Solved!
Go to SolutionAdding Drives to RAID Config ?
I have a Dell R510 with 4 Drives configured with RAID 5 being used with vSphere 5.5 - ESXi
I have 2 open slots in the R510 server.
Is it possible to insert two new drives and initialize them to make storage available to ESXi 5.5 without disturbing the RAID 5 configuration currently defined.
thanks
theflash1932
11 Legend
•
16255 Posts
7093
0
Posted February 13th, 2015 08:00
The two drives should match each other, but they do not have to match the other drives in the system.
theflash1932
11 Legend
•
16255 Posts
6974
0
Posted February 15th, 2015 16:00
Any RAID.
1. Insert disks "hot", configure RAID. RAID arrays (virtual disks) are COMPLETELY separate. What happens to one does not affect the other(s).
2. NEVER power off a server to introduce a hot-swappable drive. That goes for replacement drives AND drives to create a new array. The ONLY time you ever power off the system to introduce hot-swappable drives is if you are replacing the controller or moving an entire RAID array from another system.
3. If you have a PERC 5/6//H7x0, you can add drives to an array, essentially converting a 2-disk RAID 1 to a 3-disk RAID 5 - live and without affecting the data.
theflash1932
11 Legend
•
16255 Posts
7076
0
Posted February 11th, 2015 06:00
Yes. Depending on your RAID controller, you will likely need to configure the new disks in a RAID array and initialize it before it can be seen by ESXi.
theflash1932
11 Legend
•
16255 Posts
7076
0
Posted February 11th, 2015 09:00
Yep, you will need to configure RAID before ESXi can see the storage - the PERC 6 does not support non-RAID.
ok,
so this can be done as in ,,
shutdown the esxi server,
install 2 new drives,
boot up into the RAID utility (ctrl r),
configure new VD or Group (not sure of the order),initialize the RAID (mirror or stripe - can't do RAID5 - not enough drives?)
reboot
theflash1932
11 Legend
•
16255 Posts
7093
0
Posted February 12th, 2015 08:00
Try the Storage forum:
theflash1932
11 Legend
•
16255 Posts
7076
0
Posted February 11th, 2015 10:00
RAID 5 requires a minimum of 3 drives.
You need only configure a new VD - be sure to check the Advanced and Initialize boxes during creation.
Insert the drives HOT (do not power down to insert them), then reboot to the CTRL-R utility.