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4.11 mirror problem

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Bryan Doran

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Oct 31, 2003, 5:07:42 PM10/31/03
to

I tried to use a blank drive but the mirror option software says I need a
Netware partition.

I created a Netware partition and based on TID 10021667 made them the same
size.

I still get an error message that the sizes aren't the same so it won't
mirror.

I did set up the second drive with some data to see if the drive is working
properly. It seems to be and also passes the non destructive hard drive test
in INSTALL.

This is 4.11 NWSB with SP9 installed. Both IDE drives are 80 Gb and we have
1 Gb or RAM in the server.

Bryan

(a little late but... - too bad about those Cubbies!)

"Barry St.John" <Chicago...@CompuServe.com> wrote in message
news:VA.000011e...@compuserve.com...
> Yes, select the existing drive and press [Ins]. This will make it the
> "master" of the pair. Then select the other drive, which must be
> blank, that is, no partition(s).
>
> --
>
> -Barry. [Novell Support Forums SysOp]
>
>


Barry Schnur

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Oct 31, 2003, 6:11:31 PM10/31/03
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>
> This is 4.11 NWSB with SP9 installed. Both IDE drives are 80 Gb and we have
> 1 Gb or RAM in the server.

Hmm -- two issues out there -- 4.11 NWSB (versus 4.2 SBS) has issues
with SP9.

Second issue might well be the 80G IDE drives -- are these
master/slave on the same controller?

--
Barry Schnur
Novell Support Connection Volunteer Sysop

Barry Schnur

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Nov 1, 2003, 2:51:09 PM11/1/03
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Bryan, I'm not a fan of IDE drive configurations in servers, and
particularly multiple IDE drive configurations.

I do recall a problem like this when mirroring 36G SCSI drives on a
4.11 server in the past. For whatever reason, when the second
partition was larger, it would report this (OK), then adjust the
size, then not support the mirroring.

After batting my head against it for a while I surrendered and tried
some non-mirroring approaches.

When later, I did a full reinstall, I was able to mirror the drives.

Bryan Doran

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Nov 1, 2003, 2:40:40 PM11/1/03
to
Barry.

I have one drive as primary master and the second drive as secondary
master - but have tried both configurations.

If the empty partition is slightly bigger, it asks if I want to make them
the same size, blinks, but doesn't seem to do anything.

If the empty partition is the same size it says the original is bigger.

For the moment I'm trying an install of Netware 6 to see if the drives can
handle this.

Thanks for the help.

"Barry Schnur" <BSc...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1a0c9a3bd...@support-forums.novell.com...

Bryan Doran

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Nov 3, 2003, 9:40:01 AM11/3/03
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The install of Netware 6 with SP2 (in the middle of SP3 update) worked fine
including mirroring the drives. (Am I the only one that finds this mirroring
routine interface a very confusing way to do something that should be
straight forward?) I think I'll drop the 4.11 and upgrade the client.

Thanks for the help.

Bryan

"Barry Schnur" <BSc...@cox.net> wrote in message

news:MPG.1a0dbccd4...@support-forums.novell.com...

Barry Schnur

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Nov 3, 2003, 11:24:53 AM11/3/03
to
In 3x/4x/5x, the mirroring routine, when it works is reasonably
straightforward. I ran into that one situation where it didn't work
(never got a good explanation as to why), and others where because it
was in place, I was 'covered' when a drive failed.

The thing to be alert to with NW6 -- make sure you have a 'good'
iteration of the IDE driver support as performance varies a lot.

Also, one thing with your configuration, there is likely to be an IDE
CDROM drive in the mix. If you have that, AND IDE hard drives, the
channel with both the IDE hard drive and the IDE CDROM is going to
present performance issues.

Bryan Doran

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Nov 3, 2003, 5:06:50 PM11/3/03
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Barry.

Do I understand your comment to suggest we set the IDE drives as Primary and
Secondary Master and take the CD out of the mix?

We won't need the CD normally, and if we do, we'll just hook it up again.

Even with SP3 (back revved the IDEATA etc to SP2) the system seems to be
running fine. Performance isn't really an issue in this 6 user small office.

Bryan
"Barry Schnur" <BSc...@cox.net> wrote in message

news:MPG.1a102f45b...@support-forums.novell.com...

Dave Lunn

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Nov 3, 2003, 7:59:41 PM11/3/03
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What Barry is warning you about is that when you have an IDE CDROM and an
IDE disk on the same channel you will bog the disk down to the CD drive's
speed.

If you leave the IDE hard disks on the same channel as master/slave, you run
the risk of a failure being able to what both drives. Which sort of defeats
the good part about mirroring. The best solution is one drive per channel
and disconnect the CD if you are not going to use it.
--
Dave Lunn
NSF SysOp
http://support.novell.com


Barry Schnur

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Nov 3, 2003, 9:47:10 PM11/3/03
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> Do I understand your comment to suggest we set the IDE drives as Primary and
> Secondary Master and take the CD out of the mix?

Yup -- especially with NW 4.11 as the CDROM is rarely needed at all
once you have the OS set up.

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