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August 16th, 2024 13:03
RAID5 failure in PowerEdge R630
Dear all,
again a new case of the well known problem of two discs failing in RAID5. I managed to make a lossless clone of one of the two lost discs using ddrescue. I am now going to import the foreign configuration as shown in the attached picture. This is where I have no experience of what is supposed to happen. I still have 4 discs as members of the array. Will the new drive just be added to them?
Any ideas ???
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DELL-Chris H
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August 16th, 2024 18:52
Alokhovi,
To clarify, a foreign configuration is when the raid controller sees that the configuration data it has stored is different that the configuration data on the drives. So when the controller sees this it flags it as a Foreign Configuration. Now a good rule of thumb with a Foreign is that if the Virtual Disk is bootable to the OS, then you would want to CLEAR the Foreign. If the Virtual Disk is not booting to the OS then you would select to IMPORT the Foreign. The difference between the two choices is that selecting Clear it will clear the configuration data from the drive and use the one on the controller, because if it was booting then the controller data is obviously correct. With an IMPORT you are telling the raid controller to disregard its own configuration data and to use the configuration data from the drives.
Hope this helps clarify.
alokhovi
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August 19th, 2024 07:13
Many thanks for you reply @DELL-Chris H
This is very useful information and not easy to find. My case a bit more complicated. As you can see on the screenshot I have 2 virtual drives, the small one is RAID1 and it's bootable while the large one, where I need bring back the cloned drive by importing/cleaning its configuration, is just a local RAID5 storage made of 6 disks.
From the documentation I found on the Dell site it says if a drive is taken out of a RAID (removed from its bay) and reinserted again it will be recognised as Foreign. What is right action in this case, importing or cleaning ?
DELL-Marco B
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August 19th, 2024 09:03
Hello,
what Chris said about the foreign it can be applied also to a volume that doesn't have the OS. Can you access on the RAID 5 data? If so, then the configuration stored in the controller is the right one. And you just clear foreign configuration.
If you cannot access to data, then i suggest you to import foreign configuration.
Thanks
alokhovi
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August 21st, 2024 18:56
@DELL-Marco B
The RAID5 is in offline state as expected 2 drives broken. So as I understand, I must import the foreign configuration of the cloned drive hoping the drive will be added to the array and I'll have only one missing with the standard rescue procedure. Is it, Marco ?
Best regards,
Arkady
DELL-Chris H
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August 21st, 2024 19:00
If you are working with a foreign configuration, before you import you need to ensure all the original members are present. So I wouldn't have any replacement drives installed, just the original ones.
alokhovi
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August 22nd, 2024 19:42
Even if the new driver is a binary copy ?
DELL-Chris H
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August 22nd, 2024 20:08
I wouldn't advise it, I would suggest only using the original members, as there could be data not included and such.
alokhovi
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September 23rd, 2024 16:00
Dear DELL-Chris,
after thr whole backup of the RAID5 drives, I tried to import the foreign configuration from the cloned drive. And the controller recognised the new drive as a valid RAID5 drive. RAID5 went to online and was mounted by OS as a right volume.
All data i back.
Best regards,
Arkady