Installing new hard-drives in Dell PowerEdge T320

[BadBoy House]

We’re planning on installing two additional SAS drives in our PowerEdge T320 server.


Currently it has two 400gb SAS drives installed in a Raid-1 configuration.


We have purchased two 1TB SAS drives that we want to install (again in Raid-1) in order to give us some extra storage space.


We want to keep the original 400gb drives in place.


Is the installation of the two new drives just a case of inserting them in the caddies into the server hot-swap style or is there some additional configuration required in order to make the additional 1TB drive available to use?


Thanks in advance.

 

[coffee]

We’re planning on installing two additional SAS drives in our Power Edge T320 server.


Currently it has two 400gb SAS drives installed in a Raid-1 configuration.


We have purchased two 1TB SAS drives that we want to install (again in Raid-1) in order to give us some extra storage space.


We want to keep the original 400gb drives in place.


Is the installation of the two new drives just a case of inserting them in the caddies into the server hot-swap style or is there some additional configuration required in order to make the additional 1TB drive available to use?


Thanks in advance.

The basic idea is this:

Shutdown the server.
Insert the drives into their bays.
Boot up the server.
On boot up you will see the prompt to enter the controller settings.
Go into the controller settings and setup a new raid with the drives (Create new raid, Select type, Add drives).
The operating system will see this as one drive after boot up and you can format it as needed.

this:

https://www.dell.com/community/Powe...eating-RAID-1-to-OS-Installation/td-p/4554232

and this here might be helpful:

https://www.dell.com/community/Powe...nfigure-raid-1-in-PowerEdge-T320/td-p/4272435

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

For non boot volumes....with hot swap bays, you can add on the fly without downing the server, the RAID controller will see them, you provision them to a mirrored array/volume, the OS will see it...go to diskmgmt.msc, and manage the new volume as you see fit.

 

[DataMedics]

For non boot volumes....with hot swap bays, you can add on the fly without downing the server, the RAID controller will see them, you provision them to a mirrored array/volume, the OS will see it...go to diskmgmt.msc, and manage the new volume as you see fit.

It is best to configure the RAID 1 through the RAID controller as previously suggested, rather than doing a Windows software RAID 1. Trust me, later on when a drive fails, you'll be glad you did it though the controller.

With some RAID cards you can do this on the fly without shutting down throught the web management UI. But, Dell tends to use cheap cards like PERC 6 so you'll probably have to shut down and reboot to do it as Coffee suggested.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

It is best to configure the RAID 1 through the RAID controller as previously suggested, rather than doing a Windows software RAID 1. Trust me, later on when a drive fails, you'll be glad you did it though the controller..

I agree. I didn't suggest software RAID because I assumed this server had a proper hardware RAID controller.....in which you'd configure the mirror "the RAID controller will see them, you provision them to a mirrored array/volume, "

I'm used to HP more than Dell so I'm spoiled by the "best of the best" Compaq/HP Smart Array controllers...but when we do Dells we usually upgrade the RAID controller to a more/better one than the base model. I know I've done "hot on the fly" additions without problems before.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

If you have open manage on the box, you should be able to considerc it from there.

 

[Markverhyden]

If you have open manage on the box, you should be able to considerc it from there.

Exactly. I went a few years before I installed OMSA. Now it's a requirement.

 

[coffee]

Exactly. I went a few years before I installed OMSA. Now it's a requirement.

What is HP's version of OMSA? I have a HP ML350e here with hotswaps.

 

[Markverhyden]

What is HP's version of OMSA? I have a HP ML350e here with hotswaps.

Don't know. But they do have iLO which is their version of iDRAC. So if you have remote access you can access during a reboot but that defeats the purpose of hotswap. I do have a vague recollection that HP does have a RAID app in the M$ ecosystem.

 

[coffee]

Don't know. But they do have iLO which is their version of iDRAC. So if you have remote access you can access during a reboot but that defeats the purpose of hotswap. I do have a vague recollection that HP does have a RAID app in the M$ ecosystem.

Well, Thanks anyways. I dont mean to take over the thread here.

Im trying to round up some 2tb sas drives so I can replace my old AMD with this and use it for backups. Not too expensive really but looking at about 8 drives probably. Expense is a bit much for right now.

Thanks,

coffee

 

[marley1]

I agree. I didn't suggest software RAID because I assumed this server had a proper hardware RAID controller.....in which you'd configure the mirror "the RAID controller will see them, you provision them to a mirrored array/volume, "

I'm used to HP more than Dell so I'm spoiled by the "best of the best" Compaq/HP Smart Array controllers...but when we do Dells we usually upgrade the RAID controller to a more/better one than the base model. I know I've done "hot on the fly" additions without problems before.

It's like you've done this before.

If it's hot swap bays sides in and do in Open Manage

If not shutdown and do in perc controller. Or .Oot Oot into windows and do openmanage

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

What is HP's version of OMSA? I have a HP ML350e here with hotswaps.

HP has several methods, you can install a web GUI Smart Storage Administrator (I've used this a couple of times in the past few weeks for a few clients that had a drive tank and get replaced),
looks like this..
https://blog.it-kb.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/image-70.png

or the big overall one, HP System Management Homepage..another WEB GUI interface...runs with the insight agents.

 

[fencepost]

On a 320 it should have iDRAC and even with Express you should be able to configure drives on a PERC, assuming you've assigned an IP address for iDRAC. If you haven't, do that from the console during your next restart.

 

[TAPtech]

As stated- slap them in there and configure the RAID1 through iDRAC or OpenManage. Don't bother shutting it down, not necessary.

 

[BadBoy House]

Thanks for all of the responses. Much appreciated.

Yes the server has Raid hardware already in place (shipped with it originally) as well as OpenManage and Hot-swap.