Recover from "offlining" a disk in RAID5/RAID6

Hello,

Just to confirm, so you would want to restore the array on RAID5, correct?

From the situation that I understood from your statement, what I can think of is to import foreign from H710P VD Management. I am assuming that you used PERCCLi because you do not have downtime? The VD Management, you will need to reboot the server and access the H710P BIOS configuration. Just make sure that all the disk are installed in their right order. Remember to import foreign, and not to clear foreign. 

Ref: https://dl.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprtl_adapters/poweredge-rc-h310_user%27s%20guide_en-us.pdf

Correct, I want to restore the RAID5.  10 of the disks are detected as foreign; 1 is detected as "unconfigured good".  When I choose to Import Foreign , I get the error "incomplete configuration, and it fails to do anything.

I think my action of "set offline" each disk broke the configuration of the first disk so it's not seen as part of the array anymore; I wonder if there is some way to manually repair the config info on that disk?  It hasn't been initialized so the data itself should still be in place...

Hi,

I've not heard of Unconfigured Good before. Is that from PERCCLi or H710P controller BIOS? After you have informed me of the situation, I can see a bigger picture. Yes, it could be the offline command that resulted the RAID array configuration unable to detect one of the drive. You mentioned have tried retagging, was it on the RAID5 array? How did you retag? Did you retag with the foreign config intacted? 

What is shown with the command perccli /c0/dall show

Hi -- yes, that is reported in PERCCLI. 

I did a retag on the RAID6.  Below you can see how it appeared before the retag. 

I did clear the foreign config before retagging.  Is it possible to retag without doing that?  Oh no, maybe that's another step I messed up.

$ sudo perccli64 /c1 show

Generating detailed summary of the adapter, it may take a while to complete.

 

CLI Version = 007.2616.0000.0000 Dec 06, 2023

Operating system = Linux 5.14.0-362.8.1.el9_3.x86_64

Controller = 1

Status = Success

Description = None

 

Product Name = PERC H800 Adapter

Serial Number = (redacted)

SAS Address =  (redacted)

PCI Address = 00:06:00:00

System Time = 08/29/2025 15:09:25

Mfg. Date = 01/11/12

Controller Time = 08/29/2025 19:09:25

FW Package Build = 12.10.1-0001

BIOS Version = 3.18.00_4.09.05.00_0x0416A000

FW Version = 2.100.03-1062

Driver Name = megaraid_sas

Driver Version = 07.725.01.00-rc1

 

FOREIGN CONFIGURATION :

=====================

----------------------------------------

DG EID:Slot Type  State      Size NoVDs 

----------------------------------------

 0 -        RAID6 Frgn  98.221 TB     1 

----------------------------------------

 

Total foreign Drive Groups = 1

Total Foreign PDs = 10

Total Locked Foreign PDs = 0

 

PD LIST :

=======

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

EID:Slt DID State DG      Size Intf Med SED PI SeSz Model            Sp Type 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

27:0     53 UGood -  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B MG09SCA12TE      U  -    

27:1     50 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B MG09SCA12TE      U  -    

27:2     51 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B MG09SCA12TE      U  -    

27:3     58 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B HUH721212AL5204  U  -    

27:4     54 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B HUH721212AL5204  U  -    

27:5     55 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B HUH721212AL5204  U  -    

27:6     52 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B MG09SCA12TE      U  -    

27:7     48 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B MG09SCA12TE      U  -    

27:8     49 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B MG09SCA12TE      U  -    

27:9     59 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B HUH721212AL5204  U  -    

27:10    57 UGood F  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B HUH721212AL5204  U  -    

27:11    56 UGood -  10.913 TB SAS  HDD N   N  512B HUH721212AL5204  U  -    

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

slot#0 (disk 1) SHOULD have been recognized as part of the foreign raid6, so that's the manifestation of my problem.

slot#11 (disk 12) was originally a hotspare, so that isn't expected to be part of the foreign drive group.

I had that one on-hand from last week.  I'll have to physically reconnect the disks to get a c1/dall show, I can post that when I get back into that room tomorrow.

Hi,

To my opinion, the foreign config should be cleared before retagging is correct. You did not do anything wrong.

After you cleared foreign, what was the status of disk before retagging, does it still show 'F'? 

Yes you are right, Disk1 (::0) should be online as part of the array, hence the import is showing the error of incomplete configuration. But now, Disk1 (::0) is showing as you said, Unconfigured Good (UGood), it is not offline nor belong to DG (Disk Group 0, by default). Is the array still in Foreign Config state? I'd wonder if by removing Disk1 (::0) before import foreign could help the issue.