We have a dell poweredge 2600 raid 5 running(lsi I think), which i did not setup but am trying to manage). It acts as the data storage and we are running out of space. I checkd and found there are 2 empty slots so went out and bought 2x73gb hd(same as the rest already in there) and slotted them im. I added the hard drives successfully via the cotrller but am not sure how to increase the data volume group on hardware raid.
my question is does the vg get increased via the controller as well(if so how) or does it need to be setup via os(im running rhe4 by the way).

I would really appreciate any assistance.
Kind regards

Have you read through the Dell Linux storage resource page ? There may be a Linux utility available to manage that array.
Typically on a windows machine you would go into openmanage and expand the array to include the new drives, provided that particular controller supports online array expansion.

You should still make a backup of the data, just in case the online expansion were to fail..

Alternately you can backup the data, blow away the array configuration, reconfigure the array to include the new drives, then restore from backup.

cheers farslayer

i heard the process of extending the volume is via the raid interface before boot up- but im not sure under which option. im a bit cautious not to screw anything up...
The additional drives have alredy been added on to raid succesfully but they are not being used or cannot be seen yet after server boot up.
cheers

There are quite a few options that I have not found available in the Card BIOS. I have not yet tried to expand an array so I can't say for certain.

I HAVE experienced a predictive drive failure in which the array did NOT automatically kick off a rebuild when the drive was replaced. actually the rebuild had to be started from the management software after system reboot, because there was no option in the BIOS to force the rebuild to start.

Did you look into downloading a manual for your PERC card to see what options are available from the BIOS ?

its a LSI Logic MegaRAID driver according to dmesg
I have looked all over but could find drivers but not the manual for it. is there any site you are aware of which you can recommend at all?

pls ignore my last post, i wasnt sure what lsi is in relation to perc4
but any help on volume increase, whether its done via the controller in bios or via linux will be much appreciated.

http://support.dell.com/support/topi...509&l=en&s=gen

This article covers how to add drives to an existing array. They never actually say expand, but I think that's about all it could be...

Command reference for CLI tools
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...i/en/index.htm

Linux LSI PERC tools
http://support.dell.com/support/down...2&fileid=92846


Hope something there helps.

Hi
i followed this link you sent me ( http://support.dell.com/support/topi...509&l=en&s=gen)
, which was v useful, however the im in the process of upgrading raid firmware as it doesnt have the recontruct option in the raid bios, which is needed to add additional raid drives. As soon as its upgraded i will attempt to 'recontruct' the raid array with new drives....
will let you know how i get along..
appreciate your help

update

just wanted to let you know that i have managed to add the disk to the rest of the raid array container.
The reason i was unable to add the harddisk using the raid controller menu in the bios, was because it did not have the reconstruct option(old bios). after upgrading it i managed to add the additional hard disk.
so thanks alot for the previous links as this has led me to the raid firmware update.

Now that step one is complete i need to add this hard disk to the lvm, however when i go into fdisk to create a new parition (and assignthe new hardidisk space) im not given the chance to enter the size of the partition. It immediately goes back to the fdisk menu prompt. so ive ended up with a partition (/dev/sda10) of 8mb?
please see below.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14 24234 194555182+ 8e Linux LVM
/dev/sda3 24235 25126 7164990 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 25127 26724 12835935 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 25127 25577 3622626 8e Linux LVM
/dev/sda6 25578 25959 3068383+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 25960 26341 3068383+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 26342 26596 2048256 82 Linux swap
/dev/sda9 26597 26723 1020096 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 26724 26724 8001 83 Linux


I thought the right option might be to fdisk into the newly created partition and use the 'x' extra functionality (experts only) option and increase the allocated cylinders. Unfortunately that still has not caused the partion /dev/sda10 size to increase.
Any suggestions how i can increase the size of this partion to use the new hardisk space and then add it to the lvm?
any help much appreciated.............