Increase capacity of the shared disk

Hello:

I have a 2-node cluster with a shared disk. I formed a RAID1 with 2 hard
disks of 36GB. I need to increase the capacity of the shared disk, so I have
thought to buy 2 new hard disks of 36 GB. The cluster model is HP DL380
Packaged cluster with the MSA500 Smart Array7 Controller. To expand the RAID
I am going to use the HP Array Configuration Utility; I have read in the
tutorial that the expansion process takes 15 minutes per gigabyte. Does it
mean 15 min multiplied by 36 GB or by 72 GB?
The other question is: should I stop the cluster service in both nodes, so
there is no activity in the shared disk, during the expand process? It would
mean I should stop my cluster 10 or 20 hours?

Thank you very much for your time

Hi,

You don't need to stop cluster service. While expanding RAID you'll get some
performance degradation (depending on RAID controler settings degradation
level can vary) so it is better to plan to start this process during hours
with less load for the system.
Also keep in mind that RAID controler will extend only array and Logical
Drive on your storage. OS will see shared disk with additional unused space
after extension will be finished.

Br,
Dakl
MCSE, HP ASE

"j05e" <> wrote in message
news:7EFF4AEC-74FE-4B25-B8D4-...
>
> Hello:
>
> I have a 2-node cluster with a shared disk. I formed a RAID1 with 2 hard
> disks of 36GB. I need to increase the capacity of the shared disk, so I
have
> thought to buy 2 new hard disks of 36 GB. The cluster model is HP DL380
> Packaged cluster with the MSA500 Smart Array7 Controller. To expand the
RAID
> I am going to use the HP Array Configuration Utility; I have read in the
> tutorial that the expansion process takes 15 minutes per gigabyte. Does it
> mean 15 min multiplied by 36 GB or by 72 GB?
> The other question is: should I stop the cluster service in both nodes, so
> there is no activity in the shared disk, during the expand process? It
would
> mean I should stop my cluster 10 or 20 hours?
>
> Thank you very much for your time
>

Thank you very much for your answer.

I am going to do the expansion bynight, but I am going to expand the RAID
but no the logical drives because I have read in the HP Array Configuration
User Guide that it is not recommended doing this when you use Windows 2003
and MSCS. The reason is that in the Logical Drive Capacity Expansion process
the drives have to be configured as dynamic and MSCS required the disks as
basic. I wopuld create new logical drives.

Thank you again.

"Dakl" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> You don't need to stop cluster service. While expanding RAID you'll get some
> performance degradation (depending on RAID controler settings degradation
> level can vary) so it is better to plan to start this process during hours
> with less load for the system.
> Also keep in mind that RAID controler will extend only array and Logical
> Drive on your storage. OS will see shared disk with additional unused space
> after extension will be finished.
>
> Br,
> Dakl
> MCSE, HP ASE
>
> "j05e" <> wrote in message
> news:7EFF4AEC-74FE-4B25-B8D4-...
> >
> > Hello:
> >
> > I have a 2-node cluster with a shared disk. I formed a RAID1 with 2 hard
> > disks of 36GB. I need to increase the capacity of the shared disk, so I
> have
> > thought to buy 2 new hard disks of 36 GB. The cluster model is HP DL380
> > Packaged cluster with the MSA500 Smart Array7 Controller. To expand the
> RAID
> > I am going to use the HP Array Configuration Utility; I have read in the
> > tutorial that the expansion process takes 15 minutes per gigabyte. Does it
> > mean 15 min multiplied by 36 GB or by 72 GB?
> > The other question is: should I stop the cluster service in both nodes, so
> > there is no activity in the shared disk, during the expand process? It
> would
> > mean I should stop my cluster 10 or 20 hours?
> >
> > Thank you very much for your time
> >
>
>
>

Hi,

It depends what you are calling Logical Drive.
If this is Logical drive used in windows OS context (or partition in other
words) - then yes, you can not expand it as MS clustering does not supports
dynamic disks.
I was talking about Logical Drive in HP Smart Array context (or you can call
it LUN if you like). And in this context MSA controlled at first will extend
array (disk group) and after that will extend logical drive (LUN). And after
LUN extension will be completed your operating system will see free space on
windows "physical" drive.

Br,
Dakl

"j05e" <> wrote in message
news:A28E6135-227F-445F-B89E-...
> Thank you very much for your answer.
>
> I am going to do the expansion bynight, but I am going to expand the RAID
> but no the logical drives because I have read in the HP Array
Configuration
> User Guide that it is not recommended doing this when you use Windows 2003
> and MSCS. The reason is that in the Logical Drive Capacity Expansion
process
> the drives have to be configured as dynamic and MSCS required the disks as
> basic. I wopuld create new logical drives.
>
> Thank you again.
>
> "Dakl" wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > You don't need to stop cluster service. While expanding RAID you'll get
some
> > performance degradation (depending on RAID controler settings
degradation
> > level can vary) so it is better to plan to start this process during
hours
> > with less load for the system.
> > Also keep in mind that RAID controler will extend only array and Logical
> > Drive on your storage. OS will see shared disk with additional unused
space
> > after extension will be finished.
> >
> > Br,
> > Dakl
> > MCSE, HP ASE
> >
> > "j05e" <> wrote in message
> > news:7EFF4AEC-74FE-4B25-B8D4-...
> > >
> > > Hello:
> > >
> > > I have a 2-node cluster with a shared disk. I formed a RAID1 with 2
hard
> > > disks of 36GB. I need to increase the capacity of the shared disk, so
I
> > have
> > > thought to buy 2 new hard disks of 36 GB. The cluster model is HP
DL380
> > > Packaged cluster with the MSA500 Smart Array7 Controller. To expand
the
> > RAID
> > > I am going to use the HP Array Configuration Utility; I have read in
the
> > > tutorial that the expansion process takes 15 minutes per gigabyte.
Does it
> > > mean 15 min multiplied by 36 GB or by 72 GB?
> > > The other question is: should I stop the cluster service in both
nodes, so
> > > there is no activity in the shared disk, during the expand process? It
> > would
> > > mean I should stop my cluster 10 or 20 hours?
> > >
> > > Thank you very much for your time
> > >
> >
> >
> >

Thank you again. You have really helped me to clear my ideas. I made a
mistake when I read Logical drives in the HP Smart Array Tutorial. I thoughy
I couldn't expand the LUNS.
So I will espand the RAID where I have three LUNS (the first one is the
quorum and the others are for the database). Once the RAID is expanded I wiil
espand the LUNs.

Thank you
Jose

"Dakl" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> It depends what you are calling Logical Drive.
> If this is Logical drive used in windows OS context (or partition in other
> words) - then yes, you can not expand it as MS clustering does not supports
> dynamic disks.
> I was talking about Logical Drive in HP Smart Array context (or you can call
> it LUN if you like). And in this context MSA controlled at first will extend
> array (disk group) and after that will extend logical drive (LUN). And after
> LUN extension will be completed your operating system will see free space on
> windows "physical" drive.
>
> Br,
> Dakl
>
> "j05e" <> wrote in message
> news:A28E6135-227F-445F-B89E-...
> > Thank you very much for your answer.
> >
> > I am going to do the expansion bynight, but I am going to expand the RAID
> > but no the logical drives because I have read in the HP Array
> Configuration
> > User Guide that it is not recommended doing this when you use Windows 2003
> > and MSCS. The reason is that in the Logical Drive Capacity Expansion
> process
> > the drives have to be configured as dynamic and MSCS required the disks as
> > basic. I wopuld create new logical drives.
> >
> > Thank you again.
> >
> > "Dakl" wrote:
> >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > You don't need to stop cluster service. While expanding RAID you'll get
> some
> > > performance degradation (depending on RAID controler settings
> degradation
> > > level can vary) so it is better to plan to start this process during
> hours
> > > with less load for the system.
> > > Also keep in mind that RAID controler will extend only array and Logical
> > > Drive on your storage. OS will see shared disk with additional unused
> space
> > > after extension will be finished.
> > >
> > > Br,
> > > Dakl
> > > MCSE, HP ASE
> > >
> > > "j05e" <> wrote in message
> > > news:7EFF4AEC-74FE-4B25-B8D4-...
> > > >
> > > > Hello:
> > > >
> > > > I have a 2-node cluster with a shared disk. I formed a RAID1 with 2
> hard
> > > > disks of 36GB. I need to increase the capacity of the shared disk, so
> I
> > > have
> > > > thought to buy 2 new hard disks of 36 GB. The cluster model is HP
> DL380
> > > > Packaged cluster with the MSA500 Smart Array7 Controller. To expand
> the
> > > RAID
> > > > I am going to use the HP Array Configuration Utility; I have read in
> the
> > > > tutorial that the expansion process takes 15 minutes per gigabyte.
> Does it
> > > > mean 15 min multiplied by 36 GB or by 72 GB?
> > > > The other question is: should I stop the cluster service in both
> nodes, so
> > > > there is no activity in the shared disk, during the expand process? It
> > > would
> > > > mean I should stop my cluster 10 or 20 hours?
> > > >
> > > > Thank you very much for your time
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>

If you need to increase the capacity of the shared disk, you can use the How to Use the Extend Partition Wizard to Extend A Partition? to help you, it is excellent and easy to use.