Guest lasangne Posted September 20, 2007 Posted September 20, 2007 Hello, I have a blade with 2 disks that were software mirrored. Disk 0 failed, dead, it has been replaced but I could not boot from either disk, no matter what boot.ini modifications I made. Finally I reinstalled Windows 2003 Server on Disk 0, booted, modifyed the boot.ini and rebooted from Disk 1 (former mirror). Now I want to recreate the mirror but I cannot do so because I cannot empty Disk 0 as the Blade boots from Disk 0. My question now is: If I change the boot.ini file on Disk 1 to boot from Disk 1 and I change the BIOS settings so that the first boot device is Disk 1, will it boot, so that I can empty Disk 0 and recreate the mirror to the replaced Disk 0. I ask because I cannot test if this will work as the balde works as our webserver and is critical to bussiness. Has been down for 1 1/2 days till we got the dead Disk 0 replaced and cannot have the downtime for more time then needed to recreate the mirror.
Guest Pegasus \(MVP\) Posted September 20, 2007 Posted September 20, 2007 Re: Dead Disk 0 in 2003 mirror "lasangne" <lasangne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:6895B930-995F-49BF-BB58-75AFF793DFF6@microsoft.com... > Hello, > I have a blade with 2 disks that were software mirrored. Disk 0 failed, > dead, it has been replaced but I could not boot from either disk, no > matter > what boot.ini modifications I made. Finally I reinstalled Windows 2003 > Server > on Disk 0, booted, modifyed the boot.ini and rebooted from Disk 1 (former > mirror). Now I want to recreate the mirror but I cannot do so because I > cannot empty Disk 0 as the Blade boots from Disk 0. My question now is: > If I change the boot.ini file on Disk 1 to boot from Disk 1 and I change > the > BIOS settings so that the first boot device is Disk 1, will it boot, so > that > I can empty Disk 0 and recreate the mirror to the replaced Disk 0. I ask > because I cannot test if this will work as the balde works as our > webserver > and is critical to bussiness. Has been down for 1 1/2 days till we got the > dead Disk 0 replaced and cannot have the downtime for more time then > needed > to recreate the mirror. Have a look here about booting from a broken mirror: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;113977 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167045/EN-US/ About your specific question: You are the best person to answer it. Simply create a boot diskette, making sure to have lots of menu lines in it like so: [boot loader] timeout=5 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="5 Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINDOWS="6 Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn Now try them all, one after the other, and change your master/ slave settings too. The whole test should take less than ten minutes.
Guest Johan Strange Posted September 20, 2007 Posted September 20, 2007 Re: Dead Disk 0 in 2003 mirror At this stage I would look at changing this to a hardware RAID "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote: > > "lasangne" <lasangne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:6895B930-995F-49BF-BB58-75AFF793DFF6@microsoft.com... > > Hello, > > I have a blade with 2 disks that were software mirrored. Disk 0 failed, > > dead, it has been replaced but I could not boot from either disk, no > > matter > > what boot.ini modifications I made. Finally I reinstalled Windows 2003 > > Server > > on Disk 0, booted, modifyed the boot.ini and rebooted from Disk 1 (former > > mirror). Now I want to recreate the mirror but I cannot do so because I > > cannot empty Disk 0 as the Blade boots from Disk 0. My question now is: > > If I change the boot.ini file on Disk 1 to boot from Disk 1 and I change > > the > > BIOS settings so that the first boot device is Disk 1, will it boot, so > > that > > I can empty Disk 0 and recreate the mirror to the replaced Disk 0. I ask > > because I cannot test if this will work as the balde works as our > > webserver > > and is critical to bussiness. Has been down for 1 1/2 days till we got the > > dead Disk 0 replaced and cannot have the downtime for more time then > > needed > > to recreate the mirror. > > Have a look here about booting from a broken mirror: > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;113977 > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167045/EN-US/ > > About your specific question: You are the best person to answer > it. Simply create a boot diskette, making sure to have lots of > menu lines in it like so: > > [boot loader] > timeout=5 > default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS > [operating systems] > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="5 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINDOWS="6 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > > Now try them all, one after the other, and change your master/ > slave settings too. The whole test should take less than ten minutes. > > >
Guest lasangne Posted September 20, 2007 Posted September 20, 2007 Re: Dead Disk 0 in 2003 mirror Johan, I would love to but the boss got this blade cheap and does not want to invest in a more expensive blade with hardware mirroring. "Johan Strange" wrote: > At this stage I would look at changing this to a hardware RAID >
Guest lasangne Posted September 20, 2007 Posted September 20, 2007 Re: Dead Disk 0 in 2003 mirror Hi Pegasus, I have 2 problems, 1) Blade is colocated 2) there is no floppy disk available. But your link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167045/EN-US/ does give me a couple of handles I can try. In Disk Manager it says about Disk 0 (where I changed the boot.ini to boot to Disk 1) Failed System and it says about Disk 1 Healthy Boot. Both disks are Dynamic disks. But what I asked about changing the Bios to Boot to the secondary Disk 1 and changing the boot.ini on Disk 1 (original half of the mirror) to boot to Disk 1 will tht work? I have permission to try and fix it this weekend with a 1 hour window that the Server may be offline, so I need to know if it will work. this is a copy of the boot.ini on Disk 0 and what I will use on Disk 1: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Boot Mirror C: - secondary plex" multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, Standard" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut Thanks for your time and help, Lasangne "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote: > > Have a look here about booting from a broken mirror: > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;113977 > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167045/EN-US/ > > About your specific question: You are the best person to answer > it. Simply create a boot diskette, making sure to have lots of > menu lines in it like so: > > [boot loader] > timeout=5 > default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS > [operating systems] > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="5 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINDOWS="6 Microsoft Windows XP > Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn > > Now try them all, one after the other, and change your master/ > slave settings too. The whole test should take less than ten minutes. > > >
Guest Pegasus \(MVP\) Posted September 20, 2007 Posted September 20, 2007 Re: Dead Disk 0 in 2003 mirror What do you mean with "Blade is co-located"? If you read the links I quoted in my first reply then you will see that booting off the second half of a mirror may or may not work. It depends on a number of conditions. I tried it myself a few days ago with an SBS installation. It worked even though the disks were quite different. I have also seen installations where it did not work. In view of the extremely tight constraints you have to work under, you must be very well prepared. Here is what I would do before the weekend: - Get a couple of IDE disks. - Install them in some PC. - Install Server 2003 on this PC. - Convert the disks to dynamic, then create a mirror. - See if you can boot from either of the disks. Not having a floppy disk drive in the server is no excuse at all. Be a little versatile - you have two ways to get around the problem: a) Temporarily connect a spare FDD to the server. b) Create a bootable CD instead of a bootable floppy disk. Again it is essential that you test this technique well before the weekend. You simply won't have the time to muck around and burn bootable CDs! If I was in your position then I would negotiate for a longer outage. You should also do your homework for future occasions. The following thoughts come to the mind: - Since your downtimes are so limited, you must spend some time to go through a number of disaster scenarios in your mind. What would you do if you had some severe file system corruption? A motherboard failure? A Windows malfunction? - When you have your disaster recovery plan, you must test it. What's the good of having mirrored disks if you have never dealt with a failed disk? - A disk mirror appears to be grossly inadequate for your situation. A hot-swappable RAID array seems compulsory in your case. Again you must test it. "lasangne" <lasangne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:793B997D-5B86-48AF-97E7-4A0749C88518@microsoft.com... > Hi Pegasus, > > I have 2 problems, 1) Blade is colocated 2) there is no floppy disk > available. > But your link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167045/EN-US/ does give me a > couple of handles I can try. In Disk Manager it says about Disk 0 (where I > changed the boot.ini to boot to Disk 1) Failed System and it says about > Disk > 1 Healthy Boot. Both disks are Dynamic disks. But what I asked about > changing > the Bios to Boot to the secondary Disk 1 and changing the boot.ini on Disk > 1 > (original half of the mirror) to boot to Disk 1 will tht work? I have > permission to try and fix it this weekend with a 1 hour window that the > Server may be offline, so I need to know if it will work. > this is a copy of the boot.ini on Disk 0 and what I will use on Disk 1: > > [boot loader] > timeout=30 > default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS > [operating systems] > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Boot Mirror C: - secondary > plex" > multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Server 2003, > Standard" > /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut > > Thanks for your time and help, > > Lasangne > > "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote: > >> >> Have a look here about booting from a broken mirror: >> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;113977 >> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/167045/EN-US/ >> >> About your specific question: You are the best person to answer >> it. Simply create a boot diskette, making sure to have lots of >> menu lines in it like so: >> >> [boot loader] >> timeout=5 >> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS >> [operating systems] >> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="1 Microsoft Windows XP >> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn >> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="2 Microsoft Windows XP >> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn >> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="3 Microsoft Windows XP >> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn >> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="4 Microsoft Windows XP >> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn >> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="5 Microsoft Windows XP >> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn >> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINDOWS="6 Microsoft Windows XP >> Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn >> >> Now try them all, one after the other, and change your master/ >> slave settings too. The whole test should take less than ten minutes. >> >> >>
Guest lasangne Posted September 21, 2007 Posted September 21, 2007 Re: Dead Disk 0 in 2003 mirror Hi Pegasus, Colocated means Blade is rented from a Hosting company, so it is not in our building. And thanks for your input, I will test what you say and demand for more time. I will also do my best to get the company to invest in a more expensive blade with hardware mirroring. Thank you all for your comments and help, will let you know what happens, positive or negative. "Pegasus (MVP)" wrote: > What do you mean with "Blade is co-located"? > > If you read the links I quoted in my first reply then you will > see that booting off the second half of a mirror may or may > not work. It depends on a number of conditions. I tried it > myself a few days ago with an SBS installation. It worked > even though the disks were quite different. I have also seen > installations where it did not work. > > In view of the extremely tight constraints you have to work > under, you must be very well prepared. Here is what I would > do before the weekend: > - Get a couple of IDE disks. > - Install them in some PC. > - Install Server 2003 on this PC. > - Convert the disks to dynamic, then create a mirror. > - See if you can boot from either of the disks. > > Not having a floppy disk drive in the server is no excuse at > all. Be a little versatile - you have two ways to get around > the problem: > a) Temporarily connect a spare FDD to the server. > b) Create a bootable CD instead of a bootable floppy disk. > > Again it is essential that you test this technique well before > the weekend. You simply won't have the time to muck > around and burn bootable CDs! > > If I was in your position then I would negotiate for a longer > outage. You should also do your homework for future > occasions. The following thoughts come to the mind: > > - Since your downtimes are so limited, you must spend > some time to go through a number of disaster scenarios > in your mind. What would you do if you had some severe > file system corruption? A motherboard failure? A Windows > malfunction? > > - When you have your disaster recovery plan, you must > test it. What's the good of having mirrored disks if you > have never dealt with a failed disk? > > - A disk mirror appears to be grossly inadequate for > your situation. A hot-swappable RAID array seems > compulsory in your case. Again you must test it.
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