Solved: Intel RAID (RMS3CC080), how to "Online RAID Expansion", cant find it in BIOS or RWC3 - Page 2

GRIFFCOMM · ‎03-14-2018

Hi

We have a S1200SPOR with RMS3CC080, the below document on page 6 (real PDF page 16) says this controller (and all others that are 12Gb) will:

"Online capacity expansion to add space to an existing drive or a new drive"

"Online RAID level migration"

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/raid-products/12G_RAID_Controllers_UG.pdf https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/raid-products/12G_RAID_Controllers_UG.pdf

Ive completed both of the above before with PROMISE controllers and LSI / AVAGO, however i can find anyway in the BIOS or with RWC3 (RAID Web Console 3) to do this, when i select the Virtual Drive there are no options to expand or change the RAID level.

So how is this done?

idata · ‎03-14-2018

Hello Ashley,

Thank you for contacting Intel(R) Technical Support.

I understand that you are trying to do Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) using an Intel(R) Server Board S1200SPOR with an Intel(R) RAID Controller RMS3CC080,

You can use Intel® RAID Web Console 3 to increase the capacity of an existing virtual disk by adding physical disk drives to it. In order to add physical drives, you must be logged on to the system in All Access mode.

Caution

Before you change a virtual disk's capacity, back up the data on the virtual disk.

To increase the capacity of a virtual disk, follow these steps:

User Logical View and select a Drive Group icon in the left panel, and then select Go To -> Drive Group -> Modify Drive Group.

The Modify Drive Group window is displayed.

Click Add Drive.

Note:Depending on the current RAID level, targeted migrated RAID level, and available Unconfigured Good drive numbers, the pop-up window may allow you to select: Adding drives, Removing drives, Migrating RAID level.

In the panel, check the disk drives that you want to add to the virtual disk.

When you are finished adding disk drives, click Next. The next screen appears. This screen allows you to review the summary and go back if you need to make corrections.

When everything is acceptable, click Finish to accept the new configuration. A Reconstruct operation begins on the virtual disk. You can monitor the progress of the reconstruction in the Group Show Progress window. Select Manage -> Show.

This information is from the https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/raid-products/SWUG_full_featured_entry_RAID.pdf Intel® RAID Software User Guide.

Looking forward to your results.

Best regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

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idata · ‎04-25-2018

Hi Ashley,

I will go ahead consult the product engineers as we have not this bug/ issue so far.

Regards,

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎05-06-2018

Hi Ashley,

I'm still investigating about this issue. Once I get more information this bug I will contact you.

Regards,

Intel(R) Technical Support

GRIFFCOMM · ‎05-11-2018

Thanks

This is starting to have an impact on RAID design now... i can only have ONE VOLUME on a SINGLE RAID to have more than one volume means the RAID is not "expandable". For example i would have a single RAID 6 with 2 volumes (500Gb OS and BALANCE for DATA), i cant do that as it means now all the drives in this RAID config are no longer expandable to use any new space if drives are added or upgraded in size.

A single RAID can only have ONE VOLUME, if the OS cant partition in its own environment then you have to dedicate disks to different RAID levels as needed.

idata · ‎05-13-2018

Hello Ashly,

I will appreciate if you can follow the instructions from the attached document and let me know the results.

Best regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

GRIFFCOMM · ‎05-15-2018

When i get some spare drives and time (next few weeks) will test this out for you....

idata · ‎05-16-2018

Hi Ashley,

Thank you for your update.

In that case, I can go ahead and close this case and once you have the results you can re-open this case.

Regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

GRIFFCOMM · ‎05-17-2018

Hi

This system uses UEFI, we are unable to access the BIOS as you suggested. The only way we can do this is through the UEFI BIOS menus.

Please advise.

idata · ‎05-20-2018

Hi,

Thank you for your update.

Let me verify and I will get to you as soon as possible.

Regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎05-22-2018

Hi Ashley,

Can you please remove the RWC3, install RWC2 and follow the guidance I sent you. I ran the test with RWC3 and it give issues, so let's try RWC2 from windows.

Please let me know your results.

Best regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎05-24-2018

Hi Ashley,

I hope you are doing well today.

I'm following up with you to see if you were able to complete the instructions I sent you earlier.

If you have any question please let me know.

Best regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎05-27-2018

Hi Ashley,

I hope you are doing well today.

I'm following up with you to see if you were able to complete the instructions I sent you earlier.

If you have any question please let me know.

Best regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎05-29-2018

Hi Ashley,

I hope you are doing well today.

I'm following up with you to see if you were able to complete the instructions I sent you earlier.

If you have any question please let me know.

Best regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎05-31-2018

Hello Ashley,

I hope you are doing well today.

I have not heard beck from you in regards to this case. I will proceed in closing this case. If you still need assistance from us, you can open a new case a refer to this one; more than glad to continue assisting

Best regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

GRIFFCOMM · ‎09-29-2018

Hi

DId you find a solution to this?

I have deployed a server with 1 drive group, i was able to move from 2 x4Tb RAID 1 (mittor) to 4 x 4Tb RAID6 with no issues, so this appears to be the number of drive groups on that RAID volume.

GRIFFCOMM · ‎09-29-2018

Hi

DId you find a solution to this?

I have deployed a server with 1 drive group, i was able to move from 2 x4Tb RAID 1 (mirror) to 4 x 4Tb RAID6 with no issues, so this appears to be the number of drive groups on that RAID volume.

idata · ‎09-29-2018

Hello Ashly,

Thank you for this very helpful information.

As soon soon as we get new information we will contact you right away.

Best regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎10-02-2018

Hello Ashly,

I hope you are doing well today.

We are still investigating on this issue.

As soon as I get new information I will get back to you.

Regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎10-07-2018

Hello Ashly,

I hope you are doing well today.

We are still investigating on this issue.

As soon as I get new information I will get back to you.

Regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎10-10-2018

Hello Ashly,

I hope you are doing well today.

We are still investigating on this issue.

As soon as I get new information I will get back to you.

Regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎10-14-2018

Hello Ashly,

I hope you are doing well today.

We are still investigating on this issue.

As soon as I get new information I will get back to you.

Regards,

Jeremiah A.

Intel(R) Technical Support

idata · ‎10-20-2018

Hello (((GRIFFCOMM,

We are following up on a case that is still open with the information you had provided related to RWC3 installation and working, we know that this is important for you to get it resolved and it is also equally important for us to get you the right solution. Since we have not seen an update for 6 days, the case will automatically close after 2 business days. You can still re-open the case by logging into your web portal or replying to this email so that all previous interactions around this case will carry through

Best regards,

Jeremiah A..