How to setup Raid 5

[trimelater]

I just bought a Dell Server that has a dual processor and added 4 SCSI hard drive. When I got the server and attempt to set it up. I wanted to convert the basic disk to a dynamic disk.

First thing I notice is that I have a total of 214 GB of hard drive space. I am thinking that Dell's Computers setup a spanned drive. How do I go about setting the RAID 5. I tried to go the Microsoft Knowledge base and had no luck.

Should I just reinstall the OS and try to add the SCSI hard drive. Maybe I am just clueless.

Any help will be appreciated!!!

Trimelater

 

[karmic]

What model dell for starters... What size hard drives do you have?

You only need 3 drives for a raid 5, and i've found that dells tend to autoconfigure the drive array. Try removing one drive and accessing the perc controller, remove any/all raids and start again.

Of course, you'll lose your current installation, and you'll have to start from scratch...

~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~

 

[mrdenny]

You'll need to make the array at the hardware level, not in Windows. Dell uses drivers called Perc drivers (that karmic mentioned). You'll need to check the dell support site or contact dell for assistance with the specific driver version that you have.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

(My very old site)

 

[trimelater]

The server I have is a Dell 1800 model which has 4 hard drives that are 80 GB a piece. I concluded that I had to start off from scratch but I don't know where to start.

I will try to do some research to see how to access the PERC drivers. I understand that I will lose all the data on the server which is fine with me since it is a new server.

I appreciate all your help, I will be testing the new server out and let you know how I have gone about resolving it. If anyone has anymore tips, please let me know.

 

[pagy]

If the server has a perc raid controller (the standard for a 1800 is a perc4) then as the server boots you should see an option to enter the RAID config, usually CTRL+M for the Perc controllers. Dell do pre-configure the RAID, however I have found that they often put all the drives in the array and have no hot spare.

 

[djtech2k]

You can use the boot menu RAID config or I would recommend using the DEll CD's to boot from. The HP utils are called smartstart, but I dont remember the Dell name. If you are going to load the OS, this is the best way because it has all the drivers and configs built in. The boot menu is usually much more clunky and not as intuitive.

-DJ

 

[trimelater]

I went home and attempted to setup the RAID 5. I pressed Control A to get into the Array Configuration utilty and created the Array 5. After setting up the Array 5, it wiped out all the information that was on the Hard Drive.

I figure how hard is it to reinstall Windows 2003 since I have been intalling Wins 2000 Server for the past 5 yrs.

Once the CD took off starting the OS, it gave me a choice to install a third party or RAID 5 setup. Since I don't have a floppy disk, I am just SOL. The next step, I press Enter hoping it will install the OS. At the end, I get this long message saying I don't have any mass storage device.

What should I do next? Now I am calling Dell support and been waiting on a phone for the past 30 minutes and still waiting.

 

[karmic]

Just download the drivers for the perc controller and put them on a floppy. What kind of dell server do you have?

~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~

 

[trimelater]

The lesson I learned today is to use the Dell PowerEdge "Installation and Server Management" cd. The cd has the software wizard that will help you setup RAID 1,5, and 10.

Thank you for everyone help. I hope this thread will help others.

 

[djtech2k]

Exactly. Thats what I suggest, just like my post. If you cant do that for some reason, then you can load the drivers from a floppy.

 

[trimelater]

I do have another question about using the CD. After thinking that I installed RAID 5, do you know why I only have Disk 0. I thought it will give me Disk 0, 1, 2, 3 then I can convert it to dynamic disk. What I did is convert Disk 0 to dynamic and only gave me a choice of using Simple Volume.

I am back where I started. Did I messed up somewhere or just miss the point of setting up RAID 5? DJtech2k, thank you for your help. I am still learning how to setup RAID 5.

 

[tpittman]

You're trying to use 2 tools to achieve the same task. What you did was set up a hardware RAID5, what windows does with dynamic disk is software RAID and is less efficient and doesn't work as well with some things. By setting up the RAID in hardware Windows sees the whole thing as one drive, which is a good thing, and then you don't need to make it a dynamic disk. To administer the individual drives in the RAID you would use the ctrl-a option or I think Dell's OpenManage will let you do that from the OS.