Removing an expansion enclosure

Complete these steps to remove an expansion enclosure from the system.

Complete the following steps to remove an expansion enclosure:

1. Make sure that your volume data was recently backed up.
2. Use the management GUI and command-line interface (CLI) filtering capabilities to obtain the following information:
   • All the volumes dependent on the expansion enclosure that is being removed (this list includes volumes dependent on expansion enclosures that are connected in the downstream of the one being removed).
3. Decide which volumes identified previously are still needed, and plan for their migration.
   Consider both available storage pool capacity and the system configuration limits.
4. Delete any volumes that are no longer needed.
5. Migrate any remaining volumes that are accessed through the expansion enclosure that is being removed to a different location that will be accessible after the removal.
   You can do this migration by either of the following methods:

   • Migrate the entire volume copy to another storage pool. This method is preferable when most of the arrays in the current storage pool are from the expansion enclosure that is being removed (or the expansion enclosures that are connected in the downstream of the one being removed).
   • Migrate the volume data extents to other arrays or managed disks (MDisks) within the current storage pool. Deleting an array forces migration of all volume extents that are allocated on it to other arrays in the pool. You can also migrate extents for each volume individually. This method is preferable when most of the storage capacity in the pool is provided by other expansion enclosures or external controllers.
6. Wait for the migrations to complete before you continue.
   You can use the management GUI to monitor the migration progress.
7. Delete any remaining arrays that are formed from drives in the expansion enclosure that is being removed (or the expansion enclosures that are connected downstream of the one being removed).
   If any arrays still show dependent volumes, repeat step 5 to migrate the data for these volumes.
8. Consider whether you want to remove all the expansion enclosures that are connected downstream of the one you started this procedure for:
   • If you decide to remove them all, complete the next steps for each of them. Start from the expansion enclosure at the bottom of the chain and continue up to the expansion enclosure for which you started this procedure.
   • If you decide not to remove them, they are reported as offline until you reconnect them, directly or indirectly, to the control enclosure.
9. Mark all the drives (including any configured as spare drives) in the enclosure to be removed as unused.
10. Use the management GUI to remove the expansion enclosure from the system.
    1. Select Monitoring > System from the management GUI.
    2. Right-click the enclosure to be removed and select Remove from the dynamic graphic.
    The expansion enclosure is removed from the system.
11. Disconnect the power cables to power down the expansion enclosure.