Database server: Hard drive failure (and hot fix)

On Sunday our hosting provider notified us of a hard drive failure in our primary database server, the one that our live deployment uses. Thankfully, we use a RAID-5 array meaning a hard drive can fail but the system keeps on going. This morning we added a new drive using a "hot swap" meaning the bad drive was removed and a new one added all without interrupting service. The new drive needed to be "rebuilt" meaning it needed to be added to the RAID family and have data added to it. This process was started this morning and finished about half an hour ago. During that time the application may have been slower than usual.

Hardware fails. That's just a fact of IT life and I'm pleased with how the situation was handled with no interruptions to service and I hope you are pleased too.