Importing Foreign Configurations

Some controllers enable you to import a foreign configuration so that virtual disks are not lost after moving the physical disks.

You can import a foreign configuration only if it contains a virtual disk that is either in a Ready or Degraded state. Also, all the virtual disk data must be present, but if the virtual disk is using a redundant RAID level, the additional redundant data is not required.

For example, if the foreign configuration contains only one side of a mirror in a RAID 1 virtual disk, then the virtual disk is in a Degraded state and can be imported. Also, if the foreign configuration contains only one physical disk that was originally configured as a RAID 5 using three physical disks, then the RAID 5 virtual disk is in a Failed state and cannot be imported.

In addition to virtual disks, a foreign configuration may consist of a physical disk that was assigned as a hot spare on one controller and then moved to another controller. The Import Foreign Configuration task imports the new physical disk as a hot spare. If the physical disk was set as a dedicated hot spare on the previous controller, but the virtual disk to which the hot spare was assigned is no longer present in the foreign configuration, then the physical disk is imported as a global hot spare.

The Import Foreign Configuration task is only displayed when the controller has detected a foreign configuration. You can also identify whether a physical disk contains a foreign configuration (virtual disk or hot spare) by checking the physical disk state. If the physical disk state is Foreign, then the physical disk contains all or some portion of a virtual disk or has a hot spare assignment.

If you have an incomplete foreign configuration which cannot be imported, you can use the Clearing Foreign Configuration option to erase the foreign data on the physical disks.

NOTE:  The default name of the virtual disk on the Foreign Configuration Preview page may be changed because of any of the following reasons:
  • When you remove and then reinsert the physical disks of a virtual disk within a time duration of 120 seconds. The virtual disk name is also changed after importing the foreign virtual disks.
  • When you change the order in which the physical disks of two or more virtual disks are inserted. This can happen even when you remove and then reinsert the physical disks of a virtual disk after a time duration of 120 seconds.
NOTE: The task of importing foreign configuration imports all virtual disks residing on physical disks that have been added to the controller. If more than one foreign virtual disk is present, all the configurations are imported.
NOTE: The Import Foreign Configuration task can only import virtual disks that have consistent data. A virtual disk with inconsistent data cannot be imported. When importing multiple virtual disks in a single operation, however, the Import Foreign Configuration task may report successful completion even when inconsistent virtual disks are present and have not been imported successfully. If the "Import Foreign Configuration" task is unable to import an inconsistent virtual disk, then the physical disks that belong to the virtual disk continue to display a "Foreign" state after the "Import Foreign Configuration" task completes. In this case, repeat the "Import Foreign Configuration" task until one of the following occurs:
  • There are no longer any physical disks in Foreign state after the Import Foreign Configuration task completes.
  • You receive an error stating that the Import Foreign Configuration task has not completed successfully. This error indicates that there are no longer any consistent virtual disks available to be imported. Therefore, all virtual disks that are not imported are inconsistent and you can either perform a Clear Foreign Configuration to remove the virtual disks or remove the physical disks from the controller.