XServe RAID - Possible Dead Drive

I'm running a G5 XServe with RAID 5 - I have 3 80 GB drives, and it has slowed significantly recently - when loading some software today, I see that one of the drive lights (power light is on) was not blinking showing activity... I think the drive may be dead. Any software utility that I can use to check on the health of the drives?

Hi randolph,
This forum is about the xserve RAID, aphyiscal box that can contain 14 disks and connects through fibre channel.
I suggest you ask your question in a more apropriate forum, there will be more knowkedge about your question there.
(To get you started: I would check the disk first with disk utility)
Regards
Donald

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Copy from xServe RAID to firewire drive is crashing my OS...

Fellow mac users,
I am a relatively new OS X system admin and I am having a hard time copying files from my xServe RAID to a firewire drive to do an intermittent backup. When I try to copy the files over it crashes the OS without fail. I was wondering if anyone has ever heard or seen of this before? It's rather discouraging when all I'm trying to do is get a quick backup of the RAID which is only 300 gb in size currently.
Our hardware is very good, we have a dual 2.3 G5 model with 3 gb of RAM so I know the hardware can handle a simple finder copy. The only idea I have is to do a "ditto" in the terminal. I thought I'd ask for input from the resident apple sages before trying that. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for me?
Thanks for any help,
Thomas
xServe Dual G5 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Be sure you have the external drive connected when you boot from the installer disc. Use the OS X Installer One disc that came with your MacBook. After you boot from the installer and select your language select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
After DU loads select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) for the external drive from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Click on the Options button, select the GUID partition scheme and click on the OK button. Set the Format drop down menu to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and the number of partitions from the Partition drop down menu to one (1). Click on the Partition button. Wait for the volume to mount on the Desktop.
Quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with the OS X installation. When you get to the part where you select a destination click on the icon for the external hard drive.

Can you combine the two sides of an Xserve RAID into a single drive?

I am looking to combine my Xserve sides into a single drive so that it will be more efficient for storing beyond hi-def video. I have an Xserve RAID with 14x750GB drives which format in RAID5 down to 4.09TB per side. I want to create a singe 8.18TB drive from these.
Is there an easy way to do it?

Thanks for the info William, I did backup a few important files before this happened, but I would like to get to a few more.
It happened when our IT guy was showing me how to create a new RAID set. He created a set while explaining a few things, then selected the new one he made, and deleted it. Right then, both sets disappeared and were deleted, the empty one he made, and the one we needed. I was watching him, and he didn't select both, just the empty one he'd made. So, I was hoping that there would be a work around just so that I could maybe use a data rescue utility to possibly pair the 2 together long enough for me to back up some files.
If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.
thank you.

Which 750GB drives used in an XServe RAID?

Could somebody with an XServe RAID with 750GB drives please tell me, which drives are used in this configuration? You can look it up in the XServe RAID admin utility, under Arrays and Drives when selecting a drive in "drive" mode.
Thanks a lot,
Floh

ST3750640 NA P
Revision 3.BTF
it is a seagate

Xserve Raid Not Showing all Drives Empty - No Green Lights on Xserve Raid Drives

I have an Xserve Raid. I recently set it up with my Xserve server with fiber cables and now when the Xserve Raid system boots and starts all the drives show as empty in the Raid monitor. Not sure if I have something configured wrong and I think I shut it down incorrectly before I got it hooked up right. When I first got it I was able to see the lights on all the drives but now it boots but no drives show up at all. I have fiber cables to the host Xserve machine and the Xserve Raid plugged into the network with only 1x ethernet cables (not 2 if that makes a difference). When I try to manage the Xserve Raid all drives show as empty even though all the 500GB drives are plugged in. Not seeing any green lights when the Xserve raid boots indicates something is up. I reset the controller cards to stock with the paper clip to factory settings. Does anyone have any ideas on what to try. Anyone have this issue? I haven't found any discussions except one that had a single side of drives go down because of a bad controller card. My Xserve Raid shows no drives at all. Any help is appreciated.

Expansion is a 2 step process: First, you expand the array. Second, you merge the slices. The documentation is clear on step #2, but the GUI doesn't FORCE you to do it. However, it is necessary.
If you did both steps, try rebooting your host and see if it picks up the changed size. It does work... the usual issue though is growing the file system to recognize the additional size. On Linux, I can't help you.

Configure Xserve RAID as a single RAID 5 array?

We just picked up a used Xserve RAID with 14x750GB drives, and we want to configure the entire unit as a single RAID5 array. RAID Utility will let us configure each side as a separate array, but not both sides in a single array. Is this not possible or are we just missing something simple?

No, each side of the RAID is logically separate so while you can create a RAID 5 on either side there is no way to create a single RAID5 of the unit. You can create a RAID 50 and make the 2 RAID5s into a single volume software RAID 0 by using Disk Utility to join the two 5s into a single volume but that's as close as it comes.
HTH,
=Tod

Xserve, G5, Xserve RAID and fibre channel question

hi guys,
I have a Xserve conneted to Xserve RAID right now. Is it possible connect G5 to Xserve RAID thru fibre channel ? thanks

>is it possible to do ?
Not in the way you describe, no.
The XServe RAID's 14 drives are connected to two separate controllers. Drives 1-7 are connected to the upper controller. Drives 8-14 are connected to the lower one.
If your XServe is currently connected to the upper controller it's talking to drives 1-7.
If you connect the G5 to the lower controller it will be talking to drives 8-14.
Therefore you cannot use this setup to backup the data via the G5.
At the very, very least you need a fiber channel switch so that both the XServe and the G5 can connect to the same controller. However, as Tod has already mentioned, it is tricky to get multiple machines talking to the same RAID drives while avoiding corruption (there's no concept of arbitration, or ways of preventing one machine from editing a file that's in use by the other machine).
You have two basic options - one is to implement XSAN, which will handle the arbitration issue, the other is to configure the G5 to mount the RAID read-only. This should prevent the G5 from modifying a file while it's in use by the XServe (which may be sufficient for backup purposes), but you may still run into issues when the G5 tries to backup a file that's actively in use by the XServe.
In all honesty, a better solution would either to get a SCSI card that works with the XServe and do it all there, or use file sharing between the XServe and the G5 and backup over the network - it'll be slower, but a lot more reliable.

Maximum size for Xserve RAID modules

What is the maximum storage size for an Xserve RAID module?
Years ago, an Xserve RAID was out of my price range. Now, I'm looking into getting one on eBay and playing around with it.
I have been making Mirrored RAIDS with Western Digital 3 TB My Books.
Can I put 3 TB drives in an Xserve RAID? It probably depends on the controller firmware or something.
Thanks for thinking about this.
Doc

Short answer is no, you can't.
The XServe RAID has IDE drives mounted in a carrier. The maximum size drive shipped by Apple, supported under 1.5.1 firmware on the controllers is 750GB, though finding these on the used market is farily difficult. Aside from that, any IDE drive can be put in the carriers. If your unit has 'blank' slots, these are indeed just blank slots - you will need to get carriers / drive modules if you want disks in the slot if that makes sense.
People on the Internet, myself included, have experimented down the route of using IDE to SATA bridges in the carriers with 2.5" SATA drives which are more freely available. This way you can utilise cheap drives in your drive modules, or even SSDs (which offer little benefit I have found). Some users have had success with 1TB 2.5" SATA drives in this method, but not with anything bigger it seems. Myself, I've had suceess with 500GB SATA and 256GB SSD with this hacky method.
Hope that helps.

Xserve RAID not viewable by Windows

Hi smart ppl,
I have given a new task to fix the Xserve RAID wtith 7 drives with 500 GB disk space. It is hooking up to the Fibre Channel cable to the server. We use QLogic SANsurfer HBA manager to manage the port. The port status is good according to the software. However, windows 2003 are not able to see the disks. It used to be working fine and now it stops working. And the light on each drive are appeared solid orange. I could not install the RAID Admin Tools since it is windows based OS. Our warrenty is of course expired long time ago. Please help me to resolve this as I have no idea how to troubleshoot that. Thanks in advance!!!
FV.

The easiest way to connect to it is to put whatever machine you're using to contact the RAID in the same IP range as the Xserve RAID and choose "Add System". If there is an Xserve RAID on the system in same subnet it will pop-up in the window and you can choose "Add". It will scan automatically for all addressable boxes on the network and offer them to add. This is definitely the easiest and gets around having to know the exact IP address.
If the machine you're using to connect to the RAID is not the same IP range you can still add it directly by IP address IF the address is routable. Certain whole blocks of address like 10.0.0, 192.168.., and 169.254.. are not reachable from outside those address space, period. If the RAID has one of these addresses (it will self assign in the 169.254.. if not told otherwise) your connecting machine needs to also be in one of these IP ranges.
I have all my non-routed machines in the rack plugged into a local hub and I attach a laptop and let it go to 169.254.. to connect to my little racked LAN.
HTH,
=Tod

Dumb?? How do I tell if an XServe Raid is a G4 or a G5??

I've looked all over the RAID Admin.... Is there any way to do a "Get Info"??
It's NOT listed in the "Info" screen.
Thanks

>So any Apple Drive Module will work??
With the latest XServe RAID firmware and ATA drive modules, yes.
The 'original' XServe RAID came with 180GB drives. Then they added support for 250GB drives, then 400GB and now 500GB.
With each new drive size there's been a corresponding firmware update. The updates add support for the new drive size plus new features.
So if your XServe RAID is running the latest firmware you can use any of those drive sizes. The only other consideration is SATA vs. ATA. The XServe RAID uses ATA Drive Modules, unlike the SATA Drive Modules employed by the XServe G5 - you can't take a drive module from a G5 and put it in an XServe RAID.

Xserve RAID - to slow during video capture

I have Xserve RAID with 14 drives in 2 stripes ( 2x7 drives ) in RAID5. I can see in my system two "drives" called RAID1 & RAID2 - each 2.18TB.
When I`m using BlackMagic Disk Speed test utility I have only 150MB/s read and 100MB/s write which is to slow for 1080i HD.
What is wrong ? What should I do to get better performance ?
I`m new in Xserve so maybe somebody could explaine me "step by step" what to do.
I read a little about RAID50 but I have no idea how to create it.
Regards.
Rafal Szermanowicz
www.grupa13.com

Those speeds are fast enough for HD capture.
Anyway, to ensure you're getting full speed, make sure:
1) You have the 1.5 firmware on the RAID
2) Enable controller write cache is checked (enabled)
3) Use drive cache is checked (enabled)
4) Allow host cache flushing is DISABLED (unchecked)
5) Use steady streaming mode is DISABLED (unchecke)
For capture, leaving the settings at 8 stripes as prefetch is probably best. If you are going to be doing extensive playback of uncompressed HD, you may want to consider setting the prefetch at 128 stripes.

Fibre channel lights on Xserve RAID

I have a G4 Xserve 1.33Ghz connected via Apple's Fibre channel card to a Xserve RAID. 3 drives installed, RAID 5 and a hot spare. The drives are installed in bays 1-4, but the fibre channel activity light is off on the left one, but active green for the right one. There are no drives in bays 8-14, the RAID controller is active.
Surely the left light fibre channel light should be active, and the right one off.
Any ideas, thanks

Hmmm.
I recall the lights on the RAID might be the reverse of what's expected? I'm not 100% certain here -- this may be normal behavior.
Can you see the LUNs in Disk Utility? That's where you can usually check. You may also want to try rebooting once -- just in case the LIP message sent when the RAID came online was ignored.
As for the RAID initializing... once you're above 2% or 3% or so it should be visible from the host... the default is to use RAID Now background initialization which means the volume is available for use (and safe to use -- data is protected), though a bit slower while the initialization completes. Initialization takes a long time -- ~30 hours or so.

Xserve RAID - ADM

Can I install an Apple Drive Module 1TB SATA in a Xserve RAID (M9721LL/A)? If not, what the maximum capacity of this RAID model? Thanks!

The Xserve RAID take ATA drives not SATA drives and the maximum capacity (with firmware 1.5.1) is 750MB so "No".
=Tod

Getting data off of XServe RAID?

I have an old XServe RAID with 14 drives in it. I'm trying to retire it. Problem is: The PowerPC G5 Tower that was running the RAID has died. HD failure. Is there any other way to access the XServe RAID? I do not have original CD's from G5 Tower; trying to buy some now. Need to Reinstall OS 10.5 on it, and then HOPE HOPE HOPE that the data is still in one piece on the XServe RAID, to salvage.
I borrowed a friend's G5 DP 1.8 but the PCI slot was slightly different and the RAID card would not go into the slot.
Anyone else ever go thru this process? Thank you.

Depending on how the RAID was setup you shouldbe able to plug it into any host with a Fiber Channel card and the volumes should just mount. It's not tied to any specific host.
You should be able to find a fiber channel card that will fit your friend's machine (although since they're both G5's I'm a little surprised it didn't fit).

Finding replacement xServe RAID Drive Modules for sale

I've just started a new IT job and inherited an xServe (snow leopard) and xServe RAID
I'm not an expert on either. I've some experience with OS X Server, but I've never been a full on server admin.
One drive is dead. I believe they're 500GB units in the first six bays.
I also believe this is the most recent xServe RAID hardware. Purchased in 2008 or so.
So, first, where on earth would I buy a replacement?
And assuming that's possible, what are people's suggestions for buying drive modules for the other bays, and replacement parts for the xServe itself (power suppies, etc.).
Thanks!

first of all i don't have experience with proprietary Apple products, but typically i believe you can buy any hard drive so long as the interface is compatible (SATA or SAS for example) and the size is the same. there should not be a need to buy 'special Apple xserve hard drives'. if you buy a drive larger than 500 GB then the extra space beyond 500 GB will just be ignored depending on the type of RAID you have setup. definitely do not buy a disk smaller than 500 GB. pull out the disk that is bad and see what the make/model is. my xserve uses Seagate drives so you could probably just search eBay or whatever for the model number of the drive and use that. the hard drive should be able to be removed from the caddy so you don't really need a whole new "module".
as for power supplies those are proprietary and will need to be purchased thru apple or somewhere else like eBay, just search for the part number...

XServe RAID - Possible Dead Drive

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