From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Nov 18 22:53:00 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4B23B42A for ; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:53:00 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 12A7C2D4D for ; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:52:59 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-117-74.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.117.74]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8C96E27757; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:52:52 +0100 (CET) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id rAIMqdkA002963; Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:52:39 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 23:52:39 +0100 From: Polytropon To: aurfalien Subject: Re: drive blink on demand? Message-Id: <20131118235239.8949768e.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <959063E8-FD7A-43C1-B0D7-B241F487E4BD@gmail.com> References: <959063E8-FD7A-43C1-B0D7-B241F487E4BD@gmail.com> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: FreeBSD Questions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.16 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 22:53:00 -0000 On Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:09:25 -0800, aurfalien wrote: > Hi, > > I've 42 disks across 4 JBODs using LSI HBAs. > > I've been doing dd if=/dev/disk... of=/dev/null and watching > what rapidly blinks to identify drives. > > However is there a better or at least non janky way to do this? I've been using a very stupid way: Usually disks are located in trays. Give each tray a number or a letter and a color, depending on if you're organizing them in RAID configurations, such as stripes and mirrors. Apply labels to the disks according to their code and function, e. g. red1, red2, red3, blue1, blue2, blue3; for a striped mirror (or mirrored stripe similarly) with spare disks: green1a, green2a, green3a, blue1a, blue2b, blue2b, blue3b (the disks) and red1, red2, red3 (spares). This makes it easy to identify disks per location. So whenever the disk labeled yellow4a causes trouble, you immediately know where to apply a hammer. :-) Maybe this is an inspiration for a solution, in worst case as a "how not to do it" if it abolutely fails to meet your requirements. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...