Technical Tip: [Accelops KB] How to add a new disk to AO-VA without rebooting

Summary of Article

There is a way to add a new disk without rebooting AO.  Since we live on a linux box, we can utilize the kernel to rescan for a disk and run commands to mount it.  The purpose for this is usually to move disks around or move data around.

NOTE:  You will need to have some VM and Linux administrative experience in order to perform this task.

Steps

1 - Log into your ESX(i) Server

2 - Right Click and Edit Settings your AO Super

3 - Select Add

4 - Add a new Hard Disk

5 - Once you have added the Hard Disk, Click OK

6 - Allow the ESX(i) server to finish processes the changes then SSH into AO as root user

7 - ls –l /sys/class/scsi_host/

Example Output:

host0     

8 - echo "- - -" > /sys/class/scsi_host/hostx/scan

NOTE: hostx will need to be replaced by the result in step 7

Example Command:

echo "- - -" > /sys/class/scsi_host/host0/scan     

9 - less /var/log/messages

[NOTE: This will tell you where the new drive is located]

Example output:

Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel:   Vendor: VMware    Model: Virtual disk      Rev: 1.0 Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel:   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02 Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel:  target0:0:5: Beginning Domain Validation Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel:  target0:0:5: Domain Validation skipping write tests Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel:  target0:0:5: Ending Domain Validation Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel:  target0:0:5: FAST-40 WIDE SCSI 80.0 MB/s ST (25 ns, offset 127) Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: SCSI device sdc: 69206016 512-byte hdwr sectors (35433 MB) Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: sdc: Write Protect is off Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: sdc: cache data unavailable Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: sdc: assuming drive cache: write through Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: SCSI device sdc: 69206016 512-byte hdwr sectors (35433 MB) Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: sdc: Write Protect is off Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: sdc: cache data unavailable Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: sdc: assuming drive cache: write through Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: sdc: unknown partition table Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: sd 0:0:5:0: Attached scsi disk sdc Jan 14 16:32:34 james-sp kernel: sd 0:0:5:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0 Jan 14 16:34:55 james-sp kernel: SCSI device sdc: 69206016 512-byte hdwr sectors (35433 MB) Jan 14 16:34:55 james-sp kernel: sdc: Write Protect is off Jan 14 16:34:55 james-sp kernel: sdc: cache data unavailable Jan 14 16:34:55 james-sp kernel: sdc: assuming drive cache: write through Jan 14 16:34:55 james-sp kernel: sdc: sdc1 Jan 14 16:34:57 james-sp kernel: SCSI device sdc: 69206016 512-byte hdwr sectors (35433 MB) Jan 14 16:34:57 james-sp kernel: sdc: Write Protect is off Jan 14 16:34:57 james-sp kernel: sdc: cache data unavailable Jan 14 16:34:57 james-sp kernel: sdc: assuming drive cache: write through Jan 14 16:34:57 james-sp kernel: sdc: sdc1     

10 - You will now be able to partition and create the file system.  In the example above, the new disk is /dev/sdc1.  Your disk location may be different

11 - Follow the link and utilize steps 11 -> 23 to Partition, Create the FS, and finally mount the disk:  https://accelops.zendesk.com/entries/25546883-KB-0000119-How-to-Expand-cmdb-disk-manually-

12 - If you want to have this disk mounted each time AO reboots, you will have to edit /etc/fstab in order to do so.

Additional Information

Some Linux administrative knowledge is necessary to be successful

Some ESXi administrative knowledge is necessary to be successful

Version Application

ALL