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I'm recreating the raid on a old msa60. Would it check for bad disks when I create it? It is three msa60 enclosure with 12bay and 1TB each. I need around 24TB usable storage, what would the ideal raid for it? This is going to be used as a secondary backup and there will also be a tape library attach to it.

lbanz
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    "I'm recreating the raid on a old msa60" <-- No, the MSA60 has no RAID or other processing capabilities. You might be using the MSA to connect disks, but there's no RAID on it. You also cannot attach other devices to it (ie Tape Drive). – Chris S Oct 25 '12 at 12:58
  • Sorry, I should give more information. The msa is attached to a hp dl380 server and a tape library. It is attached using the p800 controller and I'm creating the raid on the dl380. – lbanz Oct 25 '12 at 13:50

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It sounds like you're using SATA drives on this HP MSA60 storage setup. Given your previous experiences and problems, you should definitely avoid using RAID 5.

I'd use RAID 1+0, but you can make a more informed decision by referencing the Canonical RAID question here on Server Fault.

Can you explain what operating system will be in use, how the application needs to see the storage, and the type of host server you will be connecting to?

The biggest issue I see, without answering any of those questions, is that you may run into logical drive size limits. Old firmware versions of the Smart Array P800 controller, for instance, only allowed 2TB LUNS. You'll need to update your firmware to remove that limitation. Do you need to present a single 24TB volume to a single server?

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ewwhite
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  • Yes, I'm using SATA drives. It will be using Windows server 2003 32bit as the application can only run in 32bit mode. The MSAs are attached to a Proliant DL380 G5. I need 24TB in a single volume. It is due to the way the application is setup. It is designed like a database where it creates 256 folders. When the application receives an image file. It breaks it down and spread it across those 256 folders. Perhaps I should create 5 raid6 volumes as pauska suggested and then make them into one logical volume within Windows? – lbanz Oct 25 '12 at 13:47
  • You can do it in one volume... Just make sure to download and run an [HP Firmware DVD](http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?sp4ts.oid=4091432&spf_p.tpst=psiSwdMain&spf_p.prp_psiSwdMain=wsrp-navigationalState%3Dlang%253Den%257Ccc%253DUS%257CprodSeriesId%253D4091412%257CprodNameId%253D4091432%257CswEnvOID%253D4103%257CswLang%253D8%257CswItem%253DMTX-9ed665a89aba447d925937f38b%257Caction%253DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken) once everything is connected. Are these HP disks? – ewwhite Oct 25 '12 at 13:54
  • This server will be used as a backup of the live server. The tape library is attached to the live server. Yes, they are all hp firmware drives apart from 1. I've ordered more HP drives and will swap that one out plus any drive that is faulty. But I'm concerned that there might be more faulty drives as the logs shows some drives have been in use for more than 60+ months. – lbanz Oct 25 '12 at 14:06
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Like ewwhite pointed out, you are having more problems with your storage system than you should.

A single volume should be avoided at all costs, as it forces you to create giant RAID groups. If possible, try to create 5 RAID6 volumes, each with 7 disks (which leaves you with one hot spare). This gives you 25TB of raw storage, which almost fits your requirement of 24TB usable storage.

This will be MUCH safer than creating one large RAID5 volume (double parity, plus 1/5 of the rebuild time).

pauska
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  • That's a brilliant idea. I'll give this a go! I'll create a dynamic drive within Windows 2003 and span the partition across the 5 raid volumes. – lbanz Oct 25 '12 at 14:10
  • That's not necessarily a better approach... The HP RAID controller will be a more solid solution. You also have the option of RAID 50 and RAID 60 on that controller. – ewwhite Oct 25 '12 at 14:16
  • This is the controller I got P800 http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantstorage/arraycontrollers/smartarrayp800/index.html and I think it doesn't support raid 50 or 60. – lbanz Oct 25 '12 at 14:22
  • My mistake. RAID 50/60 are only available on the newer controllers. Yeah, you may consider the approach in this answer. – ewwhite Oct 25 '12 at 14:59