What is the FIRST action an administrator should take when noticing blinking amber lights on RAID drives?

When an administrator observes blinking amber lights on RAID drives, the first action should be to reseat the drives one at a time. This is essential because blinking amber lights typically indicate a fault or an error condition, such as a drive that is not properly connected or recognized by the RAID controller. Reseating the drives can resolve connectivity issues that could lead to these signals.

By carefully removing and reinserting the drives, the administrator may restore proper communication without further complication. Since these types of issues can often result from minor disturbances in physical connections, this action should be attempted before taking more drastic measures.

Other options, such as informing users about downtime or shutting down the server to replace drives, may escalate the situation unnecessarily and might lead to further complications or data loss. Calling support to open a case can be beneficial, but it is generally more prudent to troubleshoot the hardware directly first to identify if the problem can be resolved without external intervention.