Loss of Mirror on re-boots

[Guest]

I have a problem with my Window servers that did not exist 6 month ago and I
am unable to find the problem. Any help is well come.
I have a few Dell PowerEdge 2500 server and run W2K with SP4 installed. I
mirror all my drives system and data using the windows disk management option.
Now when ever I do a soft-boot (shutdown/restart) all my mirrors fail and
the system starts to rebuild/re-synch all my mirrors. The boot now takes ½
hour instead 3 min.
Dell tells me it is not hardware it’s MS software. Event log has not errors.
It worked for almost 2 years so I feel it must be SP4 or some current hot
fixes, but can’t find anything in the knowledge base? Help.

 

[Steve Duff [MVP]]

Dell is probably right -- you have some software or driver that
is holding the drive open and not allowing it to dismount cleanly.
It can even be malware doing it.

This is yet another in the half-dozen reasons why software RAID is
just a Bad Idea.

I know this isn't exactly the answer you're looking for, but you
can spend the rest of your life trying to figure this out with 30
minute reboots. Or you can just fix it. So it has to be said:

There is NO justification for using software RAID on a production
server.

You don't need a high-end raid-5 controller -- The current crop of
garden-variety Ultra320 controllers from Adaptec and LSI
support mirroring, and modestly-priced good-performing SATA
and ATAPI mirroring controllers are available too if that is
what you are using.

Please: take my good advice and save your health plan the cost
of a trip to the asylum: Spend a few dollars on a replacement
controller -- I'm sure Dell can get you a nice, simple raid0/1 PERC card -- it will
be much faster than doing a software mirror, and much more reliable.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.