Understanding the Drive Rebuild Process

Understanding the Drive Rebuild Process

This section contains guidelines and instructions for rebuilding a defunct (DDD) drive using the ServeRAID Configuration program.

If you are using the Administration and Monitoring utility program, review the guidelines and information in this section, then, see 'Physical Device Administration' for instructions.

Automatic Rebuild Process: The ServeRAID controller will rebuild a defunct drive automatically when all of the following conditions exist:

The physical drive that failed is part of a RAID level 1 or 5 logical drive.
A HSP or SHS drive with a capacity equal to or greater than the original drive is available the moment that the drive fails.
No rebuild, synchronization, or RAID level change operation is in progress.

If multiple hot-spare drives are available, the ServeRAID controller searches all bays for a hot-spare drive of the appropriate size. The first drive that meets this requirement enters the rebuild state.

A physical hard disk drive can enter the rebuild (RBL) state if:

You physically replace a defunct drive that is part of the critical (CRT) logical drive. When you physically replace a defunct drive in a critical (CRT) logical drive, the ServeRAID controller rebuilds the data on the new physical drive before it changes the logical drive state back to Okay (OKY).
The ServeRAID controller adds a hot-spare or a standby hot-spare drive to the array and changes its state from HSP or SHS to RBL.
A ready or standby drive replaces a defunct drive that is part of the critical (CRT) logical drive. Guidelines for Rebuilding a Drive Before you rebuild a drive, review the following guidelines:
If the state of the logical drive is critical (CRT), you must rebuild the defunct hard disk drive promptly.
The replacement hard disk drive must be the same size or larger than the failed drive.
If the hard disk drive being rebuilt is part of a RAID level 0 logical drive, the RAID level 0 drive is blocked to external access during the rebuild process.
- If you use the ServeRAID Configuration program to initiate the rebuild process, the program unblocks the RAID level 0 logical drive when the rebuild process completes. If the rebuild process is interrupted, you must restart the server to unblock the blocked RAID level 0 logical drive.
- If you use the &admonr. to initiate the rebuild process, you must unblock the RAID level 0 logical drive when the rebuild process completes. (See 'Unblocking Logical Drives' for more information.)
Data that was stored in a RAID level 0 logical drive is lost during the rebuild process. If you backed up the data before the drive failed, you can restore the data to the new drive.

Rebuilding a Drive

To rebuild a physical drive:

Start the ServeRAID Configuration program (see 'Starting the ServeRAID Configuration Program').
Select Rebuild/Device Management from the Main Menu, then, press Enter.
Select Rebuild Drive from the next menu, then, press Enter. The cursor is active in the Array/Bay list.
A pop-up window appears. Select one of the following:
- Select Same Location if you physically replaced a hard disk drive in the same bay, then, press Enter. A Confirm pop-up window appears.
  Select Yes and continue with step 5.
- Select New Location to assign a hard disk drive in a new location. Use the Up Arrow ( ) or Down Arrow ( ) key to select the replacement drive that you want to use for the rebuild operation, then, press Enter. Information and status messages about each stage of the rebuild process appear on the screen.
When the rebuild process completes, press Esc to return to the Main Menu. The new configuration is saved.
Back up the new configuration to diskette (see 'Backing Up the Disk-Array Configuration').
Select Exit to leave the ServeRAID Configuration program.
Remove the HardwareGuide CD and press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the server.

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