Last time anyone replaced a Dell Perc battery, pitfalls?

[knc]

I will be replacing a Dell T610 perc battery, I expect it to be a shutdown, replace battery, start 'er up and done.. However I have seen where some say I may need to reconfigure the Raid?

Can anyone offer advise? It's been a long time since I have done one of these.. its for a CPA client and they can't afford any downtime this time of year..

Thanks..

 

[Markverhyden]

You should not need to reconfigure RAID as long as the card is working properly. The RAID config is stored in the NVRAM which is not affected by power loss. Changing NVRAM is done via the card BIOS. Of course things like power surges and other events can cause NVRAM corruption. I always record the card settings before doing anything using my phone camera.

 

[coffee]

If I remember correctly from my work on dells and such, The battery is for the cache on the raid card. Therefore, It should be a pretty easy swap out. Shutdown, Pull card and replace battery and fire it up.

 

[TAPtech]

keep in mind- when the battery goes DEAD you just get a lot of annoying warnings. You don't lose the RAID config.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Easy peasy....shouldn't lose the RAIDconfig. That info is stored on the hard drives anyways...the RIS file..Raid Instruction Set. You can technically swap out RAID cards...put the same drives into a different/new card, and it will pull the config. Pretty sure Dells do that, I know HP's SmartArray controllers do. But I've replaced the batteries on Dell servers before and no problems. Years ago you had to run some utility afterwards to do something to them...was pretty easy.

 

[SAG]

Hell, I did a direct swap of an H310 to an H710 on a T420 without a hitch.
Shut down, pulled card, popped in new, plugged cables, and the new card picked up the old RAID set.

 

[RChadwick]

I just did this a few weeks ago. I played with the idea of doing it while the server was running, but thought it might not pick up the new battery. Anyway, a minute or 2 down was worth it. No problems, and no more annoying error messages.

 

[TAPtech]

I just did this a few weeks ago. I played with the idea of doing it while the server was running, but thought it might not pick up the new battery. Anyway, a minute or 2 down was worth it. No problems, and no more annoying error messages.

I would most definitely drop that metal cased battery onto a board component and ruin everything.