2 tb hdd size limit rx300 s7

PRIMERGY, PRIMEPower

Moderator: ModTeam

babek
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:18

2 tb hdd size limit rx300 s7

Postby babek » Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:51

Hi.
I have 3 rx 300 s7 servers. two of them have 12x600 gb sas hdd. one have 16x600 gb hdd. I am trying to configure raid on them. There is a misunderstanding about configuring the raid. The server which holds 16 hdd i create raid6 and i am having 7tb space. But the server gives me only 2 tb space to use. Other 5 tb is not usable. and i cannot do anything with this partation. Why?

What i am doing wrong?

me@work
Posts: 1024
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 15:32
Product(s): Scaleo Pi2662, Primergy

Re: 2 tb hdd size limit rx300 s7

Postby me@work » Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:18

You most probably initialized the 7TB RAID logical disk as MBR. This only allows for a size up to 2TB. If you want to use all the 7TB, the disk needs to be initialized as GPT.

If you initialize the logical disks through ServerStart Installation Manager, you need to make sure that you start it in UEFI mode. This requires UEFI in BIOS to be enabled, and UEFI CD mode selected during manual boot device selection.

Another option, of course, is to create 2 logical disks on your RAID system: One with a size up to 2TiB, and another one with the rest. Here, you can use the boot logical volume as MBR disk (which allows all conventional tools to work properly), and create the second logical volume in GPT using the tools of the installed OS.

babek
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:18

Re: 2 tb hdd size limit rx300 s7

Postby babek » Sat Sep 29, 2012 13:52

hi..

yes. you are right. seems the BIOS on the motherboard does not support hdd size more than two tb. And the motherboard does not support UEFI mode. i couldn't activate it. And as i had 16 hdd. i make raid6 separately. each 4 hdd i made raid6 with 1 tb. so i have 4 disks only. But is there any solution to combine all of the disk together?

many thanks,

me@work
Posts: 1024
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 15:32
Product(s): Scaleo Pi2662, Primergy

Re: 2 tb hdd size limit rx300 s7

Postby me@work » Sat Sep 29, 2012 17:43

You still seem to be getting it wrong...

It's not "the BIOS on the motherboard" that does not support more than 2TB, it's a limitation of using the disks in MBR partition scheme, as opposed to GPT scheme.

If your system really is an RX300s7, then its motherboard definitely supports UEFI. But even if you set your system to UEFI mode, you will still be stuck to 2TB disk size, until you change the partitoning scheme from MBR to GPT.

Regarding the arrangement of disks, please try to re-read my last post. I'm not going to repeat it.

Creating 4 RAID6 disks out of 16 physical disks is just, er, hm, ...
With 50% redundancy waste, you'd better set up RAID10, which would give WAAAYY better performance.

Please don't get me wrong, but you might be well advised to get professional on-site help for the setup of your system.


Return to “Server Products”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron