Re: GParted Support for Dell PERC Cards?
On Fri, July 9, 2010 11:21, Stroller wrote: > > On 8 Jul 2010, at 18:17, J. Epperson wrote: >> >> What James wants to do appears not to require fooling around with the >> physical disk partitions, and I'd expect to be able to do it using the >> Windows Logical Disk Manager. You'd do the equivalent with the LVM >> utilities if it were a Linux LV setup. It appears that what's called a >> Logical Volume here corresponds to a Linux Volume Group, and the >> partitions C: and P: look like what Linux calls a logical volume. > > I really don't interpret the post that way. Mr Bensley's choice of words > seems quite specific. > > Certainly the Perc4 on the PE2800 allows you to create "logical volumes" > - and I'm sure it calls them exactly that - at the RAID level using the > Dell-bundled RAID configuration web-interface. GParted certainly won't > see them because, as I stated before, the RAID controller will show the > logical volumes as individual drives to Linux, which will call them sda, > sdb &c. > Oops, yer right. "Logical Volume" is used at too many different layers, and I wasn't even thinking of layer not visible to the partition editor and OS. > >> Note that if you were dealing with filesystems directly on disk >> partitions, you would not be able to shrink the second partition and >> stretch the first one, you'd have to blow away the second one, stretch >> the first one, recreate the second one, and reload its data. > > I believe that - at least using Partition Magic, for instance - it's > possible to move the D: partition (called "P:" in this case) to the end > of the drive, so that there's empty space after the "C:" partition into > which it can be expanded. You simply drag the end-of-partition marker to > the end of the drive, the beginning-of-partition marker to wherever you > want it and hit the green "commit changes" button; the partition does not > need to be the same size. I am surprised to imagine that GParted can't > manage this, as I'm sure it's dead simple easy and obvious under > Partition Magic, at least according to my recollection. > And I can't state for certain that it can't be done in Gparted. I know that it absolutely could not be done the last time I attempted it in the similar Qtparted. You could move the partition markers around, but not the data. ___ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list Linux-PowerEdge@dell.com https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
Re: GParted Support for Dell PERC Cards?
On 8 Jul 2010, at 18:17, J. Epperson wrote: > On Thu, July 8, 2010 11:18, Stroller wrote: >> >> On 8 Jul 2010, at 14:52, James Bensley wrote: >>> ... I am wanting to alter the partition sizes of a Windows Server >>> 2003 >>> box we have and I was planning to boot up with a GParted Live CD but >>> will it be able to see my NTFS partitions to resize them? >>> >>> The box in question is a PE1950 with a Perc 5/i with two SATAII >>> drives >>> in a hardware RAID1, on that sits two Logical Volumes, ignore >>> volume 1; >>> on volume 0 there are two partitions C: and P: and I want to >>> shrink P: >>> and then grow C: but does anyone know if Gparted can see NTFS >>> partitions, on a LV, on the hardware RAID on a Perc 5/i? Seems a bit >>> far fetched to me? >> > > Stroller gave an extensive and expansive reply, with lots of good > info, > trimmed for brevity here. > > What James wants to do appears not to require fooling around with the > physical disk partitions, and I'd expect to be able to do it using the > Windows Logical Disk Manager. You'd do the equivalent with the LVM > utilities if it were a Linux LV setup. It appears that what's > called a > Logical Volume here corresponds to a Linux Volume Group, and the > partitions C: and P: look like what Linux calls a logical volume. I really don't interpret the post that way. Mr Bensley's choice of words seems quite specific. Certainly the Perc4 on the PE2800 allows you to create "logical volumes" - and I'm sure it calls them exactly that - at the RAID level using the Dell-bundled RAID configuration web-interface. GParted certainly won't see them because, as I stated before, the RAID controller will show the logical volumes as individual drives to Linux, which will call them sda, sdb &c. But Mr Bensley says, "ignore volume 1, on volume 0 there are two partitions C: and P:". BOLD EMPHASIS on the preceding statement. This is perfectly possible, because having created two logical drives on the array, Windows will (just as Linux does) treat those 2 x LV as separate physical volumes, and each can be partitioned using the normal Windows tools. If Mr Bensley mischose his words then he'll have to sell us, so that we can provide better advice. It appears I am reading his use of the word "partition" as "a partition" and you are reading his use of the word "partition" as "not a partition". :/ > Note that if you were dealing with filesystems > directly on disk partitions, you would not be able to shrink the > second > partition and stretch the first one, you'd have to blow away the > second > one, stretch the first one, recreate the second one, and reload its > data. I believe that - at least using Partition Magic, for instance - it's possible to move the D: partition (called "P:" in this case) to the end of the drive, so that there's empty space after the "C:" partition into which it can be expanded. You simply drag the end-of-partition marker to the end of the drive, the beginning-of-partition marker to wherever you want it and hit the green "commit changes" button; the partition does not need to be the same size. I am surprised to imagine that GParted can't manage this, as I'm sure it's dead simple easy and obvious under Partition Magic, at least according to my recollection. There is a specific issue in Server 2003, widely documented, which prevents the system C: partition from being resized using the Windows Logical Disk Manager. Stroller. ___ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list Linux-PowerEdge@dell.com https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
Re: GParted Support for Dell PERC Cards?
Thanks to all for your replies, they are proving very useful. I will boot up a GParted Live CD out of hours just to see if all partitions are picked up correctly etc, assuming they are then this should be a good sign for the go ahead. -- Regards, James. http://www.jamesbensley.co.cc/ There are 10 kinds of people in the world; Those who understand Vigesimal, and J others...? ___ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list Linux-PowerEdge@dell.com https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
Re: GParted Support for Dell PERC Cards?
On Thu, July 8, 2010 11:18, Stroller wrote: > > On 8 Jul 2010, at 14:52, James Bensley wrote: >> ... I am wanting to alter the partition sizes of a Windows Server 2003 >> box we have and I was planning to boot up with a GParted Live CD but >> will it be able to see my NTFS partitions to resize them? >> >> The box in question is a PE1950 with a Perc 5/i with two SATAII drives >> in a hardware RAID1, on that sits two Logical Volumes, ignore volume 1; >> on volume 0 there are two partitions C: and P: and I want to shrink P: >> and then grow C: but does anyone know if Gparted can see NTFS >> partitions, on a LV, on the hardware RAID on a Perc 5/i? Seems a bit >> far fetched to me? > Stroller gave an extensive and expansive reply, with lots of good info, trimmed for brevity here. What James wants to do appears not to require fooling around with the physical disk partitions, and I'd expect to be able to do it using the Windows Logical Disk Manager. You'd do the equivalent with the LVM utilities if it were a Linux LV setup. It appears that what's called a Logical Volume here corresponds to a Linux Volume Group, and the partitions C: and P: look like what Linux calls a logical volume. Gparted can deal with NTFS laid directly onto physical disk partitions, but I'd be astonished if it could see through the Logical Disk Manager layer to deal with them. Note that if you were dealing with filesystems directly on disk partitions, you would not be able to shrink the second partition and stretch the first one, you'd have to blow away the second one, stretch the first one, recreate the second one, and reload its data. ___ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list Linux-PowerEdge@dell.com https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
Re: GParted Support for Dell PERC Cards?
On 8 Jul 2010, at 14:52, James Bensley wrote: > ... > I am wanting to alter the partition sizes of a Windows Server 2003 box > we have and I was planning to boot up with a GParted Live CD but will > it be able to see my NTFS partitions to resize them? > > The box in question is a PE1950 with a Perc 5/i with two SATAII drives > in a hardware RAID1, on that sits two Logical Volumes, ignore volume > 1; on volume 0 there are two partitions C: and P: and I want to shrink > P: and then grow C: but does anyone know if Gparted can see NTFS > partitions, on a LV, on the hardware RAID on a Perc 5/i? Seems a bit > far fetched to me? I've done this on a PowerEdge 2800, with a Perc4, I think. Chances are the the Linux LiveCD will recognise the RAID controller and see the logical volumes as sda, sdb &c. As per Timo's reply, which has arrived before I'm able to finish typing. If your first choice of LiveCD doesn't work, try a couple of recent Knoppix CDs, System Rescue CD &c. See some hints in this post: http://gparted-forum.surf4.info/viewtopic.php?id=13903 I advise you to take backups of the Windows system before you start. Of all drives / LVs / partitions. IMO the best way is just to dd all logical drives of=/mnt/whatever/file.img to a couple of external USB hard-drives. This requires overnight operations or long downtime, but GParted is not warrantied. You may be able to shrink the P: partition from within Windows 2003, using Management > Disks &c. If you have this option I advise you to do so. If you need to move the start point of P: using GParted I advise you to do so and reboot into Windows before tacking the resize of the C: drive. I believe the C: partition in Server 2003 presents some special difficulties. I believe that after making the enlargement using GParted (and after applying those changes), but *before rebooting to Windows* you need to then shrink it again to make Windows recognise the changes. You only need to shrink it very slightly - i.e. enlarge from 10gig to 20gig, then reduce the partition size by 100meg - but this is necessary to make GParted work correctly on Server 2003 C: drives. Otherwise the partition will be seen as larger in Computer Management > Disk Management, but not in Windows Explorer, which will show it at its original size. There are lots of documented instances of this phenomenon all over the GParted forums and elsewhere. The two resizes need to be applied separately in such a way that separate actual operations are performed by GParted. I think that after you have made the two resizes and reboot to Windows, chkdsk will be triggered automatically at first boot. So your comment - "seems a bit far fetched to me?" - no, not at all. The LVs are a standard feature on this RAID card, which is (surely) supported under Linux. NTFS and multiple partitions are both supported by GParted. The problem is that it's all a little bit fiddly, and one has to be cautious. This is certainly not as quick and easy as using Partition Magic on an XP Home PC. I took multiple attempts performing this operation, imaged backups of the drives each step of the way, and it took me quite a lot of time. Valuing my time at £50 per hour (charged to the client) it would probably have been cheaper to buy a proprietary partitioning utility for Windows Server - I think there was one (the server version of Partition Magic?) that seemed like it would do the job for about £200. The C: partition on Server 2003 is a bit special, though, so I'm not sure that all proprietary partitioning utilities handle it. My conclusion was that having multiple LVs on a single array is a bit shit - if you can afford that rackspace you're better of using extra drives, and IMO a separate array per partition (I just don't generally bother much with partitions). But that's tangental to your question. Stroller. ___ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list Linux-PowerEdge@dell.com https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
Re: GParted Support for Dell PERC Cards?
Excellent, I will it try soon, this is some planned downtime coming up in a couple of weeks but obviously I don't want to find out on the night its not going to work ;) Yeah I mean we use CentOS on our Dell servers and they all work great with our Perc 5/i's but I don't know what the state of affairs with GParted Specifically was but thanks for the info, some food for thought! -- Regards, James. http://www.jamesbensley.co.cc/ There are 10 kinds of people in the world; Those who understand Vigesimal, and J others...? ___ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list Linux-PowerEdge@dell.com https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
Re: GParted Support for Dell PERC Cards?
Hi James, On Thu, Jul 08, 2010 at 02:52:48PM +0100, James Bensley wrote: > Knowers-of-all; Not yet. ;) > I am wanting to alter the partition sizes of a Windows Server 2003 box > we have and I was planning to boot up with a GParted Live CD but will > it be able to see my NTFS partitions to resize them? > > The box in question is a PE1950 with a Perc 5/i with two SATAII drives > in a hardware RAID1, on that sits two Logical Volumes, ignore volume > 1; on volume 0 there are two partitions C: and P: and I want to shrink > P: and then grow C: but does anyone know if Gparted can see NTFS > partitions, on a LV, on the hardware RAID on a Perc 5/i? Seems a bit > far fetched to me? Just try it. ;-) It should work since the PERC drivers have been part of standard Linux kernels for quite some time and GParted is based on rather recent kernels. The kernel driver will make your LVs appear as /dev/sda and /dev/sdb, GParted should know about the rest. HTH, Tino. -- "What we nourish flourishes." - "Was wir nähren erblüht." www.tisc.de ___ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list Linux-PowerEdge@dell.com https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
GParted Support for Dell PERC Cards?
Knowers-of-all; I am wanting to alter the partition sizes of a Windows Server 2003 box we have and I was planning to boot up with a GParted Live CD but will it be able to see my NTFS partitions to resize them? The box in question is a PE1950 with a Perc 5/i with two SATAII drives in a hardware RAID1, on that sits two Logical Volumes, ignore volume 1; on volume 0 there are two partitions C: and P: and I want to shrink P: and then grow C: but does anyone know if Gparted can see NTFS partitions, on a LV, on the hardware RAID on a Perc 5/i? Seems a bit far fetched to me? -- Regards, James. http://www.jamesbensley.co.cc/ There are 10 kinds of people in the world; Those who understand Vigesimal, and J others...? ___ Linux-PowerEdge mailing list Linux-PowerEdge@dell.com https://lists.us.dell.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-poweredge Please read the FAQ at http://lists.us.dell.com/faq
