Adding Hard Drive(S) To The Va 7Xxx Array; Backups - HP StorageWorks 8000 - NAS User Manual

Storing microsoft sql server databases on the nas 8000
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to 105 drives can be added to the VA 7400 (with DS2400 enclosures). The VA 7100 and the VA 7400
can contain a mixture of 18 GB, 36 GB and 73 GB hard drives. See below for details on adding hard
drives to the Virtual Arrays. If the drive bays are all full, but the size of the hard drives are not all 73 GB
hard drives, then storage can still be added depending upon the RAID and hot spares setting. In this case,
remove either an 18GB or a 36GB drive. The array should automatically recover/reconstruct the data 'on'
one of the "hot spares". Once the data has been rebuilt, add a higher capacity hard drive in the bay from
which the drive was removed. This process can be repeated as often as necessary. NOTE: If the RAID level
and/or Hot Spare setting has been changed so that the VA 7xxx is no longer performing RAID or hot spare
protection, do not remove a hard drive or data loss will result. NOTE: Although the VA array is able to
recover from most dual hard drive failures, there are certain dual hard drive failures that it cannot recover
from (such as losing a hard disk and its mirror). Be sure to only remove one drive at a time, then add the
new hard drive, and allow the array to reconstruct the data before removing another hard drive. NOTE:
Refer to the VA 7xxx User's guide for important information on adding larger hard drives to an array when
the "hot spares" setting is reserving space for the two largest disks in a redundancy group. Depending
upon the mixture of drives and available space in the array, it may require up to three smaller drives be
replaced by larger drives in order to see any increase in available storage.

adding hard drive(s) to the VA 7xxx array

If there are empty drive bays in the VA 7xxx or within a previously attached DS2400 enclosure, then
storage can be added simply by inserting another hard drive into an empty bay. If the VA 7xxx controller
is configured to allow "Automatic Inclusion" of a new drive (the default), then the array will automatically
detect the new drive and prepare it for use. Auto Include can be set from the Command View NAS GUI by
selecting the Configuration tab, and then highlight the Storage Array Summary (from the left-hand tree).
Click on the Actions button and select Advanced Array Management. This will start up the Command View
SDM GUI for the VA array. Select the configuration tab, and then click on the "Array Settings" button. This
will pop up a window that will have a radio button in it that allows the administrator to turn "Automatic
Include" on or off. Setting "Automatic Include" to off will require manual intervention to include added
hard drives into the storage pool. If, for some reason, the VA 7xxx must operate with Automatic Include
turned off, then the process to include newly added hard drive(s) is to enter the Command View SDM GUI
(as described above); select the diagnostics tab, highlight the newly added disk(s), and press the include
button. Once the hard drive(s) have been added to the enclosure and are included into the storage pool,
their space can made available to the NAS 8000. From within the Command View NAS GUI, select the
Storage tab. It is always best to select the "Storage Array Summary" from the left-hand tree, and then select
"Scan for New Storage" from the action button in order to ensure that all storage changes have been
recognized by the NAS 8000. The additional space from the newly added hard drive(s) will appear under
"Capacity Available to LUNs". For the VA 7400, remember that drives in the odd numbered bays will be
assigned to redundancy group 1 and drives in the even numbered bays will be assigned to redundancy
group 2. Create one or more LUNs and add their space to existing volume groups. For the VA 7400, Take
care not to mix storage from different redundancy groups into the same volume group if the highest level of
fault tolerance is being implemented. When the space has been allocated to a volume group, it is available
to be distributed to the file volumes on that volume group by increasing the allocated size of the
appropriate file volumes through the Command View NAS GUI. Once the new space has been assigned
to a file volume, it is immediately available to the clients of the NAS 8000 and happens without interrupting
service. Another method of adding capacity to the VA 7400 array is to add a DS2400 enclosure. The VA
7400 can have up to six DS2400 enclosures attached to it, up to a total of 105 drives. When a DS2400
enclosure is added, the NAS 8000 and the VA 7xxx storage subsystem must be shut down and restarted in
order for the hardware to recognize the new DS2400 enclosure.

backups

The NAS 8000 supports several different backup environments. If the NAS 8000 is being added to an
existing environment that already has a SQL Server backup solution working, then once the pathing issues
are resolved it should be possible to continue using the same general backup process once the database
has been migrated onto the NAS 8000. If the HP OmniBack backup agent that is bundled with the NAS
8000 is intended to be used for backup, the OmniBack Cell Manager must be used. OmniBack Cell
Manager can be purchased from OmniBack and executes on a separate (from the NAS 8000) backup
server. There are several other backup options available for backing up data on the NAS 8000. Please
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