Category Archives: VMware ESXi 6.0

HP Proliant, VMware ESXi 6.0

Expand HP ESXi host RAID 10 volume with new disks

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I have a HP ML350 Gen9 with an HP ESXi 6.0 image installed
Configuration is 4 300GB 15k SAS drives in RAID 10
I will be adding 2 additional disks to existing RAID10 array and expanding the array

Current Configuration
esxi-originaldiskconfig

  1. Enable SSH on ESXi host
  2. Connect to host via SSH
  3. Ensure everything is in healthy state before starting
    1. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli ctrl all show config
    2. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli ctrl all show status
  4. Add the new drives into the server
  5. Rescan for new devices
    1. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli rescan
  6. Note the ports of the new drives by running the show config cmd
    1. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli ctrl all show config
    2. port 2I:1:5
    3. port 2I:1:6

esxinewdrives1

  1. Find which slot and Id we will be adding disks to
    1. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli ctrl slot=0 ld 1 show
  2. Add new physical drives to existing array
    1. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli ctrl slot=0 ld 1 add drives=2I:1:5,2I:1:6
    2. drives will come online, and you will hear additional drive activity

esxinewdrives

newdrivesinarray

  1. View progress of restriping data to new drives
    1. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli ctrl slot=0 ld 1 show
    2. Wait for “Status Transforming” to complete
    3. Took about 5 hours to complete

esxidrivesinprogress

  1. Expand array
    1. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli controller slot=0 logicaldrive 1 modify size=max
    2. if you get the error “Warning: The command was not executed. Under this environment you must use the “forced” flag to complete the operation.” add forced at the end of the command
    3. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli controller slot=0 logicaldrive 1 modify size=max forced
  2. View status of expand
    1. /opt/hp/hpssacli/bin/hpssacli ctrl all show status
  3. Rescan Storage adapter
    1. vSphere Client
    2. Configuration Tab
    3. Storage Adapter
    4. Rescan
  4. Expand VMFS Datastore in ESXi
    1. Connect to host via vsphere client
    2. Select host and click Configuration Tab
    3. Click Storage
    4. Right Click on datastore and click properties
    5. Click Increase
    6. Select a device from the list of storage devices for which the Expandable column is Yes and click Next
    7. Set the capacity for the extent. The default capacity for the extent is the entire free space on the storage device.
    8. Click Next
    9. After the process completes, click rescan on the datastore
  5. Done