Tag: VirtualDrive

Categories
Knowledge Support Support Categories exacqVision Hardware

Resizing a Partition on Microsoft Windows

Title

Resizing a Partition on Microsoft Windows

Description 

If the capacity of a virtual drive has been increased; once the reconstruction has successfully completed, then it will be necessary to resize existing partitions before the operating system can utilize the additional space.

Product 

  • Microsoft Windows
  • exacqVision Server

Overview

  • Restart the NVR
  • Stop exacqVision Server Service
  • Launch Disk Management
  • Resize the partition
  • Start the  exacqVision Server Service
  • Check storage, previously recorded and new video

Restart the NVR

  • Click the Windows Icon, the Power Icon, then choose Restart, the NVR will restart

Stop exacqVision Server Service

  • Press Windows Key + R, the run box will open, type services.msc, click OK , the Services window will appear
  • Locate and right-click on exacqVision Server, select Stop, a service control window will briefly appear then close once the service is stopped
  • Leave the Services Window open

Disk Management

  • Press Windows Key + R, the run box will open, type diskmgmt.msc, click OK, the Disk Management window will appear
  • The Virtual Disk should show both the Primary Partition “Original Space” and Unallocated “New Space”
  • Right-Click on the Virtual Disks Primary Partition, a context window will appear
  • Select Extend Volume… , the Extend Volume Wizard will launch, click Next to continue
  • Select the Disk to use space from and the amount of space in MB to extend, click Next
  • Note: By default, the correct source and maximum available space should already be chosen.
  • Review the proposed settings and click Back to modify, Finish to apply, or Cancel to abort, the wizard will close
  • The Virtual Disk should now only have a single partition and show the new storage capacity
  • Close Disk Management

Start exacqVision Server Service

  • Open  the Services window used previously
  • Locate and right-click on exacqVision Server, select Start, a service control window will briefly appear then close once the service is started
  • Close Services

exacqVision Client

  • Open the exacqVision Client
  • Navigate to the Drive Tab (Configuration > YOURSERVER >  Storage)
  • Verify the Capacity reported is correct and the status is Healthy
  • Search for previously recorded video 
  • Verify current video is being recorded 

Congratulations the partition has been successfully expanded 

Categories
Knowledge Support Support Categories exacqVision Hardware

Resizing a Partition on Ubuntu Linux

Title

Resizing a Partition on Ubuntu Linux

Description 

If the capacity of a Virtual Drive has been increased, then it will be necessary to resize existing partitions. 

Product 

  • Ubuntu Linux 18.04

Overview

  • Stop exacqVision Server
  • Identify virtual drive mount point and Device
  • Unmount the virtual drive mount point
  • Launch GParted
  • Resize the partition
  • Mount the virtual drive mount point
  • Verify partition size increased
  • Start the  exacqVision Server
  • Check storage size, status, video both existing and new in the exacqVision Client

Terminal Commands

  • Open Terminal (Applications > System Tools > Terminal)
    • Note: See Terminal Commands Start to Finish below for a detailed example
    • Stop the exacqVision Server service 
    • List block devices and mount points 
    • Unmount the virtual drive storage volume
    • Launch GParted , the GParted Window will appear

GParted

  • Note:  A Libparted Warning similar to the following may appear, if so, select Fix
  • Use the Dropdown to select the device the virtual drive is using in this example “/dev/sda”
  • You should now see the existing partition and unallocated space 
  • Right-click on the existing partition, a context menu will appear
  • Select Resize/Move, the Resize/Move window will appear 
  • Change the New Size (MiB) to match the Maximum size listed 
  • The Free space preceding and following should now be zero
  • Select Resize/Move, the Resize/Move window will close
  • There should be 1 operation pending to grow the partition
  • Click the green check mark to begin the operation
  • Select Apply to confirm the operation, the Applying pending operations window appears
  • Note: The time will to complete will vary based on the size of the expansion but will typically be 15 minutes or less. 
  • A green check mark will appear next to the Grow operation when complete
  • Click Close
  • Close GParted

Terminal Continued

  • The Terminal Window should still be open from earlier
  • Note: See Terminal Commands Start to Finish below for a detailed example
  • Mount the partition
  • List device blocks and mount points 
    • Confirm that the Size of the Virtual Drive mount point has increased
  • Start the exacqVision Server Service
  • Close Terminal

exacqVision Client

  • On the Drive tab verify the Capacity reported is correct and the status is Healthy
  • Search for previously recorded video 
  • Verify current video is being recorded 

Congratulations the partition has been successfully expanded 

Terminal Commands Start to Finish

Categories
Knowledge Support Support Categories exacqVision Hardware

Creating a MegaRAID Virtual Drive Using LSA (LSI Storage Authority)

Title

Creating a MegaRAID Virtual Drive Using LSA (LSI Storage Authority)

Description 

Follow these instructions to create a new virtual drive using LSI Storage Authority (LSA). 

Product 

  • MegaRAID
  • LSI Storage Authority (LSA)

Overview 

  • Stop exacqVision Server service 
  • Check current drive group and virtual drive configuration 
  • Create a new drive group
  • Create a hot spare (optional) 
  • Create a new virtual drive 
  • Initialize the virtual drive in the operating system
  • Verify virtual drive is present, healthy and operational

Stop exacqVision Server Service

In order to prevent exacqVision from attempting to access or write to the controller it is considered good practice to stop the service before proceeding. 

Windows 

  • Press Windows Key+R, type services.msc in the run box then press enter
  • Locate and Stop the exacqVision Server service

Linux 

  • Launch Terminal (Applications > Systems Tools > Terminal), execute the following command in the Terminal window
  • sudo service edvrserver stop 
  • Storage drives should be unmounted, enter the command 
  • sudo umount -a 
  • Some devices will not be unmounted and a “Target is busy” message will appear, these can be ignored.

Check Current Drive Group & Virtual Drive Configuration 

  • Launch LSA from the desktop 
  • Enter the administrators username and password
  • Use the drop down to Select Controller, the controller dashboard will appear
  • Drive Group & Virtual Drives
    • Select the Drive Groups tab, verify no Drive Groups or Virtual Drives are configured.
    • Any existing Drive Groups or Virtual Drives should be deleted. See Knowledge Base Article  #10513 “Deleting a MegaRAID Virtual Drive Using LSA (LSI Storage Authority)”
  • Physical Drives
    • Ensure that all Physical Drives are present, they also must have a status of Unconfigured Good 
    • If not, clear the configuration too include Foreign configurations. 
  • Clear Configuration
    • Select Controller Actions > Configure > Clear Configuration, a confirmation window will appear
    • Select Confirm and then Yes, Clear Configuration 
  • Foreign Configuraiton
    • Select Controller Actions >Configure > Foreign Configuration, a confirmation window will appearNote: if grayed out then no drives with Foreign Configuration
    • The Foreign Configuration window appears listing all Foreign Configurations
    • Click Clear, when prompted select Clear All to remove configurations from all foreign drives 
    • Click Re-Scan to refresh the window, No Foreign configurations should not be found
    • Click Close
  • All drives should now be Unconfigured Good 

Create a Drive Group 

  • Select Controller Actions > Configure > Advanced Configuration, the Advanced Configuration window opens
  • Select a RAID level for the drive group from the drop-down box, then click NextIf the original RAID level is unknown the RAID level can be determined by the total number of drives being used to create the drive group.  RAID 5 for systems with three to eight drives and RAID 6 for systems with 9 or more drives
  • (Optional) Click Compare and Select to view the detailed information on each RAID level
  • Select Add Physical Drives
    • Click the column header “Enlcosure:Slot” until the drives are in listed in ascending order by slot with slot 0 at the top
    • Check the box to the left of the”Enlcosure:Slot” individually or next to the header to select all Available Unconfigured DrivesNote:  If a hot spare is needed leave at least 1 drive unchecked 
  • Select Add Physical Drives to add the selected physical drives to the drive group.

Add Hot Spare (Optional) 

  • If an unassigned drive is available then “Add Hot Spares” will be available 
  • Select “Add Hot Spares”
  • Check the box to the left of the Available Unconfigured Drives.
  • Click “Add Hot Spares”Note:  A Hot Spare drive can be added later if an open slot is available

Create a Virtual Drive 

  • Click Add Virtual Drives
    • Virtual drives to create: 1 (default)
    • Capacity:  (default)The capacity is automatically calculated based on the combined capacities of the physical drives within the drive group and the RAID level chosen.
    • Virtual Drive Name: Leave as the default
    • Stripe Size: 256 (default)
    • Initialization State: Fast Initialization 
    • Read Policy: Read Ahead (default)
    • Write Policy: Write Back (default) 
    • IO Policy: Direct IO (default) 
    • Disk Cache Policy: Disabled (default)
    • Click Add Virtual Drives, Information about the newly created virtual drive appears in the Advanced Configuration window.
  • Review Settings, if necessary select Back to make corrections, once satisfied click Next
  • Select Finish to add the virtual drive to the drive group and complete Advanced Configuration
  • Select Close 

Initialize the Virtual Disk in the OS


Windows

  • Press Windows Key+R, type diskmgmt.msc in the run box then press enter
  • An Initialize Disk Window similar to the following will appear
  • The default settings should be correct, click OK
  • The Virtual Drive will be present and show Unallocated, right-click in empty space to the right of Unallocated
  • A window will appear, choose New Simple Volume
  • The New Simple Volume Wizard will launch, click Next to continue
  • Specify Volume Size, by default the maximum size should already be selected, click Next 
  • Assign a Drive Letter, click Next
  • Format the VolumeFile Systems: NTFS (default)
  • Allocation unit size: Default (default) 
  • Volume Label: Data
  • click Next
  • Review Settings, if necessary go Back to make corrections, once satisfied click Finish
  • The Virtual Disk should now be a Healthy (Primary Partition) with a Label and drive letter
  • Close Disk Management
  • Restart the machine

Linux

  • From the Desktop open Places and navigate to Computer > File System > usr/local/exacq/server/scripts
  • Right-Click in an empty spot, a context window will appear, select Open as Administrator
  • Enter the Linux Administrator password, click Authenticate, a new file explorer window will appear (as superuser)
  • Launch the raidprep.sh script, select Run in Terminal when prompted
  • A Terminal terminal window will appear, results of the script will be displayed before it automatically closes 
  • If the following error 
  • Restart the machine

Virtual Drive Verification

The virtual drive should now be fully configured, healthy and operational.

  • In the exacqVision Client, navigate to Storage 
  • Check the Drive tab, verify the virtual drive is present and healthy
  • Check the Hardware tab  Graphic view, verify 
    • Status is optimal (Optl), Background initialization (x% Complete)
    • All slots containing a physical drive are healthy
    • Note: Hot Spares should be listed and with a status of Dedicated Hot Spare
  • Check the Hardware tab Tree view, verify 
    • Controller is present and Healthy
    • Virtual Drive (Unit) is present and Healthy 
    • Physical drives (ports 0-#) are present and Healthy 
  • If a hot spare was created it should be listed and have a status of Dedicated Hot Spare
Categories
Knowledge Support Support Categories exacqVision Hardware

Deleting a MegaRAID Virtual Drive Using LSA (LSI Storage Authority)

Title

Deleting a MegaRAID Virtual Drive Using LSA (LSI Storage Authority)

Description 

Instructions for deleting a MegaRAID virtual drive using LSA (LSI Storage Authority)

Product 

  • LSI Storage Authority 
  • MegaRAID

Prerequisite

Caution:  The exacqVision Server service should be stopped before proceeding


Windows 

  • Press Windows Key+R, type services.msc in the run box then press enter
  • Locate and Stop the exacqVision Server service

Linux 

  • Launch Terminal (Applications > Systems Tools > Terminal), execute the following command in the Terminal window
  • sudo service edvrserver stop 

Deleting a Virtual Drive

There can be several reason why you may wish to delete a virtual drive 

  • The virtual drive is failed and cannot be recovered
  • Physical drive replacement to expand capacity

caution: All data on a virtual drive is lost when you delete it. Make sure to back up the data before you delete a virtual drive.

  1. Launch LSA from the desktop 
  2. Enter the administrators username and password
  3. Use the drop down to Select Controller, the controller dashboard will appear
  4. From the Controller dashboard, select the Drive Groups Tab, click the + icon next to the drive group name (example DG_0).  The Drive group will expand and the virtual and physical drives associated with the selected drive group appear. 
  5. Select the virtual drive, a check will appear to the left of the drive group name and Element(s) Action will display available actions 
  6. Select Element Action > Delete 
  7. Select Confirm and click Yes, Delete,  a message momentarily appears confirming that the virtual drive was deleted successfully, Drive Groups should show the following