Hello Brian,

I`ve checked the docs for open manage 5.4 on http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/software/svradmin/5.4/en/ug/html/storage.htm#wp1054202 and found out that if you try to set a harddrive a global hotspare and try this via connector , you can only choose dedicated hsp, but if you use the physical task you are able to set the drive as global one, you can also use the command line , found following in the config guide :

Complete Syntax
omconfig storage pdisk action=assignglobalhotspare controller=id pdisk=<PDISKID> assign=yes

where id is the controller ID. The <PDISK> variable specifies the physical disk.

To obtain these values, enter omreport storage controller to display the controller IDs and then enter omreport storage pdisk controller=ID to display the IDs for the physical disks attached to the controller.

Example Syntax
In this example, you want to assign physical disk 3 on connector 0 of controller 1 as a global hot spare. On a SAS controller, the physical disk resides in enclosure 2.

Example for SCSI, SATA, and ATA Controllers
To assign the physical disk described in this example as a global hot spare, enter:

omconfig storage pdisk action=assignglobalhotspare controller=1 pdisk=0:3 assign=yes

Example for SAS Controllers
To assign the physical disk described in this example as a global hot spare, enter:

omconfig storage pdisk action=assignglobalhotspare controller=1 pdisk=0:2:3 assign=yes

source : http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/software/svradmin/5.4/en/cli/html/storage.htm#wp1053365
just two questions : does the size of the harddrive is equal or bigger than all other used hdds ? does the planned hdd is in example a sata drive and there also sas drives in use ? if so you cannot assign a global hsp due to non mixing sata/sas drives ......
I hope that these answer will help you out

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In our nature, we can't help but help :-)

It's all about getting the most amount of eyeballs on the problem, and you'll most likely find the most eyes that are most familiar with desktop problems over on the Dell Community Forums, great resource if you didn't know about it.

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Sure is. The document is called the "OpenManage Server Administrator Compatibility Guide" and the table you are looking for is called the Compatible Systems and Applications by Installation and Server Management CD Version under Server Administrator Supported Applications and Systems.

Look for the latest version under Server Administrator docs http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/svradmin/. Here’s the link for version 5.3 of “Compatible Systems” http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/svradmin/5.3/en/compat_guide/html/4admnver.htm#1043344. Also included in the table are supported Operating Systems and their versions.

OpenManage information earlier than 3.0 is available in the “Compatibility Guide” too under the previous agent names – Server Agent and Hardware Instrumentation.

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