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Due to recent hardware failure in my RAID 5, I need to re-think my monitoring strategy.

My inherited "servers" are a pair of Precision T7600 workstations running Auto DJ radio software that requires Ubuntu/Debian (Unsupported by Dell).

The pair each have a RAID 5 configured with 4 2TB disks. Previous problems with this setup forced us to upgrade the default 310 Perc, to a H710 Perc.

I've now setup my failed primary with a boot drive for the OS running the needed software, and my 5TB RAID drive mounted for data. This is working, I just need to monitor these drives.

I've installed the OMSA from here: http://linux.dell.com/repo/community/ubuntu/ The installation went smoothly, but I'm seeing this used mostly with Poweredge servers, not workstations.

Here are the result of some common commands with OMSA:

# /opt/dell/srvadmin/sbin/srvadmin-services.sh restart
DSM SA Connection Service is already stopped
Stopping Systems Management Data Engine:
Stopping dsm_sa_snmpd: Not started * 
Stopping dsm_sa_eventmgrd: Not started * 
Stopping dsm_sa_datamgrd: Not started * 
Stopping Systems Management Device Drivers:
Stopping dcdbas: * 
Stopping dell_rbu: Not started * 
Starting Systems Management Device Drivers:
Starting dcdbas: * 
Starting dell_rbu: * 
Starting Systems Management Data Engine:
Failed to start because system is not supported
Starting DSM SA Connection Service:  *

# omreport chassis info
Error! Chassis info setting unavailable on this system.

# omreport storage controller
No controllers found

Is it possible to monitor the Perc controller with this configuration? My other option might be to install ESX to both these systems and run Ubuntu as a VM. I've read here: http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/Common/dell-opnmang-sw-v7.4_User%27s%20Guide2_en-us.pdf how to install on ESX, but would my hardware be supported?

Brandon Martin
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1 Answers1

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The H710 is a re-branded LSI, so you can use MegaCLI to get the status of your drives.

On a related note, RAID 5, with four 2TB disks, and I am assuming that these disks are SATA disks, is not a very good idea, because in the event of a disk failure, the rebuild time on those 2TB disks is going to be high enough that the chance of another disk failing during the rebuild is very high.

If you can, get two more drives and convert the array to RAID10

Community
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Mark Henderson
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  • Thank you for the MegaCLI link, I have not seen this tool before. I know RAID 5 really isn't the best option, but it is my only option right now because of the vast music library. I can't put more disks in the RAID because there aren't enough available slots inside the case. I'll look into hardware that could help. – Brandon Martin Dec 02 '15 at 20:03
  • We converted our system to a RAID 6 with the same disks. – Brandon Martin Dec 10 '15 at 18:30
  • Following the instructions here: https://calomel.org/megacli_lsi_commands.html There is an awesome bash script called lsi.sh that gives me everything I need!! Thank you. – Brandon Martin Dec 10 '15 at 18:42
  • @BrandonMartin RAID6 with 4 disks gives you the same usable space as RAID10, but with degraded performance. RAID10 is a much more sensible solution if you have 4 disks. The advantage is that you can expand the array by one disk at a time I guess, which you can't usually do with RAID10 (you have to expand it 2 disks at a time). – Mark Henderson Dec 10 '15 at 19:39