Data Storage - Physically moving array from one MSA1500 to another.

Author

Physically moving array from one MSA1500 to another.

dherrick@ade.com

2007-03-13, 1:14 pm

Hi Folks:

I have to go to Japan and work on a server configuration. Both
servers have MSA1500 array
controllers. OS is Windows 2003 Server. The company has been
evaluating one of our base
server configurations for months and ended up buying it. Now they
want to upgrade this base
server to a a midrange server. Just means more array space and an
aditional tape drive in the
tape library and they've also bought the big brother, one of our high
end systems.

I've been told that they're not interested in any of the evalvation
data they've collected during the
beta test. This would be ideal, but I think it's famous last words.
I suspect they may want to move
the data from one system to the other. It could be up to a
terabyte. And while we could do a
tape backup and restore, this will take some time. It's millions of
tiny files. My question is this?
Is it really possible to move arrays from one system's MSA1500 to
another systems's MSA1500
by moring whole drive shelves or individual drives and have the
existing array recognized? Is this
part of what HP means by "Adaptive Enterprise"? Everything just plugs
into everything else and
works. Or is "Adaptive Enterprise" just a grand marketing slogan?

I should have time to test this on a small scale tomorrow, before my
Thursday flight. Just figured
I'd ask here to find out about others' experiences.

Thanks,

Dennis Herrick
dennis_herrick@hotmail.com

charles.morrall@benzler.se

2007-03-14, 7:14 am

On 13 Mar, 17:10, dherr...@ade.com wrote:
> Hi Folks:
>
> I've been told that they're not interested in any of the evalvation
> data they've collected during the
> beta test. This would be ideal, but I think it's famous last words.
> I suspect they may want to move
> the data from one system to the other. It could be up to a
> terabyte. And while we could do a
> tape backup and restore, this will take some time. It's millions of
> tiny files. My question is this?
> Is it really possible to move arrays from one system's MSA1500 to
> another systems's MSA1500
> by moring whole drive shelves or individual drives and have the
> existing array recognized?

The MSA1500 does not have copy functions between arrays.

Is this
Or is "Adaptive Enterprise" just a grand marketing slogan?

Yes.
>
> I should have time to test this on a small scale tomorrow, before my
> Thursday flight. Just figured
> I'd ask here to find out about others' experiences.

You could attempt to shut down the original array, physically moving
the disks in the configuration (doesn't have to be all disks, just
those who take part of the LUN(s) you want to move. Plug the disks
into the same locations in the target array and if everything works,
the new MSA1500 should recognize the LUNs and you're ok. This could
very well be supported actually, this is what HP calles DtS (DAS to
SAN migration). The idea is to move storage behind internal server's
smart array controllers to the MSA1500 (since the MSA1500 is a Smart
array 5200 series controller).

Risky, so of course take a backup.

Another option is to use Symantec Storage Foundation to mirror the
original volume(s) to newly created empty volumes on the target array.

Moojit

2007-03-18, 1:13 pm

yes. you can move the hard drives from one MSA to another and the LUNs will
appear on the new MSA. This is do to Compaq's DTS technology (DAS to SAN).
The metadata stored on the drives makes this possible.

The Moojit.

<dherrick@ade.com> wrote in message
news:1173802207.273333.135260@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com...
> Hi Folks:
>
> I have to go to Japan and work on a server configuration. Both
> servers have MSA1500 array
> controllers. OS is Windows 2003 Server. The company has been
> evaluating one of our base
> server configurations for months and ended up buying it. Now they
> want to upgrade this base
> server to a a midrange server. Just means more array space and an
> aditional tape drive in the
> tape library and they've also bought the big brother, one of our high
> end systems.
>
> I've been told that they're not interested in any of the evalvation
> data they've collected during the
> beta test. This would be ideal, but I think it's famous last words.
> I suspect they may want to move
> the data from one system to the other. It could be up to a
> terabyte. And while we could do a
> tape backup and restore, this will take some time. It's millions of
> tiny files. My question is this?
> Is it really possible to move arrays from one system's MSA1500 to
> another systems's MSA1500
> by moring whole drive shelves or individual drives and have the
> existing array recognized? Is this
> part of what HP means by "Adaptive Enterprise"? Everything just plugs
> into everything else and
> works. Or is "Adaptive Enterprise" just a grand marketing slogan?
>
> I should have time to test this on a small scale tomorrow, before my
> Thursday flight. Just figured
> I'd ask here to find out about others' experiences.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dennis Herrick
> dennis_herrick@hotmail.com
>