OS: Windows 2012 R2 Server. One of the arrays in this server is two 600 GB SAS drives as a RAID 1. I want to add 4 more like drives to this Virtual Disk and convert it to RAID 5. According to posts at the Dell forums you can do this without having to format the drives. Step 1 add the 4 drives to the array and the Step 2 reconfig it with the Server Administrator and let it build itself.
This drive contains the Oracle DB for Prinergy on it so it isn't for the weak of heart. Yes I plan on backing that database up multiple times but Kodak says backup software like Acronis will corrupt the database. And they tell me if I want to copy it I need to do that outside of Windows because if I am in Windows and the Oracle services are running that could also corrupt the database when I copy it.
So my goal is to make sure I have multiple good copies of the database before I do the RAID conversion. Anyone else ever attempted to do something like this on the drive where the Oracle Database resides?
going where no man has gone before....
not me Joe, I had my first time hacking into a Firewall last week.
Fun stuff
good luck and may the force be with you.
I know when I've had to backup our Kodak servers before. Oracle must be shutdown and all services. I used to boot up via a USB flash drive, and then use Ghost to backup to another USB drive. Which we had a Kodak tech help me set that up, so I could do it.
But as far as the RAID, I wish I had the solution. I have a guy I call in for such things. He's local for me, but would be happy to PM you his info, as he is really good with remoting in and doing the work. As that is how is helps us the most.
Quote from: scottrsimons on February 15, 2019, 09:12:51 AMI know when I've had to backup our Kodak servers before. Oracle must be shutdown and all services. I used to boot up via a USB flash drive, and then use Ghost to backup to another USB drive. Which we had a Kodak tech help me set that up, so I could do it.
But as far as the RAID, I wish I had the solution. I have a guy I call in for such things. He's local for me, but would be happy to PM you his info, as he is really good with remoting in and doing the work. As that is how is helps us the most.
Which is exactly what Kodak has told me. However in the Prinergy Administrator there is a backup function that backs up the Prinergy configs and Oracle database that runs at 5:00 am every morning. How can it do this. I suppose it could shut down all services while it does it but we have people creating jobs, uploading and viewing through Insite 24 hours a day. I've never had anyone complain that it isn't working at 5:00 am.
Thanks for the offer. I will hold off on it for now, I know Kodak uses Ghost when they want to mirror a system so I think I will buy that and backup the whole system and give it a go. Worse comes to worse I can just restore the image of the system and should be good. Or head to Mexico and retire.
Quote from: david on February 15, 2019, 08:28:51 AMgoing where no man has gone before....
not me Joe, I had my first time hacking into a Firewall last week.
Fun stuff
good luck and may the force be with you.
The force is always with me. Unfortunately it is an opposing force! :(
Hey Joe, I said
where you goin' to run to now, where you, where you gonna go?
(Joe!)
I'm goin' way down south, way down south
way down south to Mexico way!
(Joe)
I'm goin' way down south
(Hey, Joe)
way down where I can be free!
:laugh:
Jimi Hendrix
Quote from: Tracy on February 15, 2019, 10:05:30 AMHey Joe, I said
where you goin' to run to now, where you, where you gonna go?
(Joe!)
I'm goin' way down south, way down south
way down south to Mexico way!
(Joe)
I'm goin' way down south
(Hey, Joe)
way down where I can be free!
:laugh:
Jimi Hendrix
Yes Jimi and I were good friends. I was flattered when he wrote a song about me! :rotf:
Migrating RAID 1 to 5? Yeah, no.
Add a 4 drive RAID5 or 6 as a separate volume using a hardware RAID controller. You have a mirror, leave it at all reasonable costs.
Quote from: mattbeals on February 15, 2019, 12:44:29 PMMigrating RAID 1 to 5? Yeah, no.
Add a 4 drive RAID5 or 6 as a separate volume using a hardware RAID controller. You have a mirror, leave it at all reasonable costs.
The system disk is 2 disk RAID1. Not being touched.
The data disk is a two disk RAID1.
I want to replace the RAID1 data disk as a 6 disk RAID5. That is the jobs drive for Prinergy which also has the oracle database. I lose 1.2 TB of storage space leaving it as a 2 and 4 disk RAID1 and RAID5 and the 2 disk RAID1 is useless as I need everything on one array. And yes it is a hardware RAID. Perc H730 Mini.
Quote from: Joe on February 15, 2019, 03:37:32 PMQuote from: mattbeals on February 15, 2019, 12:44:29 PMMigrating RAID 1 to 5? Yeah, no.
Add a 4 drive RAID5 or 6 as a separate volume using a hardware RAID controller. You have a mirror, leave it at all reasonable costs.
The system disk is 2 disk RAID1. Not being touched.
The data disk is a two disk RAID1.
I want to replace the RAID1 data disk as a 6 disk RAID5. That is the jobs drive for Prinergy which also has the oracle database. I lose 1.2 TB of storage space leaving it as a 2 and 4 disk RAID1 and RAID5 and the 2 disk RAID1 is useless as I need everything on one array. And yes it is a hardware RAID. Perc H730 Mini.
Maybe it works, I can't say. But at this point for me, comfort level, get an external RAID array and have the flexibility to expand on demand and have failover drives to brought online when a failure occurs. You.should be able to move the DB there, have the data/jobs, hardware RAID, expandability. Migration and changes like this always make me nervous about time. A new array and a restoration *seems* most expedient and reliable. Your mileage may vary.
The only thing on the existing data RAID 1 is the Oracle database and the whole drive only uses about 30 GB of space. Kodak has told me they can restore the database from an existing nightly backup that Prinergy does if it all goes south on me. It actually backs it up to three separate locations. They recommend I boot into a LIVE CD of some type that can read and write to the NTFS drive. Back up the existing drive then do the RAID 1 to RAID 5 conversion and boot back up into the LIVE CD and restore the data to that drive and they believe I will be good to go. If not I will have multiple backups that they say they can restore from. Going to be a weekend project soon I think.
Actually you can't move the Oracle database to another drive. It has to be on the J: drive on the Prinergy Primary Home folder. Or so says Kodak.
"Back up the existing drive then do the RAID 1 to RAID 5 conversion and boot back up into the LIVE CD and restore the data to that drive and they believe I will be good to go. If not I will have multiple backups that they say they can restore from."
Umm... If they think it will work AND they say they can restore it, then make them do it. Then it's their problem. I have a few years experience with these phrases....
Onsite service from Kodak? Not going to happen at what Kodak charges for onsite service. If they have to rescue the database they can do it remotely which our support plan covers.
I would have a call open with Kodak on the Friday before you do the transfer and restore, in case anything goes south. That way, you are already in line, and hopefully queued up with the right person. And you can already take care of all the questions about after hour rates and such.
Quote from: Joe on February 17, 2019, 07:55:29 PMOnsite service from Kodak? Not going to happen at what Kodak charges for onsite service. If they have to rescue the database they can do it remotely which our support plan covers.
Right, they can do it remotely. Makes for an easy process and decision.
Yes they can do the restore remotely if it gets screwed up but they will not do the procedure remotely.
Quote from: Joe on February 18, 2019, 10:53:57 AMYes they can do the restore remotely if it gets screwed up but they will not do the procedure remotely.
Seriously???? oooohhh okay....
OK I did this over the weekend exactly the way the Kodak support person told me to do it. Also did a manual backup of the Oracle DB using the Oracle Snapshot DB backup tool. I booted to a live Linux installation and copied everything to an external drive including the Oracle database. Once I added the drives and converted the RAID I found that it didn't extend the partition to give me the extra space. I was going to expand via the Windows disk management but it wouldn't give me all of the space. So I went back and deleted the Virtual Disk and recreated it which does destroy all data on the drive then I formatted the new virtual disk as NTFS and gained all the space. Then booted back into the live Linux installation and copied everything back. then booted back into Prinergy and Prinergy would not start giving errors it couldn't connect to the database so I had to create a support case with Kodak for Monday morning. They logged in and had it up in running in less than 30 minutes. What the first Kodak person failed to tell me is the Oracle database has files on both the C drive (system drive) and the J drive (data drive which is where the expansion took place) and the time stamps have to be the same for both. So it turned out not to be a big issue but it didn't stop me from having heart failure for a day and a half worrying that I had hosed the database waiting for the Monday morning support call.