Increase System Volume on RAID5 Array

[john]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I have a PowerEdge 2650 server, RAID5 array (PERC 3/Di) that origninally
consisted of (3) 36gb drives. It was setup as a single partition.
Windows 2000/MS-SQL 2000 server. I added a 4th drive as we are running
out of space. I reconfigured the volume, and the array volume is now
~100gb. However, the system partition didn't resize, and it's still only
67gb.

We've made (3) calls to Dell.

1) You have a hardware problem. Reboot the server, go into the raid card
diags and make sure the drives are all visable. They were.

2) No way to fix this. Backup the server, reformat/repartition, and
rebuild from scratch. Too time consuming. No other options.

3) Convert array from basic to dynamic disk. I recall reading
*somewhere* that arrays should always be configured as basic disks.
Also, there is a kb article on Microsofts web site (I don't have the
number handy) that indicates that if I do this, it won't solve the problem.

It's my belief that I need to purchase a 3rd party utility like
Symantec's Volume Manager (formally PowerQuest's Server Magic) or use
something like Ghost to backup the server, and then restore and allow
Ghost to resize the partition.

Since Dell has been so inconsistent with their answers, I don't want to
take down our ERP database server without having a good idea that what
they are telling me to do will actually fix the problem.

Does anyone have any experience with this problem and can offer some
insight as to whether converting to a dynamic disk will solve the
problem (and not create others...).

Thanks.

John

 

[Fixer]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

What does it all say in Array Manager?, and i take it the disk is the same
size as the other 3 disks?
"John" <ctcmptrdr@nospam.sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:MQ%ne.891$Ao2.742@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com...
>I have a PowerEdge 2650 server, RAID5 array (PERC 3/Di) that origninally
>consisted of (3) 36gb drives. It was setup as a single partition. Windows
>2000/MS-SQL 2000 server. I added a 4th drive as we are running out of
>space. I reconfigured the volume, and the array volume is now ~100gb.
>However, the system partition didn't resize, and it's still only 67gb.
>
> We've made (3) calls to Dell.
>
> 1) You have a hardware problem. Reboot the server, go into the raid card
> diags and make sure the drives are all visable. They were.
>
> 2) No way to fix this. Backup the server, reformat/repartition, and
> rebuild from scratch. Too time consuming. No other options.
>
> 3) Convert array from basic to dynamic disk. I recall reading *somewhere*
> that arrays should always be configured as basic disks. Also, there is a
> kb article on Microsofts web site (I don't have the number handy) that
> indicates that if I do this, it won't solve the problem.
>
> It's my belief that I need to purchase a 3rd party utility like Symantec's
> Volume Manager (formally PowerQuest's Server Magic) or use something like
> Ghost to backup the server, and then restore and allow Ghost to resize the
> partition.
>
> Since Dell has been so inconsistent with their answers, I don't want to
> take down our ERP database server without having a good idea that what
> they are telling me to do will actually fix the problem.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with this problem and can offer some
> insight as to whether converting to a dynamic disk will solve the problem
> (and not create others...).
>
> Thanks.
>
> John