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I am really new to RAIDs and all that goes along with them.

I simply added a disk (same 500mb size and part number) into the MSA60 raid enclosure and basically everything started going wrong. The raid 5 (3 hds) crashed and subsequently all the VMs running on that raid stopped working.

I was under the impression that you could add disks at runtime, thats what all this hot swap business was about?

Its a MSA60 running off a P800 raid controller in a HP DL380 G5. Windows Server 2008 r2

The machine reboots and sees the disk ok

So my question - When adding a disk to an existing raid, or to a raid enclosure to create a NEW raid, do you need to power down the machine to do so?

MORE INFO - 19/06/2012

I found another couple of disks and tried those in the machine. Same thing happened. The raid just slowly, over the span of around 5 mins, ground to a halt.

Keeno
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    We need *moar* detail!!! – ewwhite Jun 14 '12 at 13:38
  • add some more detail – Keeno Jun 14 '12 at 13:47
  • The array didn't "die", it might be offline, but it's in some particular state. Open the SmartArray utility and check out the status. – Chris S Jun 14 '12 at 13:50
  • @ChrisS I will try this after hours. Is it possible the new disk I added is faulty? – Keeno Jun 14 '12 at 13:58
  • Why wait until after hours? [It's just a Windows program](http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantstorage/software-management/acumatrix/index.html), it doesn't interrupt service. – Chris S Jun 14 '12 at 15:07
  • @ChrisS because when I seem to breath near this thing the raid "changes state" as you put it. All the VMs running on it just die. I do want to get to the bottom of it, so I will pop the disk in and out again while its running to see what the Array Config Utility says, but I cant do that until after hours – Keeno Jun 14 '12 at 15:36
  • well - i pulled it, put it back in again, and the configuration utility wouldn't run. Also tried it in different bays, no joy. It does appear to be happy if I reboot the machine. – Keeno Jun 14 '12 at 17:33

1 Answers1

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Your MSA60 is attached to something... a RAID controller. Maybe a Smart Array P800?

  • Are you saying that you simply inserted a disk into the enclosure?
  • Or are you saying that you inserted the disk into the enclosure and used the HP Array Configuration utility to add the newly-inserted disk to an existing array and expand the logical drives?

If the former, there could be a physical problem. If the latter, we need to understand the steps you took.

  • What operating systems are involved?
  • What virtualization hypervisor are you referring to?
  • What type of server is connected to the array?

Either way, both actions can be done hot without impacting the system. A shutdown or reboot is not required in most cases.

ewwhite
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  • Yes its a P800. I basically popped it in to the enclosure. Then everything just died. I didn't load up the config utility as it crashed. The actual server kept running ok, but the raid running off the controller died. – Keeno Jun 14 '12 at 13:44
  • I'd pull the new disk and run the array utility on the existing RAID5 setup. This depends on the OS/hypervisor you have installed, but we need to check the health of your existing disks. – ewwhite Jun 14 '12 at 13:49
  • I have rebooted and the new disk shows up as an unassigned drive – Keeno Jun 14 '12 at 13:56
  • @Keeno - if it's any consolation I have an aging CDN platform with literally hundreds of DL580's each with multiple P800's and many MSA60's hanging off them running W2K3 and your problem is unique. We've added many disks (probably tens of thousands) over the year and not had this problem. As I say this doesn't help you but it is unusual, perhaps you have a faulty controller or chassis? – Chopper3 Jun 14 '12 at 14:42
  • @Chopper3 ok thanks, that does help. I am beginning to think perhaps its a faulty HD. If it was, is there anything specific I should be looking for in the diagnostic utility (I have managed to run it, but nothing glaring is coming up that I can see) – Keeno Jun 14 '12 at 15:38
  • @everybody - is there anything that would help from the Diagnostic utility that I can post, or, a place to start for my troubleshooting? – Keeno Jun 14 '12 at 15:39
  • You're right in that there could be something that shorted out the bus etc. Best just speak to HP, get the disk swapped for another and try again, if it happens again it could be a dodgy slot in the shelf perhaps? – Chopper3 Jun 14 '12 at 16:15
  • Does it matter if the disks previously had something on them, or where part of another array? – Keeno Jun 19 '12 at 16:55
  • @keeno Nope. It doesn't matter... – ewwhite Dec 14 '12 at 23:53