Planning Steps Overview

System expansion involves planning steps that help determine the system’s current configuration, circumstances that require acquiring longer cables, and provisioning steps that require other coordination.

The following sections summarize the high-level planning steps.

Note: Work with your Oracle Sales Engineer to complete the following planning steps prior to ordering the new Drive Enclosures.

Determine the Expansion Method

Before you begin, determine which of the following expansion methods works best for your environment:

Online expansion (release 6.2.0 or later): With an online expansion, you can keep the Oracle FS System in production during the process of adding Drive Enclosures to the system. Use the Guided Maintenance feature of Oracle FS System Manager (GUI) (version 6.2.0 and later) to add Drive Enclosures, one at a time, to the system. If the GUI is not available, you can manually add Drive Enclosures, one at a time, to the system while the system remains in production.
Note: Oracle recommends using Guided Maintenance.
Offline Expansion: With an offline expansion, you can shut down the system and then manually add Drive Enclosures to the system. An offline expansion lets you add multiple Drive Enclosures, at the same time, to the system.
Note: Systems running version 6.1.x of the software require the system to be offline when adding Drive Enclosures.

Determine the State of the System

During this planning step, access the system for the current configuration details and verify the following items:

Ensure that the system software is up-to-date. Use of Guided Maintenance requires software version 6.2.0 or later.
Gather the SAS topology map from the system to verify the Drive Enclosure string topology.
Ensure that there are no topology rule violations.
Using the chassis IDs of the installed Drive Enclosures and the SAS topology map, verify the physical arrangement of the installed Drive Enclosures and strings in your system.

Determine the Current SAS Topology

Your Oracle Sales Engineer determines which of the following scenarios describes the current SAS topology of the Drive Enclosures in your system:

The connections and the physical arrangement of the Drive Enclosures match the initial factory configuration.
One or more Drive Enclosures have been added to a factory configuration and meet the configuration guidelines.
Your system functions properly, but the configuration does not meet the configuration guidelines.
The system has validation errors or other problems.

Note: The planning process for system expansion is more efficient with systems that are maintained in a standard configuration.

Determine the String Numbers and Locations

Your Oracle Sales Engineer analyzes the SAS topology configuration of your system to determine the string number and the location of each new Drive Enclosure within the strings for your system.

Determine a Time to Install the New Drive Enclosures

Installation should occur during a system offline maintenance period or during a time when the system load is low.

Note: The system is designed so that you can expand the available storage pool during production while the system remains online. Keeping the system in production during expansion has the following requirements:

The system environment has been designed and maintained in a proper state to allow for an upgrade to be successful.
You, or someone that you designate, must be knowledgeable in the technical aspects of the system, as well as the system environment, prior to performing the expansion. Otherwise, complete the procedure offline in a maintenance window or contact your Oracle Sales Engineer for assistance.