upgrade udea needed

upgrade udea needed

I need  help in a upgrade plan, The deal is that we have to upgrade one of 
our server with bigger hard disk drives and i need a plan as to how to do it.
 
 
We have 3 drives:
 
C: Os partition
L: Logs 
D: Database
 
 
Now the OS and the logs are mirrored
The database is on a raid 5.
 
We have 3 Mbx stores and 1 Pf store.
 
Now i wana know what the best way to upgrade i mean.... what options do we 
have.
Any thoughts on this?


-Alstar

date: Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:57:00 -0700 author: Alstar

RE: upgrade udea needed

We do have additional slots to push in new disks, but the catch here is 
that we do not wana change the drives letter configuration (ie L= logs and D 
= Databases)

Here is what i am thikin, maybe u guys can help me here...

Upgrading the L: drive should be pretty easy

>Take full backup (All the logs will be flushed)
>Dismount stores
>Move the log file path to the D: drive 
>Upgrade L: drive and move the logs back from D: drive

Upgrading D: drive (Here it gets a bit tricky)
As we have 4 Mbx stores and 1 Public store
Even if we push in the new temp disk... dont know how i should go about it 
actually.

One way is to 
>remove the database disks
>upgrade them
>restore from backup

Any better ideas than this... the D: drive needs some planning i would say.


-A


"Alstar" wrote:

> I need  help in a upgrade plan, The deal is that we have to upgrade one of 
> our server with bigger hard disk drives and i need a plan as to how to do it.
>  
>  
> We have 3 drives:
>  
> C: Os partition
> L: Logs 
> D: Database
>  
>  
> Now the OS and the logs are mirrored
> The database is on a raid 5.
>  
> We have 3 Mbx stores and 1 Pf store.
>  
> Now i wana know what the best way to upgrade i mean.... what options do we 
> have.
> Any thoughts on this?
> 
> 
> -Alstar

date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:36:01 -0700 author: Alstar

Re: upgrade udea needed

What brand of server?  If you're running HP, you can upgrade a RAID-5 array 
this way.  Say you have a 5-drive RAID-5 array, all 73GB drives.  You can 
replace each one with a 146GB drive, one at a time, waiting for rebuild to 
complete after replacing each before replacing another.  If I remember 
correctly, after you do that, you'll end up with an array that's double the 
size, magically.  Someone more in tune with the hardware can correct me if 
I'm wrong on this, but it's what I remember.

I'm not aware whether this works for other brands.
-- 
Ed Crowley MVP
"There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

"Alstar"  wrote in message 
news:61B357E1-A873-444A-8D31-F98F16F49C6A@microsoft.com...
>I need  help in a upgrade plan, The deal is that we have to upgrade one of
> our server with bigger hard disk drives and i need a plan as to how to do 
> it.
>
>
> We have 3 drives:
>
> C: Os partition
> L: Logs
> D: Database
>
>
> Now the OS and the logs are mirrored
> The database is on a raid 5.
>
> We have 3 Mbx stores and 1 Pf store.
>
> Now i wana know what the best way to upgrade i mean.... what options do we
> have.
> Any thoughts on this?
>
>
> -Alstar

date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:55:58 -0400 author: Ed Crowley [MVP]

Re: upgrade udea needed

We've got Dell servers and my h/w knowledge is kinda not up to the mark.. and 
not sure how this would work...


-A

"Ed Crowley [MVP]" wrote:

> What brand of server?  If you're running HP, you can upgrade a RAID-5 array 
> this way.  Say you have a 5-drive RAID-5 array, all 73GB drives.  You can 
> replace each one with a 146GB drive, one at a time, waiting for rebuild to 
> complete after replacing each before replacing another.  If I remember 
> correctly, after you do that, you'll end up with an array that's double the 
> size, magically.  Someone more in tune with the hardware can correct me if 
> I'm wrong on this, but it's what I remember.
> 
> I'm not aware whether this works for other brands.
> -- 
> Ed Crowley MVP
> "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
> 
> "Alstar"  wrote in message 
> news:61B357E1-A873-444A-8D31-F98F16F49C6A@microsoft.com...
> >I need  help in a upgrade plan, The deal is that we have to upgrade one of
> > our server with bigger hard disk drives and i need a plan as to how to do 
> > it.
> >
> >
> > We have 3 drives:
> >
> > C: Os partition
> > L: Logs
> > D: Database
> >
> >
> > Now the OS and the logs are mirrored
> > The database is on a raid 5.
> >
> > We have 3 Mbx stores and 1 Pf store.
> >
> > Now i wana know what the best way to upgrade i mean.... what options do we
> > have.
> > Any thoughts on this?
> >
> >
> > -Alstar 
> 
> 
>

date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:16:01 -0700 author: Alstar

Re: upgrade udea needed

Actually I believe it will rebuild the array as the original size, but then 
you may be able to use the Smart Array software to expand it. At that point 
you could use something like Acronis Disk Director or maybe Diskpart to 
extend the volume.

"Ed Crowley [MVP]"  wrote in message 
news:uAjFmRCpIHA.3408@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> What brand of server?  If you're running HP, you can upgrade a RAID-5 
> array this way.  Say you have a 5-drive RAID-5 array, all 73GB drives. 
> You can replace each one with a 146GB drive, one at a time, waiting for 
> rebuild to complete after replacing each before replacing another.  If I 
> remember correctly, after you do that, you'll end up with an array that's 
> double the size, magically.  Someone more in tune with the hardware can 
> correct me if I'm wrong on this, but it's what I remember.
>
> I'm not aware whether this works for other brands.
> -- 
> Ed Crowley MVP
> "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
>
> "Alstar"  wrote in message 
> news:61B357E1-A873-444A-8D31-F98F16F49C6A@microsoft.com...
>>I need  help in a upgrade plan, The deal is that we have to upgrade one of
>> our server with bigger hard disk drives and i need a plan as to how to do 
>> it.
>>
>>
>> We have 3 drives:
>>
>> C: Os partition
>> L: Logs
>> D: Database
>>
>>
>> Now the OS and the logs are mirrored
>> The database is on a raid 5.
>>
>> We have 3 Mbx stores and 1 Pf store.
>>
>> Now i wana know what the best way to upgrade i mean.... what options do 
>> we
>> have.
>> Any thoughts on this?
>>
>>
>> -Alstar
>
>

date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:09:26 -0700 author: Martin Blackstone

Re: upgrade udea needed

I have used the proceedure below with SQL with success. However its not 
exactly for the faint of heart.

Stop all Exchange and IIS services and set to manual for startup.
Backup all data on the arrays. Not Exchange aware backup, but flat file.
Shut down.
Remove the disks and replace with bigger ones.
Create new arrays with the larger disks. Maintain the exact same drive 
letters.
Restore the data
Set services to auto and reboot.

"Alstar"  wrote in message 
news:93F68302-3F5F-46EF-9199-B109EF708705@microsoft.com...
> We've got Dell servers and my h/w knowledge is kinda not up to the mark.. 
> and
> not sure how this would work...
>
>
> -A
>
> "Ed Crowley [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> What brand of server?  If you're running HP, you can upgrade a RAID-5 
>> array
>> this way.  Say you have a 5-drive RAID-5 array, all 73GB drives.  You can
>> replace each one with a 146GB drive, one at a time, waiting for rebuild 
>> to
>> complete after replacing each before replacing another.  If I remember
>> correctly, after you do that, you'll end up with an array that's double 
>> the
>> size, magically.  Someone more in tune with the hardware can correct me 
>> if
>> I'm wrong on this, but it's what I remember.
>>
>> I'm not aware whether this works for other brands.
>> -- 
>> Ed Crowley MVP
>> "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
>>
>> "Alstar"  wrote in message
>> news:61B357E1-A873-444A-8D31-F98F16F49C6A@microsoft.com...
>> >I need  help in a upgrade plan, The deal is that we have to upgrade one 
>> >of
>> > our server with bigger hard disk drives and i need a plan as to how to 
>> > do
>> > it.
>> >
>> >
>> > We have 3 drives:
>> >
>> > C: Os partition
>> > L: Logs
>> > D: Database
>> >
>> >
>> > Now the OS and the logs are mirrored
>> > The database is on a raid 5.
>> >
>> > We have 3 Mbx stores and 1 Pf store.
>> >
>> > Now i wana know what the best way to upgrade i mean.... what options do 
>> > we
>> > have.
>> > Any thoughts on this?
>> >
>> >
>> > -Alstar
>>
>>
>>

date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:13:23 -0700 author: Martin Blackstone

Re: upgrade udea needed

> Actually I believe it will rebuild the array as the original size, but 
> then you may be able to use the Smart Array software to expand it. At that 
> point you could use something like Acronis Disk Director or maybe Diskpart 
> to extend the volume.

Yep Diskpart (or Diskpar pre SP1) can expand any drive other than the System 
Disk.

So swapping out disks from your RAID partitions with larger ones and waiting 
for the RAID set to rebuild before swapping out another is a good way to go.

Oliver

date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:40:03 +0100 author: Oliver Moazzezi [MVP]

Re: upgrade udea needed

If your hardware supports it.
-- 
Ed Crowley MVP
"There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."
.

"Oliver Moazzezi [MVP]"  wrote in message 
news:uncvf5HpIHA.6096@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> Actually I believe it will rebuild the array as the original size, but 
>> then you may be able to use the Smart Array software to expand it. At 
>> that point you could use something like Acronis Disk Director or maybe 
>> Diskpart to extend the volume.
>
> Yep Diskpart (or Diskpar pre SP1) can expand any drive other than the 
> System Disk.
>
> So swapping out disks from your RAID partitions with larger ones and 
> waiting for the RAID set to rebuild before swapping out another is a good 
> way to go.
>
> Oliver
>
>

date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:20:28 -0400 author: Ed Crowley [MVP]