RAID is nothing but Redundant Array of Independent Disks. Its a technology which gives fault tolerance and reliability through redundancy. In a RAID, multiple hard disk drive are combined to one logical drive hence data is distributed across multiple hard drives. 
Hardware RAID is one of the basic function you will expect from any Server. Most of the HP Servers are shipped with HP Smart Array Controller which allows you to configure different RAID levels on your Server. If you need to setup RAID on your Server, you need to use a utility which enable you to do it. HP Array configuration Utility is one of the HP utility which helps you to configure RAID on your Server. ACU provides easy to use graphics user interface which will allow you to configure/change RAID levels of your HP Server.
You need to ensure that you create a Hardware RAID on your Server using HP ACU or ORCA before you try installing any OS on your Server. If you wish to know how to install Windows OS using SmartStart CD, consider reading our step by step guide at:
Guide: Installing Windows OS using HP SmartStart CD
Let us come back to ACU now. ACU works only with HP Smart Array controllers. It will not work with entry level Embedded SATA controller installed on your HP Server. ACU helps you to Create an array, Create a logical drive, Delete logical drives, Delete array, Expand an array, Extend an array, Migrate Raid level of the array and Spare drive management.
HP Array configuration Utility (ACU) is available in both Online and Offline version. You can launch this application within Windows OS. But if you are installing OS for the first time, then you need to configure RAID using Offline ACU or using ORCA. ACU is tool available in HP SmartStart CD and you can launch it by booting to SmartStart CD.
In this post, we are sharing how to configure RAID on your Server using ACU (Offline). We will boot the server from SmartStart CD, then need to launch the ACU. Lets do it! 
Configure RAID using HP Array configuration Utility (ACU):
1. Boot the server using HP SmartStart CD (this might take some time!)
2. Select language as English (US), keyboard layout as US English and click Next button 
3. Accept HP End User License Agreement by clicking Agree button. 
4. Now you will be at the Main Page of HP SmartStart CD.
Note: If there is no Logical Drive is present on your server, then the SmartStart CD home page will look the one provided below. Both Install and Run Saved Installation option will be unavailable as there is no Logical drives defined. You can create a logical drive using HP ACU now.
5. Click on Maintenance from the main page of HP SmartStart CD
6. Click on HP Array Configuration and Diagnostics from the Maintenance Option.
7. HP Array Configuration Utility (ACU) will open now.
8. Select the HP Smart Array Controller from the list.
Note: If there are multiple Storage controllers available, select the right controller from the list. Example of Array Controllers are HP Smart Array E200 Controller, HP Smart Array P400 Controller etc
9. Now the main HP Array Configuration window will open.
10. You could find the available Hard Drives in the list in the left pane of the window.
11. Click on Create Array
12. The Screen will like the one provided below.
Note: In our case, we only have 1 Hard drive connected to the Server. Hence you will find only one hard drive listed.
13. Select the Hard Drives from the list and click OK. The Array will be created.
14. Now we need to create a logical drive.
15. Click on Create Logical Drive.
16. Select the RAID level (Fault Tolerance), also ensure that Array Accelerator is Enabled.
17. Click on Save button to create the logical drive.
Note: As we have only one HDD, the only available RAID level is RAID 0, if we had 2 HDD, then we will get the RAID 1 option as well. If 3 HDDs are installed, then you will find RAID 5 listed in this window.
18. Success, now you have created RAID 0 logical drive.
19. Click on Exit ACU button to exit ACU.
Note: I also wrote following articles (and more) related to ACU and RAID, please check as it will help you further:
- Guide: How to find HP Hard drive Backplane Firmware Version
- Guide: How to migrate RAID on your HP Server
In Windows you can launch ACU by Clicking Start –> Programs ->HP System Tools –> HP Array Configuration Utility. ACU also allows you to expand, extend and migrate RAID levels on your Server. Please check this blog to find more articles
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Thanks Dude..
Your all the article are very helpful.
Keep it please..
Thanks Again.
Hey Manoj
I am glad that you found my blog useful.
You can join the facebook community so that you will be updated when a new post is published or can subscribe to email newsletter
Cheers mate
SiRu
thanks .
you are welcome, hope my website is useful!
Your website is very useful and i find it very important
I have DL180G6 E5606 (2.13GHz-4MB) Quad Core (2 max) / 2GB UDIMM /p410 /512MN BBWC,HP-SATA 1x250GB And have install os windows 2008 server but now I wanted to add 2 x 250 addition hard disk for configuring RAID 5 I WANT TO KNOW can I configure RAID 5 without data loss or again I have install OS a
Jeff, I would not recommend you to try this.
As the server is installed with 1 HDD, it means the RAID 0 is configured.
First you need to migrate RAID 0 to RAID 1. Check my article. Basically you need to Expand array by adding one HDD then Migrate the RAID level to RAID 1.
Once you migrated logical drive to RAID 1, then again you need to migrate to RAID 5 by adding one more HDD to the existing array ..
This will take hell lot of time.. It may take upto 15 minutes per GB, so I would rather start-over rather than wasting a lot of time on this
Regards
SiRu
That will be great. I will like to read more article on DL 380 G7 servers, installation and configuration. Cheer
Hi SiRu,
I am trying to run HP smart start CD, but during craetion of logical drive,I havr got error ACU did not support any controller on your system.
help me to resolve this issue.
Which server u r using.? Which controller is installed ur server?
Thanks Bro.. thats really useful…
Glad I could help
thanks for this great website ! , this what i was looking for along time thanks for you …
i have a question and hope i will get the answer .
i downloaded the smartstart software , now i would like to test it but unfortunately i don’t have a server to test it .
my question is : is this possible to use this software on Virtual machine software like virtualwalbox .. or any other software …
please help
Kind Regards
Hi Sean,
We will not be able to use Virtual “HP Server” using any of the virtual software and implement SmartStart CD. We will need HP hardware as most of the smartstart components only works with HP hardware
Regards
SiRu
Hey Siru, excellent piece of information. all the posts pretty useful those who support remote clients at present
Would you able to post some information like ‘how to change accelerator board battery’ and the procedure.
Regards, Mallik
Replied to you through email
Is it possible to create partitions with smartstart
Regards
Justin
Partitions is nothing but logical drives. You can use ACU to create RAID array, and then create logical drives. You can find steps in this blog
Hi SiRu,
I am having a slightly different sort of problem, I am setting up a HP DL 380 G7 with smartstart 8.25, I have 4x146GB HDD, which I want to setup in RAID-5, but ACU does not show me RAID-5, it only shows RAID-0 and RAID-1, did you face this sort of problem before.
Any advices will be really appriciated.
Many thanks,
Riyaz.
I have sent an email to you
Thanks for your email SiRu, and sorry for my ignorance, but how do I make sure I have the cache battery installed on not? Do I have to open up the server to check or is it available from the BIOS Setup?
Please advice.
Regards,
Riyaz.
Hi SiRu
I have this problem with hp dl 360 G7 ACU does not show me RAID-5, it only shows RAID-0 and RAID-1.
Many thanks,
Sergey
RAID 5 needs Cache module for your HP Smart Array Controller. If you have only Smart Array controller and no cache, then you will be limited to RAID 1,0 and 1+0.
Please check whether you have cache installed on your server!
Hi SiRu,
i am a new in server field and trying to get in to servers installation & configuration. i have HP ProLiant DL580 G3 server and trying to install windows server 2008 R2 64Bit. using Smart Start 8.7 in the server to boot and get GUI to start configuration of drives and all. unfortunately every time i boot server on Smart start 8.7 DVD it takes me to command Prompt which is pain. i tried to switch to GUI using Ctrl+Alt+F2 & F1 but it doesn’t work. i am not sure what i am doing wrong.
i have downloaded smart start from HP site and i am sure i am using correct smart start.
any help on this would be appreciated.
I sent you an email with workaround.
I have same problem can you explain me or send me email too !
tkx by advance
Great blog
Hi, Could you explain to me which issue you are speaking about, please shoot an email at tricksguide@gmail.com, I will go through and reply to you.
same problem here, I only get the command line and can not switch to the gui. Could you send me the workaround? Thanks!
SmartStart is a Linux based software. Once you boot to the SmartStart CDYou can switch between the Shell interface or GUI version by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1 or Ctrl + Alt + F2
I think It’s a very helping for every system engineer on HP
Babu, thanks for your feedback, Glad to find that my website is helping all
Hello SiRu,
I would like an advice about RAID error reporting.
I have HP, Proliant G6, which as you know doesn’t have option to auto report an error.
Can you give some advice, what software (under Server 2008)
to use which should send me an e-mail automatically
when some error on array happens?
BR
Mladen
You may download the SAS event notifier and also HP event notifier software (part of PSP) and configure it. It will send all traps to your email (if SMTP server available)
Good, SAS Event Notification Service is already installed, but where do I get to configure the error notification parameters, e-mails… ect?
Hi SiRu,
I have a DL365 G1 that has 2 72GB SAS disks in a RAID 1. I have added 2 more 72GB disks and want to do a migrate using smart start 8.7 so that all 4 disks become RAID 5. How is this performed?
Many thanks in advance,
Patrick Yates
By the way, I was looking for the Migrate RAID option but I can’t see it? Is there something this depends on?
Thanks,
Yes, First you need to have both Cache and battery for the Smart Array Storage controller. Without battery or without cache, you wont find that option in ACU.
Patrick, I will go ahead and write an article regarding RAID migration in another 3-4 days..
Will email you once I am done
Hi Siru,
Thank for the information you share in your website. Very useful specially fist timer on the HP Server raid setup.
Hi.. Glad to hear that my webiste was able to help you today
Glad Bless you
SiRu
Hi SiRu,
I want to build a new server HP Proliant DL380 G7, The server has 2 disks, each disk is 300GB. My question is, do i need to create one logical drive for both disks or do i need to create a different logical drivers when i creating logical drive. Thanks for this great forum, this will help a lof of people especially first time hp users.
Many thanks
D
I replied to you as an email
Hi Siru
First of all, i would like to thank you for your tremendous work. Indeed, u doing great job to humanity…:)
I am really new to Server Configuration. Have never configured Raid before, just studied bit about all raids and decided to go for Raid 0 +1.
i got HP dl 380 G7 and Smart Start CD v 8.70. My question is with this model and CD version, will i be able to configure Raid 10?? i have seen in above posts that you are advising people to check their battery and cache. What exactly you are referring to ?? and do i need in my case as well??
Actually, i never attempted configuring raid before. Just search in google for raid configuration and came accross ur excellent post. I will try it myself tomorrow though but just thought to write you first, may be i can get some important info which can save my time in trial nd go methods.
May be i sound silly here but your help would really be appreciated.
Thanx
Amj
Hi..
HP DL380 G7 server is shipped with HP Smart Array P410i which supports RAID 0/1/1+0. If you have added Smart Array Cache and battery, then it can support RAID 5 as well.
Now let me explain how you create a RAID 1+0.
Ensure that you have 4 HDDs available.
Open ACU, Create Array. Select 4 HDDs, and click Ok/SAve
Now create a logical drive, select RAID 1+0, and click on Save.
Now you have created RAID 1+0 on your server.
Note: If you have only 2hDDs available, then you can create RAID 1 using ACU as RAID 1+0 needs minimum 4 HDDs
Let me know if you have any query
Regards
SiRu
Hi SiRu,
Is it possible to expand a RAID 1 + 0 on HP hardware, I have 4 HDDs configured in RAID 1 + 0. I’d like to add 2 other HDDs in this volume without loosing data.
Regards,
Yes, you can add additional 2 HDDs and make a RAID 1+0 of 6 HDDs
, ideally, you wont loose any data
Hi Siru,
I am planning to expand our server storage. The Server is configured by RAID5 with 3 hard drives. Here we wanted to add 3 more hard drives on existing server.
If I can expand RAID5 OR add one more Array, please tell me the procedures and suggest me how to add or upgrade existing RAID5 Configuration array.
Current Configuration Details
Server : DL380 G6 with windows 2008 std.
Size : 279964 MB
Fault Tolerance : RAID 5
Heads : 255
Strip Size : 256 KB
Array Accelerator Enabled
Disk Partition Information
Partition Number: 1, Size: 87.9 GB, Mount Point: C:\
Partition Number: 2, Size: 185.5 GB, Mount Point: D:\
Hi Jim,
I already explained the entire procedure in my blog. The entire procedure is explained very well in my article. Click here to open it.
Hope that helps
Hi
Thank u so much Siru. It was piece of the cake in the end. All went perfectly fine……i really appreciate your help. God bless!!
Regards
Hi SiRu,
I want to build a new server HP Proliant ML 110 and i m doing raid 1 with the help of fast tx 2650 card, The server has 2 disks, each disk is 1TB. My question is, do i need to create one logical drive for both disks or do i need to create a different logical drivers when i creating logical drive. your help would be appreciated
Sent email
Hi SiRu,
I found your website very useful and I reached here because have issue on ML 150 . I am very new for raid setup.
I want to make this server for backup and had old setup with 2 x 80 GB and 4 x 160 GB hardrive so bought 2 x 1TB Seagate ES SATA to upgrade capacity on HP Smart array 200i with 128 cache. (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Home.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=1157688) but the issue is its only detect new HD in bay 5 & 6 , Now I want to setup extra HD 160 GB for OS (2008 R2) but can’t add extra. Your guidance may help me . Thank you in advance .
Sorry for late reply.
Could you tell me which Generation of controller and how many HDD bays this server has. Also send me the ADU report from your server at tricksguide@gmail.com
I will personally look and see whether we can solve it.
To any whom are able,
Our business has acquistioned a DL580 G7 with Qty 8- 900Gb SAS drives and have been able to configure a RAID5 via the SmartStart (v8.70) ACU (No problem here) (~5.8Tb of storage). While using the Smartstart 8.70 I am able to create an initial partition of 800Gb with the remaining results: After system install (Windows 2008 R2) completes, a ~1024Gb partition with a 1024Gb offset is created and is manageable via Windows disk management tool and the remaining ~3.8Tb is grayed out with no access via diskpart or the disk manager. I went as far as converting the disk 0 (5.8Tb) to GPT however, this led to no success as it destroyed the OS but yet I was able to create all fo the partitions (800gB, 1024gB and Qty 2 – 2048Gb partitions via diskpart). What is the essential process so that the entire 5.8Tb of RAID5 disk can be managed accordingly?
Thanks in advance,
Jay
I am not sure whether I understood correctly.
However, this is what I will do
I will create first logical drive for 500GB or less (or <1TB) as many OS has boot partition restrictions.
Then I will create additional Logical drives from ACU (not from Disk management). Once I create logical drive, I will open Disk management and format it
SiRu,
I was not able to configure partitions against the full 5.8Tb RAID 5 array and ended up with the same solution as you in creating individual “RAID 5 disks” within the ACU and all is working well. As to the original problem, I beleive this is an issue from the Microsoft side relating to MBR versus GPT DET data structures. I have yet to contact Microsoft but know this is an OS related problem after speaking to HP engineers directly. To dulicate this requires a HP system with at least 5 1Tb SATA disks ( We have Qty 8 900Gb SAS). I used the version 8.70 SmartStart and Windows 2008 R2. Within the ACU or directly through the controller (F8) create an RAID 5 array with all available disks. During the Smartstart installation process, allocate 500-800Gb for the system and proceed to the completion of the OS install. At this point, either use Disk Manager or Diskpart and see if the installation created a 1Tb partition without you defining it. Attempt to access the remaining storage? I checked with the controller vender specifications and there were no issues suporting a >2Tb disk capacity. According to Microsoft, GPT Disk sizes are supported up to 256Tb and 128 partitions whereas MBR DET supports 2Tb and 4 partitions. My original intent was to create one (1) disk and four (4) partitions (i.e. 868Gb, 1Tb and Qty 2 – 2Tb). Creating the Disks through the ACU works fine however, the question still stands; Can 2008 R2 support one (1) disk larger than 2Tb? and what is up with the creation of a second partition of ~1Tb. The remaining storage can not be accessed from either the Disk Manager or Diskpart, despite seeing the partition in clear view. Very strange indeed.
Again, thank you for all of your support and if anyone determines this solution, please contact me.
Jay
Jay,
If my understanding is right, the limitation apply to Boot partition and is an issue with Microsoft.
However, you can create additional array and logical drive of >2TB and use it for data storage (there were some limitation with some of HP smart array controller, but I believe you are using HP p410 controller on your server)
Thanks for the update
SiRu
SiRu,
Actually, after creating the 5.8Tb storage RAID5 disk I was able to create the maximum system boot disk of 2Tb under the MBR DET structure via the SmartStart install process and as I stated, the SmartStart/OS created an additional Tb partition. The remaining 3.8Tb was visable under the Disk manager and Diskpart but not accessable. As to the controller it is a P410 and supports >2Tb file systems. In theory, I should be able to create one (1) disk up to 256TB and partition them accordingly. After installing in this configuration, I went as far as booting from the OS CD within the Recovery command prompt and converting to GPT; I was indeed able to create the partition structures (I.e. 866Gb for the systems disk, 1Tb and Qty 2 – 2Tb partitions) but after rebooting the system to install the Microsoft OS install did not know what to do with the GPT file structure and failed to install (Ego, Essentially F3 to restart).
Basick disk could be up to 2 TB and to use more convert it in dynamick disk……hope this will help.
The limit is 2TB in server 2008 on the first boot partition. He used 8 900 gb drives. During smart start he should create a boot partition 2TB. The extended partion is not formatted during the server 2008 process. You must do that seperately. I found your expand and extend array very helpful and was able without data loss to add a 5th drive and now have 1.1 TB on my DL370G6 with 5 300gb 2.5 inch. I will add a hot spare later on. The fact that we can do any of this is a testament to the hardware engineering at HP.
Thanks for this info
Hi Siru,
I have 3 servers DL360 G5 just shutdown and restart, and Array Controller E200I failured not detected. I did upgraded firmware, but still do the same. Drive and controller already reseat. Any ideas.
Thanks,
Kevin
Kevin, what is the error code you receive and the complete error message? Can you share the ADU report of server with me at tricksguide[at]gmail[dot]com
Hi Siru,
I have bought HP DL380 G7 server which has 2 disks, each disk is 300gb, i have configure it using smartstart cd and created array and logical drive , i use array 5 as its full tolerence, now i want to create a disk partitions in order to divide the large disk into the small junk, woud you please advice me this in order to create a small partitions my large disk.
many thanks
Hi..
I am not sure whether I understood correctly.
I understand that your server have 2 HDDs and you have created an Array using these 2 HDDs (lets call it it as Array A). As we have 2 HDDs, we can create logical drive which is RAID 0 or RAID 1 (RAID 5 needs 3 HDDs).
If your question is how to create multiple logical drive on same Array, then my answer is “Yes” you can do it.
Check the image:
http://www.tricksguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/HP-ACU-Create-Logical-drive-RAID-1.jpg
Under Size, you can enter small size and use the remaining space to create an additional logical drive.
For more info: send me an email or use the contact form in my website.
Regards
SiRU
Thanks man.
The steps to do the RAID Configuration are very useful and the explanations are very clear.
Kind Regards
Navin
Wow!! Glad to hear that Navin
Dude this is a Great Blog I was try this this with HP Proliant GL380 just one question I Try to expand an existing Array and I am not getting the option to expand in ACU, do I have to delete the old one and rebundle it all again?
First of all, check whether you controller have Cache and Battery installed. If not, you wont find expand option.
Hi Siru
After configuration of RAID 0 with the HP SmartStart DVD on a server DL380 G7 having 2 hard-disks and having already installed OS Windows Server 2008 R2, I will like to know of we can re-configure the RAID with the HP SmartStart DVD or with the BIOS.
Thanks.
Regards
Navin
Siru,
I have an HP DL385-G2 server with 3 RAID-1 mirrors. 2 of the RAID-1 mirrors have only 2 drives, but 1 of the RAID-1 arrays has 4 drives (RAID-0+1). HP System Manager lists the 4 drives, but provides no information on which 2 are “paired” on both sides of the mirror. Is there a way to identify which drives are “grouped” together in such an array? ACU shows even less info.
If you could respond via email, I would appreciate it.
Thanks!
–Terry
Siru,
While waiting for feedback on identifying the “pairing” in the RAID-0+1 configuration, I have a followup question.
Our existing DL385-G2 and DL360-G5 servers currently contain P400 RAID adapters, which are capable of supporting 3Gbps SAS drives. The new dual port SAS drives are capable of 6Gbps, which the P400 cannot support. We’re trying to determine if the servers could be upgraded to the P410 adapters (compatible with the hardware platform), and if so, would the existing RAID-1 OS setup survive the transition (or would we have to start over, from scratch, with the 3Gbps 72GB pair of OS drives, too).
So there are 2 questions:
1. Can the our existing DL385-G2 and DL360-G5 platforms be upgraded from the P400 to the P410 RAID adapter?
2. Assuming the answer to question 1 is yes, will the existing drive configurations survive the upgrade?
–Terry
I checked the Quickspecs of the DL385-G2 and I find that p410 is not listed as a supported upgrade
HP ProLiant DL385 Generation 2 (G2)
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12565_div/12565_div.HTML
HP ProLiant DL360 Generation 5 (G5)
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12476_div/12476_div.HTML
However, please check with HP Sales and information team in your country to find whether P410 is supported by your Server.
Regarding Data migration, please refer below said HP document.
HP Smart Array Controllers – How Do I Determine the Migration Route for Smart Array Controllers?
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00180566&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=1157687&prodTypeId=329290
Note: I am yet tofind an answer for “identifying the “pairing” in the RAID-0+1 configuration”
Hi Siru,
We have Smart array P400
SAS Array B has got 6 disks 72 GB each with RADI 5 configured on HP server and 2 disk has got failed.
Shall we replace the disk and Raid will build up automatically. Or
WE need to dissolve the Raid 5 and recreate.
Please let me the correct procedure
.
If the RAID 5 logical drive is created using 6 HDDs and 2 HDDs are failed, then your logical drive is failed, you will neeed to restore data from the backup as RAID 5 support only one HDD failure.
Thanks Siru,
Can i get u r email id please.
Thanks,
Iqbal
I have a proliant dl580 with a P400 controller. It has a raid5 disk and I would like to add another disk to expand the storage capacity of the raid5 logical drive.
Is this possible with the server online? It’s linux based, so what app is best to do it with?
It’s at a remote location so doing the smart start thing may not be possible.
Thanks
Great blog btw!
For Expansion, you need to have Cache and battery installed (both needed).
You can use Linux based ACU which can be downloaded from HP.com or Use iLO Virtual media and use SmartStart CD (Offline).
You can expand an array Online while the OS is running, no harm. it works
Thanks SiRu!
That’s what I thought. Lets hope the client has the Cache and Battery installed.!
indeed very helpful post
Thanks and glad to hear that Sajjad
Hi Siru,
I’m using HP startsmart 8.70b to install Redhat on DL 580 G7 but during installation there is no option to install redhat on HP startsmart. Only option to install windows server appeared. Appreciate your advice on this matter.
Thanks.
Assisted installation supported by SmartStart CD is only for Windows, Linux you cant install using SmartStart CD.
You have to manually install Redhat, then use smartstart CD to implement Proliant Support pack etc..
Dear Siru
we have HP DL580 G7 with 4 Disk , each 146 Gb and we like to create 2 Array type:
- 2 DISK for RAID 1
- 1 disk for RAID 0
- 1 disk for RAID 0
we are using SmartStar 8.7 for X64 bit , we consider using x64 software , we success create 2 Array (2 DISK for RAID 1 and 1 disk for RAID 0) and we have 1 disk left and we like to create new array , but we don’ t see “create array button” on that disk
is it about Cache and Battery too ? we really need your explanation in detail on this problem
Thanks Siru
Have same answer here:
Your server is installed with HP Smart Array P410i Controller
It seems like your controller is without any Cache.
First, find out whether any cache/array accelerator is installed on your server. check this link
http://www.tricksguide.com/how-to-check-array-accelerator-cache-battery-bbwc-fbwc-hp-server.html
If you have Zero Memory/Cache, Up to 2 logical volumes are supported. After that you will not find Create Array option.
If your controller have 256MB cache and greater, Up to 64 logical volumes are supportted.
Same information can be found at below said HP quick specs page of P410
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13201_div/13201_div.HTML
Scroll down to bottom at the section “Technical Specifications” and check there..
If you want to create more array and logical drive, you have to buy the cache of this controller..
Hi SiRu,
My HP server is configured with Smart Array P410l in Embedded slot. There are 5 hard drives installed. For my current test, I like to create five Logical drives as RAID0 out of the 5 disks (i.e: each disk is on its own array). I successfully created 2 Logical drives (each as RAID0) out of the first two disks. After that the “Create Array” button is no longer shown (leaving the other 3 drives as “Unassigned Drives) Is it mean that this controller only support at most 2 logical drives? I also looked at the Controller Settings to see if I can increase the number of supported logical drives but no such option is there. If there is a way of doing what I want, would you please let me know?
Thank you very much!
It seems like your controller is without any Cache.
If you have Zero Memory/Cache, Up to 2 logical volumes are supported. After that you will not find Create Array option.
If your controller have 256MB cache and greater, Up to 64 logical volumes are supportted.
Same information can be found at below said HP quick specs page of P410
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13201_div/13201_div.HTML
Scroll down to bottom at the section “Technical Specifications” and check there..
If you want to create more array and logical drive, you have to buy the cache of this controller..
Regards
SiRu
Thank you so much SiRu for the information. Your information is so helpful in precise!
Greatly appreciate your effort.
Regards,
It was very good.Many thanks for your information.
Hi SiRu,
I have hp ml350 with 2*72 gb and 1*146 gb sas. now if swap hdd the location of hdd it gives array error. I want to remove 1St Hdd and replace with 2nd HDD and install Fresh OS. So if I delete the array and creat new array will my DATA on 3rd HDD will delete ?.
Also if I replace again as ORIGINAL HDD with original location will I have to again create the array ?
Can you exlain better and send me an email at tricksguide@gmail.com. I could not understand what is 1st HDD, 2nd HDD etc. Also which controller and which Generation of Ml350 server. More info please, I will give a try.
hi Siru,
I have recently bought DL160 HP proliant and i just wonder if i can install window server 2008 R2 without creating Array and Logical driver.
many thanks
D
Replied!
hi SIRU
Sorry to mention before, the server has only one hard disk whic is (160 GB)
Replied
hi Siru .
Your article helps me alot on hp server.
I have i hp proliant server Ml 350 G6 having 3 Hdds in ACU only showing Raid 0. (don’t having cache and battery.) i want to configure Raid 1.
on Installtion of window server 2003 in disk manager only showing C: partition
I want configure extended partion and logical volumes. ( any third party softwares )
bcoz on installation it only ask about minimum and maximum bootspace. where in installation i have to assign space for primary and extended partition.
When you create an Array in ACU, you have to create an array using 2 HDDs, then you will find RAID 1 as an option.
The ACU says there are no unassigned drives?
Please explain in detail
Hi Siru
I have a DL380 g7 which has 4 146gig drives in raid 10 and a 5th drive configured as a spare. I have purchased an additional drive to make 6 total. I am looking to see if I am able to expand my raid 10 using all 6 disks. This would require taking one out of spare status and adding an additional drive. My question is, is that possible without loosing any of the data. I have VMWare running on the drives with 2 VM’s running. I would of coarse back up everything. I just need to know if this can be done rather easily or if I need to allow enough time to copy out/back the VM’s after I do this. Thanks
Yes, you can do it.
Click on Array, Select Spare management, remove the spare. Now the HDD will be listed as Unassigned
Now add the new HDD to server, now you have 2 free unassigned HDDs.
Now Add both to RAID 1+0 and you are done
Thanks, One additional question,
I have a HP DL380G7 Server with VMware Hypervisor ESX-i 4.1. I also have the vsphere server component.
Currently I have a raid 10 configuration that I would like to expand, with 2 additional disks for increased storage capacity.
Reading up on the process, everything I have read, indicates that I am only able to do this in offline mode using the HP SmartStart disk and that there is no ACU for online RAID management. From what I can find through various web searches, there was a product/package that will run on ESX however the ESX-i version does not have the ‘service console’ to support it.
Having this issue brought to light another question, that being, if a disk was to fail I have no way of the server alerting me to this.
I have found and installed the bundle that is available for ESX-i 4.1, that adds a hardware tab in vsphere, but I still do not have the ability to check or modify the raid while the system is online.
I have spent hours over multiple nights trawling newsgroups and HPs website. Does HP have something for this that I just have not found?
Hello,
Did a setup with Raid0 and 4 disks with Raid5 on a HP DL380G7 Windows Server 2008 R2.
Everything went ok but when i look in the server software i can’t se if its Raid1 or Raid5.
The disk space says it is but not the discs..
Hi Henric Jacobsson,
May I know you still have same issue, if yes, please explain more about the issue.
Sorry, I missed your comment.
Hi Siru,
We have a HP ML350 g5, 2x72gb drives mirrored and 3x146gb on raid 5.
One of the drives failed on the raid 5, so i replaced it then i got an error about the cache battery, so ive replaced the battery, its chraged, i get no errors on the ACU. But i still dont have any lights on the drive, but it shows in ACU.
Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Paul
Hi Paul,
1. Could you cross check whether any Spare HDD is assigned to RAID 5?
2. May I know whether the new HDD is showing as unassigned HDD in ACU, OR is it part of RAID 5 Array?
3. Can you check for the Status alert messages in ACU and see whether the RAID 5 array is running at reduced performance mode?
Regards
SiRu
Hi Siru,
1… No other HDD is assigned to the RAID 5
2… The newly inserted drive shows as part of the Raid 5 array
3… There are no alerts in the status messages, no mention of reduced perfomance mode.
When drive was inserted and new cache battery fitted it said it was building the radi 5 array back up, but still no lights.
Thanks for your help
Paul
Paul, could you send ADU report of the issue and explain the issue in an email, please send at tricksguide@gmail.com, I will analyze the report and get back to you. Thanks
Thanks for this informative blog. I’m trying to figure out our server configuration.
You mentioned that RAID 5 will not be available unless we have 3 HDD in the Array. I launched the HP Configuration Utility.
We have 3 Smart Arrays.
The first array is in P410i in Embedded Slot. It has 8 SAS arrays with 1 logical drives on each with RAID 0 on each drive.
The second array is in P212 in Slot 2, but with no physical drive but just a Tape Device.
The third array is in P812 in Slot 1. It has 1 SAS array, with 2 logical drives, one is RAID 0 and one is with RAID 5.
For P812 slot, it only has 2 logical drives in it. Will RAID 5 be available right away? Or by default, it became available because of the P410i HDD drive?
Do you recommend setting up the logical drives first before installing the OS?
Also, the first RAID 5 logical drive is the primary partition. How do i set up the other disks to be of Dynamic Type volume and GPT partitions? Do i user the Disk Management utility for that after the OS install?
Vern,
If my understanding is right, the P812 controller does have 3 or more HDDs connected to it (change the view to physical View in ACU).
I would always recommend creating one logical drive on the primary Smart array controller and install the OS (You can set boot controller in BIOS/RBSU of server) and later create logical drives (once OS is installed).
Regards
SiRu
very good comments. Really helped me.
I have news HP DL580 G7 with 8HDx600Gb and I couldn’t found the solution that Win 2008 R2 recognize the second partition and thanks to SiRu regenerate the Raid Array and I generated the logical partitions from the HP ACU and not from windows.
regards.
Glad to hear that we were able to help you
Thanks for this great blog
We just bought a HP DL180 G6 with a p410 controller, including the battery option.
Apart from all other servers I’ve seen, this combo limits us to allowing each disk to supply storage to one logical RAID drive.
For a server with, say 4x2TB drives, I’d normally create a RAID 10 array.
Then I’d create a logical drive on this array, the size could be e.g. 100GB.
On this logical drive I’d install Windows using the Server Assistant DVD, and after this, I’d run the ACU within Windows, and configure another logical array on the same disks, format that new disk as a GPT partition, allowing a volume size larger than 2TB.
Hence, I’d end up with a 100GB OS drive with 1 MBR partition with Windows, and one ~3.9TB volume with 1 GPT partition for data.
However, with the DL180 and the P410 it seems that the logical drive I create will always max out all space on all disks; hence I’ll have to stick to MBR which is not desirable.
Any suggestions on how to circumvent this? I feel that the offline ACU software is kinda limited, and the ACU software as booted from the Server Assisant disk cannot detect any disk controllers (!)
1. Please do not use ORCA/embedded ACU to create Array on your Server. Please use ACU by using Easy Setup CD/Smart Start CD.
2. As this is 100 series server, you first have to enable the Smart array controller in BIOS before you basically use it.
3. ACU will allow you to create arrays and logical drive of your choice.
Hope this helps, if not, please send an email at tricksguide@gmail.com and I will try to assist you further
Thanks and regards
SiRu
Hmm, I think I found the solution to my own problem.
The ORCA doesn’t allow specifying the size of the logical drive; this is described here:
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00729544/c00729544.pdf in the section “Support for standard configuration tasks”.
So now I’ll only have to troubleshoot why the Server Assistant ACU doesn’t detect my P410 controller….
Dear Mr. SiRU,
I have HP ProLiant DL380 G7 server with 4x300GB Hard disks. I have made 3 Partitions on is 80GB for OS (Windows Server 2003) and still can have 63GB free after all the work done. Volume Data Center as D:\ with 738GB Third partition is as low as 20GB asn IT-Only for any Windows Updats or dirives store loacation. I find the Data center running out of space on some occasions and it displays as low as 80MB free. FYI it is configured as a RAID 5. I have planned to add a hard disk and bought new HDD of 600GB to add to existing RAID. How can I do it successfully. Understandably, without disturbing the user’s folders & files on D:\ and OS and MDDB on C:\. Please help me.
I appreciate your work to help all the needy techies. Great work buddy.
First and most important, take the data backup.
Then expand the array by adding the physical HDD (Document is available at tricksguide.com), then extend the logical drive so that your partition will be expanded.
If you can explain the issue better, probably I will have a better answer, please shoot email at tricksguide@gmail.com and I will reply (I may take day 1-2 to reply to all these emails)
regards
SiRu
The HDD is connected physically in the next available slot (i.e., 5th HDD slot) but could not be located by Disk Managment Console. How do I add it up. Where can I locate the document on tricksguide.com. Is it possible for you to give me a link please which directly can lead me up to the documents you are advising me to refer.
We got a DL180; by default it only came with a controller board that supported 4 disks.
To get support for 8 disks total, we had to replace that board with a new one with 8 connectors instead of only 4.
That’s probably your problem.
Hi SiRu,
I already have a HP DL380 G7 server with two disks (with the same size) which is working, Only one disk is used currently. Is it possible to configure RAID 1 system on it ?
Reagards
If you have used one HDD and created an array and logical drive, then you might have Created RAID 0. Now with the remaining one HDD, you can create only one RAID 0.
If you want to creat RAID 1, you may delete the existing Array and logical drive, then you can create RAID 1.
There is one more option called Expansion, but it needs more efforts
Hi Mr. SiRu,
You are really great guy with your effort to put the Economy in other, this is a great contribution.
I’m very please with your work..
My Q: i have a HP DL360 G7 server with two disks (with the same size) creat RAID 1 but during the installation of the windows and copying of file it ask me to choose the drive which is the primary drive only the i select it but said drive not fund, But i created RAID1 system on it with smart CD ? i was unable to install my server. what can i do pls?
May I know the status of the issue? It seems like RAID is not really configured.
Are you using SmartStart CD 8.7B ?
Are you using HP SmartStart CD to install OS?
Please check my Guide: http://www.tricksguide.com/assisted-installation-of-windows-using-smartstart-cd.html
Regards
SiRu
Hi SiRu,
Thanks advance, but if i want to delete the existing array and logical drive, what happens whith data ?
BR
The moment you delete the array n logical drive, you will loose all your data.
You can expand your first array by addingg second HDD.
I have written a document regarding Array expansion but it will work only if you have unassigned/unused space in Array A.
Please send the adu report of your server at tricksguide@gmail.com
thanks for your blog, it really helpful
Thanks a lot for your comments, positive feedback always helps me..
I am still for a reply to my blog on March 14, please do take some time out for guiding me in the right direction.
Thanks in Advance.
sorry, replied to your email, please send me as an email again
I get 100s of email and I basically do another Job for living:) So, really not finding too much time. Hope you understand.
thanks so much
You are most welcome, and thanks for your comments
Please like the Facebook page if you love my blog
I have a DL360 G6 with a P411 card and a D2700 (16 300gb drives) trying to configure windows server 2008. I can setup 2 raid 5′s using the HP tool (seems to be the same as doing it during post)(5 disk each). Now I have 2 raid 5 (according to tool) but when i look in disk management and right click on the new disk1 it gives me the option of new simple volume, new spanned, striped, and new mirrored volume but the NEW Raid-5 volume is grayed out. Also it doesn’t see any of the left over drives in disk management, only those configured in the HP tool. I’m lost here,, if windows 2008 would see the drives then I could create the partition. Any help appreciated.
I am not sure whether I understood properly, anyway.
1. Create a RAID 5 in ORCA or Array Configuration utility (HP tools).
2. Go to DIsk Management.
3. Select the drive, if needed initialize, the right click-> Simple volume. Go Next, Next, Next (Some Format options may come) and Finish the Wizard.
4. Now you should get the logical drive presented as a partition in Windows.
Let me know whether it works, if it works, you can like my Facebook page, if not
Regards
SiRu
Hi Siru
Excellent stuff.Thanks for the posts above.
You are most welcome
I have this issue. when i use the HP Smart Start CD and enter ACU, it says that ACU does not detect anything (eg raid card and sas hd) but when i boot up the system and press F8 to configure the array, i am given a choice of Raid 0 or Raid 1+0. I am using Proliant DL360 G5 and smart start v8.6 (x86)
Hi,
Ideally this server goes with either P400 or HP Smart Array E200 and both should be detected in SmartStart ACU. Can you try another version of SmartSTart CD?
Hi Siru,
Tested using Start Smart 8.7 and everything is working now. Thanks!
Wow!! Glad to hear that its working with SmartStart 8.7 CD
Hi SiRu
I have a 510G6 with a P410 and a single 500GB HDD.
Windows 2008R2 64 installed.
My first question is about adding a second 500GB disk WITHOUT losing data end create a RAID 1, and after add a spare drive. Is possible from BIOS? How?
My second question is about HP Smart Array Controller, when i start from windows and select the DEVICE (my P410) I have a java error and program remain on the selection screen without showing disk list. Any suggestion?
Thank you
Alessio
Hi,
I am not sure about the Server model as you have said it is 510G6 !!
Regarding your question. You can migrate from Single HDD RAID 0 to 2 HDD raid 1. Basically you need to expand the RAID 0 Array by adding one more physical HDD. Then you have to click on “migrate Array” option. Then it will be converted to RAID 1. Ensure that you have data backup before you do this.
RAID Array Expansion and Migration Need Array Accelerator Cache + Battery (BBWC). If these 2 hardware is not present, you cannot expand or migrate on your server.
Regarding Second question: I did not understand it, could you explain it better? Are you referring to ACU?
Like my Facebook page if I was able to help you
Regards
SiRu
I made a mistake, sorry.
ML350 G6 with a 410.
I have no cache on my 410i so this mean I have to purchase and install it, I suppose
The problem about the java error was about 8.70 ACU, resolved with latest version on W2k8 R2, HP send me a link, downloaded ed installed now works fine.
So basically: missing options are for missing cache…
Well, thank you, you are “useful” and I already put a “like” on your FB page.
Alessio
Thank you clicking the Like button
And am glad that I was able to help you
Hello Mate,
Very nice articles, glad i found your website, it’s very useful for interview purposes. Keep on doing good work, i wish you all the best
Cheers
Thank you Nitish for your comment, keep check my blog or life the facebook fan page, you may find something useful
Guys, i am having a problem with Windows Server SBS 2008 x64 installtion via smart start. The problem is after completion of copying the installation files the machine will reboot but then after that it just display starting windows and then show and hour glass and bang it reboots again.
What can be the problem. The server is new just received it yesterday and its an HP Proliant ML330 G6. Please help
Are you using SmartStart 8.7B ?
Hi SiRu,
Site and the contents are so helpful, reading /following which I could successfully added a spare hard disk to existing RAID 5. For sure like me many others getting benefit from your blogs and site. Keep going. GOD bless u.
Hi Mohsinuddin Shahid,
I am thrilled to know that my Blog was helpful to you. Thanks for letting me know, this helps motivate me to write more
Keep in touch, you may like our facebook fan page
Regards
SiRu
If I were to have a facebook account, surely I would have liked your Facebook Page.
Dear SiRu
I would like to thank you for a Great amount of helpful information on your site .
I have a problem configuring a Raid array in the following situation :
2 x 500GB SATA drives
6 x 2TB SATA Drives
Server : DL180 G6
Raid Card : P410
I wanted to build first array Raid 1 for the 500GB drives for the OS
and The 4 Drives of 2 TB on Raid 5 , and Keep 2 drives as a Hot failover .
everytime I build the raid 5 array it become the first priority in boot , and the server wont boot windows again .
is there any work around ?
Now I Have the Raid 1 on the first drives built and had the OS , but everytime I use the smart start CD or the CLI gui to build the data array it makes it as a First array , and server wont boot windows 2008 server .
Please Help !
As per my understanding, whenever you create a RAID 5, it is created as the First Array, hence the Server is trying to boot from the first logical drive. Sometime, editing the boot.ini or Bcedit file in Windows to boot from second partition helps, but its very risky.
Basically this issue happens because we do not have an option to change the logical drive numbering in ACU/ORCA. However, I have seen that one of the latest firmware gave this option to change the order. I do not remember which firmware level it was.
If you give 2 days time, I can check in our lab whether this feature is enabled and give you more information.
Regards
SiRu
Thanks alot SiRu
I Logged in to ORCA , and Found the Option ( choose Boot Drive ) and That worked Perfectly .
The Only Problem is when You Create with this version of ORCA it allows you to make just a single drive as a live spare , I managed to build the array in CLI and then log in to ORCA and change the boot array.
working like charm .
Wow!!, Glad that you were able to find the exact option. That’s the same one I was looking for, this option was not available with older version of Smart Array Controller Firmware.
If you wish to assign more spare hdds, then you can use Array Configuration Utility and do it, its much easier to do.
Congrats again for solving the issue yourself
You may like my facebook page if you wish
Regards
SiRu
Hi SiRu,
Your articles are like a candle light in the darkness…!! Great..
I also need your opinion for the problem facing us.
We have a Proliant DL180G6 server with 2 x 300GB SAS HDD using Raid 1. Things was working fine till last month. Now we are facing disk free space issues and need to add drives, without OS (Win2003 STD R2 x64) re-installation and with redundancy Raid 1.
Please advice..
Regards,
Prutech
Hi,
There are many possibilities here.
1. As the raid configured here is RAID 1, we cant add any more hDD to the exisiting array and stay in RAID 1, beause, the moment you add one more HDD, the total number of HDDs in the array becomes 3 and, RAID 1 will work only with 2 HDDs.
2. Second option is to add one more HDD to the array by Expanding Array (Document is available in TricksGuide.com), and then migrate to RAID 5. However, its better you add 2 more HDDs to this Array.
3. The other option here is replace one of the 300GB HDD with higher capacity one (example:500GB). let the array rebuild on the newer 500GB. Once the rebuild process is done, replace the remaining 300 GB with another 500 GB HDD, again rebuild will happen, once rebuild is completed, you will have RAID 1 with 2*500GB HDDs (You will need to extend logical drive for this).
Hope I was able to assist you, you may like our facebook fan page
Regards
SiRu
Thanks for your reply..
I have some doubts:
2nd Option:
Can we migrate Raid 1 array to Raid 5 array while OS is live ?
3rd Option:
Can we replace one 300GB SAS drive with 500GB while Server is running ?
Will the array rebuild works automatically ?
I installed this server HP Proliant DL180G6 with HP Easy setup CD. My OS is Windows 2003 STD R2 SP2 x64.
I want to view the settings of Raid 1 array while OS is live. Can I install ACU[GUI] and view settings while OS is live? First, I just want to see the settings.
Also let me know how can I identify if one of the drive in Raid 1 array become failed ?
What are the futher steps, if one drive is failed ?
Please help..
Regards,
Prutech
Migration is not recommended if you are doing on the OS logical drive.
You can replace the 300GB HDD with 500 GB HDD and the rebuild will happen, provided the server supports hotplug HDDs.
You can go ahead and install HP Array COnfiguration Utility and it will show all the RAID parameters and specification. Everyone will be using ACU on their OS, you can also do it.
You can also install System Management Homepage on your Server and it can be used to alert you.
Awesome Blog SiRu, It’s very useful.
God Bless man, and millions thanks to you.
Thank you so much for your comments, Joyal Dsouza.
You really motivated me to write more
Thank you for the awesome blog SiRu.
Brand new 2 x CPU DL380-G7 with 4 x 300GB SAS’s
No drive detected in Bay 1, did check by swapping HDD’s
Can configure RAID5 using Bays 2, 3, 4
Is it possible that Bay-1 is disabled?
Server takes a long time to boot, find it quite frustrating as I expected much better performance.
Any suggestion?
Thank you in advance.
Please install all 4 HDDs in the server and please send me the ADU report from the server at tricksguide@gmail.com, I will analyze and get back to you.
Regards
SiRu
Phillip try running the firmware DVD that came with the server. If bay 1 is defective the backplane board could be defective for that cage. The cold boot does take awhile but warm boots do not. I have a DL360G7 and a DL370G6 that do that it is normal.
Prutech changing the drive with a 500 is not a good idea since the 500gb is sata not sas. Keep all drive types the same size and same specs when possible. If not your array could slow down to the slowest drive. The 500 is a sata 7200 rpm.
Mac leave the raid 5 drives out and build from the smart start and do the OS boot logical drive first. Then use the ACU in the boot OS to create the raid 5 array 2nd logical drive with 2 hotspares or you can use raid 6 adg for a 2 drive failure option if you bought the license. That gives you a 4 drive raid 5 with 2 hot spares.
Hi SiRu
Great site. I have an HP Raid 5 with E200i controller on a windows 2003 server. I replaced one HD and it initially rebooted but now fails shotly after windows starts loading. I would be very grateful if you could recommend any data recovery software.
Have tried a second recovery using ASU but this failed to finish.
Many thanks
Mervyn
RAID 5 can support one HDD failure, so you do not have to really worry about the data loss. Please install a new HDD and RAID 5 will be rebuild
Hi Siru,
Great Help mate , Appreciate the detailed instruction for Configure RAID using HP ACU on HP Server .
Many Thanks.
Syed
RWANDA
Thanks a lot Bro
I have a DL580 G5, running Redhat Linux
With this config:
Smart Array P400 Controller On System Board
RAID 5
/dev/cciss/c0d2
/u01 (total space: 169 GB, avail space: 52 GB)
/u02 (total space: 101 GB, avail space: 92 GB)
Port 1 Box 1, Bay 4 – 146 GB
Port 1 Box 1, Bay 3 – 146 GB
Port 2 Box 1, Bay 5 – 146 GB
RAID 1
/dev/cciss/c0d0 (20 GB Boot)
/dev/cciss/c0d1 (50 GB OS)
Port 2 Box 1, Bay 2 – 72 GB
Port 2 Box 1, Bay 1 – 72 GB
Port 2 Box 1, Bay 8 – EMPTY
Port 2 Box 1, Bay 7 – EMPTY
Port 2 Box 1, Bay 6 – EMPTY
I added 3x 146 GB drives to bay 6,7 & 8. Then extended and expanded /dev/cciss/c0d2.
When I go to the OS, and type fdisk -l, I see the new space.
How do I extend the Volume Group? It still shows the old space.
I am not a linux expert, so I have taken help from my friend George:
Depends upon what type of disk layout you are using. If the volume is setup using LVM, there is a procedure. If the disk is using normal Linux partitions, there is a different procedure. It is a whole big story, but I am just giving an outline here
Case 1. If using LVM
1 Create a new partition on the unused space using “fdisk” command.
2 Set the partition ID to “Linux LVM”
3 Create a physical volume on the new partion by “pvcreate” command
4 Extend the Volume group by “vgextend” command
5 Extend the logical volume by “lvextend”
6 Extend the filesystem by “resize2fs”
7 Enjoy the new space
Case 2. If using normal Disk partitions (assuming only one partition is created there)
1 Unmount the filesystem which is residing on that disk
2 Delete the existing partition table (fdisk)
3 Recreate the partition by taking 1st and last cylinders of the disk (use whole space)
4 Force an “fsck” check on the filesystem
5 Use “resize2fs” to extend the filesystem
6 Again do a forced “fsck”
7 Mount the filesystem under its original mount point.
This is what he says, hope you can understand
Really helpful for me to configure raid 5. Thanks a lot.
My pleasure.
HP DL385 SERVER: server has a RAID BATTERY ERROR even after raid battery and cache module were replaced.
How should I proceed to solve this problem?
->swversion
-> su -root
-> dmidecode -s system-product-name
->cd /usr/sbin
-> ./hpacucli controller all show detail
Check the following:
controller status
cache status
accelerator ratio
battery/capacitor count/status
Which controller n firmware of controller?
Sorry, never used any software to recover server data.
reset the boot controller it is still remembering the old info in the setup.
I have a HP server DL 360 G 7 . I want to configure RAID 1+0 so before configure raid should i have to install OS linux or not .I can get configure RAID 1+0 without installing OS
Yes, before you install any OS on Servers, you need to create RAID on your Server.
Dear Siru,
Please also confirm me that we need to run CD for configuring the RAID or direct press F9 button to enter into the ROM set up utility for configuring the RAID 1+0
You need to use the SmartStart CD to use ACU.
You have to boot from the CD to do it.
Why mess with 1+0 it leaves no way to expand the volume. I just reloaded mine from raid 1 to 5 and the read speed is much better with the 512 FBWC. 3 300gb 10K drives SAS.
thanks for a good knowledge
Glad we could help,
Thanks for this excellent stuff with detailed explanation.
Glad to hear that I could help
I just purchased an HP Proliant ML110 G7 w/ an Smart Array B110i SATA RAID. I ran the Smart Start CD, went to “Maintenance”, then “HP Array Configuration and Diagnostics”, and the message states that “ACU did not detect any supported controllers in your system” I hit the “Rescan System” button on top left and nothing the drop-down to select controllers is not available bc no controller is detected. What can I do, or what might be wrong? I just got the server yesterday and want to configure it for RAID 1. Please help ASAP…my other server just died and working off workstation until I can get this server to configure properly Thank you in advance!
You may have to enable the controller in RBSU.
Sorry, missed your comments and seeing now..
Hi Siru,
Really nice article here.
I was trying to install Ubuntu server in my server proliant ML110 G7.
I configured the server using smartstart for raid 1 and then tried installing Ubuntu, but the OS is not detecting the raid. It detects the 2 harddisks instead of one.
What do you think is the problem?
Seems like you will need the RAID controller driver separately
dear siru,
we have below hardware..
1. >server Power edge T410 Dell.
2.> 500GB Harddisk 4 nos.
3.>2 TB Harddisk 1 no.
i want to configure RAID5 with 4nos.500GB HDD and RAID0 with 1no. 2TB HDD.
so, what step i do for that… sir, i m concern with video surveillance system so, have not knowledge in details of server.
please help on the same.
Regards, makbul
I never worked with DELL T410 Server so I am not sure how to do it on this Server. Please check with DELL support regarding this issue
Hai Siru,
kindly send your mail id
Hi,
tricksguide (AT) gmail (DOT) com is my email address.
Cheers
Hello SiRu,
This has been very helpful thank you for writing these instructions.
I have a question I am hoping you can help me with. Over the weekend I experienced failure on my array. I have since recreated the array and drives. When I configured the array I only had RAID 0 available which through the comments section I see is because I have the cache disabled, which I verified I do.
My question is this, in ACU I can go ahead and enable the cache settings. The battery is present. Is it safe to do this? Will it cause data to be lost and force me to restore my data from backup again (that was painful I prefer to avoid that).
After this is done if even possible, can I then convert this array to RAID 5. I have a spare disk already waiting to be used.
Any reply is appreciated.
Thanks!
Yes, You can migrate RAID 0 to RAID 5 on your Server (Stepped approach).
1. First enable Cache+battery on your Server, ideally it should not cause any problem, however have the data backup.
2. Expand the existing array by adding HDDs, then convert to RAID 5. If you could not go directly to RAID 5, migrate RAID 0 to RAID 1, and later change it to RAID 5.
For all these operations, you need to have both Cache+battery installed on your Server.
You will all relevant documents (Expand array, migrate array) in my blog.
Hope it helps
SiRu
When I go to ACU, it give me three options:
1- Manage License Key
2- More Information
3- View Status alert
there is no any option to create array !!
what can I do ??
1. What is the Server Model?
2. Which Smart Array Controller is used?
3. May I know how many Arrays and Logical drives are already created?
4. Does the Smart Array Controller has cache and battery?
tell me how to install 2008 server on hp blade server DL180 G6
DL180 G6 OS install: I will explain it short as I could not type entire procedure here
1. First you need to enable RAID controller in BIOS (Usually under Advanced tab)
2. Once you enable the RAID controller, press F8 at Server POST to enter the RAID utility. Then create the RAID you need
3. Find the RAID controller driver from HP.com, download the driver, extract the driver to a USB thumb drive.
4. Insert Windows OS CD/ISO file, boot from Windows CD/ISO, if driver is required to complete the install, select the driver which is available in USB thumb drive
Thats it.:)
I have Hp prolaint SE 326M1 here i m install OS linux but after installation complete screen showing OS missing done 3 time again os install make paritions but issue same
can you help tell us how check it which RAID configuer on server Physical check HDD have n0 size and RPM speed on them 2 HDD in slot …
what ing ur replay e-mail
I do not have access to any SE326M1 Server to check the details. Basically, you need to create RAID using ORCA or ACU. Then ideally it should work.
Hi SiRu,
This is a great blog site and a lot of valuable information you’ve posted; especially for starters like myself. I am trying to deploy Windows Server 2008 Ent on a HP Proliant ML110 G7 server from HP SmartStart CD that has HP Smart Array B110i SATA DAID Controller activated, on a 120GB SSD drive installed on the first drive slot. I have gone through the ACU and setup RAID 0 for this drive. But everytime I start the server installation process, it goes through 27% of formatting and copying of files from CD media and pauses. It kicks the CD out and gives a message “Waiting for valid media to be inserted…”
It doesnt go anywhere from this point. What am I doing wrong and what should I do, and suggestion is greatly apreciated.
Do you use iLO to mount the OS MEdia?
Or Do you use the Internal CD/DVD drive ?
Hello Manik, After 27% completes the startsmart CD ejects out automatically, remove that CD and insert Windows Server OS CD to run Windows Server installation.
Hello Siru Dada,
I am addressing you as ” DADA” here as you are the King here.I m trying to install DL180 G6 Server.I have 4*1Tb Hard Drives.I have the controller and cache also.So do i need to go for Raid 1+0 Configuration? I wanna allocate one drive for OS only 300Gb.Rest drives i wanna use it for Recording? Plz Suggest me and plz mail me your contact number.
Thanking you for your kind and valuable Support always,
Hi,
As you have 4 hard drives, you may go for RAID 1+0 or RAID 5. If you go for RAID 5, you will get more space compared to RAID 1+0.
Create one array using 4 HDDs, when you create a logical drive, select 300 GB for OS.
Again create a new logical drive on same array and now select remaining space for data.
Hope this helps
SiRu
Hello Siru, I have recently bought HP DL370 G7 Proliant Server with 8*1TB SAS HDD. Here i am going to configure File Server. So I have configured Raid 50 on all 8 drives using ACU and installed with Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit. I got 5.50TB remaining space after configuring Raid 50, out of this i created 70GB for C drive (Boot Partition) and the rest 4.8TB i want to use it as D drive (for data storage). But my problem here is, i am seeing 2 unallocated disk space, one is 1978GB and the other is 3472GB under Disk management. I want this both together as 1 partition as D dirive. Kindly help me out to solve this issue. Waiting for your positive response. Thanks.
I am not sure why it happens but I think it is related Boot partition restriction on OS boot volume. Its recommended to have 2TB logical drive. There was some limitation from OS side.I do not remember exactly!
I have HP DL 370 G server which was previously installed with windows 2008 . but, customer is now want to install rhel5. But, at the time installing it is showing no HDD found !
It is previously working fine in win 2008 ! If any raid driver is required during RHEL INSTALLTION ?
PLS, GUIDE .
THANKS IN ADVANCE.
RHEL 5.3 and later usually take the storage controller driver automatically, if not, you have to use DD command and assign a Driver while installing OS
Hi SiRu,
thanks for great guides.
How to put 3 same SAS 2.5″ 10k 300G harddisk into DL 380 G7 (or G8)
by numbers 1-2-3 into one left bay
or spread
1-5-2 etc. into left and right bay and both channels?
P410 512 bbwc
And for esxi5 two arrays for two datastores work&backup scenario, I think
left bay
1-2-3 raid5 sas disks
right
5-6 raid1 sata disks
Im right or wrong? Why?
(i found nothing in official HP papers)
Thanks much
Alex
Hi Alex, sorry for taking months to reply to your comments.
When you install HDDs on bay 1,2,3,4, they are on one channel and bay numbers 5,6,7,8 are in channel number 2. So when you spread 3 same HDDs on bay 1,2 and 5, you are basically spreading hdds in two different channels. I hope this what you are looking for.
I sent an image to your email for better understanding.
Regards
SiRu
Hi Siru
I have an HP DL160 server currently running on RAID1 . It has two 300GB HDD attached. It runs RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 . Here’s the output of “df -h ” command
df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/cciss/c0d0p3 269G 211G 45G 83% /
/dev/cciss/c0d0p1 190M 19M 162M 11% /boot
tmpfs 16G 0 16G 0% /dev/shm
The HDD has only 45GB Free space. To expand the space currently i have thought to degrade from RAID 1 to RAID 0 . Then it’ll add more 300GB space . So Can i do it with the ACU without any Data loss ? Please kindly let me know .
Thanks
RAID 1 to RAID 0 is not a supported configuration from HP and HP Does not recommend it. Though I have seen that you can go from RAID 1 to RAID 0 (Practically it works, but never recommended to do).
I did not see any data loss when we did that. I hope you have a good Smart Array controller on your server.
Siru,
I have a question. I have Array A and Array B.
Array A has two physical drives, so I make one logical drive with RAID 1.
I have Array B in which I have 6X1TB each unassigned Physical Drives. Now, I have created the first logical drive 1 with only 500 GB RAID 5. NOTE: I have selected all the 6 drives and chosen 500GB space out of the total 6TB.
Likewise, I have created further logical drives with RAID 5 as:
Logical drive 2 500GB
Logical drive 3 1TB
Logical drive 4 1TB
Logical drive 5 1TB
So, the catch is I have 5 logical drives with different sizes held together by 6 physical drives.
Now, can I delete/dissolve Logical drive 2 (500GB) and extend the size in Logical drive 5?
Controller is P410 firmware version 3.66 with battery and cache.
Thank you!
Rahul
Hi Rahul,
The Setup you use on your Server is not a recommended one, we should not try to use so many logical drives in single array. But it works.
Regarding your question: As you have created 5 logical drive in Array B, we will not be able to delete the Logical drive 2 now. Inorder to delete it, you have to first delete Logical drive 5, then 4, then 3 and then delete logical drive 2 (Not sure any changes with P410 firmware 5.14).
I have yo try out on my server whether we can extend it, never tried. I will check when I get a Server and let you know.
Regards
SiRu
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Continuing: (I checked on our server)!
You may delete the last logical drive and then extend the logical drive 2 if you want. Not vice versa!
Thank you, Siru…
Thanks for your comments Rahul
Hi Siru
I have DL380 G7 server & HDD 6*146 GB please suggest me what will be raid configuration
thanks
pradeep
I would go for RAID 1 with 2 HDDs and RAID 5 with 4 HDDs. Both in different Arrays.
Hi Siru,
i configured Raid 1 with two HDD. Now i want to know, how can i possibly know that one of the HDD is not functioning properly ? Also how to identify which HDD is not functioning? And how I can sync the Both HDD, say at some point I need to Extract one HDD for sometimes may be for one or two days and then i will insert it back, how the two HDD will sync again to recover ? Also can I remove one of the HDD without Shutting down the Server ? Sorry for my foolish questions. Thanks.
Answer:
1. You can find it in ACU
2. I wont recommend removing HDDs from existing arrays. Its not recommended thought Automatic Sync will happen once you insert the HDD back (You need HP Smart Array Controller on your servers).
3. You can remove the HDDs while the server is working ONLY IF the hdds and backplane support hotplug funtionality.
Regards
SiRu
Hi SiRu
I need your expertise regarding an tentative upgrade. I have a ML350 G5 with the E200i and 3x72GB 15k SAS disks. Can I upgrade this server with a P410? I would keep the existing setup, however, and add disks to the new controller. so no migration is required. Would that be possible anyway?
Thanks a lot for your valuable input.
Hi Serge,
As per the Quickspecs of the ML50 G5 Server, I could not find P410 controller is listed as supported one.
Specification Link: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12475_na/12475_na.HTML
However, I find that P400 is listed and you may use it.
You can move to the new controller and ideally it will work without any issues.
Regards
SiRu
Hi Sir,
i have HP ML110-G7 Server 16 GB RAM and 2TB x4 disk
i setup RAID 1+0 from Bios with windows Server 2008 installation i can see only 1 Disk 4TB.
but centos 6.2 installation there i can see 2TB x4 Disk.
this is Drivers problem? or i need any hw raid card?
many thanks.
I never got a chance to install Cent OS in any of the serves. Can you tell me which is the controller you are using? Are you using any SATA based controllers like HP Smart Array B110i?
thanks you Sir,
i am using HP Smart Array B110i
B110i an entry level SATA raid controller where it will support RAID 0, 1 and 1+0, maximum 2 logical drives supported.
If you are seeing 2 HDDs when you install OS, then it means CentOS could not locate the Logical drive you created, rather it sees the physical HDD.
Please check whether any raid controller driver is available for this (Sometime, the driver will be available with CentOS, not with HP).
Regards
SiRu
Hello , please i want to know step by step on how to collect logs on HP DL380 G6 using ADU. how can i do that with smart start array CD.
My server has issues with the speed on interface eth2(NIC3) not reaching 1Gb/s
thanks
If you want to collect ADU report, then boot server using SmartStart CD, click on Maintenance, Open ACU, clickon Diagnostics tab, generate ADu report.
If you want to generate Survey report, then instead of ACU, you have to use Isight diagnostics and generate Survey report.
There are some articles regarding SmartStart CD and Survey report is available at my blog.
Please check
Hi,
I would like to upgrade RAID controller from P400 to P410 on our ML350 G5. Is this possible? When I plug in the P410 and boot our server the P410 does not show up at all – no trace of it at boot time and Smartstart diagnostics don’t see it either. Is the card bad or is it just not supported on G5? Thanks.
Hi,
As per the Quickspecs of ML350 G5 Server, the P410 controller is not supported.
Please find the document here:
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12475_div/12475_div.PDF
However, please check whether its getting detected under “Boot controller Order” option in RBSU (BIOS). If not, you may go for Smart Array P600 Controller, Smart Array P800 Controller as they are supported on this server.
Cheers
We have problem with one of the hp server it as RAID 5(Data volumes NOT os) in it with total of 3 disks.
Right now two disks status showing “Predictive failure” from HPAU.
Opened a case with HP since server under warranty, HP tech upgraded the firmware for HPAU from 6.86 to 7.22 and he replaced the back plane of the disks and then replaced the failed disks drives. So he suggested to rebuild the os from scratch.
Beause as it front of server amber led glows for 2 failed disks and throwing an “Predictive failure” error from HPAU.
But luckily we able to access the data volume however this needs to be resolved soon.
Hi Prem,
If the HDDs are still showing as predictive failures, generate ADU report of the server and send it to HP Support.
Ideally, if there is a Predictive failure, then HP will replace it.
Cheers mate
Hi,
I have an old DL365G5 server with E200 embedded Smart Array, and 256MB cache. I used this for my lab environment. Recently the cache battery died and I don’t want to purchase a new one. Is there a way to run cache without the battery? I don’t care about data integrity because as I said it’s just a lab server.
I tried disconnecting the battery. Booting the server I still get an error about “accelerator battery low, cache will be disabled!”.
I tried running the folliwng ACU command. Makes no difference:
controller slot=0 modify nobatterywritecache=enable
Any ideas?
Appreciating your help.
Regards,
Hi Veezi,
Ideally, if you remove the battery from the cache, it should work without any issues. Can you check whether you are using latest firmware of the E200i Controller.
You may ignore the message and continue working.
If its a lab machine, then you reconfigure entire raid, then you should not get the error message. If you try the option, “Clear Configuration” in ACU, then you will loose all RAID information and data. But it will reset everything on your Server.
Please update firmware once and let me know what happens.
Cheers mate
Thanks SiRu. Unfortunately that didn’t work.
I already have the latest firmware. It’s really strange. I erased the configuration. I also erased the server configuration completely (using Bios). It still shows “Battery charge failed, write cache disabled” upon booting.
Here’s an extract from ACU show output:
Firmware Version: 1.86
Cache Status: Temporarily Disabled
Cache Status Details: Cache disabled; low batteries.
Cache Backup Power Source: Batteries
Battery/Capacitor Count: 1
Battery/Capacitor Status: Failed (Replace Batteries)
Anyways, this isn’t a big deal. I was just hoping to get red of the error status, and more importantly was hoping there was an override setting/parameter to enable write cache without installing a battery.
Thanks,
I sent an email with screenshot.
Try to enable battery override settings in ACU. Its available under Array Accelerator settings.
Please check whether you have this option because E200 is first generation controller and I am not sure whether this controller supported battery override settings.
Hi, I have a G8 ML350 with a smart array 420i
I can get SBS2011 to recognize the entire 4TB raid i have setup on smart array when installing from the DVD
however if I use Intelligent provisioning the drive is MBR formated by default
Is there a way to get intelligent provisioning to run a GPT install?
If you try the customize install option, then we can choose the size of the partition. But the GPT option is not available over there. I recommend you not to use more than 2TB
If you give some days time, I can research on this and get back to you.
Regards
IP does not support GPT based install, it’s not yet available and not sure whether it will be available at all. IP uses MBR.
Thanks for the update.
I also found this out through much google searching.
I just assumed a new server would fully support UEFI and GPT
I have since made a 500GB array volume for the os and a seperate Volume for data
Great, hope you fixed it
Dear Sir,
we have Hp Proliant Dl360 G6 Server… It is configured wutgh RAID5 and nearly to get Full. Now here there are 3 empty bay we have bought new 3 Hdd now we wan tot add the new HDD to the existing RAID5. How can u help me in this case..wating for ur reply..
Conclusion is that.. we want to Add new HDD in existing RAID5
Entire procedure of Array Expansion and Logical drive extension is explained in this link:
http://www.tricksguide.com/how-to-expand-array-extend-logical-drive-raid-hp-acu.html
You can add 3 more HDD to RAID 5 and expand and extend it.
Cheers
HI Siru,
I have 2 x HP Proliant DL180 G6 with 12 x 3TB SAS drives, with 48GB of RAM. i have the P410 card installed (HP P410 w/1G Flash Back Cache Ctrlr) and when i go and try and create a RAID5 Array with all the drives only 2TB for each drive is showing up. I have spoken with HP and they say the P410 with flash should support the 3TB drives. Well you seem to know more than they do, so do you have any thoughts?
Steve
Hi Steve,
Sorry, I am on vocation so I do not have access to my resources. However, some quick questions.
Question 1:
1. As per my understanding, DL180 G6 server with P410 supports 3TB HDD only if it is SATA. may I know whether you are using SATA or SAS HDDs?
Reference of DL180 G6: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13248_div/13248_div.HTML
However, when I checked the specification of P410, I find that SAS 3TB HDDs are supported by controller
P410 quickspecs: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13201_na/13201_na.HTML
However, as the 3TB HDDs are not supported on DL180 G6, I am not sure whether it works (though P410 supports 3TB SAS).
Question 2:
What is the Smart Array controller firmware you are using, are you running the latest version of firmware. If not, can you upgrade it right away and check what happens?
Question 3:
Instead of using ACU to create RAID, can you login to ORCA by pressing F8 at server POST, then create a new logical drive there? I am doing this to ensure that we have no OS level dependencies here.. This is just for testing, let me know whether this method works.
Question 4:
Can you send me the ADU report at tricksguide[at]gmail[dot]com, I will check it.
My reply will be delayed as I am on vocation.. Sorry
Cheers
the FW version of the P410 is 5.7 and drives are SATA
i upgraded the FW with latest from HP and it seems to recognize the 3TB, but now i have a better issue. I purchased these servers for my new VM enviroment. I will be using the 36TB on each server running VMware VSA. but njow i am being told that VSA only support 2TB SATA drive. so it seems HP knew what they were doing when they configured raid in factory by setting drives at 2TB, but now my question to you is, how do i go back into the ACU or ORCA and configure these 3TB drives as only 2TB drives that i will set in RAID5.
thanks
Steve
Hi,
Use ACU, Click Create Array, Select 3*3TB HDDs.Save it.
In ACU, click Create Logical Drive, now select Other, then enter 2 TB as RAID 5 size. Click Save. Done.
Now, again click on Create Logical drive and start creating more 2 TB logical drives.. So you will be able to create 4*2TB logical drives on 3 Physical HDDs (3*3TB HDDs).
I sent a screenshot to your email. Please check.
Regards
SiRu
I am a newby in the server field and have no experience with server configurations. I have an HP Proliant ML330 tower server that I am building. Ok here’s the problem. I have 4 HDDs physically attached in the server. 2x 250Gb HDDs and 2x 1Tb HDDs. 2 250Gb HDDs in the first two slots and the 1Tb HDDs in the next two slots. I have configured RAID 1+0 creating two logical drives as 250Gb and 1Tb. I am using a Smart Array B110i SATA RAID controller. I have installed the OS (Windows SBS 2011) on the 250Gb. The thing is I can’t see the other 1Tb logical drive when am in the OS even though all the configurations look fine. Is there anything else am missing?
Have you checked in Disk Management whether the 1 TB Logical drive is listed? Also was the drive formatted in Windows so that it will be listed in My computer?
If it is not listed in Disk management, reboot the server, Press F8 and get in to ORCA (Option Rom configuration for Arrays), then check the status of Logical drive. You may also use HP ACU (Array Configuration Utility) to check this.
If nothing works, create an ADU report and send me the .zip file at tricksguide[at]gmail[dot]com, I will check the report and tell you more..
Hi,
The drive is listed on the Disk Management. Formatting the drive in windows am not too sure how that happens? I do not think I have done so. let me try format the drive and see what happens and will get back to you.
Rob, right click on the drive listed in Disk management, select New Simple Volume, Select NTFS, select Quickformat.
That is it, you are done!!!
thanks alot for your help. you the man.
Glad to hear that, thanks for your comments.
Hi SiRu
I have a HP DL 380 G7 and also a MSA60. The question is can I use SA-P800 as raid controler on this server?
P800 is basically not supported for DL380 G7, but you may try. As per HP documentation, it is not supported. P411 and P812 will work with DL380 G7.
Hope this info helps
Hi SiRu,
This article is very useful, we’ve been facing disk failure (HP DL380 G7) for long time and the reason is not yet clear brevous we’ve used HP DL380 G5 with no disk failure could please help us find the difference b/w the generations.
Zakaria
Could you provide more information on HDD failures? Please send me an email.
Are the HDDs failing in one particular bay? What is the controller firmware? What is the HDD spare part numbers? Please give more information and also send the ADU report at tricksguide[at]gmail[dot]com.
very good article thanks, but what I’m trying to accomplish is to get a bigger C drive.
Current settings: 146gb Raid1 (2 hard drives)
Has to be: 450bg Raid1 (2 hard drives)
I tried swapping HDD one by one, but ACU doesn’t have option to expand volume. Server doesn’t have battery pack installed.
So I tried to clone 146gb raid 1 to the new raid1 450gb. Created Raid1 450gb cloned, removed 146 drives but server didn’t boot from new raid1, so I had to put 146 drives back in and server did boot ok. Now I think I will try first thing I tried I will swap 146 one by one with 450 and ACU shows unused space whatever is left of 146 on 450 drive. So if I will use gparted and expand drive like that, do you think this will work?
If you have any other solutions please let me know?
I am not sure which controller you have installed on your Server.
Even if you swap HDDs on your server, we may not get the extra space as you have not installed batteries on controller. Logical drive extension can be done only if you have battery installed.
There is a non-recommended way to do it: In ACU, you will find Array Accelerator settings, under that, there will be a settings to enable write-cache even when there no battery connected. You may try this as you do not have battery installed.
Ensure that you keep this disable once everything is set. Remember: This is not a recommended way to do it, but I have seen that it worked for us once.. Also this option will not be available on all smart array controllers
Cheers
Hi siru,
Please help me out,, i configured the Raid5 on my server, i am trying to open My network place for configured the IP address its taking too much time to open & on driver green lights are flickergin…
Naveen
I do not think it is an issue with RAID 5. How about the normal file copy speed on HDDs? Is that fine?
I have a HP GL380-G4 It has 4 72.5 drives and 1 spare drive and is configured for Raid5. I need more space on this server and would like to bring the spare into the mix. Can I change the configuration to raid 0 on the fly without trashing the server?
RAID 5 to RAID 0 is possible in most controllers but I will never recommend it because if any HDD fails, all data is lost. RAID 0 means no redundancy.
FYI: Smart Array Controller 6i
ACU Version: 7.40.8.0
Hi Siru.. I just new in Hp Server.. After googling, found your blog very helpfull in RAID configuration..
Iam confusing in RAID setting..FYI, i have 1 unit HP Proliant DL380 G5 with 146 GB Hard Disk.. The unit currently running fine with Linux OS..
Lately, the Hard Disk space will become full. Then i buy new unit HDD also 146GB, then try plug in (after switch off) the hard disk. After reboot, the system cannot detect the new hard disk..
Iam not sure whether the Server are configure with RAID or not…how to check RAID status ?
Let say, if that configured with RAID 0 before, can i boot with smart start CD and add new logical drive? What happened with old data in first disk, it is possible will lost if miss RAID configuration ?
Hope get your feed back .
Thanks.
Zack
To find more information about your situation, please send the ADU report at tricksguide [at]gmail[dot[com. I will look in to the report and tell you what really happened.
Hi your manage subscriptions page is not working and I would like to unsubscripe
Sorry to see you go…!!
I removed your email from the subscription list.. Please let me know if you still receive the emails, I will look in to it.. Thanks
Hello,
I installed HP proliant ml 350 G6 under débian, after the low tensions which entraine several restartings of the waiter and thunderbolt.
I believe that, so in my opinion, the part Setup bios or post which established the bond between material and software in the system or the circuit which makes it possible to start the computer before passing to the operating system took the blow, because the waiter boote not, it is planted on this level
HP Proliant
4096 MB Installed
Proliant System Bios – D22 (05/15/2010)
Copyright 1982, 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
1 processor(s) detected, 4 total core enabled
Proc 1: Intel ® Xeon® CPU E5504@2.00GHZ
QPI Speed : 4.8GT/s
HP Power profile Mode : Minimum Power Usage
Power Regulator Mode : Static Low Power-Processor(s) clocked down to 1.60 GHZ
Advanced Memory Protection Mode: Advanced ECC Support
Redundant ROM Detected-This system contains a valid backup system ROM.
Intel Ambient Temperature: 25C/ 77F
Press any key to view Option ROM messages.
F9 = Setup F11= Boot Menu
May I know whether you are telling me that Server is stuck at POST (Initial Screen)?
Hi, I have an HP server that has 3 hdds on it.
could you please tell me how to Create RAID 1 + Hot Spare without smart array cd.
thanks
Please use ORCA and you can do the same. The usage of ORCA is available in my blog.
Hello Siru,
We have one HP DL380G5 with E200 as our Smart Array Controller with 2 X 72GB HD (RAID 0+1).We bought 2 X 300GB HD.My issue is that we dont have BBWC module installed.Now is it possible to have a Capacity expansion using ACU offline method . As step mentioned below
1.remove one 72GB and insert 300GB and reboot the system and wait for replication .
2.after successful replication , shut down the system and remove the other 72GB HD.
3.reboot the system with 300GB HD (which was replicated before in Step 1) and wait for the OS screens.
4.insert the other 300GB HD and wait for replication.
5.after successful replication,shut down the system.
6.reboot the system using ACU offline utility “hpacuoffline-8.75-12.0.iso”.
Now with this step is it possible that i can have this options to “Extend Size” from Common Tasks under ACU utility.
OS:Windows 2003 Ent SP2.
Hi,
You can follow above steps carefully and it will work. Now your 72GB RAID will be on your 2*300GB HDDs. But the size of the logical drive will be stuck at 72 GB. You will not be able to extend it. But you will be able to create a new logical drive on the extra space you created (lets say 300-72 GB =218GB).
If your aim is to increase space in existing logical drive, then this method wont really work
Regards
SiRu
I have E200 i controller. There are 2 drives of 32 Gb. I wanted upgrade them to drives of 144 Gb.
The sequence of my actions:
1) i shut my server down
2) Replaced second 32Gb to 144 Gb drive
3) turned power on, and waited rebuildeing completion
4) then a replaced my 1st 32Gb drive with new one 144 Gb
5) waited rebuilding completion
now i have new logical drive with working system on 32 gb drive, and free spase of about 100 Gb.
How can i extend logical drive to new size of 144 Gb?
My server’s got just 2 drive slots.
i found an unexpected solution:
1) maid data backup
2) deleted logical drives by bios of controller
3) created new one for full size of 144 Gb
4) and – controller found my NTFS partition on drives and “placed” them in the beginning of disk
5) now , a can resize partition within one big logical drive (logical for E200i controller)
Congrats… If you could explain it in detail, it will be very useful our readers
You will need 128MB Cache+ battery (Called BBWC) to perform Expansion and extension your E200 controller. Now only option available to you is create a new logical drive using 144GB
Hope it helps
still unable to install windows on my drive after selecting the only available drive. during windows installation
thanx 4 ur help.
John,
Can you tell me whether you are using HP SmartStart CD. This issue should not happen if you are using HP SmartStart CD to install Windows OS because the drivers are automatically provided the SmartStart CD.
Cheers
Hi Siru!
Pls help to understand right solution.
I got HP Proliant G7 with P410i Zero Memory.
Im read all your articles and comments.
2 questions:
1. if i install 5 300GB drives may i configure RAID 1 +0 with 4 drives and 1 drive as a Hot spare?
2. Will 256 cache without battery (if i install it) enable rebuild process with Hot spare when 1 drive fails?
Sorry for late reply
Answer 1: With 5 HDDs, you can create RAID 1+0 and assign one HDD as a spare.. This is supported.
Answer 2: HDD rebuild process does not require the cache for RAID 1+0, rebuild will happen even if your server does not have 256MB Cache.
However, I would always recommend to have both cache+battery to improve server performance.
Regards
SiRu
Kindly help me .Iam have created logical drivers on my proliant DL380 G3 server which has 300gb but i have failed to install or add on add physical drive and because of that, i cannot install any OS , please advise or drop me a email on rockgifted@yahoo.com
Hi, I was on vacation for three weeks, sorry for the delay.
Unfortunately, I really did not understand your query. How did you manage to create a logical drive if you do not have HDDs? If you have HDDs installed, whats is the issue you face when you install OS? Please provide more information and I will be able to help you further
SiRu
Hello,
I have 2 questions regarding raid…
1.For example I have created raid 5 consist of 3 hard disks.
While installing operating system, os system files also will be distrubuted on all 3 hard disks?
If so it menas that if one of the disks fail then my operating system also fails?
2.As i know in one array we can have several type of logical raid disks.
Lets consider situation when my array consist of 3 hard dives of size 300Gb.
Total = 900GB. I have created logical drive c: for os system files size of 100GB raid type of 1,and it means that i have used 100GB of memory in physically hard drives located in bay 1 and 2.Now I want to create another logical drive d: with left space raid type of 5.
Will array use my left space of 200GB in hard drive 1 and 2 to calculate total amount of secod logical disk?
WBR
Aibek Gubashev.
So while creating logical drive
Sorry for late reply..
Answer Q1:
No, when a HDD fails, RAID 5 uses parity data to regenerate the lost data. Hence OS will be up and running. There are a lot to explain how exactly RAID 5 works. However, I will recommend you to use RAID 1 for OS logical drive.
Answer Q2:
Yes, One array can have multiple logical drives.
If you need RAID 1 for OS, then you should create an array using 2 HDDs and create RAID 1 on it. You cannot create RAID 1 on array which consists of 3 HDDs. RAID 1 means 2 HDDs, it cannot be built on an array which contains 3 HDDs. You simply will not be able to create a RAID 1 on 3 HDDs. So if you have only 3 HDDs on your server, either you can create many RAID 1 logical drives or many RAID 5 logical drives. you cannot create both at the same time..
Regards
SiRu
Hello SiRu,
I am having problem with one of my Domain controllers (HP DL380 G4Proliant), the server has 3 disk and two of them are mirrored, recently i have rebooted the server and received error hard disk detect imminent failure. also the server shutdown itself and received this error “self on test error post” meantime all tree disk are flashing green light as usually. could you please advice me this.
Many thanks.
Hi, I was on vacation for three weeks, sorry for the delay.
You need to backup the data and replace the HDDs as soon as possible. Please check whether you have this error appearing again on screen ?
I have this message “Not Controlled detected”, my server is Hp Proliant dl 120 G7 i have 3 disk , 250Gb , 500 Gb.
I using HP SmartStart CD
Hi,
I was on vacation for three weeks, sorry for the delay.
Dl120 G7 server usually shipped with HP Smart Array B110i or HP Smart Array P212. May I know which controller is shipped with your Server?
Which version of SmartStart CD is used with this server?
Did you check what is the Boot controller order set in BIOS/RBSU?
Did you by mistake disabled the embedded PCI device/RAID controller in BIOS?
Please check all these..
Regards
SiRU
#Hi SiRu,
I found this website this morning and feel that you are a guru. I get a question I
like to get advice from you. Recently I am configureing a HP server (DL165G7 not-hot plug) and I don’t need raid system. When I only choose one 3TB HD for the server and HP requires me to buy smart array controller. I got two same type of servers last year which have 2x2TB and 2x3TB hard drivers but no raid controller required (2x2TB came with the server and 2x3TB I purchased later).
I asked HP people why I need to buy a smart raid controller for my case which only purchase one HD and the answer was “The onboard array controller
only officially supports up to 2TB drives”. My question is:
Can I choose 1x2TB HD when I purchase the server from HP and later purchase 3 additional 3TB HD for the server and
create a logic volumn for 3x3TB as one large volume without buying any raid controller. My server will storage huge intermedate results (temp)
so I need big volume for that.
thanks in advnace for your help
Annie
Hi Annie,
Very Sorry for late reply.
Your DL165 G7 Server is shipped with AMD Chipset SR5670/SP5100 and HP Smart Array B110i SATA RAID Controller. HP Smart Array B110i does not support greater than 2TB hard drives. So you may need to go for 2TB HDDs.
I am not sure what happens if you install 3 TB HDDs to B110i SATA controller. It may/maynot work. As per HP, it will not work, but you may check once if you have a spare 3 TB HDD.
If it does not work, buy 3*2TB HDDs and create a logical volume using it.
Hope this will answer your question.
Regards
SiRu
Hi SiRu,
Thanks for your reply. I ordered 3x3TB hard dirves and will try to put them into one new DL165 G7 server to see if it works.
Regards
Annie
Sure, please let me know how it goes
Hi SiRu,
I installed 3x3TB into DL165 G7 server and it works fine. The only limitation is that the max size of logical volume is 65,536(physical extents )x128MB which is about 8.3TB for the CentOS 5.7 I use.
Regards
Annie
may i know this was a question.. hope all is well now
I am trying to run HP smart start CD, but during creation of logical drive,I have got error ( the operation has failed with the unknown error. please restart the server and try the operation again) that is the error when create logical drive… please help
Machine: ML 350 G6
Controller: Smart Array P410i Embedded slot
Did you check whether all of your HDDs are working fine? This error mainly happens when one of the HDD is giving you trouble.
Hi, I found this blog very interesting.
I’m deploying a Proliant ML110 G7 with 4 HD (2×500 GB and 2x1TB).
I want to create one RAID1 unit with 2×500 GB HD, and I want two more units (1TB each one).
I create one logical unit for the RAID 1 unit and another logical unit RAID 0 using one 1 TB disk, but when I tried to create the last logical unit RAID 0 for the other 1 TB disk I get a message telling me I’ve reached the max logical units I can create. Is there another way to achieve this goal with this server?
Any help would be very appreciated.
Tks.
AnaC
Hi,
If you are using ML110 G7 server, then probably you will be using HP Embedded Smart Array B110i SATA RAID Controller (RAID 0/1/10). This is an entry level Storage controller and supports up to four (4) 3.0Gb/s SATA hard disk drives. It supports maximum of 2 logical drives. As this is a hardware limitation, there is no real way we can create 3 logical drives using ACU.
However, let us say, if you are using Windows, you can use disk management feature and create different partitions if required. So you may create a RAID 1 using 2*500GB HDDs, and another RAID 0 using 2*1TB HDDs. Once you login to Windows, go to disk management, select 2 TB partitions and split it to 2*1TB partitions. This is not the ideal way of doing it, but just a workaround.
The best solution will be to use a HP Smart Array controller on your server, this server supports HP Smart Array P212 and HP Smart Array P410 controllers.
Regards
SiRu
Hi Siraj,
I understand you are busy in replying many of this kind of mails throughout the day. But please spare some time to address my issue I referred in following mails. Thanks in advance.
To the above reply of your I would like to answer as I actually want to increase the space of existing logical drive but by mistake create a logical drive, my question is as to how I can recover from this stage and increase the space on existing logical drive. Please Help I appreciate.
Thanks in Advance.
Please delete the second logical drive you have just created (Only the new one you have created), then you will find unused space.
Now click on your parent logical drive that you wish to extend, then click on extend logical drive.
This will solve the issue.
Thank you very very very much. Following your tips I have successfully added the unused space to the existing Logical Drive. First it was showing as Queued for Transformation when click Rescan System in the ACU, it turned out to be OK but the free space is yet to me changed and there is a Exclamation Mark in White colored appears on it. I hope this not any kind of an error being in White. Is it normal?
Transformation completed and it showing up the space as Free. It showing the Disk Management as if another Partition (unused space) What should I be doing use this space to extend the existing D:\ partition. Please help me.
Did you extend the volume in Disk management??
I don’t understand what you are actually asking me. But to update I can only tell you that the Unused Space after I click Extend it took some time (around couple of hours) to complete its transformation and then now displaying as unpartitioned space in disk management. I did not find any option in Disk Management to extend the volume. How can Add this free space to D: Partition?
Please check in google, there are 100s of article on extending volume in Windows. Also check Microsoft article provided below.
How to extend a data volume in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, in Windows 2000, and in Windows Server 2008
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590
Hello,
I just installed my first hp proliant server with 7 SAS HDs. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with Raid and I just used the default config w/c was Raid 6. After reviewing, I realized that I need Raid 5 to comply with the free space requirements.
My question: Is it possible to downgrade Raid 6 to Raid 5 w/o re data loss or reinstalling the OS. BTW, only the OS was installed so far.
Hope you can help me.
This would be a challenge, once you install HP Smart Array Advanced Pack, you may get an option called “Shrink Array”, if you get that option, then you can do it.
If you do not find the option, then do not waste time. Please delete and re-create a RAID 5 logical drive, it will take less time..
regards
SiRu
Thanks. That is just what I did.
Hi Siru,
Very helpful blog….Thanks Mate I have once question hope you dont mind me asking you…
I have HP ML380 g7 with 4 hdd 300 GB each giving me total of 800 GB of disk space. I need to add 2 more 300 GB Hdd to increase the size as one of my virtual server is running low on space. My question is how to increase the size of existing Raid with out losing the data.
Hope my question make sence….
waiting for your reply…
Thanks
Vik
You need to do the Array Expansion and Extension.. Please read my article here
Now, I am interested to migrate from Raid 0 to Raid 5 without adding another physical hard disk. I already have 7 hard disks.
Is this possible? I was told that I need to add a new hard disk to do this.
as per hp, raid 0 to any other raid is really not possible, but may try. Without adding hdd, you will never be able to migrate!!
Thank you SiRu, for the reply to my query on sixth of December. After a little struggle but Al-Hamdulillah I could complete the task successfully. I appreciate your efforts and I realize how hard it is to answer all the queries. Thanks for taking out time and helping me on this. The site and information it contains is awesome.
Jazakallah,
Shahid.
Hi, thanks for your great feedback
God bless
SIRu
Hi Siru,
I have great problem using the smartstart for my HP Proliant ML110 G6 server. It all started when i did windows update to the server. The next thing I saw was that the server could not start. It keeps on prompting the PXE..DHCP…in a DOS mode. I decided to reset the whole system after many attempt to get back into windows failed continuously. However, when it comes to configuring the array/raid system using the ACU interface, the system is not able to identify any controller. I spent almost a whole day trying to reconfigure the server. Are you able to help? thank you in advance for making this website available for people like me.
Hi Din,
First of all, ML110 G6 server needs HP ProLiant ML110G6 Easy Setup CD
To use ACU on your Server, you need to first check whether the server is installed with any HP Smart Array controller or not (Like P410, P212 etc). If you are using any embedded SATA controller, then ACU will not work with it. So please check what is the storage controller installed on this server.
Regards
SiRu
Hi Siru,
we have HP Pro liant Server DL 180 G6, 3 HDD @ 300 GB 15 K, we want to setup to RAID 5, how to best configuration , if we want to install O/S W2003 , adn SQL 2005 Enterprise , how to create Partition for O/S and DB?
Rgds,
/edi
When you create the logical drive, instead of using entire space/capacity for one logical drive, split the capacity and create 2 RAID 5 logical drive.
In other words, specify the logical drive size when you create logical drive. By default, ACU will take the entire space/capacity when you create a logical drive. So choose the option “Other” and select the capacity. You can create multiple logical drives in an array
Regards
SiRu
hi siru,
i’m trying to create array at my server (HP ML150 G5), but the status in my smart array e200 controller have a warning status message (732)”A firmware update is recomended for the controller”,.
i can create array, but after that, i can’t install my server, because there is message window “unsupported model,installation not available.
I use smart cd v 8.70B, my planning is install win2008 server x64.
hope you can help me,
thanks
Hafid
Hi,
How can we create multiple number logical driver using ACU
EXample :- i have 146 GB * 3 hdd and want to crate 5 GB *50 number logical drive from this
any simple method like at time we can do this
Thanks
Hello Raj,
Which controller is it that you are talking about ? For something like P410 controller, with no cache installed you can only two logical volumes and with 256Mb cache and more you can have as many logical volumes.
It is p410i , and i have manually created 50 logical drives since i couldn’t see any option for creating all drives at a time
If you are able to create RAID 5+0 in your server, then it means the controller does have Cache installed. As there is Cache is installed, you can create upto 64 logical drives on this controller.
Here are the steps:
1. Create an Array with 3*146 GB HDDs.
2. Then click on Create Logical drive.
3. When you create logical drive, click on the option “Other“, for better understanding, see this pic
4. Now specify 5 GB as the space you need and create logical drive.
5. To create the next 5 GB, again click on logical drive and again specify 5GB.
Continue doing this 50 times if you need 50*5GB logical drive.
I hope this will answer your question. If not, please let me know
Cheers mate
SiRu
Hello Raj,
Yes you do not get option to create all logical drives together, that means that you end up creating 50 logical drives one at a time! 50 Clicks is a huge task eh
Hi, I have a client that wants their data array (Raid 1) migrated to Raid 1+0 with the addition of 2 extra disks and a FBWC.
After adding the 2 additional disks how do I migrate it to RAID 1+0 in the ACU?
I never did this because the migration path is RAID 1 to RAID 5. However, you may try following steps.
Do Array Expansion on RAID 1 array.. When you do Expansion, ensure that you select both HDDs. If you receive a message saying the Array will be converted to RAID 5, click NO.. Notice whether it continues the operation.. if so… you are lucky.
I doubt whether we can do it.. But you may give a try.. Ideally, the migration path is RAID 1 to 5.
Have data backup before you even think of trying this method.
Regards
SiRu
Hi,
I have HP Smart array P410i Controller on my DL380 G7 Server.
does this controller support Raid 10 ?
Actually i am currently running a combination of:
2 x 300 GB (Raid 1) for OS
5 x 300 GB (Raid 5) for Sharing and Exchange DATA
my plan now is to add 1 more HDD to the empty bay and convert from raid 5 to raid 10 with 6 HDD’s.
is that possible without losing any DATA ?
Please advise,
Thanks
Hi,
I have never seen it done, but theoretically yes it is possible, do it and prove all wrong, I advise you to take a backup and be ready to restore if anything goes wrong, you need enough free space to convert but I see you are just adding one more drive and I do not think that is going to let you covert to Raid 10. In any case I suggest you expand either of the Raid or just backup recreate and restore. Good Luck, let us know how it went.
Hi SiRu,
I have an HP Proliant 380 G6, with RAID1 one Array configuration, My question is can I Configure another RAID 1 array on the same server, while I want to keep the first RAID with its data.
Thanks
Adeeb
Hi Adeeb,
You can install more hard drives on this server and create multiple RAID on same server. This will not impact your existing RAID 1.
Remember: DO not delete existing RAID 1, but you can add more HDDs and create more RAID on your Server. It is highly possible
Regards
SiRu
Hi Sir, thanks for this article… it’s very helpful..
Thank you for your feedback