We frequently run into an issue that requires a system reboot when it seems that one shouldn't be necessary. Any advice would be appreciated. Here are the details:
A Windows 2000 host had access via fibre channel to a LUN with 600GB of storage on a HP EVA 5000. The filesystem started filling up so the LUN ("vdisk") on the EVA was extended to 700GB.
Normally our next step to use the new space would be to go to Computer Management, right-click on Disk Management and choose "Rescan Disks". The OS would then realize there's 100GB of unused space at the end of the drive, and diskpart could be used to extend the file system.
On this host however, the Rescan Disks command has no effect. Despite having confirmed on the EVA that the vdisk/LUN extension to 700GB has completed, the host still reports the same 600GB disk size.
In the past every time that this happens, the OS will recognize the new space immediately after a reboot. But, we've so far been unsuccessful in finding a way to make use of the new space without rebooting.
My questions are:
1) Is this a common/known issue?
2) Are there any steps we're missing or should do differently?
3) Is there any way to make use of the new space without rebooting the entire system?
Thanks!
Jim
Best Answer
I am pretty sure this is a kinown issue with Windows Server 2000. It didn't support disks that changed size without a dismount/remount. We hit this issue a number of times. Typically the way you solve this is with thin provisioining/storage virtualization. I.e. you create a partition that says it is 2TB but is only backed by 500GB of storage. Then behind the scenes you can add storage over time either manually or autoamtically up to the 2TB limit without requiring a reboot. Once you go beyond that you will have to reboot the system.
Worked for us back when this was an issue. Alternative is to upgrade the OS. I seem to remember Server 2003 deals with this much better.
Thanks,
Chris