Dell R720: repurposing drive slots

Question

Running a Dell R720, 8x3.5 HDD, slots 0-1 a RAID1 VD1, slots 2-5 a RAID6 VD2 and slots 6-7 a RAID1 VD3. The active OS is in VD3. I want to disable VD1 and use those slots to test drives as spares. Basically, check their SMART status. The drives are all SAS. A USB/SAS converter would be really convenient but they're too expensive. I can also buy another cheap server just to test drives but, again, I'm trying to do this on the cheap (free)!

So, within the OS, can I simply mark VD1 drives offline, swap them out, insert new drives, create a new VD, initialize and check for drive errors, if it's good, then mark it as a spare?

Also, if I ever need to use VD1 again, can I simply swap in the VD1 drives and have them be recognized? I know a foreign configuration is recognized during a reboot but what about in a running system?

DELL-Young E · Answer

Hello, before you start the job, make sure you back up data first.

"So, within the OS, can I simply mark VD1 drives offline, swap them out, insert new drives, create a new VD, initialize and check for drive errors, if it's good, then mark it as a spare?"
-> Power off the system then take out the VD1 disk, OMSA will say there's an error on VD 1. Then you erase the original VD1 and creating new VD1 by plugging in the new disk. This is the test you want to run. (SMART/Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology)

"Also, if I ever need to use VD1 again, can I simply swap in the VD1 drives and have them be recognized? I know a foreign configuration is recognized during a reboot but what about in a running system?"
-> Delete V1 then power off the system, and put the old V1 back and during POST you run foreign import. But this is on paper and at the end of the day you don't know until you actually do it yourself. Again please back up your data first and foremost.

Let us know if you have any further questions. These are my own idea hence I do not have the official guideline for that. If you want a second opinion, https://www.dell.com/support/incidents-online/en-us/contactus/dynamic you can also contact tech support as well.

artmbos · Answer

So, it's not possible to delete VD's within OMSA or Megaraid, without powering down? It seems illogical for an enterprise server to not allow this.

That's not what the interface suggests. As I noted, Megaraid allows me to delete VD's and create new ones; same for OMSA.

While your method is the safest, I need to consider doing this on a live system.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

You can indeed delete the Virtual Disk from within OMSA, as specified here.    Let me know if this helps.

artmbos · Answer

Yes, I know but once I delete the VD, remove the drives, when I reinsert them will the old VD configuration be recognized by the controller and rebuild itself?

If yes, then I can do what I need:

1. Delete old VD

2. Remove drives

3. Insert new drives

4. Make new drives spares

5. Check SMART on spares

6. Remove spares

7. Reinsert old VD

8. Rebuild old VD, or just recognize it.

DELL-Young E · Answer

Hello could you tell us if you ever tested your SMART reading tool on the drives connected to the PERC? For that you do not need to delete the VD.

artmbos · Answer

@DELL-Young E​  Did you read my question? My slots are all filled. I need to remove two drives, in VD1, to make room to install the new drives to be tested for SMART. How do I remove VD1 to do this? Plus, I want to re-install VD1 at a later time.

PowerEdge HDD/SCSI/RAID

Dell R720: repurposing drive slots

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