Reconfigure HP Smart Array RAID 50 with larger drives

Question

We have an HP ML 350 G6 with an HP smartArray 410i controller. Running Ubuntu x64.

We previously had 8 146G drives configured as a 820GB raid 50 logical drive.

Now I have replaced 4 146GB drives with 900GB drives and want to resize the logical drive.

But for some reason that doesn't work. hpacucli gives the following error:

ctrl slot=0 ld 1 modify size=max Error: This operation is not supported with the current configuration. Use the "show" command on devices to show additional details about the configuration.

I assumed that one could have two parity groups with different size, because they are independent. What is the best way to migrate to utilize the full disk size ? How can I reconfigure without losing data ?

My configuration is as follows:

Smart Array P410i in Slot 0 (Embedded)
Bus Interface: PCI
Slot: 0
Serial Number: 5001438013590600
Cache Serial Number: PAAVPID11071DTD
RAID 6 (ADG) Status: Disabled
Controller Status: OK
Chassis Slot: 
Hardware Revision: Rev C
Firmware Version: 3.66
Rebuild Priority: Medium
Expand Priority: Medium
Surface Scan Delay: 3 secs
Surface Scan Mode: Idle
Queue Depth: Automatic
Monitor and Performance Delay: 60 min
Elevator Sort: Enabled
Degraded Performance Optimization: Disabled
Inconsistency Repair Policy: Disabled
Wait for Cache Room: Disabled
Surface Analysis Inconsistency Notification: Disabled
Post Prompt Timeout: 15 secs
Cache Board Present: True
Cache Status: OK
Accelerator Ratio: 25% Read / 75% Write
Drive Write Cache: Disabled
Total Cache Size: 512 MB
No-Battery Write Cache: Disabled
Cache Backup Power Source: Batteries
Battery/Capacitor Count: 1
Battery/Capacitor Status: OK
SATA NCQ Supported: True

Array: A
Interface Type: SAS
Unused Space: 0 MB
Status: OK



Logical Drive: 1
Size: 820.2 GB
Fault Tolerance: RAID 50
Number of Parity Groups: 2
Heads: 255
Sectors Per Track: 32
Cylinders: 65535
Strip Size: 256 KB
Status: OK
Array Accelerator: Enabled
Parity Initialization Status: Initialization Completed
Unique Identifier: 600508B1001CBB49A596781F682CFA50
Disk Name: /dev/cciss/c0d0
Mount Points: /boot 243 MB
OS Status: LOCKED
Logical Drive Label: AF2B6C6D5001438013590600F4AF
Parity Group 0:
physicaldrive 1I:1:1 (port 1I:box 1:bay 1, SAS, 900.1 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:3 (port 1I:box 1:bay 3, SAS, 900.1 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 2I:1:5 (port 2I:box 1:bay 5, SAS, 900.1 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 2I:1:7 (port 2I:box 1:bay 7, SAS, 900.1 GB, OK)
Parity Group 1:
physicaldrive 1I:1:2 (port 1I:box 1:bay 2, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:4 (port 1I:box 1:bay 4, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 2I:1:6 (port 2I:box 1:bay 6, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 2I:1:8 (port 2I:box 1:bay 8, SAS, 146 GB, OK)

Thx !

ewwhite · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-25T19:22:55.623

Your best approach here is to use similarly-sized disks. In this case, you should have ALL 900GB disks.

Why did you only upgrade the size of half the disks, though?

They are all still in a single logical drive, so your 900GB disks are essentially being treated as 146GB drives. That space can't be reclaimed in the current situation.

That will be the case until you replace the remaining four disks. At that point, the Unused Space: 0 MB will reflect a much greater number. You'll have the option of expanding the existing logical drive, or carving additional logical drives out of the unused space.

pro-tip: You can have logical drives of differing RAID levels on a single group of disks!! Each logical drive is presented to the OS as a distinct block device.

For instance, the following array of 8 disks is carved into several volumes of RAID10 and RAID5:

Smart Array P400 in Slot 8                (sn: P61630G9SVN702)

   array A (SAS, Unused Space: 404824  MB)


      logicaldrive 1 (72.0 GB, RAID 1+0, OK)
      logicaldrive 2 (120.0 GB, RAID 1+0, OK)
      logicaldrive 3 (100.0 GB, RAID 5, OK)
      logicaldrive 4 (100.0 GB, RAID 1+0, OK)

      physicaldrive 1I:1:1 (port 1I:box 1:bay 1, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 1I:1:2 (port 1I:box 1:bay 2, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 1I:1:3 (port 1I:box 1:bay 3, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 1I:1:4 (port 1I:box 1:bay 4, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 2I:1:5 (port 2I:box 1:bay 5, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 2I:1:6 (port 2I:box 1:bay 6, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 2I:1:7 (port 2I:box 1:bay 7, SAS, 146 GB, OK)
      physicaldrive 2I:1:8 (port 2I:box 1:bay 8, SAS, 146 GB, OK)

Thx ! We didnt upgrade all drives because we/I assumed we had two raid 5 arrays in a stripe, which are separate entities. And we're a small company, and the drives are kind of expensive ;-) Thanks for your answer. — RoccoD, Jan 28 '13 at 14:55

Reconfigure HP Smart Array RAID 50 with larger drives

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