Extend disk on a Windows 2003 cluster

Hi,

I have an Exchange server 2003 active/passive cluster built on Windows
Server 2003 EE. Also, I have an HP EVA 3000 storage. Recently I added disks
to increase the available space of the disks the Exchange databases are
stored on. I know I can extend the the physical disk through the EVA and then
I can use the diskpart utility to extend the volume in the Windows.
However, somebody told me when the cluster was created they had created the
partitions using the command "create partition primary align=xxxx" in order
to align the partition with the underlying storage to improve performance, as
described in KB929491 article. Does anybody knows if I cause a problem or
performance degradation when I will extend the disk and the partition? Will
the partition misaligned?

Thank you in advance

Dimitris

> Hi,
>
> I have an Exchange server 2003 active/passive cluster built on Windows
> Server 2003 EE. Also, I have an HP EVA 3000 storage. Recently I added
disks
> to increase the available space of the disks the Exchange databases are
> stored on. I know I can extend the the physical disk through the EVA and
then
> I can use the diskpart utility to extend the volume in the Windows.
> However, somebody told me when the cluster was created they had created
the
> partitions using the command "create partition primary align=xxxx" in
order
> to align the partition with the underlying storage to improve performance,
as
> described in KB929491 article. Does anybody knows if I cause a problem or
> performance degradation when I will extend the disk and the partition?
Will
> the partition misaligned?
>

If you use http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304736 to extend the clustered
shared disk, it will not affect your partition offset.

Rgds,
Edwin.

Hello Edwin,

Thank you for the quick response.
I am already aware of this article but it doesn't mention anything about the
starting offset of the partition that is to be extended.
Also there is a note in the article KB929491 saying "The factors that affect
partition alignment are stripe unit size and partition starting offset" which
in my case will remain intact.
So normally I wouldn't have any problems. I just asked for a second thought.

Thanks again


"Edwin vMierlo [MVP]" wrote:

>
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have an Exchange server 2003 active/passive cluster built on Windows
> > Server 2003 EE. Also, I have an HP EVA 3000 storage. Recently I added
> disks
> > to increase the available space of the disks the Exchange databases are
> > stored on. I know I can extend the the physical disk through the EVA and
> then
> > I can use the diskpart utility to extend the volume in the Windows.
> > However, somebody told me when the cluster was created they had created
> the
> > partitions using the command "create partition primary align=xxxx" in
> order
> > to align the partition with the underlying storage to improve performance,
> as
> > described in KB929491 article. Does anybody knows if I cause a problem or
> > performance degradation when I will extend the disk and the partition?
> Will
> > the partition misaligned?
> >
>
> If you use http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304736 to extend the clustered
> shared disk, it will not affect your partition offset.
>
> Rgds,
> Edwin.
>
>
>

We have an EVA4000 and have extended the disks on numerous clusters without
an issue.

"Dimitris" <Dimitris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:12AB76B8-1656-4E67-BDF0-2056D045ECD3@microsoft.com...
> Hello Edwin,
>
> Thank you for the quick response.
> I am already aware of this article but it doesn't mention anything about
> the
> starting offset of the partition that is to be extended.
> Also there is a note in the article KB929491 saying "The factors that
> affect
> partition alignment are stripe unit size and partition starting offset"
> which
> in my case will remain intact.
> So normally I wouldn't have any problems. I just asked for a second
> thought.
>
> Thanks again
>
>
> "Edwin vMierlo [MVP]" wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I have an Exchange server 2003 active/passive cluster built on Windows
>> > Server 2003 EE. Also, I have an HP EVA 3000 storage. Recently I added
>> disks
>> > to increase the available space of the disks the Exchange databases are
>> > stored on. I know I can extend the the physical disk through the EVA
>> > and
>> then
>> > I can use the diskpart utility to extend the volume in the Windows.
>> > However, somebody told me when the cluster was created they had created
>> the
>> > partitions using the command "create partition primary align=xxxx" in
>> order
>> > to align the partition with the underlying storage to improve
>> > performance,
>> as
>> > described in KB929491 article. Does anybody knows if I cause a problem
>> > or
>> > performance degradation when I will extend the disk and the partition?
>> Will
>> > the partition misaligned?
>> >
>>
>> If you use http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304736 to extend the clustered
>> shared disk, it will not affect your partition offset.
>>
>> Rgds,
>> Edwin.
>>
>>
>>

Hi Tim,

Did you had those partitions aligned?

Thank you

"Tim Walsh" wrote:

> We have an EVA4000 and have extended the disks on numerous clusters without
> an issue.
>
> "Dimitris" <Dimitris@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:12AB76B8-1656-4E67-BDF0-2056D045ECD3@microsoft.com...
> > Hello Edwin,
> >
> > Thank you for the quick response.
> > I am already aware of this article but it doesn't mention anything about
> > the
> > starting offset of the partition that is to be extended.
> > Also there is a note in the article KB929491 saying "The factors that
> > affect
> > partition alignment are stripe unit size and partition starting offset"
> > which
> > in my case will remain intact.
> > So normally I wouldn't have any problems. I just asked for a second
> > thought.
> >
> > Thanks again
> >
> >
> > "Edwin vMierlo [MVP]" wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> > Hi,
> >> >
> >> > I have an Exchange server 2003 active/passive cluster built on Windows
> >> > Server 2003 EE. Also, I have an HP EVA 3000 storage. Recently I added
> >> disks
> >> > to increase the available space of the disks the Exchange databases are
> >> > stored on. I know I can extend the the physical disk through the EVA
> >> > and
> >> then
> >> > I can use the diskpart utility to extend the volume in the Windows.
> >> > However, somebody told me when the cluster was created they had created
> >> the
> >> > partitions using the command "create partition primary align=xxxx" in
> >> order
> >> > to align the partition with the underlying storage to improve
> >> > performance,
> >> as
> >> > described in KB929491 article. Does anybody knows if I cause a problem
> >> > or
> >> > performance degradation when I will extend the disk and the partition?
> >> Will
> >> > the partition misaligned?
> >> >
> >>
> >> If you use http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304736 to extend the clustered
> >> shared disk, it will not affect your partition offset.
> >>
> >> Rgds,
> >> Edwin.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>