[dba-Tech] RAID 5 repair

Jim,

>> Once you are ready to start just inform the owner of the requirements and
the estimated costs and ask for the keys. He will either say just go ahead
or say no. <<

Heh!  I've been working with this guy since '91 or '92.  That's why I
facetiously asked in my first message about slapping some sense into
his head.  He waits on EVERYTHING.  In all the time I've known him he
has NEVER considered buying even semi-adequate backup for his servers.
 His "backup" consists of a weekly XCOPY of the contents of his
network data drive to one of the workstations on the network.  That's
it.

So getting him to spend $30 or $40 to replace a RAID drive?  Hardly
seems worth it, don't you think?  My God!  I had to virtually beg him
to spend $21 on PC Tools Registry Mechanic (which I swear by) to help
fix some registry issues on an infected workstation...and he only did
it because I promised to reimburse him if it didn't fix the issue. (It
didn't, by the way, so I reimbursed him.  Had to find something
on-line, a REG file that re-established the EXE file association on an
XP PC that had been attacked.)

Anyway, I feel like buying the drives myself and hiding the charge in
my next invoice just so he doesn't have to take the effort to buy the
drives himself. I suggested that he purchase four right away and then
swap them into the array one by one over successive weekends.  He
knows all this...but he still dithers about spending maybe $120 for
four drives.  Gad!

Thank you, Jim.

Steve Erbach
Neenah, WI

On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 8:22 PM, Jim Lawrence <accessd at shaw.ca> wrote:
> Most RAIDS have a default process keystroke combination during the bootup
> sequence like <Ctrl-A>. This either accesses the motherboard ROM or the ROM
> on the RAID controller. From there it should be a simply selection menu to
> choose the newly installed drive and run the format and striping process.
>
> Before you do anything check the web for any oddities or info you need to
> know on the drives and RAID controller...some have issues that should be
> addressed like new firm upgrades, incompatibility issues and configuration
> cautions etc. Some of the older drive sizes and configurations like a type
> of SCSI or IDE are hard to find today.
>
> Once you have found the right combination and the appropriate equipment note
> the process times needed to synchronize a new added drive. Sometimes the
> process can take as much as 12 hours so be aware that the weekend would be
> the best time to start such a process as in the worse case scenario there is
> still time to recover from a crashed drive or something like that.
>
> Once you are ready to start just inform the owner of the requirements and
> the estimated costs and ask for the keys. He will either say just go ahead
> or say no.
>
> Also check with Drew as he appears to have had a fair bit of recent
> experience with setting up a RAID 5 system.
>
> Jim
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Steve Erbach
> Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 3:51 PM
> To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
> Subject: [dba-Tech] RAID 5 repair
>
> Dear Group,
>
> My client that I'm having trouble with the VPN/Remote Desktop also has
> a dead RAID 5 drive.  It's a four drive array and the three remaining
> drives are doing what they're supposed to be doing.  I've given drive
> replacement info to my client (the drives are CHEAP) but he hasn't
> bought any yet.
>
> My question is (besides how do I slap some sense into his thick
> head!): is there any preparation I need to do with the drive before I
> slot it in and allow the RAID controller to re-synch the drive array?
> That is, format it or something?  Or does the RAID controller take
> care of that after I've installed the new drive?
>
> It's an HP server that's about 4-5 years old using drives like the
> following:
>
> COMPAQ BF03664664
> (http://www.serversupply.com/HARD%20DRIVES%20W-TRAY/ULTRA160-SCSI/36GB-15000
> RPM/HP-COMPAQ/BF03664664.htm)
>
> Any thoughts or advice? Thanks.
>
> Regards,
>
> Steve Erbach