can't convert San volumes into dynmaic disks

Hi,

I'm having troubles to convert San volumes into dynamic disks . I try to
convert from basics to dynamics disks (to create a raid1 volume). I use this
volumes for windows clusters . but i read that Dynamic disks are not
supported for use with Windows Clustering. Can you help me and explain wy i
can't convert it with windows 2003 natives tools?

----------------------------------------
DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 510 MB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 210 GB 0 B
Disk 2 Online 210 GB 0 B
Disk 3 Online 210 GB 0 B
Disk 4 Online 210 GB 0 B
Disk 5 Online 210 GB 0 B
Disk 6 Online 110 GB 0 B
Disk 7 Online 68 GB 0 B
* Disk 8 Online 10 GB 10 GB

DISKPART> select disk 8

Disk 8 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> convert dynamic

The selected disk cannot be upgraded to dynamic.
Please select a valid basic disk to convert.

Many thanks

HI Benoit,

Did you try dskprobe an old resource kit tool.

Checkout the K'b items the are maybe helpfull.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237853
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816307

And do remember san disk needs alignment !




"Benoit" <> wrote in message
news:00DF911D-0D77-4D26-B1DB-...
> Hi,
>
> I'm having troubles to convert San volumes into dynamic disks . I try to
> convert from basics to dynamics disks (to create a raid1 volume). I use
> this
> volumes for windows clusters . but i read that Dynamic disks are not
> supported for use with Windows Clustering. Can you help me and explain wy
> i
> can't convert it with windows 2003 natives tools?
>
> ----------------------------------------
> DISKPART> list disk
>
> Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
> -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
> Disk 0 Online 510 MB 0 B
> Disk 1 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 2 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 3 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 4 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 5 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 6 Online 110 GB 0 B
> Disk 7 Online 68 GB 0 B
> * Disk 8 Online 10 GB 10 GB
>
> DISKPART> select disk 8
>
> Disk 8 is now the selected disk.
>
> DISKPART> convert dynamic
>
> The selected disk cannot be upgraded to dynamic.
> Please select a valid basic disk to convert.
>
> Many thanks

--
Greetings,

Robert Smit
Blog : http://fiberman.spaces.live.com/

HI Benoit,

Did you try dskprobe an old resource kit tool. but if the disk is already
published in a cluster you can't convert it any more.

Checkout the K'b items the are maybe helpfull.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237853
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816307

And do remember san disk needs alignment !

Here is a nice link all about the alingment.

http://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=4556

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/20...10/408950.aspx


--
Greetings,

Robert Smit
Blog : http://fiberman.spaces.live.com/





"Benoit" <> wrote in message
news:00DF911D-0D77-4D26-B1DB-...
> Hi,
>
> I'm having troubles to convert San volumes into dynamic disks . I try to
> convert from basics to dynamics disks (to create a raid1 volume). I use
> this
> volumes for windows clusters . but i read that Dynamic disks are not
> supported for use with Windows Clustering. Can you help me and explain wy
> i
> can't convert it with windows 2003 natives tools?
>
> ----------------------------------------
> DISKPART> list disk
>
> Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
> -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
> Disk 0 Online 510 MB 0 B
> Disk 1 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 2 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 3 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 4 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 5 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 6 Online 110 GB 0 B
> Disk 7 Online 68 GB 0 B
> * Disk 8 Online 10 GB 10 GB
>
> DISKPART> select disk 8
>
> Disk 8 is now the selected disk.
>
> DISKPART> convert dynamic
>
> The selected disk cannot be upgraded to dynamic.
> Please select a valid basic disk to convert.
>
> Many thanks

--
Greetings,

Robert Smit
Blog : http://fiberman.spaces.live.com/

hi robert,

if the disk is already in use as shared disk in a cluster can i use a third
product tool to convert the disks or do i need to delete this disk ressource
from the cluster before to do someting.

Also i don't know if it's a microsoft cluster problem because all my san
disks can't be converted into dynamic disks ( compared to the nodes local
disks ) ... that's weird

i'm going to deactive cluster disk management and see if the the san disks
can be converted

thanks for your support !!!

also the Kb was helpfull: i've read ... "Windows 2000 Advanced Server,
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition support only basic shared disks in an
environment that uses the Windows Server failover clustering feature.
Failover clustering does not provide native in-box support for dynamic disks"

thats means
but I don't know if it's a microsoft cluster problem because all my san
disks can't be converted into dynamic disks ( compared the nodes local disks )

"Robert Smit" wrote:

> HI Benoit,
>
> Did you try dskprobe an old resource kit tool. but if the disk is already
> published in a cluster you can't convert it any more.
>
> Checkout the K'b items the are maybe helpfull.
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237853
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816307
>
> And do remember san disk needs alignment !
>
> Here is a nice link all about the alingment.
>
> http://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=4556
>
> http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/20...10/408950.aspx
>
>
> --
> Greetings,
>
> Robert Smit
> Blog : http://fiberman.spaces.live.com/
>
>
>
>
>
> "Benoit" <> wrote in message
> news:00DF911D-0D77-4D26-B1DB-...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm having troubles to convert San volumes into dynamic disks . I try to
> > convert from basics to dynamics disks (to create a raid1 volume). I use
> > this
> > volumes for windows clusters . but i read that Dynamic disks are not
> > supported for use with Windows Clustering. Can you help me and explain wy
> > i
> > can't convert it with windows 2003 natives tools?
> >
> > ----------------------------------------
> > DISKPART> list disk
> >
> > Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
> > -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
> > Disk 0 Online 510 MB 0 B
> > Disk 1 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 2 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 3 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 4 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 5 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 6 Online 110 GB 0 B
> > Disk 7 Online 68 GB 0 B
> > * Disk 8 Online 10 GB 10 GB
> >
> > DISKPART> select disk 8
> >
> > Disk 8 is now the selected disk.
> >
> > DISKPART> convert dynamic
> >
> > The selected disk cannot be upgraded to dynamic.
> > Please select a valid basic disk to convert.
> >
> > Many thanks
>
> --
> Greetings,
>
> Robert Smit
> Blog : http://fiberman.spaces.live.com/
>
>

"Benoit" <> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:65E70778-DBE9-4579-8A5E-...

> also the Kb was helpfull: i've read ... "Windows 2000 Advanced Server,
> Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and
> Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition support only basic shared disks in
> an
> environment that uses the Windows Server failover clustering feature.
> Failover clustering does not provide native in-box support for dynamic
> disks"

The article you quoted explicitly states that you can't use dynamic disks in
a failover cluster. You can't convert them, period. Anyway, why should you
want to do such a thing?


Massimo

it's because I need to present a volume for windows clustering
This shared disk must come from 2 differents SAN FC datastores ( from 2
differents areas) to provide high availabilty

i thought Raid1 with dynamic disks should be the solution to solve the issue

"Massimo" wrote:

> "Benoit" <> ha scritto nel messaggio
> news:65E70778-DBE9-4579-8A5E-...
>
> > also the Kb was helpfull: i've read ... "Windows 2000 Advanced Server,
> > Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and
> > Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition support only basic shared disks in
> > an
> > environment that uses the Windows Server failover clustering feature.
> > Failover clustering does not provide native in-box support for dynamic
> > disks"
>
> The article you quoted explicitly states that you can't use dynamic disks in
> a failover cluster. You can't convert them, period. Anyway, why should you
> want to do such a thing?
>
>
> Massimo
>
>

I think you're a little confused about your volume creation. Create your
highly available volume using disks within the SAN itself - whether that's a
RAID 1, RAID 5 , etc. configuration. Then, when you present the newly
created LUN to your cluster nodes, leave the disk alone (as a Basic disk).
You can't use a dynamic disk in Server 2003 MSCS Clustering.

Hope this helps,
--Ryan

--
Ryan Sokolowski
MVP - Clustering
MCT, MCITP x3, MCTS x7, MCSE x2, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP


"Benoit" <> wrote in message
news:00DF911D-0D77-4D26-B1DB-...
> Hi,
>
> I'm having troubles to convert San volumes into dynamic disks . I try to
> convert from basics to dynamics disks (to create a raid1 volume). I use
> this
> volumes for windows clusters . but i read that Dynamic disks are not
> supported for use with Windows Clustering. Can you help me and explain wy
> i
> can't convert it with windows 2003 natives tools?
>
> ----------------------------------------
> DISKPART> list disk
>
> Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
> -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
> Disk 0 Online 510 MB 0 B
> Disk 1 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 2 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 3 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 4 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 5 Online 210 GB 0 B
> Disk 6 Online 110 GB 0 B
> Disk 7 Online 68 GB 0 B
> * Disk 8 Online 10 GB 10 GB
>
> DISKPART> select disk 8
>
> Disk 8 is now the selected disk.
>
> DISKPART> convert dynamic
>
> The selected disk cannot be upgraded to dynamic.
> Please select a valid basic disk to convert.
>
> Many thanks

Sounds like a limitation of your SAN solution. Did you talk to your SAN
vendor? They may have a solution for you.

John

"Benoit" <> wrote in message
news:4CDB1617-8D23-493A-A801-...
> it's because I need to present a volume for windows clustering
> This shared disk must come from 2 differents SAN FC datastores ( from 2
> differents areas) to provide high availabilty
>
> i thought Raid1 with dynamic disks should be the solution to solve the
> issue
>
> "Massimo" wrote:
>
>> "Benoit" <> ha scritto nel messaggio
>> news:65E70778-DBE9-4579-8A5E-...
>>
>> > also the Kb was helpfull: i've read ... "Windows 2000 Advanced Server,
>> > Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
>> > and
>> > Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition support only basic shared disks
>> > in
>> > an
>> > environment that uses the Windows Server failover clustering feature.
>> > Failover clustering does not provide native in-box support for dynamic
>> > disks"
>>
>> The article you quoted explicitly states that you can't use dynamic disks
>> in
>> a failover cluster. You can't convert them, period. Anyway, why should
>> you
>> want to do such a thing?
>>
>>
>> Massimo
>>
>>

hi ryan,

there is no confusion but maybe i was not very clear on my last post .
Usually i work with san disks ( with raid5 configuration) from one Bay .
then i present the LUN to my clusters nodes . the disks are basics and MSCS
2003 works fine.

today i have a project asking me to synchronize clusters ressources between
two datacenters. my fisrt idea was to use raid1 directly from the nodes with
dynamic disks ( one Lun from Bay 1 and ne LUN from Bay 2) and to convert the
shared disks to present them on the MSCS ressources.

now i know this idea was wrong ...

So I think the best way to workaround the two datacenters replication is to
backup (or replicate) the first SAN bay to the second datacenters (with a 3rd
tools from the SAN bay) and then to represent the LUN from the 2nd bay two
the nodes (in case of disaster).

The solution musn't come directly from the MSCS nodes

Many thanks for your help !!!

"Ryan Sokolowski [MVP]" wrote:

> I think you're a little confused about your volume creation. Create your
> highly available volume using disks within the SAN itself - whether that's a
> RAID 1, RAID 5 , etc. configuration. Then, when you present the newly
> created LUN to your cluster nodes, leave the disk alone (as a Basic disk).
> You can't use a dynamic disk in Server 2003 MSCS Clustering.
>
> Hope this helps,
> --Ryan
>
> --
> Ryan Sokolowski
> MVP - Clustering
> MCT, MCITP x3, MCTS x7, MCSE x2, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP
>
>
> "Benoit" <> wrote in message
> news:00DF911D-0D77-4D26-B1DB-...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm having troubles to convert San volumes into dynamic disks . I try to
> > convert from basics to dynamics disks (to create a raid1 volume). I use
> > this
> > volumes for windows clusters . but i read that Dynamic disks are not
> > supported for use with Windows Clustering. Can you help me and explain wy
> > i
> > can't convert it with windows 2003 natives tools?
> >
> > ----------------------------------------
> > DISKPART> list disk
> >
> > Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
> > -------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
> > Disk 0 Online 510 MB 0 B
> > Disk 1 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 2 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 3 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 4 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 5 Online 210 GB 0 B
> > Disk 6 Online 110 GB 0 B
> > Disk 7 Online 68 GB 0 B
> > * Disk 8 Online 10 GB 10 GB
> >
> > DISKPART> select disk 8
> >
> > Disk 8 is now the selected disk.
> >
> > DISKPART> convert dynamic
> >
> > The selected disk cannot be upgraded to dynamic.
> > Please select a valid basic disk to convert.
> >
> > Many thanks
>

i opened a case and still wait the answer

"John Fullbright" wrote:

> Sounds like a limitation of your SAN solution. Did you talk to your SAN
> vendor? They may have a solution for you.
>
> John
>
> "Benoit" <> wrote in message
> news:4CDB1617-8D23-493A-A801-...
> > it's because I need to present a volume for windows clustering
> > This shared disk must come from 2 differents SAN FC datastores ( from 2
> > differents areas) to provide high availabilty
> >
> > i thought Raid1 with dynamic disks should be the solution to solve the
> > issue
> >
> > "Massimo" wrote:
> >
> >> "Benoit" <> ha scritto nel messaggio
> >> news:65E70778-DBE9-4579-8A5E-...
> >>
> >> > also the Kb was helpfull: i've read ... "Windows 2000 Advanced Server,
> >> > Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
> >> > and
> >> > Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition support only basic shared disks
> >> > in
> >> > an
> >> > environment that uses the Windows Server failover clustering feature.
> >> > Failover clustering does not provide native in-box support for dynamic
> >> > disks"
> >>
> >> The article you quoted explicitly states that you can't use dynamic disks
> >> in
> >> a failover cluster. You can't convert them, period. Anyway, why should
> >> you
> >> want to do such a thing?
> >>
> >>
> >> Massimo
> >>
> >>
>
>
>