*REPLACING HARDDISK OF AN SAP SYSTEM*

[Former Member]

Dear Members,

Greetings!

We have an SAP server running on Windows 2003 R2 SP1, running on Dell PowerEdge 6800 64-bit machine. The system almost has all of its data disks or drives filled.

I would like to replace the hard disks of the server (currently 136GB hard disks) with 300GB hard disks.

What would be my options to have the SAP system undisturbed with all the configuraions and data as it was in the previous disks?

I also have restrictions like the schedule of the downtime must be very low.

Please help me with the options to replace the data in the old disks, can I use any tool inbuilt in the Windows Server 2003 or any external tools or export database and try with the reinstallation of the SAP server with the old export of the SAP database after the replacement of the hard disks.

Expecting your reply at the earliest.

Thank you

Regards,

Vineeth Damodar

+91 90030 31317

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

If those are the system disks then you won´t get around a new installation. If on those disks only the database files reside you can take a backup and restore them on the same locations.

Markus

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Markus,

Thanks for the reply.

I would like to clarify your reply.

You mean to say that if the hard disk contains different drives with different data in each say for example C-Drive consists of the OS related data, D-Drive consists of Oracle database data with all the SAPDATA files.

Then I would have to go for a new installation or a backup and restore of the windows server?

Is there any method on Windows Server 2003 to mirror the disk if I connect all the new disks to the server or merely copy the data and structures from the drives in the old disks to the new ones.

Kindly reply.

Thank you

Regards,

Vineeth Damodar

+91 90030 31317

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

The question is: Are those drive letters assigned to different physical DRIVES or do they separate one big drive into PARTITIONS?

If the latter then I wouldn´t do "experiments" if this is your production system. The safest way would be to install the OS new on the system, patch it up and use the system copy method with backup/restore of the database. This will give you new clean installation.

It´s not only the files that would be necessary to copy but also the users/permissions on them, the registry and the permissions in the registry. If you just copy your boot disk from disk A to disk B it´s very unlikely that the machine will be able to boot from the new drive.

Markus

[thomas_valentini · Accepted solution]

Hi!

If you clone the hard drive to a new (bigger) one, you should not expect problems.

Cloning is as much faster as installing (the whole) system new, that you should give cloning a chance.

Regards

Thomas

[markus_doehr2 · Accepted solution]

"Cloning" means source == target.

If hard disk sizes changes, cloning is not (always) possible. Especially if you use SCSI harddisk drivers for the server (which is most likely the case), this can result in an unbootable system.

Markus

[thomas_valentini · Accepted solution]

you clone from scsi to scsi, just the size is different.

i would give cloning a chance, because there isn't really a risk and it's comparatively really fast.

after failure a clean new installations is allways possible.

unfortunately i don't have an unused bigger scsi drive here to test this case

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Dear Markus & Thomas,

Thank you very much for the reply.

I would give try with the cloning procedure.

Can you mention the steps for this procedure?

I would also like to know if there are any other methods for the relacement.

Thank you

Regards,

Vineeth

[thomas_valentini · Accepted solution]

Hi!

What program do you use or would you like to use?

Acronis has good software (for windows) to clone hard drives and make images.

Your cloning software should be intuitively

Regards

Thomas

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Dear Thomas,

This is the first time I am doing a cloning process that too on servers with SAP system running on the same.

I am worried whether the cloning process would solve my problem or create further problems in the server.

I have a DELL Power Edge 2900 with two disks 72Gb capacity with two drives in RAID 1 configuration to be replaced with two disks of capacity 300Gb on one server and another Dell PowerEdge 6800 with six disks 146Gb capacity with three drives in RAID 1 & 5 configuration to be replaced with six disks of capacity 300Gb.

As you know the export and reinstallation process will involve a huge downtime and process of getting the license from SAP.

Kindly share your ideas regarding the same.

Thank you

Regards,

Vineeth

[thomas_valentini · Accepted solution]

You can clone system for example(!) with a local installation of a cloning software like

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATICW/local-version.html

This might be the easiest and cheapest way to do so.

i'm sure you have a server to test this procedure - i think this would be the best for a minimal downtime!

Regards

Thomas

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

After sifting through tons of dialogue here in search of the scenario that is most similar to mine, looks like this is as similar as possible.

I need move the entire directory structure (E:) to a new separate hard drive G: SAP and addons all sit on E:

Our server page file sits on too small a partition (C:) (Low disk memory issues constantly) and there is not room to expand the partition unless I move E: to a new drive, reclaim E: back into C:

I've not done this kind of migration before.

a) do I move it?

If so, what is the process? especially for stop/start services, and pointing all the clients to the new drive?

b) do I clone it? and point all the clients to the new location

If so, I need procedures for cloning.

I have a spare 500Gb USB hard drive for making a backup.

What's the best way to make a backup of this E:

I want to copy it intact.

Your help is much appreciated.

--aldo veranzo

Edited by: Aldo Veranzo on Feb 22, 2010 10:55 PM