[cisco-voip] Can you use the same instructions

[Mike Armstrong]

I think the issue is not whether or not you can hot-swap a drive and have 
the array continue to function, but what the state of the swapped-out drive 
is.  Using the "pull a drive" backup procedure recommended in CCM 
maintenance docs, you want the pulled drive to be in a stable state 
representing the system prior to maintenance, so you can fall back if need 
be.  Pulling the drive while it's "hot" offers no assurance of that.

Unity docs explicitly forbid pulling a drive in this fashion, but I've never 
understood why, and have so-far-successfully ignored the warnings.

Finally, I never rebuild the array until my maintenance is complete -- the 
maintenance window is shortened considerably, since there's no delay to 
rebuild, and the maintenance itself is noticeably faster.

Mike Armstrong
UF/IFAS CREC
Lake Alfred, FL

> Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 22:47:06 -0400
> From: "Simon, Bill" <BillS at tns.its.psu.edu>
> Subject: RE: [cisco-voip] Can you use the same instructions
> To: "'Lelio Fulgenzi '" <lelio at uoguelph.ca>,
> "'cisco-voip at puck.nether.net '" <cisco-voip at puck.nether.net>
> Message-ID:
> <07A14D6987A5F647B2415D72EDF63B56F78741 at tnsex01.otc.win.psu.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> The RAID controllers are hot-plug ... you can pull a drive while the 
> machine
> is up and replace it with another one and it will start mirroring from the
> live, working drive.
>
> We have always done this using the "top" drive on HP servers (drive 1 
> versus
> drive 0) so I am not sure if this is the only drive that can be hot 
> swapped
> or if you can do so with either drive.  I think it used to be only this 
> one,
> but maybe the RAID controllers allow either way now.
>