PE 2600 SCSI Drives

Fri Nov 21 10:44:41 CST 2008

Thanks for all the replies, both on and off-list.  I think I know have 
enough pieces of information and web links to get me started on this little 
task.  And to identify what areas that I need to do some additional reading 
on.  I have been reading this list as a daily digest for several years and 
the topics that are discussed here have taken me from a complete Linux 
newbie to one that is comfortable with figuring out how to do tasks like 
this.  Thanks to the regular posters that provide assistance to others.

Jeff

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Paul M. Dyer" <pmdyer at ctgcentral2.com>
To: "Jeff Boyce" <jboyce at meridianenv.com>
Cc: <linux-poweredge at dell.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 4:56 PM
Subject: Re: PE 2600 SCSI Drives

> Hi Jeff,
>
> Since you have a hot spare and one empty slot, you could buy 1 drive and 
> take the hot spare for use as storage in a raid-1 mirror.   Alternatively, 
> you could just take the hot spare and use it as a standalone drive and 
> give out 36GB of disk space in just a few minutes.
>
> OMSA has a good interface for building raid sets.   Login to omsa as root, 
> then navigate to Storage, Perc, Virtual Disk, then click "Go to Create 
> Virtual Disk Wizard".
>
> To unassign the hot spare, the path is Storage, Perc, Connector, 
> Enclosure, Physical Disk, then a pull down "unassign global hot spare".
>
> After creating your new virtual disk (raid-1, or single disk), you will 
> need to create a filesystem in Linux>
>  partprobe (maybe reboot in RHEL3)
>  cat /proc/partitions (find out the new device id, probably /dev/sdb)
>  mke2fs -j -L /data /dev/sdb
>  mkdir /data
>  mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb /data
>  (add something to /etc/fstab)
>
> Be careful.
>
> We have a PE-2650 with 5/36GB drives that is no longer being used.   If 
> you are looking to buy a good old server, I can check with the boss and 
> see if he wants to sell.
>
> Paul
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeff Boyce" <jboyce at meridianenv.com>
> To: linux-poweredge at dell.com, "Mike P Moore" 
> <Mike.Moore at appliedbiosystems.com>
> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 4:37:46 PM (GMT-0600) America/Chicago
> Subject: Re: PE 2600 SCSI Drives
>
> Mike -
>
> Thanks for the site reference, and the advice.  I am not sure that I can 
> add
> a new drive to the RAID-5 without LVM.  Can someone explain to me if it is
> possible to add it to the RAID-5, even if it is retained as a seperate
> volume or partition (excuse my ignorance here)?  I don't have the time in
> the near future to reconfigure the storage to include LVM.  And if I did, 
> I
> don't think the rest of the staff want the server down as long as it would
> probably take me to do it.  I would want to upgrade the OS while I am at 
> it,
> but with only the single server I have to be assured that the few main
> software components would all be functional again (OMSA and Arkeia tape
> backup).  The reconfiguration may wait until the server is replaced.
>
> Jeff
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Mike P Moore
> To: Jeff Boyce
> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 1:53 PM
> Subject: Re: PE 2600 SCSI Drives
>
>
>
> I have used:
>
> http://discountechnology.com/
>
> To purchase drives for my PE2650 (rack version of your 2600) in the past.
> I don't know if you will be able to grow the RAID-5 array to the new drive
> in
> the RAID controller.  You might have to back the data up, and rebuild the
> array with the new configuration.  You might be able to use something
> like the System Rescue CD (run qtParted on it) to resize the partitions.
> QtParted is like Partition Magic, but I am not sure you can resize linux
> partitions.
>
>  If you have to wipe the array, I'd recommend setting the new one
> up with LVM.  Just to be future proof.
>
>  Good luck!
>
> Michael P. Moore
> Senior Network Engineer
> Applied Biosystems - High Throughput Discovery Division
> P: 508-383-7486
> ONNET: 685-7486
>
>
>
> "Jeff Boyce" <jboyce at meridianenv.com>
> Sent by: linux-poweredge-bounces at dell.com
> 11/20/2008 04:33 PM To<linux-poweredge at dell.com>
> cc
> SubjectPE 2600 SCSI Drives
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Greetings -
>
> I am looking for an additional drive for a PE2600.  My search through the
> Dell support site does not find a drive type and size that I currently 
> have
> in the system.  My objective is to add another drive to my Samba file 
> server
> to increase our storage space.  My server is currently configured with 
> three
> 36GB drives in Raid 5 and one hot spare.  The Raid is not configured with
> LVM.  I do have OMSA installed.  The PE2600 is our only server; and it is
> running RH3.  The drives that are currently in it are 36.7GB, 15k RPM, 
> Ultra
> 320, 80-pin, Dell Part # 341-1430.
>
> Does anyone have a recommendation for another supplier that would have 
> what
> I am looking for?  I have always purchased my drives through Dell, so I am
> not familiar with other reliable options/suppliers that might be 
> available.
> I am generally a novice (part-time) Linux administrator (full time 
> forester)
> for a small business, so if there are other options to achieve my 
> objective,
> I am open for suggestions.  Thanks.
>
>
> Jeff Boyce
> www.meridianenv.com
>
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