BIOS and create a new logical RAID5 array. You have a zero channel HBA which allows the onboard SCSI interface to work as hardware RAID. Very simply actually. With U320 SCSI, there is ample bandwidth for six drives per channel.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Alright...so it sounds like I can just put the drives on any cable they will fit on. Then go into the config utility and create the raid 5 array...and not have any problems?
Thanks all.
Thanks all.
ultimatebob
Lifer
- Jul 1, 2001
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Dude, stop being a weenie and install the new array already!
Just leave the existing array alone, and install the three drives as a second RAID-5 array on one of SCSI channels. If all else fails, you can always restore your system from the backup tape that you made before installing the array. You WERE planning on backing up the system before messing with it, right?
Just leave the existing array alone, and install the three drives as a second RAID-5 array on one of SCSI channels. If all else fails, you can always restore your system from the backup tape that you made before installing the array. You WERE planning on backing up the system before messing with it, right?
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