MD 1220 / PERC H800 - How Many Raid 1 Virtual Disks?

Hello Joey,

Thanks for the suggestion!  Yes, I have waited until each VD was completely configured until moving on to the next.  The "reconfigure" option is not available for any VD until the VD is reconfigured 100%.

In OpenManage, I can select one of the 3 drives (only one is visible) when attempting to make a new VD.  In Ctrl+R all three are showing, but haven't tried to make a VD out of them yet.

I updated all firmware, drivers, etc, Open Manage (and powered cycled the 710 and MD1220).  Now, I cannot see any Physical Disks in my H800 controller (I can see all VDs) under Open Manage.  My H700 looks good, but my H800 is exhibiting strange behavior.  Clicking on Information/Configuration for the H800 gives a blank screen and a few tasks (Create VD Wizard Advanced, and Open Slot Report) stops the Open Manage service (DSA Connection Service).

All VD's are functioning, just can't see the remaining 3 drives as available to complete the mirror process.

I'll try removing the 3 disks tomorrow and swap them with others, try one-at-a-time, etc. to see if it's a disk issue.

Thanks,

Dan

Hi Dan,

Have you waited for the 1st RAID0 VD to be reconfigured as RAID1 completely before moving to the next RAID0 VD?

To my suspicion, the card may not sustain to simultaneously reconfigure 12 VD and to support I/O at the same time. Have you tried to create a RAID1 with the last 3 drives, just to check if you are able to select them?

Hi Dan,

A lil confuse on situation, probably I read wrong, but allow me to get it straight.

Previously when you were able to reconfigure RAID0 to RAID1 from each VD0-VD8, are you able to see the Physical Disks list in H800 Open Manage (OM), Physical Disks13-24?

Mentioned that you only able to select one of the 3 drives, and only 1 is visible, is that before or after you update the firmware and driver?

The strange behavior that you are experiencing might be caused by OM installation. You can try clean uninstall and reinstall OM.

Hi Joey

You answered my first question, which was the controller/enclosure is capable of 12 VD Raid 1 configuration.  That led me to do more troubleshooting.  What I ended solving the problem was to remove all three disks and then insert them in one at a time.  Two drives showed up as normal and I was able to mirror them, no problem.  The last drive would not show up and I recognized this disk as part of a previous VD on my H700 controller.  (I had previously cleared the foreign policy).  So, I switched that drive in one of my Raid 1 pairs and it was automatically rebuilt into that VD and the other drive I was able to clear the foreign policy and add as my final Raid 1.

Probably too long-winded reply to follow but my 12 VD's are all Raid 1 now!

I'm still having an issue with none of my physical drives showing in OM and interesting enough, the drive for which I had an issue clearing the foreign policy does not show up in OM, in fact when I click on the VD in OM, I get a blank page...this happens with 2 of my VD's.  Drives are ST9146852SS.  14 drives are Dell certified, the other 10 are Seagate branded.  The VD's that are not showing are the Dell pairs.

I've uninstalled/reinstalled OM many times with no affect.

Thanks,

Dan

Hi Dan,

Great to hear that you manage to convert all VDs to RAID1.

Mentioned that you have reinstall OM many times, did you use the uninstaller from Add Remove programs in Windows or did you use OMClean?

So far 7.4 has not been showing weird symptons, does the previous version of OM that you were using, having the same issue? Have you tried a lower version? say 7.2?

Thanks Joey

7.2 works.  Perhaps I installed the incorrect version of 7.4?  OM-SvrAdmin-Dell-Web-WINX64-7.4.0-866_A00

For what it's worth, I tried uninstalling 7.2 and reinstalling 7.4 a couple of times to see if the behavior is repeatable and it is.  7.4 continues to not show physical disks on my H800 and the service stops if I request a slot occupancy report.  However, with 7.2 all functions as expected.

Thanks a bunch,

Dan

Hi Joey

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter.  I assume this is a 64-bit operating system.

Dan

Hi Dan,

Are you using a 32bit or 64bit Windows?

The file that you have is for a Windows 64Bit.

Here's a Windows 32Bit version: http://dell.to/1j8gWdv

Hi Joey

Yes, I noted that when I was performing the install for 7.2.  I'm not opposed to giving the 64-bit package a try to see if it works too.  I'm wondering if there's not really an OM program difference (between 323-bit and 64-bit) other than the installer?  Feel free to send the 64-bit link to 7.2 and I'll give that a try; if there is an actual program difference then I'd rather see a 64-bit application in this OS I think.

Thank you,

Dan

Hi Dan,

That's correct, it is a 64bit OS. Weird is...I gave you a 32bit Windows installer link for 7.2.

Hi Dan,

There's no difference in the program, just Windows installer compatibility.

Here's 7.2 64Bit : http://dell.to/1jGKR0U