Drobo Elite User Manual

Drobo How-To Guide
Migrating a Disk Pack Between Drobo iSCSI SAN Systems
drobo.com | Migrating a Disk Pack between Drobo iSCSI SAN systems
1
BeyondRAID
™
technology in Drobo enables users to quickly migrate the set of disks (referred to as a “disk pack”) in
one Drobo to a Drobo of the same model. Also, in certain cases, disk pack migration is supported from a smaller or
older Drobo to a larger or newer model.
Disk pack migration may be required when you need to replace a system or when you want to upgrade from an older
model such as DroboElite to a newer Drobo model B800i. This document uses the example of migrating a disk pack
from DroboElite to Drobo B800i, though these steps can be used to migrate a disk pack for B1200i.
The first section is universal to disk pack migration for supported paths. A list of supported paths can be found @
http://www.drobo.com/migration. If the Drobo is an iSCSI SAN model being used for VMware primary storage, then
additional steps are required, as detailed in the other sections in this document. These steps apply to any SAN
storage where a controller is changed, though Drobo does make it easier than most storage devices to get updated
and return to normal use.
Note: In most cases migrating drives is a one-way operation for supported migrations from one Drobo model to
another. Once a disk pack is migrated, you will no longer be able to access the data it contained with the older Drobo.
Topics
 What will you need
 Preparing for migration and moving the disk pack
 Preparing to resignature volumes
 Mounting VMFS datastores after migration
 Connecting VMs to their disks
What You Will Need
• Source Drobo system and the new target system
• The most recent firmware installed on both Drobo devices
• The latest version Drobo Dashboard management software, minimum version 2.0 or higher
To download the latest version of firmware and Drobo Dashboard for your device, visit
http://www.drobo.com/support/updates.php.

Drobo Elite Specifications

General

Model	Drobo Elite
Category	Storage
Drive Bays	8
RAID	BeyondRAID
Hot Swappable Drives	Yes
Drive Type	SATA
Connectivity	USB 2.0
Operating System Compatibility	Windows, macOS
Weight	12.5 lbs
Power Supply	100-240V AC
Included Accessories	Power cord, Ethernet cable

Summary

What You Will Need for Drobo Migration

Preparing for Migration and Moving the Disk Pack

Shut Down Source Drobo

Shut down the existing Drobo system using Drobo Dashboard. Ensure all lights are off before proceeding.

Remove Drives from Source Drobo

Remove all drives from the source Drobo. Drobo is slot independent, so drive order does not matter for re-insertion.

Preparing to Resignature Volumes

Connect to ESXi Host via SSH

Open a terminal session to the ESXi/ESXi Server host and log in as root.

Identify Dead Paths with esxcfg-mpath

Run `esxcfg-mpath -b|grep -i dead` to find 'dead paths' resulting from disk pack migration.

Rescan and Reboot ESXi Host for Path Issues

Rescan storage adapters and reboot the ESXi host if dead paths or APD states are detected after migration.

Mounting VMFS Datastores After Migration

Force Mount VMFS Datastores

Use `esxcfg-volume -M <UUID>` to persistently mount VMFS datastores with their original signatures.

Connecting VMs to Their Disks

Register Virtual Machines

Remap VMX files by registering virtual machines from the ESX command line if datastores fail to map.