I need to remove one of my drives from my array. As I am still in the process of loading data onto a new system, I have not yet assigned a parity drive. I've read the instructions on the board to:

 

Make a note of the drive assignments on the device screen

Shut down the array

Remove the drive

Telnet to the server

Type "initconfig"

 

From what I've read two things aren't clear to me:

 

First, after running initconfig do the drives need to be re-assigned and if so do they need to be re-assigned to the same slot. The drive I need to remove is drive 3 of seven drives, and that would lead to an empty slot in the middle of the array. So I'm not sure what to do here.

 

Second, everything I've read about initconfig indicates that invoking it starts a parity check. As I don't yet have a parity drive, should I still use initconfig after removing the drive, or will it fail when it doesn't find a parity drive?

 

First unassign the drive and then enter initconfig.

First, after running initconfig do the drives need to be re-assigned and if so do they need to be re-assigned to the same slot. The drive I need to remove is drive 3 of seven drives, and that would lead to an empty slot in the middle of the array. So I'm not sure what to do here.

 

If you are running 4.7 the drives do not need to be reassigned. If you are running 5.0bx the assignment page will be cleared and you do need to assign drives. You can assign them to any spot, they do not need to be assigned to their original spot.

 

Second, everything I've read about initconfig indicates that invoking it starts a parity check. As I don't yet have a parity drive, should I still use initconfig after removing the drive, or will it fail when it doesn't find a parity drive?

 

Initconfig resets the array configuration. It does not automatically start a parity check. Do initconfig and see what happens, the only downside of a initconfig is that it resets the configuration, including the parity if present, since there is no parity there is nothing to lose.

Thanks.

 

I was worried about doing it, but turned out to be a piece of cake.