VMMaintenenace (VXVM)

VERITAS Volume Manager
4.0 for UNIX: Operations
100-002030
COURSE DEVELOPERS Disclaimer
Gail Adey
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Stephen Williams
Copyright © 2004 VERITAS Software Corporation. All rights reserved.
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REVIEWERS without the written permission of VERITAS Software Corporation.
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Connie Economou VERITAS, the VERITAS logo, and VERITAS FirstWatch, VERITAS
Danny Foreman Cluster Server, VERITAS File System, VERITAS Volume Manager,
Bill Havey VERITAS NetBackup, and VERITAS HSM are registered trademarks of
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Gene Henriksen
may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective
Harold Holderman companies.
Michael Hsiung
VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations
Gerald Jackson
Participant Guide
Danqing Jin
Scott Kaiser VERITAS Software Corporation
350 Ellis Street
Stefan Kwiatkowski
Mountain View, CA 94043
Jack Lamirande Phone 650–527–8000
Chris Maino www.veritas.com
Monu Pradhan-Advani
Christian Rabanus
Vance Ray
Sue Rich
Saumyendra “Sam”
Sengupta
Brian Staub
Andrew Tipton
Jiju Vithayathil
Jerry Vochteloo
Brad Willer
Table of Contents
Course Introduction
What Is Storage Virtualization? ................................................................... Intro-2
Storage Management Issues ........................................................................ Intro-2
Defining Storage Virtualization................................................................... Intro-3
How Is Storage Virtualization Used in Your Environment? ....................... Intro-4
Storage-Based Storage Virtualization ......................................................... Intro-5
Host-Based Storage Virtualization .............................................................. Intro-5
Network-Based Storage Virtualization........................................................ Intro-5
Introducing VERITAS Storage Foundation.................................................. Intro-6
What Is VERITAS Volume Manager? ........................................................ Intro-7
What Is VERITAS File System? ................................................................. Intro-7
Benefits of VERITAS Storage Foundation ................................................. Intro-9
VERITAS Storage Foundation Curriculum ................................................ Intro-11
VERITAS Volume Manager for UNIX: Operations Overview .................. Intro-12
Objectives .................................................................................................. Intro-12
Additional Course Resources .................................................................... Intro-13
Lesson 1: Virtual Objects

Introduction........................................................................................................ 1-2
Physical Data Storage....................................................................................... 1-4
Physical Disk Structure ...................................................................................... 1-4
Physical Disk Naming ........................................................................................ 1-8
Disk Arrays....................................................................................................... 1-10
Multipathed Disk Arrays .................................................................................. 1-10
Virtual Data Storage ........................................................................................ 1-11
Virtual Storage Management............................................................................ 1-11
What Is a Volume? ........................................................................................... 1-11
How Do You Access a Volume? ...................................................................... 1-11
Why Use Volume Manager? ............................................................................ 1-11
Volume Manager-Controlled Disks.................................................................. 1-13
Comparing CDS Disks and Sliced Disks ......................................................... 1-14
Volume Manager Storage Objects .................................................................. 1-15
Disk Groups ...................................................................................................... 1-15
Volume Manager Disks .................................................................................... 1-15
Subdisks............................................................................................................ 1-16
Plexes................................................................................................................ 1-16
Volumes............................................................................................................ 1-17
Volume Manager RAID Levels ........................................................................ 1-18
RAID ................................................................................................................ 1-18
VxVM-Supported RAID Levels....................................................................... 1-19
Volume Layouts ............................................................................................... 1-19
Disk Spanning................................................................................................... 1-19
Data Redundancy.............................................................................................. 1-20
Resilience.......................................................................................................... 1-20
Summary ......................................................................................................... 1-21
Table of Contents iii

Lesson 2: Installation and Interfaces
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 2-2
Installation Prerequisites ................................................................................... 2-4
OS Version Compatibility .................................................................................. 2-4
Version Release Differences............................................................................... 2-5
Adding License Keys......................................................................................... 2-6
Obtaining a License Key..................................................................................... 2-6
Generating License Keys with vLicense............................................................. 2-8
Adding a License Key......................................................................................... 2-9
Viewing Installed License Keys ......................................................................... 2-9
Managing Multiple Licensing Utilities............................................................ 2-10
VERITAS Software Packages......................................................................... 2-11
VERITAS Storage Solutions Products and Suites............................................ 2-11
Installing VxVM As Part of a Product Suite .................................................... 2-11
VERITAS Volume Manager Packages............................................................ 2-12
Package Space Requirements .......................................................................... 2-12
VERITAS File System Packages..................................................................... 2-13
VxVM Optional Features................................................................................. 2-14
VxFS Optional Features................................................................................... 2-15
Other Options Included with Foundation Suite ............................................... 2-16
Licenses Required for Optional Features......................................................... 2-16
Before Installing VxVM: What Is Enclosure-based Naming? ........................ 2-17
Before Installing VxVM: What Is a Default Disk Group? .............................. 2-18
Installing VxVM ............................................................................................... 2-19
Methods for Adding VxVM Packages............................................................. 2-19
Adding Packages with the VERITAS Installation Menu ................................ 2-20
Adding Packages Using the Product Installation Scripts................................. 2-22
Adding Packages Manually ............................................................................. 2-24
Verifying Package Installation......................................................................... 2-26
Configuring VxVM Using vxinstall ................................................................ 2-28
VxVM User Interfaces ..................................................................................... 2-29
Volume Manager User Interfaces .................................................................... 2-29
Using the VEA Interface.................................................................................. 2-30
The VEA Main Window.................................................................................. 2-31
Other Views in VEA........................................................................................ 2-31
Accessing Tasks Through VEA....................................................................... 2-32
Viewing Commands Through the Task History Window ............................... 2-33
Viewing Commands Through the Command Log File.................................... 2-34
Displaying VEA Help Information.................................................................. 2-35
Using the Command Line Interface................................................................. 2-36
Accessing Manual Pages for CLI Commands ................................................. 2-37
Using the vxdiskadm Interface ........................................................................ 2-38
Installing and Starting the VEA Software ........................................................ 2-39
Installing the VEA Server and Client on UNIX .............................................. 2-39
Installing the VEA Client on Windows ........................................................... 2-40
Starting the VEA Server .................................................................................. 2-41
Starting the VEA Client ................................................................................... 2-41
Managing the VEA Server............................................................................... 2-43
Confirming VEA Server Startup...................................................................... 2-43
iv VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Stopping and Restarting the VEA Server ......................................................... 2-43
Displaying the VEA Version ............................................................................ 2-43
Monitoring VEA Event and Task Logs ............................................................ 2-43
Controlling User Access to VEA...................................................................... 2-44
Modifying Group Access.................................................................................. 2-45
Summary ......................................................................................................... 2-47
Lesson 3: Managing Disks and Disk Groups

Introduction........................................................................................................ 3-2
Naming Disk Devices ........................................................................................ 3-4
Device Naming Schemes.................................................................................... 3-4
Traditional Device Naming ................................................................................ 3-4
Enclosure-Based Naming ................................................................................... 3-5
Benefits of Enclosure-Based Naming................................................................. 3-6
Selecting a Naming Scheme ............................................................................... 3-7
Changing the Disk-Naming Scheme .................................................................. 3-7
Disk Configuration Stages................................................................................. 3-8
What Is a Disk Group? ....................................................................................... 3-8
Why Are Disk Groups Needed? ......................................................................... 3-8
System-Wide Reserved Disk Groups ................................................................. 3-9
Displaying Reserved Disk Group Definitions .................................................... 3-9
Setting the Default Disk Group ........................................................................ 3-10
Before Configuring a Disk for Use by VxVM ................................................. 3-11
Stage One: Initialize a Disk .............................................................................. 3-11
Stage Two: Assign a Disk to a Disk Group...................................................... 3-12
Stage Three: Assign Disk Space to Volumes ................................................... 3-12
Creating a Disk Group..................................................................................... 3-13
Creating a Disk Group ...................................................................................... 3-13
Adding Disks .................................................................................................... 3-13
Disk Naming..................................................................................................... 3-13
Default Disk Naming........................................................................................ 3-14
Notes on Disk Naming ..................................................................................... 3-14
Creating a Disk Group: VEA............................................................................ 3-15
Adding a Disk: VEA......................................................................................... 3-16
Creating a Disk Group: vxdiskadm .................................................................. 3-17
Initializing a Disk: CLI..................................................................................... 3-17
Creating a Disk Group: CLI ............................................................................. 3-17
Adding a Disks to a Disk Group: CLI .............................................................. 3-18
Viewing Disk and Disk Group Information....................................................... 3-19
Keeping Track of Your Disks........................................................................... 3-19
Displaying Disk Information: VEA.................................................................. 3-19
Viewing Disk Details: VEA ............................................................................. 3-20
Viewing Disk Properties: VEA ........................................................................ 3-21
Viewing Disk Group Properties: VEA ............................................................. 3-22
Displaying Basic Disk Information: CLI.......................................................... 3-23
Displaying Detailed Disk Information: CLI ..................................................... 3-24
Displaying Disk Group Information: CLI ........................................................ 3-26
Managing Disks............................................................................................... 3-27
Creating a Non-CDS Disk and Disk Group...................................................... 3-27
Removing Disks ............................................................................................... 3-28
Table of Contents v

Before You Remove a Disk ............................................................................. 3-28
Evacuating a Disk ............................................................................................ 3-29
Evacuating a Disk: VEA.................................................................................. 3-29
Evacuating a Disk: vxdiskadm......................................................................... 3-29
Evacuating a Disk: CLI.................................................................................... 3-29
Removing a Disk: VEA ................................................................................... 3-30
Removing a Disk: vxdiskadm.......................................................................... 3-30
Removing a Disk: CLI ..................................................................................... 3-31
Changing the Disk Media Name...................................................................... 3-32
Before You Rename a Disk ............................................................................. 3-32
Renaming a Disk: VEA ................................................................................... 3-32
Renaming a Disk: CLI ..................................................................................... 3-32
Managing Disk Groups.................................................................................... 3-33
Deporting a Disk Group................................................................................... 3-33
Deporting and Specifying a New Host ............................................................ 3-33
Deporting and Renaming ................................................................................. 3-33
Deporting a Disk Group: VEA ........................................................................ 3-34
Deporting a Disk Group: vxdiskadm ............................................................... 3-35
Deporting a Disk Group: CLI .......................................................................... 3-35
Importing a Deported Disk Group ................................................................... 3-36
Importing and Renaming ................................................................................. 3-36
Importing and Clearing Host Locks................................................................. 3-36
Importing As Temporary ................................................................................. 3-37
Forcing an Import ............................................................................................ 3-37
Importing a Disk Group: VEA......................................................................... 3-38
Importing a Disk Group: vxdiskadm ............................................................... 3-39
Importing a Disk Group: CLI .......................................................................... 3-39
Example: Disk Groups and High Availability ................................................. 3-40
Moving Disk Groups Between Systems .......................................................... 3-41
Moving a Disk Group: VEA ............................................................................ 3-41
Moving a Disk Group: vxdiskadm................................................................... 3-42
Moving a Disk Group: CLI.............................................................................. 3-42
Renaming a Disk Group................................................................................... 3-43
Renaming a Disk Group: VEA ........................................................................ 3-43
Renaming a Disk Group: CLI .......................................................................... 3-44
Destroying a Disk Group ................................................................................. 3-45
Destroying a Disk Group: VEA....................................................................... 3-45
Destroying a Disk Group: CLI......................................................................... 3-45
Upgrading a Disk Group.................................................................................. 3-46
Summary of Supported Features for Disk Group Versions ............................. 3-47
Upgrading a Disk Group: VEA........................................................................ 3-48
Upgrading a Disk Group: CLI ......................................................................... 3-49
Summary......................................................................................................... 3-50
Lesson 4: Creating Volumes

Introduction ....................................................................................................... 4-2
Selecting a Volume Layout ............................................................................... 4-4
Concatenated Layout .......................................................................................... 4-4
Striped Layout..................................................................................................... 4-5
Mirrored Layout.................................................................................................. 4-6
vi VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

RAID-5 ............................................................................................................... 4-7
Comparing Volume Layouts .............................................................................. 4-8
Creating a Volume........................................................................................... 4-10
Creating a Volume............................................................................................ 4-10
Before You Create a Volume ........................................................................... 4-10
Creating a Volume: VEA ................................................................................. 4-11
Creating a Volume: CLI ................................................................................... 4-16
Creating a Concatenated Volume: CLI ............................................................ 4-17
Creating a Striped Volume: CLI....................................................................... 4-18
Creating a RAID-5 Volume: CLI ..................................................................... 4-19
Creating a Mirrored Volume: CLI.................................................................... 4-20
Creating a Mirrored and Logged Volume: CLI................................................ 4-21
Estimating Volume Size: CLI........................................................................... 4-22
Displaying Volume Layout Information............................................................ 4-23
Displaying Volume Information: VEA ............................................................ 4-23
Object Views in Main Window ........................................................................ 4-23
Disk View Window .......................................................................................... 4-24
Volume View Window ..................................................................................... 4-25
Volume to Disk Mapping Window .................................................................. 4-26
Volume Layout Window .................................................................................. 4-27
Volume Properties Window ............................................................................. 4-28
Displaying Volume Layout Information: CLI.................................................. 4-29
Displaying Information for All Volumes ......................................................... 4-31
Creating a Layered Volume............................................................................. 4-32
What Is a Layered Volume? ............................................................................. 4-32
Comparing Regular Mirroring with Enhanced Mirroring ................................ 4-33
How Do Layered Volumes Work? ................................................................... 4-35
Layered Volumes: Advantages......................................................................... 4-35
Layered Volumes: Disadvantages .................................................................... 4-36
Layered Volume Layouts ................................................................................. 4-37
mirror-concat ........................................................................................... 4-37
mirror-stripe ........................................................................................... 4-38
concat-mirror ........................................................................................... 4-39
stripe-mirror ........................................................................................... 4-40
Creating a Layered Volume: VEA ................................................................... 4-41
Creating a Layered Volume: CLI ..................................................................... 4-41
Viewing a Layered Volume: VEA ................................................................... 4-42
Viewing a Layered Volume: CLI ..................................................................... 4-42
Removing a Volume ........................................................................................ 4-43
Removing a Volume: VEA............................................................................... 4-43
Removing a Volume: CLI ................................................................................ 4-43
Summary ......................................................................................................... 4-44
Lesson 5: Configuring Volumes

Introduction........................................................................................................ 5-2
Administering Mirrors ........................................................................................ 5-4
Adding a Mirror.................................................................................................. 5-4
Adding a Mirror: VEA ....................................................................................... 5-5
Adding a Mirror: CLI ......................................................................................... 5-5
Removing a Mirror ............................................................................................. 5-6
Table of Contents vii

Removing a Mirror: VEA ................................................................................... 5-7
Removing a Mirror: CLI..................................................................................... 5-7
Adding a Log to a Volume................................................................................. 5-9
Logging in VxVM............................................................................................... 5-9
Dirty Region Logging ......................................................................................... 5-9
RAID-5 Logging.............................................................................................. 5-10
Adding a Log: VEA .......................................................................................... 5-11
Adding a Log: CLI........................................................................................... 5-12
Removing a Log: CLI ...................................................................................... 5-12
Changing the Volume Read Policy ................................................................. 5-13
Volume Read Policies with Mirroring............................................................. 5-13
Changing the Volume Read Policy: VEA ....................................................... 5-14
Changing the Volume Read Policy: CLI ......................................................... 5-14
Allocating Storage for Volumes....................................................................... 5-15
Specifying Storage Attributes for Volumes..................................................... 5-15
Specifying Storage Attributes: VEA................................................................ 5-16
Specifying Storage Attributes: CLI ................................................................. 5-16
Specifying Ordered Allocation of Storage for Volumes.................................. 5-20
Specifying Ordered Allocation: VEA.............................................................. 5-21
Specifying Ordered Allocation: CLI................................................................ 5-21
Administering File Systems............................................................................. 5-24
Adding a File System to a Volume: VEA........................................................ 5-24
Mounting a File System: VEA......................................................................... 5-24
Unmounting a File System: VEA .................................................................... 5-24
Adding a File System to a Volume: CLI ......................................................... 5-25
Mounting a File System at Boot: CLI.............................................................. 5-27
Using VERITAS File System Commands....................................................... 5-28
Location of VxFS Commands: ........................................................................ 5-28
General File System Command Syntax ........................................................... 5-29
Using VxFS Commands by Default ................................................................ 5-29
Using mkfs Command Options ...................................................................... 5-30
Maximum File and File System Sizes ............................................................. 5-32
Other mount Command Options...................................................................... 5-33
Unmounting a File System .............................................................................. 5-33
Identifying File System Type........................................................................... 5-34
Identifying Free Space ..................................................................................... 5-34
Comparing VxFS with Traditional File System Allocation Policies............... 5-35
Example: UFS Block-Based Allocation .......................................................... 5-35
VxFS Extent-Based Allocation........................................................................ 5-36
Benefits of Extent-Based Allocation ............................................................... 5-37
Upgrading the VxFS File System Layout........................................................ 5-38
VxFS Structural Components .......................................................................... 5-40
VxFS Allocation Units..................................................................................... 5-40
VxFS Structural Files....................................................................................... 5-40
Controlling File System Fragmentation........................................................... 5-42
Types of Fragmentation ................................................................................... 5-42
Running Fragmentation Reports ...................................................................... 5-44
Interpreting Fragmentation Reports................................................................. 5-45
VxFS Defragmentation .................................................................................... 5-46
Defragmenting Extents .................................................................................... 5-46
viii VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Defragmenting Directories ............................................................................... 5-47
Other fsadm Defragmentation Options............................................................. 5-47
Duration of Defragmentation............................................................................ 5-47
Scheduling Defragmentation ............................................................................ 5-48
Role of the Intent Log....................................................................................... 5-49
Maintaining File System Consistency .............................................................. 5-50
Generic fsck Options ........................................................................................ 5-50
VxFS-Specific fsck Options ............................................................................. 5-51
Resizing the Intent Log..................................................................................... 5-52
Controlling Logging Behavior.......................................................................... 5-53
Selecting mount Options for Logging .............................................................. 5-53
Logging and VxFS Performance ...................................................................... 5-55
File Change Log ............................................................................................... 5-57
Comparing the Intent Log and the File Change Log ........................................ 5-57
Summary ......................................................................................................... 5-58
Lesson 6: Reconfiguring Volumes Online

Introduction........................................................................................................ 6-2
Resizing a Volume ............................................................................................ 6-4
Resizing a Volume.............................................................................................. 6-4
Resizing a Volume with a File System............................................................... 6-4
Resizing a Volume and File System: Methods................................................... 6-6
Resizing a Volume and File System: VEA ........................................................ 6-8
Resizing a Volume and File System: vxresize ................................................... 6-9
Resizing a Volume Only: vxassist.................................................................... 6-10
Resizing a File System Only: fsadm................................................................. 6-11
Resizing a Dynamic LUN................................................................................. 6-13
Resizing a LUN: VEA ...................................................................................... 6-13
Resizing a LUN: CLI........................................................................................ 6-13
Changing the Volume Layout .......................................................................... 6-14
What Is Online Relayout?................................................................................. 6-14
Supported Transformations .............................................................................. 6-15
How Does Online Relayout Work? .................................................................. 6-16
Notes on Online Relayout................................................................................. 6-18
Changing the Volume Layout: VEA ................................................................ 6-19
Changing the Volume Layout: CLI .................................................................. 6-21
The vxassist relayout Command....................................................................... 6-22
The vxassist convert Command........................................................................ 6-23
Managing Volume Tasks................................................................................. 6-24
Managing Volume Tasks: VEA ....................................................................... 6-24
Managing Volume Tasks: CLI ......................................................................... 6-25
Displaying Task Information with vxtask ........................................................ 6-26
Options for vxtask list............................................................................. 6-27
Monitoring a Task with vxtask ......................................................................... 6-28
Controlling Tasks with vxtask .......................................................................... 6-29
Controlling Relayout Tasks with vxrelayout.................................................... 6-30
Controlling the Task Progress Rate .................................................................. 6-31
Slowing a Task with vxtask.............................................................................. 6-32
Throttling a Task with VEA ............................................................................. 6-32
Table of Contents ix

Analyzing Volume Configurations with Storage Expert................................... 6-33
What Is Storage Expert? .................................................................................. 6-33
What Are the Storage Expert Rules? ............................................................... 6-34
Before Using Storage Expert ........................................................................... 6-36
Running a Storage Expert Rule........................................................................ 6-36
Rule Output...................................................................................................... 6-37
Displaying a Rule Description: Example......................................................... 6-38
Running a Rule: Example ................................................................................ 6-38
Displaying Tunable Attributes of a Rule: Example......................................... 6-39
Displaying Default Attribute Values of a Rule: Example ............................... 6-39
Customizing Rule Default Values ................................................................... 6-40
Storage Expert Rules: Complete Listing.......................................................... 6-41
Summary......................................................................................................... 6-44
Lesson 7: Encapsulation and Rootability

Introduction ....................................................................................................... 7-2
Placing the Boot Disk Under VxVM Control ...................................................... 7-4
What Is Encapsulation?....................................................................................... 7-4
Data Disk Encapsulation Requirements.............................................................. 7-4
What Is Rootability? ........................................................................................... 7-5
Boot Disk Encapsulation Requirements ............................................................. 7-5
Why Encapsulate Root?...................................................................................... 7-6
When Not to Encapsulate Root........................................................................... 7-6
Limitations of Boot Disk Encapsulation............................................................. 7-7
File System Requirements for Root Volumes .................................................... 7-8
Before Encapsulating the Boot Disk................................................................ 7-10
Encapsulating the Boot Disk: vxdiskadm ......................................................... 7-11
Viewing Encapsulated Disks ........................................................................... 7-12
Creating an Alternate Boot Disk...................................................................... 7-14
Mirroring the Boot Disk................................................................................... 7-14
Requirements for Mirroring the Boot Disk...................................................... 7-14
Why Create an Alternate Boot Disk?............................................................... 7-14
Creating an Alternate Boot Disk: VEA ........................................................... 7-15
Creating an Alternate Boot Disk: vxdiskadm .................................................. 7-15
Creating an Alternate Boot Disk: CLI ............................................................. 7-16
Possible Boot Disk Errors................................................................................ 7-17
Booting from an Alternate Mirror.................................................................... 7-18
Removing the Boot Disk from VxVM Control .................................................. 7-19
The vxunroot Command .................................................................................. 7-19
When to Use vxunroot ..................................................................................... 7-19
Unencapsulating the Boot Disk ....................................................................... 7-20
Upgrading to a New VxVM Version................................................................. 7-21
General Notes on Upgrades ............................................................................. 7-21
Upgrading Volume Manager Only .................................................................. 7-22
Upgrading VxVM Only: installvm ........................................................... 7-23
Upgrading VxVM Only: Manual Package Upgrade........................................ 7-24
Upgrading VxVM Only: Upgrade Scripts ....................................................... 7-25
The upgrade_start Script .................................................................................. 7-25
The upgrade_finish Script................................................................................ 7-26
Upgrading Solaris Only ................................................................................... 7-28
x VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Upgrading VxVM and Your Operating System ............................................... 7-30
After Upgrading................................................................................................ 7-32
Upgrading to a New VxFS Version.................................................................. 7-33
Summary ......................................................................................................... 7-34
Lesson 8: Recovery Essentials

Introduction........................................................................................................ 8-2
Maintaining Data Consistency........................................................................... 8-4
What Is Resynchronization? ............................................................................... 8-4
Atomic-Copy Resynchronization ....................................................................... 8-5
Read-Writeback Resynchronization ................................................................... 8-6
Minimizing the Impact of Resynchronization .................................................... 8-7
Dirty Region Logging......................................................................................... 8-8
How Does DRL Work? ...................................................................................... 8-8
Dirty Region Log Size ........................................................................................ 8-9
How the Bitmaps Are Used in Dirty Region Logging ....................................... 8-9
RAID-5 Logging............................................................................................... 8-10
Hot Relocation................................................................................................. 8-11
What Is Hot Relocation?................................................................................... 8-11
How Does Hot Relocation Work? .................................................................... 8-12
How Is Space Selected for Relocation?............................................................ 8-13
Managing Spare Disks .................................................................................... 8-14
Managing Spare Disks: VEA ........................................................................... 8-14
Managing Spare Disks: vxdiskadm .............................................................. 8-14
Managing Spare Disks: CLI ............................................................................. 8-15
Replacing a Disk ............................................................................................. 8-16
Disk Replacement Tasks .................................................................................. 8-16
Adding a New Disk .......................................................................................... 8-17
Replacing a Disk: VEA .................................................................................... 8-18
Replacing a Failed Disk: vxdiskadm ................................................................ 8-18
Replacing a Disk: CLI ...................................................................................... 8-18
Unrelocating a Disk ......................................................................................... 8-19
The vxunreloc Utility........................................................................................ 8-19
Unrelocating a Disk: VEA................................................................................ 8-19
Unrelocating a Disk: vxdiskadm ...................................................................... 8-20
Unrelocating a Disk: CLI ................................................................................. 8-20
Viewing Relocated Subdisks: CLI ................................................................... 8-20
Recovering a Volume ...................................................................................... 8-21
Recovering a Volume: VEA............................................................................. 8-21
The vxreattach Command................................................................................. 8-21
The vxrecover Command ................................................................................. 8-22
Protecting the VxVM Configuration ................................................................. 8-23
Backing Up a Disk Group Configuration ......................................................... 8-24
Restoring a Disk Group Configuration............................................................. 8-24
Summary ......................................................................................................... 8-25
Appendix A: Lab Exercises

Lab 1: Introducing the Lab Environment ........................................................... A-2
Lab 2: Installation and Interfaces ...................................................................... A-3
Lab 3: Managing Disks and Disk Groups .......................................................... A-7
Table of Contents xi

Lab 4: Creating Volumes................................................................................. A-10
Lab 5: Configuring Volumes............................................................................ A-13
Lab 6: Reconfiguring Volumes Online............................................................. A-16
Lab 7: Encapsulation and Rootability.............................................................. A-20
Lab 8: Recovery Essentials............................................................................. A-22
Appendix B: Lab Solutions

Lab 1 Solutions: Introducing the Lab Environment ........................................... B-2
Lab 2 Solutions: Installation and Interfaces ...................................................... B-3
Lab 3 Solutions: Managing Disks and Disk Groups .......................................... B-9
Lab 4 Solutions: Creating Volumes................................................................. B-15
Lab 5 Solutions: Configuring Volumes ............................................................ B-23
Lab 6 Solutions: Reconfiguring Volumes Online............................................. B-30
Lab 7 Solutions: Encapsulation and Rootability .............................................. B-38
Lab 8 Solutions: Recovery Essentials............................................................. B-41
Appendix C: VxVM/VxFS Command Reference

VxVM Command Quick Reference ................................................................... C-2
Disk Operations ................................................................................................. C-2
Disk Group Operations ...................................................................................... C-2
Subdisk Operations ............................................................................................ C-3
Plex Operations.................................................................................................. C-3
Volume Operations ............................................................................................ C-4
DMP, DDL, and Task Management ................................................................. C-5
Using VxVM Commands: Examples ................................................................. C-7
VxFS Command Quick Reference .................................................................... C-9
Setting Up a File System ................................................................................... C-9
Online Administration ....................................................................................... C-9
Benchmarking .................................................................................................. C-10
Managing Extents ............................................................................................ C-10
Defragmenting a File System........................................................................... C-11
Intent Logging.................................................................................................. C-11
I/O Types and Cache Advisories ..................................................................... C-12
File System Tuning .......................................................................................... C-13
Controlling Users ............................................................................................. C-14
QuickLog ......................................................................................................... C-15
Quick I/O ......................................................................................................... C-16
Appendix D: VxVM/VxFS 3.5 to 4.0 Differences Quick Reference

VxVM and VxFS 3.5 to 4.0 Differences Quick Reference................................. D-2
Glossary
Index
xii VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Course Introduction
Storage Management Issues
Human Resource E-mail Customer Order
Database Server Database
10% Full 50% Full 90% Full
• Problem: Customer
Other
Otherissues:
issues: order database cannot
•• Multiple-vendor
Multiple-vendorhardware
hardware access unutilized
•• Explosive
Explosivedata
datagrowth
growth storage.
•• Different
Differentapplication
applicationneeds
needs • Common solution: Add
•• Multiple
Multipleoperating
operatingsystems
systems more storage.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
•• Rapid
Rapidchange
change I-3
•• Budgetary
Budgetaryconstraints
constraints
What Is Storage Virtualization?

Storage Management Issues
Storage management is becoming increasingly complex due to:
• Multiple operating systems
• Unprecedented data growth
• Storage hardware from multiple vendors
• Dissimilar applications with different storage resource needs
• Management pressure to increase efficiency
• Budgetary and cost-control constraints
• Rapidly changing business climates
To create a truly efficient environment, administrators must have the tools to
skillfully manage large, complex, and heterogeneous environments. Storage
virtualization helps businesses to simplify the complex IT storage environment
and gain control of capital and operating costs by providing consistent and
automated management of storage.
Intro–2 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

What Is Storage Virtualization?
Virtualization: Consumer Consumer Consumer
The logical
representation of
physical storage Application requirements from storage
across the entire
enterprise • Application • Throughput • Failure
requirements • Responsiveness resistance
• Growth potential • Recovery time
Capacity Performance Availability
• Disk size • Disk seek time • MTBF
• Number of disks/ • Cache hit rate • Path
path redundancy
Physical aspects of storage
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 Physical Storage Resources I-4
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
I-4
Defining Storage Virtualization

Storage virtualization is the process of taking multiple physical storage devices
and combining them into logical (virtual) storage devices that are presented to the
operating system, applications, and users. Storage virtualization builds a layer of
abstraction above the physical storage, so that data is not restricted to specific
hardware devices, creating a flexible storage environment. Storage virtualization
simplifies management of storage and potentially reduces cost through improved
hardware utilization and consolidation.
With storage virtualization, the physical aspects of storage are masked to users.
Administrators can concentrate less on physical aspects of storage and more on
delivering access to necessary data.
Benefits of storage virtualization include:
• Greater IT productivity through the automation of manual tasks and simplified
administration of heterogeneous environments
• Increased application return on investment through improved throughput and
increased uptime
• Lower hardware costs through the optimized use of hardware resources
Course Introduction Intro–3

Storage Virtualization: Types
Storage-Based Host-Based Network-Based

Servers Server Servers
Switch
Storage
Storage
Storage
Most companies use a combination of these three

types of storage virtualization to support their chosen
architectures and application requirements.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 I-5
How Is Storage Virtualization Used in Your Environment?

The way in which you use storage virtualization, and the benefits derived from
storage virtualization, depend on the nature of your IT infrastructure and your
specific application requirements. Three main types of storage virtualization used
today are:
• Storage-based
• Host-based
• Network-based
Most companies use a combination of these three types of storage virtualization
solutions to support their chosen architecture and application needs.
The type of storage virtualization that you use depends on factors such as:
• Heterogeneity of deployed enterprise storage arrays
• Need for applications to access data contained in multiple storage devices
• Importance of uptime when replacing or upgrading storage
• Need for multiple hosts to access data within a single storage device
• Value of the maturity of technology
• Investments in a SAN architecture
• Level of security required
• Level of scalability needed

Storage-Based Storage Virtualization
Storage-based storage virtualization refers to disks within an individual array that
are presented virtually to multiple servers. Storage is virtualized by the array itself.
For example, RAID arrays virtualize the individual disks (that are contained within
the array) into logical LUNS which are accessed by host operating systems using
the same method of addressing as a directly-attached physical disk.
This type of storage virtualization is useful under these conditions:
• You need to have data in an array accessible to servers of different operating
systems.
• All of a server’s data needs are met by storage contained in the physical box.
• You are not concerned about disruption to data access when replacing or
upgrading the storage.
The main limitation to this type of storage virtualization is that data cannot be
shared between arrays, creating islands of storage that must be managed.
Host-Based Storage Virtualization

Host-based storage virtualization refers to disks within multiple arrays and from
multiple vendors that are presented virtually to a single host server. For example,
software-based solutions, such as VERITAS Storage Foundation, provide host-
based storage virtualization. Using VERITAS Storage Foundation to administer
host-based storage virtualization is the focus of this training.
Host-based storage virtualization is useful under these conditions:
• A server needs to access data stored in multiple storage devices.
• You need the flexibility to access data stored in arrays from different vendors.
• Additional servers do not need to access the data assigned to a particular host.
• Maturity of technology is a highly important factor to you in making IT
decisions.
Note: By combining VERITAS Storage Foundation with clustering technologies,
such as VERITAS Cluster Volume Manager, storage can be virtualized to multiple
hosts of the same operating system.
Network-Based Storage Virtualization

Network-based storage virtualization refers to disks from multiple arrays and
multiple vendors that are presented virtually to multiple servers. Network-based
storage virtualization is useful under these conditions:
• You need to have data accessible across heterogeneous servers and storage
devices.
• You require central administration of storage across all Network Attached
Storage (NAS) systems or Storage Area Network (SAN) devices.
• You want to ensure that replacing or upgrading storage does not disrupt data
access.
• You want to virtualize storage to provide block services to applications.

VERITAS Storage Foundation
VERITAS Storage Foundation provides host-based
storage virtualization for performance, availability,
and manageability benefits for enterprise computing
environments.
Company Business Process

High Availability VERITAS Cluster Server/Replication
Application Solutions Storage Foundation for Databases
Data Protection VERITAS NetBackup/Backup Exec
Volume Manager VERITAS Storage Foundation
and File System
Hardware and Operating System
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 I-6
Introducing VERITAS Storage Foundation

VERITAS storage management solutions address the increasing costs of managing
mission-critical data and disk resources in Direct Attached Storage (DAS) and
Storage Area Network (SAN) environments.
At the heart of these solutions is VERITAS Storage Foundation, which includes
VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM), VERITAS File System (VxFS), and other
value add products. Independently, these components provide key benefits. When
used together as an integrated solution, VxVM and VxFS deliver the highest
possible levels of performance, availability, and manageability for heterogeneous
storage environments.

VxVM and VxFS
Users Applications Databases
VERITAS
VERITAS
File
File System
System
(VxFS)
(VxFS)
VERITAS
VERITAS Virtual Storage Resources
Volume
Volume
Manager
Manager
(VxVM)
(VxVM) Volumes
Volumes
Physical Storage Resources
JBOD
Brand “A”
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Brand “B” I-7
Disk Array Disk Array

VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 I-7
What Is VERITAS Volume Manager?

VERITAS Volume Manager, the industry-leader in storage virtualization, is an
easy-to-use, online storage management solution for organizations that require
uninterrupted, consistent access to mission-critical data. VxVM enables you to
apply business policies to configure, share, and manage storage without worrying
about the physical limitations of disk storage. VxVM reduces total cost of
ownership by enabling administrators to easily build storage configurations that
improve performance and increase data availability.
VxVM provides a logical volume management layer which overcomes the
physical restrictions of hardware disk devices by spanning volumes across
multiple spindles.
Through the support of RAID redundancy techniques, VxVM protects against disk
and hardware failures, while providing the flexibility to extend the capabilities of
existing hardware.
Working in conjunction with VERITAS File System, VERITAS Volume Manager
creates a foundation for other value-added technologies such as SAN
environments, clustering and failover, automated management, backup and HSM,
and remote browser-based management.
What Is VERITAS File System?

A file system is a collection of directories organized into a structure that enables
you to locate and store files. All information processed is eventually stored in a file
system. The main purposes of a file system are to:
• Provide shared access to data storage

• Provide structured access to data
• Control access to data
• Provide a common, portable application interface
• Enable the manageability of data storage
The value of a file system depends on its integrity and performance.
• Integrity: Information sent to the file system must be exactly the same when it
is retrieved from the file system.
• Performance: A file system must not impose an undue overhead when
responding to I/O requests from applications.
In most cases, the requirements to provide integrity and performance conflict.
Therefore, a file system must provide a balance between these two requirements.
VERITAS File System is a powerful, quick-recovery journaling file system that
provides the high performance and easy online manageability required by mission-
critical applications. VERITAS File System augments UNIX file management
with continuous availability and optimized performance. It provides scalable,
optimized performance and the capacity to meet the increasing demands of user
loads in client/server environments.

VERITAS Storage Foundation: Benefits
Manageability
• Manage storage and file systems from one interface.
• Configure storage online.
• VxVM and VxFS are consistent across Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and Linux.
Availability
• Features are implemented to protect against data loss.
• Online operations eliminate planned downtime.
Performance
• I/O throughput can be maximized using volume layouts.
• Performance bottlenecks can be located and eliminated using
analysis tools.
Scalability
• VxVM and VxFS run on 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.
• Storage can be deported to larger enterprise platforms.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 I-8
Benefits of VERITAS Storage Foundation

Commercial system availability now requires continuous uptime in many
implementations. Systems must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and
365 days a year. VERITAS Storage Foundation reduces the cost of ownership by
providing scalable manageability, availability, and performance enhancements for
these enterprise computing environments.
Manageability
• Management of storage and the file system is performed online in real time,
eliminating the need for planned downtime.
• Online volume and file system management can be performed through an
intuitive, easy-to-use graphical user interface that is integrated with the
VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM) product.
• VxVM provides consistent management across Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Linux,
and Windows platforms.
• VxFS command operations are consistent across Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and
Linux platforms.
Availability
• Through RAID techniques, storage remains available in the event of hardware
failure.
• Hot relocation guarantees the rebuilding of redundancy in the case of a disk
failure.
• Recovery time is minimized with logging and background mirror

resynchronization.
• Logging of file system changes enables fast file system recovery.
• Snapshot of a file system provides an internally consistent, read-only image for
backup and file system checkpoints provide read-writable snapshots.
Performance
• I/O throughput can be maximized by measuring and modifying volume layouts
while storage remains online.
• Performance bottlenecks can be located and eliminated using VxVM analysis
tools.
• Extent-based allocation of space for files minimizes file level access time.
• Read-ahead buffering dynamically tunes itself to the volume layout.
• Aggressive caching of writes greatly reduces the number of disk accesses.
• Direct I/O performs file I/O directly into and out of user buffers.
Scalability
• VxVM runs over a 32-bit and 64-bit operating system.
• Storage can be deported to larger enterprise-class platforms.
• Storage devices can be spanned.
• VxVM is fully integrated with VERITAS File System (VxFS).
• With VxFS, several add-on products are available for maximizing performance
in a database environment.

Storage Foundation Curriculum Path
VERITAS
VERITASVolume
Volume VERITAS
VERITASVolume
Volume VERITAS
VERITAS
Manager
Managerfor
forUNIX:
UNIX: Manager
Managerfor
forUNIX:
UNIX: Enterprise
Enterprise
Operations
Operations Maintenance
Maintenance Storage
StorageSolutions
Solutions
~2 Days ~1 Day ~2 Days
VERITAS Storage Foundation for UNIX

5 Days
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 I-9
VERITAS Storage Foundation Curriculum

VERITAS Volume Manager for UNIX: Operations is the first in a series of courses
designed to provide you with comprehensive instruction on making the most of
VERITAS Storage Foundation.

VxVM Operations: Overview
Recovery Essentials
Encapsulation and Rootability
Reconfiguring Volumes Online
Configuring Volumes
Creating Volumes
Managing Disks and Disk Groups
Installation and Interfaces
Virtual Objects
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 I-10
VERITAS Volume Manager for UNIX: Operations Overview

This training provides comprehensive instruction on operating the file and disk
management foundation products: VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM) and
VERITAS File System (VxFS). In this course, you learn how to combine file
system and disk management technology to ensure easy management of all storage
and maximum availability of essential data.
Objectives
After completing this training, you will be able to:
• Identify VxVM virtual storage objects and volume layouts.
• Install and configure VxVM and VxFS.
• Configure and manage disks and disk groups.
• Create concatenated, striped, mirrored, RAID-5, and layered volumes.
• Configure volumes by adding mirrors, logs, storage attributes, and file
systems.
• Reconfigure volumes online, resize volumes and file systems, and use the
Storage Expert utility to analyze volume configurations.
• Place the root disk under VxVM control and mirror the root disk.
• Perform basic VxVM recovery operations.

Course Resources
• Lab Exercises (Appendix A)
• Lab Solutions (Appendix B)
• VxVM/VxFS Command Reference (Appendix C)
• VxVM/VxFS 3.5 to 4.0 Differences Quick Reference
(Appendix D)
• Glossary
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 I-11
Additional Course Resources
Appendix A: Lab Exercises

This section contains hands-on exercises that enable you to practice the concepts
and procedures presented in the lessons.
Appendix B: Lab Solutions

This section contains detailed solutions to the lab exercises for each lesson.
Appendix C: VxVM/VxFS Command Reference

This section contains a quick reference guide to common VERITAS Volume
Manager and VERITAS File System commands.
Appendix D: VxVM/VxFS 3.5 to 4.0 Differences Quick Reference

This section contains an overview of the differences between VxVM/VxFS 3.5
and VxVM/VxFS 4.0.
Glossary
For your reference, this course includes a glossary of terms related to VERITAS
Storage Foundation.


Lesson 1
Virtual Objects
Overview
Recovery Essentials
Configuring Volumes
Creating Volumes
Virtual Objects
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-2
© Copyright 2002 VERITAS
Introduction
Overview
This lesson describes the virtual storage objects that VERITAS Volume Manager
(VxVM) uses to manage physical disk storage. This lesson introduces common
virtual storage layouts, illustrates how virtual storage objects relate to physical
storage objects, and describes the benefits of virtual data storage.
Importance
Before you install and set up VERITAS Volume Manager, you should be familiar
with the virtual objects that VxVM uses to manage physical disk storage. A
conceptual understanding of virtual objects helps you to interpret and manage the
virtual objects represented in VxVM interfaces, tools, and reports.
1–2 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
• Identify the structural characteristics of a disk that are
affected by placing a disk under VxVM control.
• Describe the structural characteristics of a disk after it is
placed under VxVM control.
• Identify the virtual objects that are created by VxVM to
manage data storage, including disk groups, VxVM
disks, subdisks, plexes, and volumes.
• Define VxVM RAID levels and identify virtual storage
layout types used by VxVM to remap address space.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-3
Outline of Topics
• Physical Data Storage
• Virtual Data Storage
• Volume Manager Storage Objects
• Volume Manager RAID Levels
Lesson 1 Virtual Objects 1–3

Physical Disk Structure
Physical storage objects:
• The basic physical storage device that ultimately stores
your data is the hard disk.
• When you install your operating system, hard disks are
formatted as part of the installation program.
• Partitioning is the basic method of organizing a disk to
prepare for files to be written to and retrieved from the
disk.
• A partitioned disk has a prearranged storage pattern that
is designed for the storage and retrieval of data.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-4
Solaris HP-UX AIX Linux

Physical Data Storage

Physical Disk Structure
Solaris
A physical Solaris disk is made up of the following parts:
VTOC: A Solaris disk has an area called the volume table of contents (VTOC), or disk
label, that stores information about disk structure and organization. The VTOC is typically
less than 200 bytes and resides on the first sector of the disk. A sector is 512 bytes on most
systems. On the boot disk, the boot block resides within the first 16 sectors (8K). The boot
block has instructions that point to the second stage of the boot process.

Partitions: After the VTOC, the remainder of a Solaris disk is divided into units called
partitions. A partition is a group of cylinders set aside for a particular use. Information
about the size, location, and use of partitions is stored in the VTOC in the partition table.
Another term for a partition is a slice. Some Solaris utilities, such as the format utility,
only use the term “partition”. Partition 2 refers to the entire disk, including the VTOC, by
convention. This partition is also referred to as the backup slice.
HP-UX
On an HP-UX system, the physical disk is traditionally partitioned using either the whole
disk approach or Logical Volume Manager (LVM).
• The whole disk approach enables you to partition a disk in five ways: the whole disk is
used by a single file system; the whole disk is used as swap area; the whole disk is
used as a raw partition; a portion of the disk contains a file system, and the rest is used
as swap; or the boot disk contains a 2-MB special boot area, the root file system, and a
swap area.
• An LVM data disk consists of four areas: Physical Volume Reserved Area (PVRA);
Volume Group Reserved Area (VGRA); user data area; and Bad Block Relocation
Area (BBRA).
AIX
A native AIX disk does not have a partition table of the kind familiar on many other
operating systems such as Solaris, Linux, and Windows. An application could use the
entire unstructured raw physical device, but the first 512-byte sector normally contains
information including a physical volume identifier (pvid) to support recognition of the
disk by AIX. An AIX disk is managed by IBM’s Logical Volume Manager (LVM) by
default. A disk managed by LVM is called a physical volume (PV). A physical volume
consists of:
• PV reserved area: A physical volume begins with a reserved area of 128 sectors
containing PV metadata, including the pvid.
• Volume Group Descriptor Area (VGDA): One or two copies of the VDGA follows.
The VGDA contains information describing a volume group (VG), which consists of
one or more physical volumes. Included in the metadata in the VGDA is the definition
of the physical partition (PP) size, normally 4 MB.
• Physical partitions: The remainder of the disk is divided into a number of physical
partitions. All of the PVs in a volume group have PPs of the same size, as defined in
the VGDA. In a normal VG, there can be up to 32 PPs in a PV. In a big VG, there can

be up to 128 PPs in a PV.
The term partition is used differently in different operating systems. In many kinds of
UNIX, Linux, and Windows, a partition is a variable sized portion of contiguous disk
space that can be formatted to contain a file system. In LVM, a PP is mapped to a logical
partition (LP), and one or more LPs from any location throughout the VG can be
combined to define a logical volume (LV). A logical volume is the entity that can be
formatted to contain a file system (by default either JFS or JFS2). So a physical partition
compares in concept more closely to a disk allocation cluster in some other operating
systems, and a logical volume plays the role that a partition does in some other operating
systems.
Linux
On Linux, a nonboot disk can be divided into one to four primary partitions. One of these
primary partitions can be used to contain logical partitions, and is called the extended
partition. The extended partition can have up to 12 logical partitions on a SCSI disk and up
to 60 logical partitions on an IDE disk. You can use fdisk to set up partitions on a Linux
disk.

On a Linux boot disk, the boot partition must be a primary partition and is typically
located within the first 1024 cylinders of the drive. On the boot disk, you must also have a
dedicated swap partition. The swap partition can be a primary or a logical partition, and
can be located anywhere on the disk.
Logical partitions must be contiguous, but do not need to take up all of the space of the
extended partition. Only one primary partition can be extended. The extended partition
does not take up any space until it is subdivided into logical partitions.

Physical Disk Naming
VxVM parses disk names to retrieve connectivity information for
disks. Operating systems have different conventions:
Operating System Device Naming Convention Example
Solaris /dev/[r]dsk/c1t9d0s2
HP-UX /dev/[r]dsk/c3t2d0 (no slice)
AIX /dev/hdisk2 (no slice)
Linux SCSI disks:

/dev/sda[1-4] (primary partitions)
/dev/sda[5-16] (logical partitions)
/dev/sdbN (on the second disk)
/dev/sdcN (on the third disk)
IDE disks:
/dev/hdaN, /dev/hdbN, /dev/hdcN
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-5
Physical Disk Naming

Solaris
You locate and access the data on a physical disk by using a device name that
specifies the controller, target ID, and disk number. A typical device name uses the
format: c#t#d#.
• c# is the controller number.
• t# is the target ID.
• d# is the logical unit number (LUN) of the drive attached to the target.
If a disk is divided into partitions, then you also specify the partition number in the
device name:
• s# is the partition (slice) number.
For example, device name c0t0d0s1 is connected to controller number 0 in the
system, with a target ID of 0, physical disk number 0, and partition number 1 on
the disk.
HP-UX
You locate and access the data on a physical disk by using a device name that
specifies the controller, target ID, and disk number. A typical device name uses the
format: c#t#d#.
• c# is the controller number.
• t# is the target ID.
• d# is the logical unit number (LUN) of the drive attached to the target.

For example, the c0t0d0 device name is connected to controller number 0 in the
system, with a target ID of 0, and the physical disk number 0.
AIX
Every device in AIX is assigned a location code that describes its connection to the
system. The general format of this identifier is AB-CD-EF-GH, where the letters
represent decimal digits or uppercase letters. The first two characters represent the
bus, the second pair identify the adapter, the third pair represent the connector, and
the final pair uniquely represent the device. For example, a SCSI disk drive might
have a location identifier of 04-01-00-6,0. In this example, 04 means PCI
bus, 01 is the slot number on the PCI bus occupied by the SCSI adapter, 00 means
the only or internal connector, and the 6,0 means SCSI ID 6, LUN 0.
However, this data is used internally by AIX to locate a device. The device name
that a system administrator or software uses to identify a device is less hardware
dependant. The system maintains a special database called the Object Data
Manager (ODM) that contains essential definitions for most objects in the system,
including devices. Through the ODM, a device name is mapped to the location
identifier. The device names are referenced by special files found in the /dev
directory. For example, the SCSI disk identified above might have the device name
hdisk3 (the fourth hard disk identified by the system). The device named
hdisk3 is accessed by the file name /dev/hdisk3.
If a device is moved so that it has a different location identifier, the ODM is
updated so that it retains the same device name, and the move is transparent to
users. This is facilitated by the physical volume identifier stored in the first sector
of a physical volume. This unique 128-bit number is used by the system to
recognize the physical volume wherever it may be attached because it is also
associated with the device name in the ODM.
Linux
On Linux, device names are displayed in the format:
• sdx[N]
• hdx[N]
In the syntax:
• sd refers to a SCSI disk, and hd refers to an EIDE disk.
• x is a letter that indicates the order of disks detected by the operating system.
For example, sda refers to the first SCSI disk, sdb references the second
SCSI disk, and so on.
• N is an optional parameter that represents a partition number in the range 1
through 16. For example, sda7 references partition 7 on the first SCSI disk.
Primary partitions on a disk are 1, 2, 3, 4; logical partitions have numbers 5 and up.
If the partition number is omitted, the device name indicates the entire disk.

Physical Data Storage
Users Applications Databases

• Reads and writes
on unmanaged
physical disks
can be a slow
process.
• Disk arrays and
multipathed disk
arrays can
improve I/O speed Physical
Physical Disks/LUNs
Disks/LUNs
and throughput.
•• Disk
Disk array:
array: AA collection
collection of
of physical
physical disks
disks used
used
to
to balance
balance I/O
I/O across
across multiple
multiple disks
disks
•• Multipathed
Multipathed disk
disk array:
array: Provides
Provides multiple
multiple ports
ports
to
to access
access disks
disks to
to achieve
achieve performance
performance and
and
availability
availability benefits
benefits
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-6
Disk Arrays
Reads and writes on unmanaged physical disks can be a relatively slow process,
because disks are physical devices that require time to move the heads to the
correct position on the disk before reading or writing. If all of the read and write
operations are done to individual disks, one at a time, the read-write time can
become unmanageable.
A disk array is a collection of physical disks. Performing I/O operations on
multiple disks in a disk array can improve I/O speed and throughput.
Multipathed Disk Arrays

Some disk arrays provide multiple ports to access disk devices. These ports,
coupled with the host bus adaptor (HBA) controller and any data bus or I/O
processor local to the array, make up multiple hardware paths to access the disk
devices. This type of disk array is called a multipathed disk array.
You can connect multipathed disk arrays to host systems in many different
configurations, such as:
• Connecting multiple ports to different controllers on a single host
• Chaining ports through a single controller on a host
• Connecting ports to different hosts simultaneously

Virtual Data Storage
Online
• Volume Manager Administration
creates a virtual
layer of data Application Multidisk
storage. configurations:
• Concatenation
• Volume Manager
volumes appear to • Mirroring
applications • Striping
to be physical disk Volume • RAID-5
partitions.
High Availability:
• Volumes have • Disk group
block and character import and deport
device nodes in the
• Hot relocation
/dev tree: Physical
/dev/vx/[r]dsk/… Disks/ • Dynamic
multipathing
LUNs
Load Balancing
Disk Spanning
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-7
Virtual Data Storage

Virtual Storage Management
VERITAS Volume Manager creates a virtual level of storage management above
the physical device level by creating virtual storage objects. The virtual storage
object that is visible to users and applications is called a volume.
What Is a Volume?
A volume is a virtual object, created by Volume Manager, that stores data. A
volume is made up of space from one or more physical disks on which the data is
physically stored.
How Do You Access a Volume?

Volumes created by VxVM appear to the operating system as physical disks, and
applications that interact with volumes work in the same way as with physical
disks. All users and applications access volumes as contiguous address space using
special device files in a manner similar to accessing a disk partition.
Volumes have block and character device nodes in the /dev tree. You can supply
the name of the path to a volume in your commands and programs, in your file
system and database configuration files, and in any other context where you would
otherwise use the path to a physical disk partition.
Why Use Volume Manager?

Benefits of using Volume Manager for virtual storage management include:

• Disk spanning: By using volumes and other virtual objects, Volume Manager
enables you to span data over multiple physical disks. The process of logically
combining physical devices to enable data to be stored across multiple devices
is called spanning.
• Load balancing: Data can be spread across several disks within an array to
distribute or balance I/O operations across the disks. Using parallel I/O across
multiple disks improves I/O performance by increasing data transfer speed and
overall throughput for the array.
• Complex multidisk configurations: Volume Manager virtual objects enable
you to create complex disk configurations in multidisk systems that enhance
performance and reliability. Multidisk configurations, such as striping,
mirroring, and RAID-5 configurations, can provide data redundancy,
performance improvements, and high availability.
• Online administration: Volume Manager uses virtual objects to perform
administrative tasks on disks without interrupting service to applications and
users.
• High availability: Volume Manager includes automatic failover and recovery
features that ensure continuous access to critical data. Volume Manager can
move collections of disks between hosts (disk group import and deport),
automatically relocate data in case of disk failure (hot relocation), and
automatically detect and use multipathed disk arrays (dynamic multipathing, or
DMP).

Volume Manager Control
When you place a disk under VxVM control, a CDS disk layout is used which
ensures that the disk is accessible on different platforms, regardless of the
platform on which the disk was initialized.
CDS Disk
(Default) Offset 128K
Private Default
Default size
size of
of
OS-reserved
OS-reserved areas
areas Region private
private region:
region:
Metadata 2048
2048 sectors
sectors onon
that
that contain:
contain:
•• Platform
Platform blocks
blocks Solaris,
Solaris, AIX,
AIX,
•• VxVM
VxVM IDID blocks
blocks and
and Linux;
Linux; 1024
1024
•• AIX
AIX and
and HP-UX
HP-UX Public sectors
sectors onon HP-
HP-
co-existence
co-existence labels
labels User Region UX
UX
Data
Offset last two

cylinders
All
All areas
areas within
within the
the private
private and
and public
public regions
regions
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-8
are
are aligned
aligned and
and sized
sized in
in multiples
multiples of
of 8K.
8K.
Volume Manager-Controlled Disks

With Volume Manager, you enable virtual data storage by bringing a disk under
Volume Manager control. By default in VxVM 4.0 and later, Volume Manager
uses a cross-platform data sharing (CDS) disk layout. A CDS disk is consistently
recognized by all VxVM-supported UNIX platforms and consists of.
• OS-reserved areas: To accommodate platform-specific disk usage, the first
128K and the last two cylinders on a disk are reserved for disk labels, platform
blocks, and platform-coexistence labels.
• Private region: The private region stores information, such as disk headers,
configuration copies, and kernel logs, and other platform-specific management
areas that VxVM uses to manage virtual objects. The private region represents
a small management overhead:
Operating System Default Block/Sector Size Default Private Region Size

Solaris 512 bytes 2048 sectors (1024K)
HP-UX 1024 bytes 1024 sectors (1024K)
AIX 512 bytes 2048 sectors (1024K)
Linux 512 bytes 2048 sectors (1024K)
• Public region: The public region consists of the remainder of the space on the
disk. The public region represents the available space that Volume Manager
can use to assign to volumes and is where an application stores data. Volume
Manager never overwrites this area unless specifically instructed to do so.

Comparing CDS and Sliced Disks
CDS Disk (4.0 Default) Sliced Disk (Pre-4.0 Default)

• Private region (metadata) • Private region and public
and public region (user region are created on
data) are created on a single separate partitions (3 and
partition (7). 4).
• Suitable for moving • Not suitable for moving
between different operating between different operating
systems. systems.
• Not suitable for boot • Suitable for boot partitions.
partitions.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-9
Comparing CDS Disks and Sliced Disks

The sliced disk layout is still available in VxVM 4.0 and later, and is used for
bringing the boot disk under VxVM control on operating systems that support that
capability.
On platforms that support bringing the boot disk under VxVM control, CDS disks
cannot be used for boot disks. CDS disks have specific disk layout requirements
that enable a common disk layout across different platforms, and these
requirements are not compatible with the particular platform-specific requirements
of boot disks. Therefore, when placing a boot disk under VxVM control, you must
use a sliced disk layout.
For non-boot disks, you can convert CDS disks to sliced disks and vice versa by
using VxVM utilities.
Other disk types, working with boot disks, and transferring data across platforms
with CDS disks are topics covered in detail in later lessons.

Volume Manager Storage Objects
Disk Group acctdg
Volumes expvol payvol
acctdg01-01 acctdg01-02
acctdg03-01
Plexes acctdg03-02
expvol-01 payvol-01 payvol-02
VxVM Disks acctdg01 acctdg02 acctdg03

Subdisks acctdg03-01
acctdg03-02
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-10
Physical Disks
©VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Copyright 2002 VERITAS 1-10
Volume Manager Storage Objects

Disk Groups
A disk group is a collection of VxVM disks. You group disks into disk groups for
management purposes, such as to hold the data for a specific application or set of
applications. For example, data for accounting applications can be organized in a
disk group called acctdg. A disk group configuration is a set of records with
detailed information about related Volume Manager objects in a disk group, their
attributes, and their connections.
Disk groups are configured by the system administrator and represent management
and configuration boundaries. Volume Manager objects cannot span disk groups.
For example, a volume’s subdisks, plexes, and disks must be derived from the
same disk group as the volume. You can create additional disk groups as necessary.
Disk groups allow you to group disks into logical collections.
Disk groups ease the use of devices in a high availability environment, because a
disk group and its components can be moved as a unit from one host machine to
another. Disk drives can be shared by two or more hosts, but can be accessed by
only one host at a time. If one host crashes, the other host can take over the failed
host’s disk drives and disk groups.
Volume Manager Disks

A Volume Manager (VxVM) disk represents the public region of a physical disk
that is under Volume Manager control. Each VxVM disk corresponds to one
physical disk. Each VxVM disk has a unique virtual disk name called a disk media

name. The disk media name is a logical name used for Volume Manager
administrative purposes. Volume Manager uses the disk media name when
assigning space to volumes. A VxVM disk is given a disk media name when it is
added to a disk group.
Default disk media name: diskgroup##
You can supply the disk media name or allow Volume Manager to assign a default
name. The disk media name is stored with a unique disk ID to avoid name
collision. Once a VxVM disk is assigned a disk media name, the disk is no longer
referred to by its physical address. The physical address (for example, c#t#d# or
hdisk#) becomes known as the disk access record.
Subdisks
A VxVM disk can be divided into one or more subdisks. A subdisk is a set of
contiguous disk blocks that represent a specific portion of a VxVM disk, which is
mapped to a specific region of a physical disk. A subdisk is a subsection of a disk’s
public region. A subdisk is the smallest unit of storage in Volume Manager.
Therefore, subdisks are the building blocks for Volume Manager objects.
A subdisk is defined by an offset and a length in sectors on a VxVM disk.
Default subdisk name: DMname-##
A VxVM disk can contain multiple subdisks, but subdisks cannot overlap or share
the same portions of a VxVM disk. Any VxVM disk space that is not reserved or
that is not part of a subdisk is free space. You can use free space to create new
subdisks.
Conceptually, a subdisk is similar to a partition. Both a subdisk and a partition
divide a disk into pieces defined by an offset address and length. Each of those
pieces represent a reservation of contiguous space on the physical disk. However,
while the maximum number of partitions to a disk is limited by some operating
systems, there is no theoretical limit to the number of subdisks that can be attached
to a single plex, but it has been limited by default to a value of 4096. If required,
this default can be changed, using the vol_subdisk_num tunable parameter. For
more information on tunable parameters, see the VERITAS Volume Manager
System Administrator’s Guide.
Plexes
Volume Manager uses subdisks to build virtual objects called plexes. A plex is a
structured or ordered collection of subdisks that represents one copy of the data in
a volume. A plex consists of one or more subdisks located on one or more physical
disks. The length of a plex is determined by the last block that can be read or
written on the last subdisk in the plex. Plex length may not equal volume length to
the exact sector, because the plex is aligned to a cylinder boundary.
Default plex name: volumename-##
Plex types:
• Complete plex: A complete plex holds a complete copy of a volume and

therefore maps the entire address space of the volume. Most plexes in VxVM
are complete plexes.
• Sparse plex: A sparse plex is a plex that has a length that is less than the length
of the volume or that maps to only part of the address space of a volume.
Sparse plexes are not commonly used in newer VxVM versions.
• Log plex: A log plex is a plex that is dedicated to logging. A log plex is used to
speed up data consistency checks and repairs after a system failure. RAID-5
and mirrored volumes typically use a log plex.
A volume must have at least one complete plex that has a complete copy of the
data in the volume with at least one associated subdisk. Other plexes in the volume
can be complete, sparse, or log plexes. A volume can have up to 32 plexes;
however, you should never use more than 31 plexes in a single volume. Volume
Manager requires one plex for automatic or temporary online operations.
Volumes
A volume is a virtual storage device that is used by applications in a manner
similar to a physical disk. Due to its virtual nature, a volume is not restricted by the
physical size constraints that apply to a physical disk. A VxVM volume can be as
large as the total sum of available, unreserved free physical disk space. A volume
is comprised of one or more plexes.
A volume can span across multiple disks. The data in a volume is stored on
subdisks of the spanned disks. A volume must be configured from VxVM disks
and subdisks within the same disk group.
Default volume name: vol##
You should assign meaningful volume names that reflect the nature or use of the
data in the volumes. For example, two volumes in acctdg can be expvol, a
volume that contains expense data, and payvol, a volume that contains payroll
data.

Volume Layouts
Volume layout: The way plexes are configured to remap the
volume address space through which I/O is redirected
Disk
Disk Spanning
Spanning Resilience
Resilience
Concatenated Striped Layered
RAID-0 RAID-0 RAID-1+0
Data
Data Redundancy
Redundancy
Mirrored RAID-5 Striped and
Mirrored
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-11
RAID-1 RAID-5 RAID-0+1

©VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Volume Manager RAID Levels

RAID
RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. RAID is a
storage management approach in which an array of disks is created, and part of the
combined storage capacity of the disks is used to store duplicate information about
the data in the array. By maintaining a redundant array of disks, you can regenerate
data in the case of disk failure.
RAID configuration models are classified in terms of RAID levels, which are
defined by the number of disks in the array, the way data is spanned across the
disks, and the method used for redundancy. Each RAID level has specific features
and performance benefits that involve a trade-off between performance and
reliability.

VxVM-Supported RAID Levels
VxVM-supported RAID levels are described in the following table:
RAID Level Description

RAID-0 RAID-0 refers to simple concatenation or striping. Disk space is
combined sequentially from two or more disks or striped across two
or more disks. RAID-0 does not provide data redundancy.
RAID-1 RAID-1 refers to mirroring. Data from one disk is duplicated on
another disk to provide redundancy and enable fast recovery.
RAID-5 RAID-5 is a striped layout that also includes the calculation of parity
information, and the striping of that parity information across the
disks. If a disk fails, the parity is used to reconstruct the missing data.
RAID-0+1 Adding a mirror to a concatenated or striped layout results in
RAID-0+1, a combination of concatenation or striping (RAID-0)
with mirroring (RAID-1). Striping plus mirroring is called the
mirror-stripe layout. Concatenation plus mirroring is called the
mirror-concat layout. In these layouts, the mirroring occurs above the
concatenation or striping.
RAID-1+0 RAID-1+0 combines mirroring (RAID-1) with striping or
concatenation (RAID-0) in a different way. The mirroring occurs
below the striping or concatenation in order to mirror each column of
the stripe or each chunk of the concatenation.
This type of layout is called a layered volume.
Volume Layouts
RAID levels correspond to volume layouts. A volume’s layout refers to the
organization of plexes in a volume. Volume layout is the way plexes are
configured to remap the volume address space through which I/O is redirected at
run-time. Volume layouts are based on the concepts of disk spanning, redundancy,
and resilience.
Disk Spanning
Disk spanning is the combining of disk space from multiple physical disks to form
one logical drive. Disk spanning has two forms:
• Concatenation: Concatenation is the mapping of data in a linear manner
across two or more disks.
In a concatenated volume, subdisks are arranged both sequentially and
contiguously within a plex. Concatenation allows a volume to be created from
multiple regions of one or more disks if there is not enough space for an entire
volume on a single region of a disk.
• Striping: Striping is the mapping of data in equal-sized chunks alternating
across multiple disks. Striping is also called interleaving.

In a striped volume, data is spread evenly across multiple disks. Stripes are
equally-sized fragments that are allocated alternately and evenly to the
subdisks of a single plex. There must be at least two subdisks in a striped plex,
each of which must exist on a different disk. Configured properly, striping not
only helps to balance I/O but also to increase throughput.
Data Redundancy
To protect data against disk failure, the volume layout must provide some form of
data redundancy. Redundancy is achieved in two ways:
• Mirroring: Mirroring is maintaining two or more copies of volume data.
A mirrored volume uses multiple plexes to duplicate the information contained
in a volume. Although a volume can have a single plex, at least two are
required for true mirroring (redundancy of data). Each of these plexes should
contain disk space from different disks for the redundancy to be useful.
• Parity: Parity is a calculated value used to reconstruct data after a failure by
doing an exclusive OR (XOR) procedure on the data. Parity information can be
stored on a disk. If part of a volume fails, the data on that portion of the failed
volume can be re-created from the remaining data and parity information.
A RAID-5 volume uses striping to spread data and parity evenly across
multiple disks in an array. Each stripe contains a parity stripe unit and data
stripe units. Parity can be used to reconstruct data if one of the disks fails. In
comparison to the performance of striped volumes, write throughput of RAID-
5 volumes decreases, because parity information needs to be updated each time
data is accessed. However, in comparison to mirroring, the use of parity
reduces the amount of space required.
Resilience
A resilient volume, also called a layered volume, is a volume that is built on one or
more other volumes. Resilient volumes enable the mirroring of data at a more
granular level. For example, a resilient volume can be concatenated or striped at
the top level and then mirrored at the bottom level.
A layered volume is a virtual Volume Manager object that nests other virtual
objects inside of itself. Layered volumes provide better fault tolerance by
mirroring data at a more granular level.

Summary
You should now be able to:
• Identify the structural characteristics of a disk that are
affected by placing a disk under Volume Manager
control.
• Describe the structural characteristics of a disk after it is
placed under Volume Manager control.
• Identify the virtual objects that are created by Volume
Manager to manage data storage, including disk groups,
Volume Manager disks, subdisks, plexes, and volumes.
• Define VxVM RAID levels and identify virtual storage
layout types used by VxVM to remap address space.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-12
Summary
This lesson described the virtual storage objects that VERITAS Volume Manager
uses to manage physical disk storage. This lesson introduced common virtual
storage layouts, illustrated how virtual storage objects relate to physical storage
objects, and described the benefits of virtual data storage.
Next Steps
You are now familiar with Volume Manager objects and how virtual objects relate
to physical disks when a disk is controlled by Volume Manager. In the next lesson,
you will install and set up Volume Manager. In addition, you install VEA and
explore the other Volume Manager interfaces.
Additional Resources
VERITAS Volume Manager Administrator’s Guide
This guide provides detailed information on procedures and concepts involving
volume management and system administration using VERITAS Volume
Manager.

Lab 1
Lab 1: Virtual Objects
• In this lab, you are introduced to the lab environment, the
system, and disks that you will use throughout this
course.
• Lab instructions are in Appendix A.
• Lab solutions are in Appendix B.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 1-13
Lab 1: Virtual Objects

To Begin This Lab
To begin the lab, go to Appendix A, “Lab Exercises.”
Lab solutions are contained in Appendix B, “Lab Solutions.”

Lesson 2
Overview
Recovery Essentials
Configuring Volumes
Creating Volumes
Virtual Objects
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-2
Introduction
Overview
This lesson describes guidelines for a first-time installation of VERITAS Volume
Manager (VxVM). Installation prerequisites and procedures for adding license
keys and adding software packages are covered. This lesson also provides an
introduction to the interfaces used to manage VERITAS Volume Manager.
Importance
Before you install VxVM, you need to be aware of the contents of your physical
disks and decide how you want VxVM to handle those disks. By following these
installation guidelines, you can ensure that you set up VxVM in a way that meets
the needs of your environment. You can use the three interfaces to VxVM
interchangeably to perform administrative functions, which provides flexibility in
how you access and manage VxVM objects.

Objectives
• Identify operating system compatibility and other
preinstallation considerations.
• Obtain license keys, add licenses by using vxlicinst, and
view licenses by using vxlicrep.
• Install VxVM interactively, by using installation utilities, and
manually, by adding software packages and running the
vxinstall program.
• Describe the three VxVM user interfaces.
• Install and start the VEA software packages.
• Manage the VEA server by displaying server status,
version, task logs, and event logs.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-3
Outline of Topics
• Installation Prerequisites
• Adding License Keys
• VERITAS Software Packages
• Installing VxVM
• VxVM User Interfaces
• Installing and Starting VEA
• Managing the VEA Server
Lesson 2 Installation and Interfaces 2–3

OS Compatibility
VxVM Solaris HP-UX AIX Linux
Version Version Version Version Version
4.0 5.1, 5.2 RedHat AS 3.0
7, 8, 9 11i, 11.23 SUSE
3.5.x 2.6, 7, 8, 9 11.11i (0902) No release No release*
3.2.x 2.6, 7, 8 11.11i 5.1.0.15 RedHat 7.1 (2.4.9-12), 7.2

or higher (2.4.7-10), AS 2.1, SUSE
3.1.1 2.6, 7, 8 No release No release No release
3.1 2.6, 7, 8 11.0 No release No release
3.0.4, 3.0.3 2.5.1, 2.6, 7, 8 No release No release No release
3.0.2, 3.0.1 2.5.1, 2.6, 7 No release No release No release
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-4
* Note: VxVM 3.2.2 on Linux has functionality

equivalent to VxVM 3.5 on Solaris.
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Installation Prerequisites
OS Version Compatibility
Before installing VxVM, you should ensure that the version of VxVM that you are
installing is compatible with the version of the operating system that you are
running. You may need to upgrade your operating system before you install VxVM
4.0. If you are planning to install other VERITAS products, such as VERITAS File
System (VxFS), check OS compatibility for those products as well:
VxFS Supported Supported Supported Supported

Version Solaris HP-UX AIX Linux
Versions Versions Versions Versions
4.0 7, 8, 9 11i, 11.23 5.1, 5.2 RedHat AS 3.0, SUSE
3.5.x 2.6, 7, 8, 9 11.11i (0902) No release No release
3.4.x 2.6, 7, 8 No release 5.1.0.15 or RedHat 7.1 (2.4.9-12),
higher 7.2 (2.4.7-10, AS 2.1,
SUSE
3.3.3 2.5.1, 2.6, 7, 8 No release No release No release
3.3.2 2.5.1, 2.6, 7 11.0 No release No release
3.3.1 2.5.1, 2.6 No release No release No release
3.3 2.5.1, 2.6 No release No release No release

Support Resources
http://support.veritas.com
http://support.veritas.com Products
Products
Patches
Patches Alerts
Alerts Search for
for Technotes
Technotes
Email
Email services
services
Support
Support services
services
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-5
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Version Release Differences

With each new release of the VxVM software, changes are made that may affect
the installation or operation of VxVM in your environment. By reading version
release notes and installation documentation that are included with the product,
you can stay informed of any changes.
For more information about specific releases of VERITAS Volume Manager, visit
the VERITAS Support Web site at: http://support.veritas.com
This site contains product and patch information, a searchable knowledge base of
technical notes, access to product-specific news groups and e-mail notification
services, and other information about contacting technical support staff.
Note: If you open a case with VERITAS Support, you can view updates at:
http://support.veritas.com/viewcase
You can access your case by entering the email address associated with your case
and the case number.

VxVM Licensing
• Licensing utilities are contained in the VRTSvlic package,
which is common to all VERITAS products. This package can
coexist with previous licensing packages, such as VRTSlic.
• To obtain a license key:
– Complete a License Key Request form and fax it to VERITAS
customer support.
or
– Create a vLicense account and retrieve license keys online.
vLicense is a Web site that you can use to retrieve and manage
your license keys.
• To generate a license key, you must provide your:
– Software serial number
– Customer number
– Order number
– Host ID
– Machine type
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-6
Adding License Keys

You must have your license key before you begin installation, because you are
prompted for the license key during the installation process. A new license key is
not necessary if you are upgrading VxVM from a previously licensed version of
the product.
If you have an evaluation license key you must obtain a permanent license key
when you purchase the product. The VERITAS licensing mechanism checks the
system date to verify that it has not been set back. If the system date has been reset,
the evaluation license key becomes invalid.
Obtaining a License Key

When you purchase VxVM, you receive a License Key Request form issued by
VERITAS customer support. By using this form, you can obtain a license key.
License keys are uniquely generated based on your system host ID number. To
generate a new license key, you must provide the following information:
• Software serial number (located in your software media kit)
• Customer number (located on your License Key Request form)
• Order number (located on your License Key Request form)
• Host ID:
Solaris: hostid
HP-UX: uname -i
AIX: uname -m
Linux: hostid

• Host machine type:
Solaris and HP-UX: uname -m
HP-UX: model
AIX: uname -M
Linux: uname -m
Solaris Note
If a Sun StorEdge array is attached to a Sun system, the VxVM license is generated
automatically. The license is only valid while the StorEdge is attached to the
system. If the StorEdge fails, the license remains valid for an additional 14 days.

Generating License Keys
http://vlicense.veritas.com
•• Access
Access automatic
automatic
license
license key
key generation
generation
• To add a license key: and
and delivery.
delivery.
# vxlicinst •• Manage
Manage and and track
track
license
license key
key inventory
inventory
• License keys are installed in and
and usage.
usage.
/etc/vx/licenses/lic.
•• Locate
Locate and
and reissue
reissue
• To view installed license key lost
lost license
license keys.
keys.
information: •• Report,
Report, track,
track, and
and
# vxlicrep resolve
resolve license
license key
key
issues
issues online.
online.
•• Consolidate
Consolidate andand share
share
license
license key
key
information
information with
with other
other
accounts.
accounts.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-7
Generating License Keys with vLicense

VERITAS vLicense (vlicense.veritas.com) is a self-service online license
management system. By setting up an account through vLicense, you can:
• Access automatic license key generation and delivery services. License key
requests are fulfilled in minutes.
• Manage and track license key inventory and usage. Your complete license key
inventory is stored online with detailed history and usage information.
• Locate and reissue lost license keys. Key history information provides you
with an audit trail that can be used to resolve lost license key issues.
• Report, track, and resolve license key issues online. The online customer
service feature within the license management system enables you to create
and track license key service requests.
• Consolidate and share license key information with other accounts. For
example, an account with Company A can share key information with their
parent Company B, depending on the details of their licensing agreements.
Notes on vLicense
• vLicense currently supports production license keys only. Temporary,
evaluation, or demonstration keys must be obtained through your VERITAS
sales representative.
• Host ID changes cannot be processed through the vLicense system. Contact
VERITAS customer support for more details.

Adding a License Key
You can add a license key for Volume Manager when you run the installation
program or, if the VRTSvlic package is already installed, by using the
vxlicinst command.
To license optional features, you reenter the vxlicinst command and enter a
valid license key for each optional feature.
License keys are installed in /etc/vx/licenses/lic. If you have old license
keys installed in /etc/vx/elm, then leave this directory on your system. The
old and new license utilities can coexist.
Viewing Installed License Keys

If you are not sure whether license keys have been installed, you can view installed
license key information by using the vxlicrep command.
Information about installed license keys is displayed. This information includes:
• License key number
• Name of the VERITAS product that the key enables
• Type of license
• Features enabled by the key
Note: The vxlicrep command reports all currently installed licenses for both
VRTSvlic and the previous licensing package, VRTSlic (used for VxVM 3.2.x
and earlier releases).

Comparing Licensing Utilities
Description VRTSvlic VRTSlic
VxVM VxVM 3.5 VxVM 3.2.x

Versions and later and earlier
Adding a vxlicinst vxlicense -c

license key
Viewing vxlicrep vxlicense -p

license keys
Path of
installed /etc/vx/licenses/lic /etc/vx/elm
licenses
key_string.vxlic feature_no.lic
License key
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Example: Example: 2-8
file naming ABCD-EFGH-IJKL-MNOP- 95.lic

QRST-UVWX-YZ.vxlic
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Managing Multiple Licensing Utilities

The current licensing utilities of the VRTSvlic package can coexist on your
system with previous licensing utilities, such as those contained in the VRTSlic
package. You should retain the VRTSlic package only if you have older products
that rely on the previous licensing technology. Otherwise, you can remove the
VRTSlic package. When you remove the VRTSlic package, existing license key
files are not deleted and can be accessed by the VRTSvlic utilities.

VERITAS Storage Solutions
Old Name New Name
VERITAS
VERITAS Foundation
Foundation VERITAS
VERITAS Storage
Storage
Suite
Suite Foundation
VERITAS
VERITAS Foundation VERITAS
VERITAS Storage
Storage
Suite
Suite HA
HA Foundation
Foundation HA
HA
VERITAS
VERITAS Database
Database VERITAS
VERITAS Storage
Storage
Edition
Edition Foundation
Foundation
for
for Oracle,
Oracle, Sybase,
Sybase, for
for Oracle, Sybase,
or
or DB2
DB2 or DB2
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-9
VERITAS Software Packages

VERITAS Storage Solutions Products and Suites
VERITAS Volume Manager is one of the foundation components of many
VERITAS storage solutions. You can install VxVM as a stand-alone product, or as
part of a product suite.
Installing VxVM As Part of a Product Suite

VxVM is included in many product suites. The packages that you install depend on
the products and licenses that you have purchased. When you install a product
suite, the component product packages are automatically installed. When installing
VxVM or any of the product suites, you should always follow the instructions in
the product release notes and installation guides.

VxVM Packages
New in 4.0
VERITAS Infrastructure packages:

• VRTSvlic Licensing utilities
• VRTScpi Common product/platform installer
• VRTSperl Perl used by installation technology
VxVM packages:
• VRTSvxvm VxVM binaries
• VRTSalloc VxVM Intelligent Storage Provisioning
• VRTSddlpr Device Discovery Layer services provider
• VRTSvmdoc VxVM documentation
• VRTSvmman VxVM manual pages
VEA (GUI) packages:
• VRTSob VEA service
• VRTSobgui VEA graphical user interface
• VRTSvmpro Disk management services provider
• VRTSfspro File system services provider
• VRTSmuob
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
VEA service localized package 2-10
• VRTSobadmin Installation administration file

© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
VERITAS Volume Manager Packages

You must add VRTSvlic before the other VxVM packages.
Package Space Requirements

Before you install any of the packages, confirm that your system has enough free
disk space to accommodate the installation. VxVM programs and files are installed
in the /, /usr, and /opt file systems. Consult the product installation guides for
a detailed list of package space requirements.
Solaris Note
VRTSvxvm adds forceload lines to /etc/system for vxio, vxspec, and
vxdmp drivers.

VxFS Packages
New in 4.0
• VRTSvxfs VxFS software and manual pages

• VRTSfsdoc VxFS documentation
• VRTSfppm VERITAS File Placement Policy Manager
• VRTSap VERITAS Action Provider
• VRTStep VERITAS Task Exec Provider
Solaris Only: VxFS installation modifies /etc/system by adding:
* vxfs_START -- do not remove the following lines:
*
* VxFS requires a stack size greater than the default 8K.
* The following values allow the kernel stack size
* for all threads to be increased to 24K.
*
set lwp_default_stksize=0x6000
* vxfs_END
The original /etc/system file is copied to
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-11
/etc/fs/vxfs/system.preinstall.
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
VERITAS File System Packages

VxFS programs and files are installed in the /, /usr, and /opt file systems.
Solaris Note
VxFS often requires more than the default 8K kernel stack size, so during the
installation of VxFS 3.2.x and higher, entries are added to the /etc/system file.
This increases the kernel thread stack size of the system to 24K.
VxFS is a kernel-loadable driver, which means that it may load ahead of or behind
other drivers when the system reboots. To avoid the possibility of problems in a
failover scenario, you should maintain the same VxFS product version on all
systems.
HP-UX Note
The VxFS installation procedure modifies the /stand/system file, and saves
the old system file as /stand/system.prev.:
• The procedure replaces vxfs and vxportal drivers with vxfs35 and
vxportal35.
• The procedure adds the fdd and qlog drivers.
• The procedure adds the following line to tune max_thread_proc:
max_thread_proc 2100

Optional Features
• VERITAS FlashSnap
– Enables point-in-time copies of data with minimal
performance overhead
– Includes disk group split/join, FastResync, and
Features
Features are
are storage checkpointing (in conjunction with VxFS)
included
included in
in the
the
VxVM
VxVM package,
package, • VERITAS Volume Replicator
but
but require
require aa – Enables replication of data to remote locations
separate
separate license.
license.
– VRTSvrdoc: VVR documentation
• VERITAS Cluster Volume Manager
Used for high availability environments
• VERITAS Quick I/O for Databases
Features
Features are
are Enables applications to access preallocated VxFS files
included
included in
in the
the as raw character devices
VxFS
VxFS package,
package,
but
but requires
requires aa
• VERITAS Cluster File System
separate
separate license.
license.
Enables multiple hosts to mount and perform file
operations concurrently on the same file
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-12
VxVM Optional Features

Several optional features do not require separate packages, only additional
licenses. The following optional features are built-in to VxVM that you can enable
with additional licenses:
• VERITAS FlashSnap: The VRTSvxvm package contains a set of optional
features called VERITAS FlashSnap. FlashSnap is an integral part of the
Volume Manager software, but requires a separate license key for use.
FlashSnap facilitates point-in-time copies of data, while enabling applications
to maintain optimal performance, by enabling features such as FastResync and
disk group split and join functionality. FlashSnap provides an efficient method
to perform offline and off-host processing tasks, such as backup and decision
support.
• VERITAS FastResync: The FastResync option can be purchased separately
or as part of the VERITAS FlashSnap option. The FastResync option speeds
mirror synchronization by writing only changed data blocks when split mirrors
are rejoined, minimizing the effect of mirroring operations.
• VERITAS Volume Replicator: The VRTSvxvm package also contains the
VERITAS Volume Replicator (VVR) software. VVR is an integral part of the
Volume Manager software but requires a separate license key to activate the
functionality.

Volume Replicator augments Volume Manager functionality to enable you to
replicate data to remote locations over any IP network. Replicated copies of
data can be used for disaster recovery, off-host processing, off-host backup,
and application migration. Volume Replicator ensures maximum business
continuity by delivering true disaster recovery and flexible off-host processing.
• Cluster Functionality: VxVM includes optional cluster functionality that
enables VxVM to be used in a cluster environment. Cluster functionality is an
integral part of the Volume Manager software but requires a separate license
key to activate the features.
A cluster is a set of hosts that share a set of disks. Each host is referred to as a
node in a cluster. The cluster functionality of VxVM allows up to 16 nodes in a
cluster to simultaneously access and manage a set of disks under VxVM
control. The same logical view of disk configuration and any configuration
changes are available on all of the nodes. When the cluster functionality is
enabled, all of the nodes in the cluster can share VxVM objects. Disk groups
can be simultaneously imported on up to 16 hosts, and Cluster File System (an
option to VERITAS File System) is used to ensure that only one host can write
to a disk group during write operations.
The main benefits of cluster configurations are high availability and off-host
processing.
VxFS Optional Features

The VRTSvxfs package also contains these optionally licensable features:
• VERITAS Quick I/O for Databases: VERITAS Quick I/O for Databases
(referred to as Quick I/O) enables applications to access preallocated VxFS
files as raw character devices. This provides the administrative benefits of
running databases on file systems without the performance degradation usually
associated with databases created on file systems. Quick I/O is a separately
licensable feature available only with VERITAS Editions products.
Note: In previous VxFS distributions, the QuickLog and Quick I/O features
were supplied in separate packages (VRTSqlog and VRTSqio, respectively).
• VERITAS Cluster File System: VERITAS Storage Foundation Cluster File
System (CFS) is a shared file system that enables multiple hosts to mount and
perform file operations concurrently on the same file. CFS is a separately
licensable feature that requires an integrated set of VERITAS products to
function.
To configure a cluster and to provide failover support, CFS requires:
– VERITAS Cluster Server (VCS): VCS supplies two major components
integral to CFS: the Low Latency Transport (LLT) package and the Group
Membership and Atomic Broadcast (GAB) package. LLT provides node-
to-node communications and monitors network communications. GAB
provides cluster state, configuration, and membership service, and
monitors the heartbeat links between systems to ensure that they are active.
– VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM): CFS requires the Cluster Volume
Manager (CVM) feature of VxVM to create the cluster volumes necessary

for mounting cluster file systems.
Other Options Included with Foundation Suite

In addition to VERITAS Volume Manager and VERITAS File System, VERITAS
Foundation Suite includes these optional products and features:
• VERITAS QuickLog: VERITAS QuickLog is part of the VRTSvxfs package
and is a feature designed to enhance file system performance. Although
QuickLog can improve file system performance, VxFS does not require
QuickLog to operate effectively. The VERITAS QuickLog license is included
with VERITAS Foundation Suite and VERITAS Foundation Suite HA.
• VERITAS SANPoint Control QuickStart: VERITAS SANPoint Control is a
separate software tool that you can use in a Storage Area Network (SAN)
environment to provide comprehensive resource management and end-to-end
data path management from host to storage. With SANPoint Control, you can
have a single, centralized, consistent storage management interface to simplify
the complex tasks involved in deploying, managing and growing a multivendor
networked storage environment. The QuickStart version is a limited-feature
version of this tool that consists of the following packages on your VERITAS
CD-ROM:
– VRTSspc: The VERITAS SANPoint Control console
– VRTSspcq: The VERITAS SANPoint Control QuickStart software
Installing and operating VERITAS SANPoint Control is beyond the scope of
this course. For detailed training, attend the VERITAS SANPoint Control
course.
Licenses Required for Optional Features

The following table describes the products and licenses required to enable optional
volume management features:
Feature Built into the Licenses needed to enable the feature

Software are:
Package of:
Disk group split and join VxVM FlashSnap
Volume replication VxVM Volume Replicator
Cluster Volume Manager VxVM SANPoint Foundation Suite
FastResync VxVM FlashSnap or FastResync
Storage Checkpoints VxFS FlashSnap or Database Edition
QuickLog VxFS Foundation Suite
Quick I/O VxFS Database Edition
Cluster File System VxFS SANPoint Foundation Suite

What Is Enclosure-Based Naming?
When
When you
you install
install VxVM,
VxVM, you
you • Standard device naming is based
are on controllers, for example,
are asked
asked if you
you want
want to use
use c1t0d0s2.
enclosure-based
enclosure-based naming.
naming.
• Enclosure-based naming is based
on disk enclosures, for example,
Host
Host enc0.
• Enclosure-based naming benefits
a SAN environment.
c1
Disk
Disk Enclosures
Enclosures
Fibre
Fibre Channel
Channel
Hub/Switch
Hub/Switch
enc2
Note:
Note: Disk
Disk naming
naming is is covered
covered
in
enc1
in more
more detail
detail in
in aa later
later lesson.
lesson.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 enc0 2-13
Before Installing VxVM: What Is Enclosure-based Naming?

When you install VxVM, you are asked if you want to use enclosure-based
naming. As an alternative to standard disk device naming (for example, c0t0d0
or hdisk2), VxVM 3.2 and later versions provide enclosure-based naming.
An enclosure, or disk enclosure, is an intelligent disk array, which permits hot-
swapping of disks. With VxVM, disk devices can be named for enclosures rather
than for the controllers through which they are accessed.
In a storage area network (SAN) that uses Fibre Channel hubs or fabric switches,
information about disk location provided by the operating system may not
correctly indicate the physical location of the disks. For example, c#t#d#s#
naming assigns controller-based device names to disks in separate enclosures that
are connected to the same host controller.
Enclosure-based naming allows VxVM to access enclosures as separate physical
entities. By configuring redundant copies of your data on separate enclosures, you
can safeguard against failure of one or more enclosures.
Enclosure-based naming is also useful when managing the dynamic multipathing
(DMP) feature of VxVM. For example, if two paths (c1t99d0 and c2t99d0)
exist to a single disk in an enclosure, VxVM can use a single DMP metanode,
represented by an enclosure name such as enc0_0, to access the disk.
You can also change the naming scheme at a later time by using VxVM utilities.

What Is a Default Disk Group?
When
When you
you install
install VxVM,
VxVM, you
you
are
are asked
asked if you
you want
want to set
up
up aa default
default disk
disk group.
• In VxVM 4.0, the rootdg requirement no longer exists.
• You can set up a system-wide default disk group to which
VxVM commands default if you do not specify a disk
group.
• If you are upgrading from VxVM 3.5 to 4.0, then you must
reboot in order to set the default disk group.
• If you choose not to set a default disk group at installation,
you can set the default disk group later from the command
line.
Note:
Note: The
The default
default disk
disk group
group and
and other
other
new
new disk
disk group
group requirements
requirements are
are covered
covered
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 in
in more
more detail
detail in
in aa later
later lesson.
lesson. 2-14
Before Installing VxVM: What Is a Default Disk Group?

When you install VxVM, you are asked whether you want to set up a system-wide
default disk group. The main benefit of creating a default disk group is that VxVM
commands default to that disk group if you do not specify a disk group on the
command line.
defaultdg specifies the default disk group and is an alias for the disk group
name that should be assumed if a disk group is not specified in a command.
Note: You cannot use the following names for the default disk group because they
are reserved words: bootdg, defaultdg, and nodg. These terms are covered
in more detail in a later lesson.
In releases prior to Volume Manager 4.0, the default disk group was rootdg (the
root disk group). For Volume Manager to function, the rootdg disk group had to
exist and it had to contain at least one disk. The rootdg requirement no longer
exists. There is no longer a requirement that you name any disk group rootdg,
and any disk group that is named rootdg has no special properties by virtue of
this name. If you have upgraded your system to VxVM 4.0, you may find it
convenient to continue to configure a disk group named rootdg as the default
disk group (defaultdg). There is no requirement that both defaultdg and
bootdg refer to the same disk group, nor that either the default disk group or the
boot disk group be named rootdg.

Installing VERITAS Products
VERITAS Storage Solutions Installation Menu
• installer Install multiple VERITAS products With installation
scripts, adding
Individual Product Installation Scripts packages and
initial VxVM
• installvm Install VxVM, VxFS, or configuration are
• installfs Storage Foundation performed.
• installsf individually
OS Package Installation Commands With native

• pkgadd (Solaris) package
Install installation
• swinstall (HP-UX) packages commands,
• installp (AIX) individually initial VxVM
• rpm (Linux) configuration is
Then, run vxinstall. a separate step.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-15
Installing VxVM
Methods for Adding VxVM Packages
A first-time installation of VxVM involves adding the software packages and
configuring VxVM for first-time use. You can add VERITAS product packages by
using one of three methods:
Method Command Notes

VERITAS installer Use to install multiple VERITAS
Installation Menu products interactively.
Installs packages and configures
VxVM for first time use.
Product installation installvm Install individual VERITAS
scripts installfs products interactively.
installsf Installs packages and configures
VxVM for first time use.
Native operating pkgadd (Solaris) Install individual packages, for
system package swinstall (HP-UX) example when using your own
installation custom installation scripts.
installp (AIX)
commands First-time VxVM configuration
rpm (Linux)
must be run as a separate step.
Then, to configure
VxVM, run:
vxinstall

Installation Menu
VERITAS Storage Solutions 4.0
VERITAS Product Version Installed Licensed
================================================================
File System no no
Volume Manager no no
Volume Replicator no no
Cluster Server no no
Cluster Server Traffic Director no no
Storage Foundation no no
Storage Foundation for Oracle no no
Storage Foundation for DB2 no no
Storage Foundation for Sybase no no
SANPoint Control QuickStart no no
Enterprise Administrator GUI no
Selection Menu:
I) Install/Upgrade a Product C) Configure an Installed Product
L) License a Product P) Perform a Preinstallation Check
U) Uninstall a Product
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
D) View a Product Description 2-16
Q) Quit ?) Help
Enter a Selection: [I,C,L,P,U,D,Q,?] 2-16
Adding Packages with the VERITAS Installation Menu

The Installer is a menu-based installation utility that you can use to install any
product contained on the VERITAS Storage Solutions CD-ROM. This utility acts
as a wrapper for existing product installation scripts and is most useful when you
are installing multiple VERITAS products or bundles, such as VERITAS Storage
Foundation or VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases.
When you add VxVM packages by using the installer utility, all VxVM and VEA
packages are installed. If you want to add a specific package only, for example,
only the VRTSvmdoc package, then you must add the package manually from the
command line.
Note: The VERITAS Storage Solutions CD-ROM contains an installation guide
(storage_solutions_ig.pdf) that describes how to use the installer utility.
You should also read all product installation guides and release notes even if you
are using the Installer utility.
To add the VxVM packages using the installer utility:
1 Log on as superuser.
2 Mount the VERITAS Storage Solutions CD-ROM.
3 Locate and invoke the installer script:
# cd /cdrom/CD_name
# ./installer
4 The VERITAS licensing package is installed automatically, and the product
status page is displayed. This list displays the VERITAS products on the CD-

ROM and the installation and licensing status of each product. A menu of
choices is also displayed.
VERITAS Storage Solutions 4.0
VERITAS Product Version Installed Licensed

===================================================================
File System no no
Volume Manager no no
Volume Replicator no no
Cluster Server no no
Cluster Server Traffic Director no no
Storage Foundation no no
Storage Foundation for Oracle no no
Storage Foundation for DB2 no no
Storage Foundation for Sybase no no
SANPoint Control QuickStart no no
Enterprise Administrator GUI no
Selection Menu:
I) Install/Upgrade a Product C) Configure an Installed Product

L) License a Product P) Perform a Preinstallation Check
U) Uninstall a Product D) View a Product Description
Q) Quit ?) Help
Enter a Selection: [I,C,L,P,U,D,Q,?]
5 Type L to enter a license for a product. Follow the instructions to enter a

license key and return to the product status page.
6 Type I to install a product. Follow the instructions to select the product that you
want to install. Installation begins automatically.
7 Follow the instructions to interactively install the product. When the
installation is complete, you return to the product status page, where you can
install another product or exit the installation menu.
After installation, the installer creates three text files that can be used for auditing
or debugging. The names and locations of each file are displayed at the end of the
installation and are located in /opt/VRTS/install/logs:
File Description
Installation log file Contains all commands executed during installation, their output,
and any errors generated by the commands. Used for debugging
installation problems and for analysis by VERITAS Support.
Response file Contains configuration information entered during the procedure.
Can be used for future installation procedures when using a
product installation script with the -responsefile option.
Summary file Contains the output of VERITAS product installation scripts.
Shows products that were installed, locations of log and response
files, and installation messages displayed.

Installation Scripts
# cd /cdrom/CD_name/product_name
# ./installvm
1. Enter the system name(s).
2. Initial system check is performed.
3. Infrastructure packages are installed.
4. Select optional packages to install.
5. VxVM package requirements are checked and then packages
are installed.
6. Licenses are checked, and you can install licenses as needed.
7. You can configure VxVM now:
a. Use enclosure-based naming?
b. Start VxVM?
c. Set a default disk group?
d. If you chose to start VxVM now, then VxVM is started.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-17
Adding Packages Using the Product Installation Scripts

You can install VERITAS products by using the individual product installation
scripts. For example:
• installvm installs VERITAS Volume Manager.
• installfs installs VERITAS File System.
• installsf installs VERITAS Storage Foundation (both VxVM and VxFS).
Using these utilities provides the option to specify various installation options on
the command line, for example:
Command Line Option Function

-precheck system1 Performs a preinstallation check to determine if systems
system2 ... meet all installation requirements
-installonly system1 Installs packages, but does not configure the product
system2 ...
-configure system1 Configures the product, if the -installonly option
system2 ... was previously used
-pkgpath package_path Designates a path to VERITAS packages. Useful, for
example, in cluster configurations to enable package
installation without copying packages to all systems in
the cluster
-responsefile file_name Uses installation and configuration information stored in
a response file instead of prompting for information.

See the VERITAS Volume Manager Installation Guide for a complete list of
options.
Once you log on as superuser, mount the VERITAS CD-ROM, and invoke the
product installation script, the installvm script follows this sequence:
# cd /cdrom/CD_name/product_name
# ./installvm
1 When prompted, enter the name of the system or systems on which you want to
install VxVM.
2 The installation script performs an initial system check to ensure that a
compatible OS version is installed, that the VRTSvxvm package is not already
installed, and that any required patches are installed.
If the initial system check is not successful, messages are displayed to explain
what actions to take before attempting installation again.
3 The installvm script proceeds to install the infrastructure packages:
VRTScpi and VRTSvlic.
4 Next, you have the option to install some or all of the optional packages:
VRTSobgui, VRTSvmman, and VRTSvmdoc.
5 Next, all VxVM packages are displayed and installation requirement checks
are performed. If requirement checks are successful, then you can begin
installing the required VxVM packages. Output is displayed as each package is
installed.
6 The script then checks whether you have a license installed. You can install or
add licenses as needed.
7 At this stage, you can choose to configure VxVM now or later. If you choose to
configure now:
a You are prompted to specify whether you want to use enclosure-based
naming.
b You are prompted to specify whether you want to start VxVM.
c You are prompted to specify whether you want to set up a default disk
group. If so, enter a disk group name to be used as the system-wide default.
d If you chose to start VxVM now, then VxVM is started.
If you are installing VxFS, then you can invoke the script installfs and follow
a similar procedure.

Adding Packages Manually
• Ensure that packages are installed in the correct
order.
• Always install VRTSvlic first.
• Always install the VRTSvxvm package before other
VxVM packages.
• Documentation and manual pages are optional.
• Follow the product installation guides.
• After installing the packages using OS-specific
commands, run vxinstall to configure VxVM for
the first time.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-18
Adding Packages Manually

Solaris
After logging on as superuser and mounting the CD-ROM, you use the pkgadd
command:
# pkgadd -d . VRTSvlic VRTSvxvm VRTSvmdoc VRTSvmman
# pkgadd -a VRTSobadmin -d . VRTSob VRTSobgui
# pkgadd -d . VRTSalloc VRTSddlpr
# pkgadd -d . VRTSfspro VRTSvmpro
# pkgadd -d . VRTScpi VRTSperl
# pkgadd -d . VRTSvxfs VRTSfsdoc
HP-UX
After logging on as superuser and mounting the CD-ROM, use the swinstall
command:
# swinstall -x autoreboot=true -s /cdrom/product_name
/pkgs packages
For example:
# swinstall -x autoreboot=true -s -d /cdrom/
volume_manager3.5/pkgs VRTSvlic VRTSvxvm VRTSvmdoc
VRTSvmman VRTSob VRTSobgui VRTSalloc VRTSddlpr VRTSfspro
VRTSvmpro VRTScpi VRTSperl VRTSvxfs VRTSfsdoc

HP-UX 11i Note: Starting with the December 2001 release of HP-UX 11i, the
Base version of VxVM is installed by default when you install any HP-UX 11i
Operating Environment (OE). You do not need to add the VxVM packages
separately. The Base version of VxVM provides basic online disk management
features.
To access enhanced volume manager capabilities, such as mirroring, RAID-5, and
DMP; or other VxVM add-on products, such as fast mirror resynchronization, you
must add licenses for these features. All enhanced features and add-on products are
included in the VxVM software; however, you must add the appropriate licenses to
enable their use.
AIX
After logging on as superuser and mounting the CD-ROM, use the standard AIX
installp command. The syntax to add and commit one or more filesets is:
installp -ac [options] -d location fileset [...]
Useful additional options include:
• -g (install prerequisite filesets)
• -N (override saving of replaced files)
• -X (attempt to expand any file systems where there is insufficient space to do
the installation)
# installp –acgNX -d . VRTSvlic VRTScpi VRTSperl
# installp –acgNX -d . VRTSvxvm VRTSvmman VRTSvmdoc
# installp –acgNX -d . VRTSvxfs VRTSfsdoc
# installp –acgNX -d . VRTSob VRTSobgui
# installp –acgNX -d . VRTSvmpro VRTSfspro
Linux
On Linux, you use the RedHat package manager, rpm, to add packages:
rpm -ihv package_name
The -i option signifies installation mode. You use the -h and -v options to
format the installation output.
# rpm -ihv VRTSvlic-3.00-007.i386.rpm
# rpm -ihv VRTSvxvm-3.2-update1_GA.i686.rpm
# rpm -ihv VRTSvmdoc-3.2-update1_GA.i686.rpm
# rpm -ihv VRTSvmman-3.2-update1_GA.i686.rpm
# rpm -ihv VRTSob-3.0.2-261.i686.rpm
# rpm -ihv VRTSobgui-3.0.2-261.i686.rpm
# rpm -ihv VRTSvmpro-3.2-update1_GA.i686.rpm
# rpm -ihv VRTSfspro-3.4.2-R7_GA.i686.rpm
# rpm -ihv VRTSvxfs-3.4.2-R7_GA_2.4.7-10.i686.rpm
# rpm -ihv VRTSfsdoc-3.4.2-R7_GA.i686.rpm

Verifying Package Installation
To verify package installation, use OS-specific
commands:
• Solaris:
# pkginfo -l VRTSvxvm
• HP-UX:
# swlist -l product VRTSvxvm
• AIX:
# lslpp -l VRTSvxvm
• Linux:
# rpm -qal VRTSvxvm
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-19
Verifying Package Installation

If you are not sure if VERITAS packages are installed, or if you want to verify
which packages are installed on the system, you can view information about
installed packages by using OS-specific commands to list package information.
Solaris
To list all installed packages on the system:
# pkginfo
To restrict the list to installed VERITAS packages:
# pkginfo | grep VRTS
To display detailed information about a package:
HP-UX
# swlist -l product
To restrict the list to installed VERITAS packages:
# swlist -l product | grep VRTS
To display detailed information about a package:
# swlist -l product VRTSvxvm
AIX

# lslpp
To restrict the list to installed VERITAS packages, type:
# lslpp -l 'VRTS*'
To verify that a particular fileset has been installed, use its name, for example:
# lslpp -l VRTSvxvm
Linux
To verify package installation on the system:
rpm -q[al] package_name
For example, to verify that the VRTSvxvm package is installed:
# rpm -q VRTSvxvm
The -al option lists detailed information about the package.

The vxinstall Program
• After manually adding VxVM packages, you must run
vxinstall to configure VxVM for first-time use.
• The vxinstall program is an interactive program that guides
you through the initial VxVM configuration.
• The main steps in the vxinstall process are:
1. Start the vxinstall program:
# vxinstall
2. Enter license keys.
3. Select a naming method, either enclosure-based or
traditional naming.
4. If desired, set up a system-wide default disk group.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-20
Configuring VxVM Using vxinstall

If you manually added VxVM packages, you must run vxinstall to configure
Volume Manager for initial use.
You must be logged on as superuser in order to run the vxinstall program.

VxVM User Interfaces
VxVM supports three user interfaces:
• VERITAS Enterprise Administrator (VEA):
A GUI that provides access through icons, menus,
wizards, and dialog boxes
• Command Line Interface (CLI): UNIX utilities that
you invoke from the command line
• Volume Manager Support Operations
(vxdiskadm): A menu-driven, text-based interface
also invoked from the command line
Note: vxdiskadm only provides access to certain disk and
disk group management functions.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-21
VxVM User Interfaces

Volume Manager User Interfaces
Volume Manager supports three user interfaces. Volume Manager objects created
by one interface are compatible with those created by the other interfaces.
• VERITAS Enterprise Administrator (VEA): VERITAS Enterprise
Administrator (VEA) is a graphical user interface to Volume Manager and
other VERITAS products. VEA provides access to VxVM functionality
through visual elements such as icons, menus, wizards, and dialog boxes.
Using VEA, you can manipulate Volume Manager objects and also perform
common file system operations.
• Command Line Interface (CLI): The command line interface (CLI) consists
of UNIX utilities that you invoke from the command line to perform Volume
Manager and standard UNIX tasks. You can use the CLI not only to manipulate
Volume Manager objects, but also to perform scripting and debugging
functions. Most of the CLI commands require superuser or other appropriate
privileges. The CLI commands perform functions that range from the simple to
the complex, and some require detailed user input.
• Volume Manager Support Operations (vxdiskadm): The Volume
Manager Support Operations interface, commonly called vxdiskadm, is a
menu-driven, text-based interface that you can use for disk and disk group
administration functions. The vxdiskadm interface has a main menu from
which you can select storage management tasks.
A single VEA task may perform multiple command-line tasks.

VEA: Main Window
Menu
Menu Bar
Bar
Toolbar
Toolbar
Object
Object Tree
Tree Grid
Grid
Console/
Console/
Task
Task History
History
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-22
Status
Status Area
Area
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Using the VEA Interface

The VERITAS Enterprise Administrator (VEA) is the graphical user interface for
Volume Manager and other VERITAS products. You can use the VxVM features
of VEA to administer disks, volumes, and file systems on local or remote
machines. VEA replaces the earlier graphical user interface, Volume Manager
Storage Administrator (VMSA).
VEA is a Java-based interface that consists of a server and a client. You must
install the VEA server on a UNIX machine that is running VERITAS Volume
Manager. The VEA client can run on any machine that supports the Java 1.4
Runtime Environment, which can be Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Linux, or Windows.
Some VxVM features of VEA include:
• Remote Administration: You can perform VxVM administration remotely or
locally. The VEA client runs on UNIX or Windows machines.
• Security: VEA can only be run by users with appropriate privileges, and you
can restrict access to a specific set of users.
• Multiple Host Support: The VEA client can provide simultaneous access to
multiple host machines. You can use a single VEA client session to connect to
multiple hosts, view the objects on each host, and perform administrative tasks
on each host. Each host machine must be running the VEA server.
• Multiple Views of Objects: VEA provides multiple ways to view Volume
Manager objects, including a hierarchical tree layout, a list format, and a
variety of graphical views.

The VEA Main Window
VEA provides a variety of ways to view and manipulate Volume Manager objects.
When you launch VEA, the VEA main window is displayed.
The VEA main window consists of the following components:
• The hierarchical object tree provides a dynamic display of VxVM objects and
other objects on the system.
• The grid lists objects that belong to the group selected in the object tree.
• The menu bar and toolbar provide access to tasks.
• The Console/Task History tabs display a list of alerts and a list of recently
performed tasks.
• The status area identifies the currently selected server host and displays an
alert icon when there is a problem with the task being performed. Click the
icon to display the VEA Error console, which contains a list of messages
related to the error.
Other Views in VEA

In addition to the main window, you can also view VxVM objects in other ways:
• The Disk View window provides a graphical view of objects in a disk group.
• The Volume View window provides a close-up graphical view of a volume.
• The Volume to Disk Mapping window provides a tabular view of the
relationship between volumes and their underlying disks.
• The Object Properties window provides information about a selected object.

VEA: Accessing Tasks
1
2
Three
Threeways
waystoto 3
access
accesstasks:
tasks:
1.
1.Menu
Menubar
bar
2.
2.Toolbar
Toolbar
3.
3.Context
Context
menu
menu
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-23
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Accessing Tasks Through VEA

Specific procedures for using VEA to perform specific tasks are covered in detail
throughout this training. While this course describes one method for using VEA to
access a task, you can access most VEA tasks in three ways:
• Through the menu bar: You can launch most tasks from the menu bar in the
main window. The Actions menu is context sensitive and changes its options
based on the type of object that you select in the tree or grid.
• Through the toolbar: You can launch some tasks from the toolbar in the main
window by clicking on one of the icons. The icons are disabled when the
related actions are not appropriate.
• Through context-sensitive popup menus: You can access context-sensitive
popup menus by right-clicking an object. Popup menus provide access to tasks
or options that are appropriate for the selected object.
Setting VEA Preferences

You can customize general VEA environment attributes through the Preferences
window (Tools—>Preferences).

VEA: Viewing Tasks
The
The Task
Task History
History window
window contains
contains aa list
list of
of
tasks
tasks performed
performed in the current
current session.
session.
To
To view
view underlying command
command lines,
lines,
right-click
right-click aa task
task and
and select
select Properties.
Properties.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-24
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Viewing Commands Through the Task History Window

The Task History window displays a history of the tasks performed in the current
session. Each task is listed with properties, such as the target object of the task, the
host, the start time, the task status, and task progress.
• Displaying the Task History window: To display the Task History window,
click the Tasks tab at the bottom of the main window.
• Aborting a Task: To abort a task, right-click a task and select Abort Task.
• Pausing a Task: To temporarily stop a task, right-click a task and select Pause
Task.
• Resuming a Task: To restart a paused task, right-click a task and select
Resume Task.
• Reducing Task Priority: To slow down an I/O intensive task in progress and
reduce the impact on system performance, right-click a task and select Throttle
Task. In the Throttle Task dialog box, indicate how much you want to slow
down the task. You can select Throttle All Tasks to slow all VxVM tasks.
• Clearing the Task History: Tasks are persistent in the Task History window.
To remove completed tasks from the window, right-click a task and select
Clear All Finished Tasks.
• Viewing CLI Commands: To view the command lines executed for a task,
right-click a task and select Properties. The Properties window is displayed for
the task. The CLI commands issued are displayed in the “Commands
executed” field.

VEA: Viewing Commands
Command Log File
• Located in /var/adm/vx/veacmdlog
• Displays a history of tasks performed in the current
session and in previous sessions
Example command log file entry:
Description:
Description: Create
Create Volume
Volume
Date:
Date: Thu May 99 15:53:49
Thu May 15:53:49 2002
2002
Command:
Command: /usr/sbin/vxassist
/usr/sbin/vxassist -g -g datadg
datadg -b
-b make
make
data2vol
data2vol 122880s
122880s layout=striped
layout=striped
stripeunit=128
stripeunit=128 ncolumn=2
ncolumn=2 comment=""
comment=""
alloc=
alloc=
Output:
Output:
Exit
Exit Code:
Code: 00
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-25
Viewing Commands Through the Command Log File

The command log file contains a history of VEA tasks performed in current and
previous sessions. The command log file contains a description of each task and its
properties, such as the description, date, command issued, output, and the exit
code. For failed tasks, the Output field includes relevant error messages.
By default, the command log is located in /var/adm/vx/veacmdlog on the
server. This file is created after the first execution of a task in VEA.
To display the commands that are executed in a separate window—for example, to
use for scripting—you can open a separate window and use the tail command:
# tail -f /var/adm/vx/veacmdlog
Note: veacmdlog replaces the command log from earlier versions of VEA
called /var/vx/isis/command.log. veacmdlog serves the same purpose
and behaves in the same way as the former command.log.

VEA: Viewing Help Information
To access
access VEA Help,
Help,
select
select Help—>Contents.
Help—>Contents.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-26
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Displaying VEA Help Information

VEA contains an extensive database of Help information that is accessible from
the menu bar. To access VEA Help information, select Help—>Contents. The
Help window is displayed.
In the Help window, you can view help information in three ways:
• Click a topic in the Contents tab.
• Select a topic in the alphabetical index listing on the Index tab.
• Search for a specific topic by using the Search tab.

Command Line Interface
• You can administer CLI commands from the UNIX
shell prompt.
• Commands can be executed individually or combined
into scripts.
• Most commands are located in:
/etc/vx/bin
/usr/sbin
/usr/lib/vxvm/bin
• Add these directories to your PATH environment

variable to access the commands.
• Examples of CLI commands include:
vxassist Creates and manages volumes
vxprint Lists VxVM configuration records
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
vxdg Creates and manages disk groups 2-27
vxdisk Administers disks under VM control

© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Using the Command Line Interface

The Volume Manager command line interface (CLI) provides commands used for
administering VxVM from the shell prompt on a UNIX system. CLI commands
can be executed individually for specific tasks or combined into scripts.
The VxVM command set ranges from commands requiring minimal user input to
commands requiring detailed user input. Many of the VxVM commands require an
understanding of Volume Manager concepts. Most VxVM commands require
superuser or other appropriate access privileges.

Accessing Manual Pages
• CLI commands are detailed in manual pages.
• Manual pages are installed by default in
/opt/VRTS/man.
• Add this directory to the MANPATH environment
variable.
• To access a manual page:
# man command_name
• Examples:
# man vxassist
# man mount_vxfs
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-28
Accessing Manual Pages for CLI Commands

Detailed descriptions of VxVM and VxFS commands, the options for each utility,
and details on how to use them are located in VxVM and VxFS manual pages.
Linux Note
On Linux, you must also set the MANSECT variable.

The vxdiskadm Interface
# vxdiskadm
Volume Manager Support Operations
Menu: VolumeManager/Disk
1 Add or initialize one or more disks
2 Encapsulate one or more disks
3 Remove a disk
4 Remove a disk for replacement
5 Replace a failed or removed disk
...
list List disk information
? Display help about menu
?? Display help about the menuing system
q Exit from menus
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-29
Using the vxdiskadm Interface

The vxdiskadm command is a CLI command that you can use to launch the
Volume Manager Support Operations menu interface. You can use the Volume
Manager Support Operations interface, commonly referred to as vxdiskadm, to
perform common disk management tasks. The vxdiskadm interface is restricted
to managing disk objects and does not provide a means of handling all other
VxVM objects.
Each option in the vxdiskadm interface invokes a sequence of CLI commands.
The vxdiskadm interface presents disk management tasks to the user as a series
of questions, or prompts.
To start vxdiskadm, you type vxdiskadm at the command line to display the
main menu.
The vxdiskadm main menu contains a selection of main tasks that you can use to
manipulate Volume Manager objects. Each entry in the main menu leads you
through a particular task by providing you with information and prompts. Default
answers are provided for many questions, so you can easily select common
answers.
The menu also contains options for listing disk information, displaying help
information, and quitting the menu interface.
The tasks listed in the main menu are covered throughout this training. Options
available in the menu differ somewhat by platform. See the vxdiskadm(1m)
manual page for more details on how to use vxdiskadm.

Installing VEA
• Install the
the VEA
VEA
server
server onon aa UNIX
UNIX UNIX Server packages:
VxVM
VxVM
machine
machine running
running • VRTSob
VEA
VEA server
server
VxVM. • VRTSvmpro
VEA
VEA client
• Install VEA client • VRTSfspro
on any
any machine
machine • VRTSmuob
that supports
supports the
the
Java 1.4
1.4 Runtime
Runtime
Environment.
Environment. VEA
VEA VEA
VEA
client
client client
client
Installation
Windows UNIX
administration
file: Client packages:
VRTSobadmin • VRTSobgui (UNIX)
• win32/VRTSobgui.msi (Windows)
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-30
VEA is automatically installed when you run the VxVM installation
scripts. You can also install by manually adding packages.
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Installing and Starting the VEA Software

VEA consists of a server and a client. You must install the VEA server on a UNIX
machine that is running VERITAS Volume Manager. You can install the VEA
client on the same machine or on any other UNIX or Windows machine that
supports the Java 1.4 Runtime Environment.
Installing the VEA Server and Client on UNIX

If you install VxVM by using the Installer utility, you are prompted to install both
the VEA server and client packages automatically. If you did not install all of the
components by using the Installer, then you can add the VEA packages separately.
VEA is not compatible with earlier VxVM GUIs, such as VMSA. You cannot run
VMSA with VxVM 3.5 and later. If you currently have VMSA installed on your
machine, close any VMSA clients, kill the VMSA server, and remove the
VRTSvmsa package before you add the VEA packages.
It is recommended that you upgrade VEA to the latest version released with
VxVM 4.0 in order to take advantage of new functionality built into VEA.
However, you can use the VEA with 4.0 to manage 3.5.2 and later releases.
When manually adding packages, you must install VRTSvlic and VRTSvxvm
before installing the VEA packages, VRTSob, VRTSobgui, VRTSvmpro,
VRTSfspro. After installation, you should also add the VEA startup scripts
directory, /opt/VRTSob/bin to the PATH environment variable.

Installing the VEA Client on Windows
The VEA client runs on Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows
ME, Windows 98, and Windows 95 machines. If you plan to run VEA from a
Windows machine, install the optional Windows package after you have installed
the VEA server on a UNIX machine. If you are upgrading the VEA client, remove
the old VEA program before installing the new one.
Installing the VEA Client on Windows

To install the VEA client on a Windows machine, locate the VRTSobgui.msi
program on the VERITAS CD-ROM. Double-click the program and follow the
instructions presented by the installation wizard.

Starting the VEA Server and Client
Once installed, the VEA server starts up automatically
at system startup.
To start the VEA server manually:
1. Log on as superuser.
2. Start the VEA server by invoking the server program:
# /opt/VRTSob/bin/vxsvc
When the VEA server is started:
• /var/vx/isis/vxisis.lock ensures that only one instance
of the VEA server is running.
• /var/vx/isis/vxisis.log contains server process log
messages.
To start the VEA client:
• On UNIX: # vea
• On Windows: Start—>Programs—>VERITAS—> VERITAS
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-31
Enterprise Administrator
© VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Starting the VEA Server

In order to use VEA, the VEA server must be running on the UNIX machine to be
administered. Only one instance of the VEA server should be running at a time.
Once installed, the VEA server starts up automatically at system startup. You can
manually start the VEA server by invoking vxsvc, or by invoking the startup
script itself, for example, on Solaris:
# /etc/rc2.d/S50isisd start
The VEA client can provide simultaneous access to multiple host machines. Each
host machine must be running the VEA server.
Starting the VEA Client

To start the vea client on UNIX:
# vea
In the Connection dialog box, specify your host name, user name, and password.
You can mark the “Remember password” check box to avoid typing credentials on
subsequent connections from that machine.
Note: Entries for your user name and password must exist in the password file or
corresponding Network Information Name Service table on the machine to be
administered. Your user name must also be included in the VERITAS
administration group (vrtsadm, by default) in the group file or NIS group table.
If the vrtsadm entry does not exist, only root can run VEA.

You can configure VEA to automatically connect to hosts when you start the VEA
client. In the VEA main window, the Favorite Hosts node can contain a list of
hosts that are reconnected by default at the startup of the VEA client.
• To add a host to the Favorite Hosts list, right-click the name of a currently
connected host or a host listed under History, and select Add to Favorites.
• To remove a host from the Favorite Hosts list, right-click the host under
Favorite Hosts, and select Remove from Favorite Hosts.
• To temporarily disable automatic connection to a host, right-click the host
under Favorite Hosts, and select Reconnect at Startup. A check mark beside the
menu entry indicates that you must reconnect to that host at startup. By
removing the check mark, you reenable automatic connection to the host.

Managing VEA
The VEA server program is:
/opt/VRTSob/bin/vxsvc
To confirm that the VEA server is running:
# vxsvc –m
To stop and restart the VEA server:
# /etc/init.d/isisd restart (Solaris)
# /sbin/init.d/isisd restart (HP-UX)
To kill the VEA server process:
# vxsvc –k
To display the VEA version number:
# vxsvc -v
To monitor VEA tasks and events, click the Logs
node in the VEA object tree.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-32
Managing the VEA Server

The VEA server program is /opt/VRTSob/bin/vxsvc.
Confirming VEA Server Startup

# vxsvc -m
Current state of server: RUNNING
Stopping and Restarting the VEA Server

# /etc/init.d/isisd restart (Solaris)
# /sbin/init.d/isisd restart (HP-UX)
You can kill the server process using either of the following commands:
# vxsvc -k
# kill ‘cat /var/vx/isis/vxisis.lock‘
Displaying the VEA Version

# vxsvc -v
3.0.2.255
Monitoring VEA Event and Task Logs

You can monitor VEA server events and tasks from the Event Log and Task Log
nodes in the VEA object tree. You can also view the VEA log file, which is located
at /var/vx/isis/vxisis.log. This file contains trace messages for the VEA
server and VEA service providers.

Controlling Access to VEA
Create the group vrtsadm in /etc/group and specify
users who have permission to access VEA:
root::0:root
root::0:root
other::1:
other::1:
bin::2:root,bin,daemon
bin::2:root,bin,daemon
sys::3:root,bin,sys,adm
sys::3:root,bin,sys,adm
adm::4:root,adm,daemon
adm::4:root,adm,daemon
...
...
sysadmin::14:
sysadmin::14:
nobody::60001:
nobody::60001:
noaccess::60002:
noaccess::60002:
nogroup::65534:
nogroup::65534:
teleback::100:
teleback::100:
vrtsadm::20:root,maria,bill
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-33
Controlling User Access to VEA

Only users with appropriate privileges can run VEA. By default, only root can
run VEA. If users other than root need to access VEA, you can set up the
optional security feature and specify which users can run VEA.
You specify which users have access to VEA after you install the software. To set
up a list of users who have permission to use VEA, add a group named vrtsadm
to the group file /etc/group or to the Network Information Name Service group
table on the machine to be administered.
The vrtsadm group does not exist by default. If the vrtsadm group does not
exist, only root has access to VEA.
If the vrtsadm group exists, the vrtsadm group must include the user names of
any users, including root, that you want to have access to VEA. root must be
included in the vrtsadm group for root to access VEA. For example, to give
users root, maria, and bill access to VEA, you add the following line in the
/etc/group file:

Customizing VEA Security
• VEA uses a registry file to store configuration information,
attributes, and values:
/etc/vx/isis/Registry
• Use vxregctl to modify the registry values.
• To authorize both the vrtsadm and vxadmins groups to
access VEA:
# vxregctl /etc/vx/isis/Registry setvalue
SOFTWARE/VERITAS/VxSvc/CurrentVersion/Security
AccessGroups REG_SZ "vrtsadm;vxadmins“
• To verify the value of the AccessGroups attribute:
# vxregctl /etc/vx/isis/Registry queryvalue
AccessGroups
Value of AccessGroups is: vrtsadm;vxadmins
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-34
Modifying Group Access

All VEA configuration information is stored in a registry file, which is located by
default at /etc/vx/isis/Registry. The registry file is used to contain VEA
configuration settings, values, and other information. You can control some
aspects of VEA, such as modifying group access, by modifying the values stored
in the registry file.
Note: Normally, the default registry settings are adequate. It is good practice to
back up the registry file before making any changes.
To modify, add, or delete registry entries in the registry file, use the vxregctl
command:
vxregctl /etc/vx/isis/Registry setvalue keyname
[attribute...]
For example, the vrtsadm group is the default group name. You can change the
groups that are granted VEA access by changing the string value AccessGroups
under the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/VERITAS/VxSvc/
CurrentVersion/Security in the Registry file. To authorize both
vrtsadm and vxadmins, type:
# vxregctl /etc/vx/isis/Registry setvalue
AccessGroups REG_SZ "vrtsadm;vxadmins"

You can authorize individual users without adding them to a specific group with
the value named AccessUsers under the same key, with similar syntax. No users
are authorized this way by default. It is better practice to authorize groups rather
than users.
When you make a change to the registry file, you can use the vxregctl
queryvalue command to verify the value that you set:
vxregctl /etc/vx/isis/Registry queryvalue keyname
[attribute...]
For example, to verify the value of the AccessGroups attribute:
# vxregctl /etc/vx/isis/Registry queryvalue
AccessGroups
Value of AccessGroups is: vrtsadm;vxadmins
For more information on the vxregctl command, see the vxregctl(1m)
manual page.

Summary
• Identify operating system compatibility and other
preinstallation considerations.
• Obtain license keys, add licenses by using vxlicinst,
and view licenses by using vxlicrep.
• Install VxVM interactively, by using installation utilities,
and manually, by adding software packages and running
the vxinstall program.
• Describe the three VxVM user interfaces.
• Install and start the VEA software packages.
• Manage the VEA server by displaying server status,
version, task logs, and event logs.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-35
Summary
This lesson described guidelines for a first-time installation of VERITAS Volume
Manager (VxVM). Procedures for adding license keys, adding the VxVM software
packages, and running the VxVM installation program were covered, as well as an
introduction to the three interfaces used to manage VERITAS Volume Manager.
Next Steps
In the next lesson, you begin using Volume Manager by learning how to manage
disks.
• VERITAS Volume Manager Administrator’s Guide
This guide provides detailed information on volume management and system
administration using VERITAS Volume Manager.
• VERITAS Volume Manager Installation Guide
This guide provides information on installing and initializing VxVM and the
VERITAS Enterprise Administrator graphical user interface.
• VERITAS Volume Manager User’s Guide—VERITAS Enterprise
Administrator
This guide describes how to use the VERITAS Enterprise Administrator
graphical user interface for VERITAS Volume Manager.
• VERITAS Volume Manager Release Notes
This document provides software version release information for VERITAS
Volume Manager.

Lab 2
Lab 2: Installation and Interfaces
• In this lab, you install VxVM and VxFS, set up VEA, and
explore VEA interfaces and options. You also invoke the
vxdiskadm menu interface and display information about
CLI commands by accessing the VxVM manual pages.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 2-36

To Begin This Lab

Lesson 3
Overview
Recovery Essentials
Configuring Volumes
Creating Volumes
Virtual Objects
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-2
Introduction
Overview
In this lesson, you learn how to perform tasks associated with the management of
disks and disk groups. This lesson describes device-naming schemes, how to add a
disk to a disk group, how to view disk and disk group information, and how to add,
remove, rename, and move a disk. This lesson also describes procedures for
creating, deporting, importing, destroying, and upgrading a disk group.
Importance
Before you can create virtual volumes, you must learn how to configure your
physical disks so that VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM) can manage the disks.
By bringing physical disks under Volume Manager control and adding those disks
to a disk group, you enable VxVM to use the disk space to create volumes. A disk
group is an organizational structure that enables VxVM to perform disk
management tasks. Managing disk groups is important in effectively managing
your virtual storage environment.

Objectives
• Describe the features and benefits of the two device-naming
schemes: traditional and enclosure-based naming.
• Identify the stages of VxVM disk configuration.
• Create a disk group by using VEA and command line utilities.
• View disk and disk group information and identify disk status.
• Manage disks, including adding a disk to a VxVM disk group,
removing a disk from a disk group, changing the disk media
name, and moving an empty disk from one disk group to
another.
• Manage disk groups, including deporting and importing a disk
group, moving a disk group, renaming a disk group,
destroying a disk group, and upgrading the disk group
version.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-3
Outline of Topics
• Naming Disk Devices
• Disk Configuration Stages
• Creating a Disk Group
• Viewing Disk and Disk Group Information
• Managing Disks
• Managing Disk Groups
Lesson 3 Managing Disks and Disk Groups 3–3

Traditional Device Naming
Traditional device naming in VxVM is:
• Operating system-dependent
• Based on physical connectivity information
Examples:
Solaris: /dev/[r]dsk/c1t9d0s2
HP-UX: /dev/[r]dsk/c3t2d0 (no slice)
AIX: /dev/hdisk2
Linux: /dev/sda, /dev/hda
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-4
Naming Disk Devices

Device Naming Schemes
In VxVM, device names can be represented using the traditional operating system-
dependent format or using an OS-independent format based on enclosure names.
Traditional Device Naming

Traditionally, device names in VxVM have been represented in the way that the
operating system represents them. For example, Solaris and HP-UX both use the
format c#t#d# in device naming, which is derived from the controller, target, and
disk number. VxVM parses disk names in this format to retrieve connectivity
information for disks. Other operating systems have different conventions.

Enclosure-Based Naming
Enclosure-based naming:
• Is OS-independent
• Is based on the logical name
Host
Host of the enclosure
c2
• Can be customized to make
c1 names meaningful
Fibre
Fibre
Channel englab0
englab0
Switches englab2
englab2
Switches
englab1
englab1
Disk
Disk Enclosures
Enclosures
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-5
Enclosure-Based Naming
With VxVM version 3.2 and later, VxVM provides a new device naming scheme,
called enclosure-based naming. With enclosure-based naming, the name of a disk
is based on the logical name of the enclosure, or disk array, in which the disk
resides. The default logical name of an enclosure is typically based on the vendor
ID. For example:
Default Enclosure Default Enclosure-Based

Disk Array Name Disk Names
Sun SENA A5000 sena0 sena0_1, sena0_2, sena0_3, ...
Sun StorEdge T3 purple0 purple0_1, purple0_2,
purple0_3, ...
EMC emc0 emc0_1, emc0_2, emc0_3, ...
You can customize logical enclosure names to provide meaningful names, such as
based on the location of an enclosure in a building or lab. For example, you can
rename three T3 disk arrays in an engineering lab as follows:
Default Enclosure Name Location Customized Enclosure Name

purple0 Engineering Lab englab0

Enclosure names are:
• Persistent: Logical enclosure names are persistent across reboots.
• Customizable: Logical enclosure names are customizable. You can provide
meaningful names that are, for example, based on their location in a building
or lab site. You can rename enclosures during the installation process or later
by using command line utilities.
• Used by VxVM utilities: With enclosure-based naming, VxVM disk and
volume management utilities, such as vxdiskadm, vxdisk, and vxassist,
display disk device names in terms of the enclosures in which they are located.
When you create volumes and allocate disk space to volumes, you can take
advantage of VxVM’s enclosure awareness to specify data placement policies.
Enclosure awareness is also used in administering multipathed disks, and
internally, the VxVM configuration daemon vxconfigd uses enclosure
information to determine metadata placement policies.
Benefits of Enclosure-Based Naming

Benefits of enclosure-based naming include:
• Easier fault isolation: By using enclosure information in establishing data
placement policies, VxVM can more effectively place data and metadata to
ensure data availability. You can configure redundant copies of your data on
separate enclosures to safeguard against failure of one or more enclosures.
• Device-name independence: By using enclosure-based naming, VxVM is
independent of arbitrary device names used by third-party drivers.
• Improved SAN management: By using enclosure-based disk names, VxVM
can create better location identification information about disks in large disk
farms and SAN environments.
In a typical SAN environment, host controllers are connected to multiple
enclosures in a daisy chain or through a Fibre Channel hub or fabric switch. In
this type of configuration, enclosure-based naming can be used to refer to each
disk within an enclosure, which enables you to quickly determine where a disk
is physically located in a large SAN configuration.
• Improved cluster management: In a cluster environment, disk array names
on all hosts in a cluster can be the same.
• Improved dynamic multipathing (DMP) management: With multipathed
disks, the name of a disk is independent of the physical communication paths,
avoiding confusion and conflict.

Selecting a Naming Scheme
You can select a naming scheme:
• When you run VxVM installation scripts
• Anytime using the vxdiskadm option, “Change the disk
naming scheme”
Note: This operation requires the VxVM configuration
daemon, vxconfigd, to be stopped and restarted.
If you select enclosure-based naming, disks are displayed in
three categories:
• Enclosures: Supported RAID disk arrays are displayed in the
enclosurename_# format.
• Disks: Supported JBOD disk arrays are displayed with the
prefix Disk_.
• Others: Disks that do not return a path-independent identifier
to VxVM are displayed in the traditional OS-based format.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-6
Selecting a Naming Scheme

When you set up VxVM using installation scripts, you are prompted to specify
whether you want to use the traditional or enclosure-based naming scheme.
• If you choose to display devices in the traditional format, the operating system-
specific naming scheme is used for all disk devices except for fabric mode
disks. Fabric disks, disks connected through a Fibre Channel hub or fabric
switch, are always displayed in the enclosure-based naming format.
• If you select enclosure-based naming, VxVM detects the devices connected to
your system and displays the devices in three categories: Enclosures, Disks
(formerly known as JBOD disks), and Others. The naming convention used is
based on these categories:
– Enclosures: Recognized RAID disk arrays are named by default with a
manufacturer-specific name in the format enclosurename_#.
– Disks: Recognized JBOD disk arrays are classified in the DISKS category
and are named with the prefix Disk_.
– Others: Disks that do not return a path-independent identifier to VxVM
are categorized as OTHERS and are named in the c#t#d# format. Fabric
disks in this category are named with the prefix fabric_.
Changing the Disk-Naming Scheme

You can change the disk-naming scheme at any time by using the vxdiskadm
menu interface. To change the disk-naming scheme, select the “Change the disk
naming scheme” option from the vxdiskadm menu. The vxconfigd daemon is
restarted to bring the naming scheme into effect and no reboot is required.

Disk Group Purposes
sysdg acctdg
volume
volume Disk groups enable
you to:
• Group disks into logical
collections for a set of
VM disks users or applications.
VM disks
• Easily move groups of
engdg hrdg disks from one host to
volume volume another.
• Ease administration of
high availability
environments through
deport and import
VM disks VM disks operations.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-7
Disk Configuration Stages

What Is a Disk Group?
A disk group is a collection of physical disks, volumes, plexes, and subdisks which
are used for a common purpose. A disk group is created when you place at least
one disk in the disk group. When you add a disk to a disk group, a disk group entry
is added to the private region header of that disk. Because a disk can only have one
disk group entry in its private region header, one disk group does not “know
about” other disk groups, and therefore disk groups cannot share resources, such as
disk drives, plexes, and volumes. A volume with a plex can belong to only one
disk group, and subdisks and plexes of a volume must be stored in the same disk
group.You can never have an “empty” disk group, because you cannot remove all
disks from a disk group without destroying the disk group.
Why Are Disk Groups Needed?

Disk groups assist disk management in several ways:
• Disk groups enable the grouping of disks into logical collections for a
particular set of users or applications.
• Disk groups enable data, volumes, and disks to be easily moved from one host
machine to another.
• Disk groups ease the administration of high availability environments. Disk
drives can be shared by two or more hosts, but accessed by only one host at a
time. If one host crashes, the other host can take over its disk groups and
therefore its disks.

System-Wide Reserved Disk Groups
Reserved sysdg acctdg
System
System A
A
names: rootvol vol01
• bootdg bootdg = sysdg
• defaultdg
defaultdg defaultdg = acctdg B
• nodg
nodg
System
System B
B engdg
vol01
bootdg = nodg
defaultdg = nodg
To display what is set as bootdg or defaultdg:

# vxdg bootdg
# vxdg defaultdg
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-8
To set the default disk group after VxVM installation:

# vxdctl defaultdg diskgroup
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-8
System-Wide Reserved Disk Groups

VxVM has reserved three disk group names that are used to provide boot disk
group and default disk group functionality. The names “bootdg”, “defaultdg”
and “nodg” are system-wide reserved disk group names and cannot be used as
names for any of the disk groups that you set up.
If you choose to place your boot disk under VxVM control, VxVM assigns
bootdg as an alias for the name of the disk group that contains the volumes that
are used to boot the system.
defaultdg is an alias for the disk group name that should be assumed if the -g
option is not specified to a command. You can set defaultdg when you install
VERITAS Volume Manager or anytime after installation.
By default, both bootdg and defaultdg are set to nodg.
Note: The definitions of bootdg and defaultdg are written to the volboot
file. The definition of bootdg results in a symbolic link from the named bootdg
in /dev/vx/dsk and /dev/vx/rdsk.
Displaying Reserved Disk Group Definitions

To display what is currently defined as the boot disk group:
# vxdg bootdg
To display what is currently defined as the default disk group:
# vxdg defaultdg
If these have not been defined, then nodg is displayed.

Setting the Default Disk Group
If you did not define a default disk group at installation, you can specify a default
disk group by using:
# vxdctl defaultdg diskgroup
The specified disk group does not need to currently exist on the system.
If bootdg is specified as the argument to this command, the default disk group is
set to be the same as the currently defined system-wide boot disk group.
If nodg is specified as the argument to the command, the value of the default disk
group is cleared.

Disk Configuration Stages
Stage 1:
Initialize
Initialize disk.
disk.
Stage 2:
Assign disk
to
to disk
disk group.
group.
Private region
Uninitialized
Disk Public region Disk Media Name:
datadg01
Disk Access Name:

/dev/[r]dsk/device
Volume
Disk Group:
Free Disk Pool datadg
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-9
Stage 3: Assign
Assign disk
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
space to
to volumes.
volumes. 3-9
Before Configuring a Disk for Use by VxVM

In order to use the space of a physical disk to build VxVM volumes, you must
place the disk under Volume Manager control. Before a disk can be placed under
Volume Manager control, the disk media must be formatted outside of VxVM
using standard operating system formatting methods. SCSI disks are usually
preformatted. Once a disk is formatted, the disk can be initialized for use by
Volume Manager. In other words, disks must be detected by the operating system,
before VxVM can detect the disks.
Stage One: Initialize a Disk

A formatted physical disk is considered uninitialized until it is initialized for use
by VxVM. When a disk is initialized, the public and private regions are created,
and VM disk header information is written to the private region. Any data or
partitions that may have existed on the disk are removed.
An initialized disk is placed into the VxVM free disk pool. The VxVM free disk
pool contains disks that have been initialized but that have not yet been assigned to
a disk group. These disks are under Volume Manager control but cannot be used by
Volume Manager until they are added to a disk group.
Note: Encapsulation is another method of placing a disk under VxVM control in
which existing data on the disk is preserved. This method is covered in a later
lesson.

Changing the Disk Layout
To display or change the default values that are used for initializing disks, select
the “Change/display the default disk layouts” option in vxdiskadm:
• For disk initialization, you can change the default format and the default length
of the private region. The attribute settings for initializing disks are stored in
the file, /etc/default/vxdisk.
• For disk encapsulation, you can additionally change the offset values for both
the private and public regions. The attribute settings for encapsulating disks in
/etc/default/vxencap.
Stage Two: Assign a Disk to a Disk Group

When you add a disk to a disk group, VxVM assigns a disk media name to the disk
and maps this name to the disk access name.
• Disk media name: A disk media name is the logical disk name assigned to a
drive by VxVM. VxVM uses this name to identify the disk for volume
operations, such as volume creation and mirroring.
• Disk access name: A disk access name represents all UNIX paths to the
device. A disk access record maps the physical location to the logical name
and represents the link between the disk media name and the disk access name.
Disk access records are dynamic and can be re-created when vxdctl enable
is run.
The disk media name and disk access name, in addition to the host name, are
written to the private region of the disk. Space in the public region is made
available for assignment to volumes. Volume Manager has full control of the disk,
and the disk can be used to allocate space for volumes. Whenever the VxVM
configuration daemon is started (or vxdctl enable is run), the system reads the
private region on every disk and establishes the connections between disk access
names and disk media names.
Once disks are placed under Volume Manager control, storage is managed in terms
of the logical configuration. File systems mount to logical volumes, not to physical
partitions. Logical names, such as /dev/vx/[r]dsk/diskgroup_name/
volume, replace physical locations, such as /dev/[r]dsk/device_name.
The free space pool in a disk group refers to the space on all disks within the disk
group that has not been allocated as subdisks. When you place a disk into a disk
group, its space becomes part of the free space pool of the disk group.
Stage Three: Assign Disk Space to Volumes

When you create volumes, space in the public region of a disk is assigned to the
volumes. Some operations, such as removal of a disk from a disk group, are
restricted if space on a disk is in use by a volume.

Creating a Disk Group
To create a disk group, you add a disk to a disk group.
• You can add a single disk or multiple disks.
• You cannot add a disk to more than one disk group.
• Default disk media names vary with the interface
used to add the disk to a disk group, but are
conventionally in the format diskgroup##, such as
datadg00, datadg01, and so on.
• Disk media names must be unique within a disk
group.
• Adding disks to a disk group provides additional
storage capacity for creating volumes.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-10

A disk must be placed into a disk group before it can be used by VxVM. A disk
group cannot exist without having at least one associated disk. When you create a
new disk group, you specify a name for the disk group and at least one disk to add
to the disk group. The disk group name must be unique for the host machine.
Adding Disks
Adding a disk to a disk group makes the disk space available for use in creating
VxVM volumes.
• You can add a single disk or multiple disks to a disk group.
• You cannot add a disk to more than one disk group.
To add a disk to a disk group, you select an uninitialized disk or a free disk. If the
disk is uninitialized, you must initialize the disk before you can add it to a disk
group.
Disk Naming
When you add a disk to a disk group, the disk is assigned a disk media name. The
disk media name is a logical name used for VxVM administrative purposes. The
disk media name must be unique within the disk group. You can assign a
meaningful name or use the default name assigned by VxVM.

Default Disk Naming
The default disk media names depend on the interface used to add them to a disk
group:
• If you add a disk to a disk group using VEA or vxdiskadm, default disk
media names for disks are in the format diskgroup##, where diskgroup is
the name of the disk group and ## is a two-digit number starting with either 00
(in VEA) or 01 (in vxdiskadm).
• If you add a disk to a disk group by using a CLI command, such as vxdg
adddisk, default disk media names are the same as the device tag, for
example, c#t#d#.
Notes on Disk Naming

You can change disk media names after the disks have been added to disk groups.
However, if you must change a disk media name, it is recommended that you make
the change before using the disk for any volumes. Renaming a disk does not
rename the subdisks on the disk, which may be confusing.
You should assign logical media names, rather than use the device names, to
facilitate transparent logical replacement of failed disks. Assuming that you have a
sensible disk group naming strategy, the VEA or vxdiskadm default disk naming
scheme is a reasonable policy to adopt.

Creating a Disk Group: VEA
Select
Select Actions—>New
Actions—>New Disk
Disk Group.
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for
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VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 you
youadd.
add. 3-11
To
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add another
another disk:
disk:
Actions—>Add Disk to Disk Group
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-11
Creating a Disk Group: VEA
Select: Disk Groups folder, or a free or uninitialized disk

Navigation path: Actions—>New Disk Group
Input: Group Name: Type the name of the disk group to be created.
Create cluster group: To create a shared disk group, mark this
check box. Only applicable in a cluster environment.
Available/Selected disks: Select at least one disk to be placed in
the new disk group.
Disk name(s): To specify a disk media name for the disk that you
are placing in the disk group, type a name in the Disk name(s)
field. If no disk name is specified, VxVM assigns a default name.
If you are adding multiple disks and specify only one disk name,
VxVM appends numbers to create unique disk names.
Organization Principle: In an Intelligent Storage Provisioning
(ISP) environment, you can organize the disk group based on
policies that you set up. This option is covered in a later lesson.
Note: When working in a SAN environment, or any environment in which

multiple hosts may share access to disks, it is recommended that you perform a
rescan operation to update the VEA view of the disk status before allocating any
disks. From the command line, you can run vxdctl enable.

Adding a Disk: VEA
Select: A free or uninitialized disk

Navigation path: Actions—>Add Disk to Disk Group
Input: Disk Group name: Select an existing disk group.
New disk group: Click the “New disk group” button to add the
disk to a new disk group.
Select the disk to add: You can move disks between the Selected
disks and Available disks fields by using the Add and Remove
buttons.
Disk Name(s): By default, Volume Manager assigns a disk media
name that is based on the disk group name of a disk. You can
assign a different name to the disk by typing a name in the Disk
name(s) field. If you are adding more than one disk, place a space
between each name in the Disk name(s) field.
When the disk is placed under VxVM control, the Type property changes to
Dynamic, and the Status property changes to Imported.
Note: You cannot add a disk to the free disk pool with VEA.

Creating a Disk Group: CLI
To create a disk group or add disks using vxdiskadm:
“Add or initialize one or more disks”
Initialize disk(s):
vxdisksetup -i device_tag [attributes]
# vxdisksetup -i Disk_1 (Enclosure-based naming)
# vxdisksetup -i c2t0d0 (Solaris and HP-UX)
# vxdisksetup -i hdisk2 (AIX)
# vxdisksetup -i sda2 (Linux)
Initialize the disk group by adding at least one disk:
vxdg init diskgroup disk_name=device_tag
# vxdg init newdg newdg01=Disk_1
Add more disks to the disk group:
vxdg -g diskgroup adddisk disk_name=device_tag
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-12
# vxdg -g newdg adddisk newdg02=Disk_2

VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-12
Creating a Disk Group: vxdiskadm

From the vxdiskadm main menu, select the “Add or initialize one or more disks”
option. Specify the disk group to which the disk should be added. To add the disk
to a new disk group, you type a name for the new disk group. You use this same
menu option to add additional disks to the disk group.
Initializing a Disk: CLI

The vxdisksetup command configures a disk for use by Volume Manager by
creating the private and public region partitions on a disk.
vxdisksetup -i device_tag [attributes]
The -i option writes a disk header to the disk, making the disk directly usable, for
example, as a new disk in a disk group.
Creating a Disk Group: CLI

To create a disk group from the command line, use the vxdg init command:
# vxdg init diskgroup disk_name=device_tag
For example, to create a disk group named newdg on device c1t1d0 and specify
a disk media name of newdg01, you type:
# vxdg init newdg newdg01=c1t1d0
To verify that the disk group was created, you can use vxdisk list.

Adding a Disks to a Disk Group: CLI
After configuring a disk for VxVM, you use the vxdg adddisk command to add
the disk to a disk group.
vxdg -g diskgroup adddisk disk_name=device_tag
When you add a disk to a disk group, the disk group configuration is copied onto
the disk, and the disk is stamped with the system host ID.

View All Disks: VEA
Select
Selectthe
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andtheir
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Free:
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Imported: Initialized
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and
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VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-13
Not
Not Setup/Not
Setup/Not initialized:
initialized:
Not
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under VxVM
VxVM control
control
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-13
Viewing Disk and Disk Group Information

Keeping Track of Your Disks
By viewing disk information, you can:
• Determine if a disk has been initialized and placed under Volume Manager
control.
• Determine if a disk has been added to a disk group.
• Verify the changes that you make to disks.
• Keep track of the status and configuration of your disks.
Displaying Disk Information: VEA

In VEA, disks are represented under the Disks node in the object tree, in the Disk
View window, and in the grid for several object types, including controllers, disk
groups, enclosures, and volumes.
In the grid of the main window, under the Disks tab, you can identify many disk
properties, including disk name, disk group name, size of disk, amount of unused
space, and disk status. In particular, the status of a disk can be:
• Not Setup/Not Initialized: The disk is not under VxVM control. The disk may
be in use as a raw device by an application.
• Free: The disk is in the free disk pool; it is initialized by VxVM but is not in a
disk group. You cannot place a disk in this state using VEA, but VEA
recognizes disks that have been initialized through other interfaces.
• Imported: The disk is in an imported disk group.

• Deported: The disk is in a deported disk group.
• Disconnected: The disk contains subdisks that are not available because of
hardware failure. This status applies to disk media records for which the
hardware has been unavailable and has not been replaced within VxVM.
• External: The disk is in use by a foreign manager, such as Logical Volume
Manager.
Viewing Disk Details: VEA

When you select a disk in the object tree, many details of the disk layout are
displayed in the grid. You can access these details by clicking the associated tab:
• Volumes: This page displays the volumes that use this disk.
• Disk Regions: This page displays the disk regions of the disk.
• Controllers: This page displays the controllers to which this disk is connected.
• Paths: This page shows the dynamic multipaths available to this disk.
• Disk View: This page displays the layout of any subdisks created on this disk
media, and details of usage. The Disk View window has the same view of all
related disks with more options available. To launch the Disk View window,
select an object (such as a disk group or volume), the select Actions—>Disk
View.
• Alerts: This page displays any problems with a drive.

View Disk Properties: VEA
Right-click
Right-clickaadisk
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andselect
selectProperties.
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windowisisdisplayed.
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display capacity
capacity and
and
unallocated
unallocated space
space in
in
other
other units.
units.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-14
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-14
Viewing Disk Properties: VEA

In VEA, you can also view disk properties in the Disk Properties window. To open
the Disk Properties window, right-click a disk and select Properties.
The Disk Properties window includes the capacity of the disk and the amount of
unallocated space. You can select the units for convenient display in the unit of
your choice.

Viewing Disk Groups: VEA
Right-click
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Refers
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VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-15
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-15
Viewing Disk Group Properties: VEA

The object tree in the VEA main window contains a Disk Groups node that
displays all of the disk groups attached to a host. When you click a disk group, the
VxVM objects contained in the disk group are displayed in the grid.
To view additional information about a disk group, right-click a disk group and
select Properties.
The Disk Group Properties window is displayed. This window contains basic disk
group properties, including:
• Disk group name, status, ID, and type
• Number of disks and volumes
• Disk group version
• Disk group size and free space

View Disk Information: CLI
To display basic information about all disks:
# vxdisk -o alldgs list
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS VxVM
Disk_0 auto:cdsdisk datadg01 datadg online Disks
Disk_1 auto:cdsdisk datadg02 datadg online
Disk_2 auto:cdsdisk - - online Free
Disk_3 auto:none - - online invalid Disk
Disk_4 auto:none - - online invalid
Uninitialized
Note: In a shared access environment, when displaying disks, you
should frequently run vxdctl enable to rescan for disk changes. Disks
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-16
Displaying Basic Disk Information: CLI

You use the vxdisk list command to display basic information about all disks
attached to the system. The vxdisk list command displays:
• Device names for all recognized disks
• Type of disk, that is, how a disk is placed under VxVM control
• Disk names
• Disk group names associated with each disk
• Status of each disk
In the output:
• A status of online in addition to entries in the Disk and Group columns
indicates that the disk has been initialized or encapsulated, assigned a disk
media name, and added to a disk group. The disk is under Volume Manager
control and is available for creating volumes.
• A status of online without entries in the Disk and Group columns indicates
that the drive has been initialized or encapsulated, but is not currently assigned
to a disk group. The disk is in the free disk pool.
• A status of online invalid indicates that the disk has neither been
initialized nor encapsulated by VxVM. The disk is not under VxVM control.

View Detailed Information: CLI
To display detailed information for a disk:
vxdisk -g diskgroup list disk_name
# vxdisk -g datadg list datadg01
Device: Disk_1
devicetag:Disk_1
type: auto
hostid: train12
disk: name=datadg01 id=1000753057.1114.train12
group: name=datadg id=1000753077.1117.train12
. . .
To display a summary for all disks:
# vxdisk -s list
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-17
Displaying Detailed Disk Information: CLI

To display detailed information about a disk, you use the vxdisk list
command with the name of the disk group and disk:
# vxdisk -g diskgroup list disk_name
In the output:
• Device is the VxVM name for the device access path.
• devicetag is the name used by VxVM to reference the physical disk.
• type is how a disk was placed under VM control. auto is the default type.
• hostid is the name of the system that currently manages the disk group to
which the disk belongs; if blank, no host is currently controlling this group.
• disk is the VM disk media name and internal ID.
• group is the disk group name and internal ID.
To view a summary of information for all disks, you use the -s option with the
vxdisk list command.
Note: The disk name and the disk group name are changeable. The disk ID and
disk group ID are never changed as long as the disk group exists or the disk is
initialized.

The complete output from displaying detailed information about a disk is as
follows:
# vxdisk -g datadg list datadg01
Descriptions of Flags
Flag Description
online ready The specified disk is “online” and is “ready” to use.
private The disk has a private region where the configuration
database and kernel log are defined and enabled/disabled.
autoconfig The specified disk is part of a disk group that is
autoconfigured.
autoimport The specified disk is part of a disk group that can be
imported at boot time.
imported The specified disk is part of a disk group that is currently
imported. When the disk group is deported, this field is
empty.
shared The specified disk is part of a cluster “shareable” disk group.

Viewing Disk Groups: CLI
To display imported disk groups only:
# vxdg list
NAME STATE ID
datadg enabled,cds 969583613.1025.cassius
newdg enabled,cds 971216408.1133.cassius
To display all disk groups, including deported disk groups:
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
Disk_1 auto:cdsdisk datadg01 datadg online
Disk_7 auto:cdsdisk - (acctdg) online
To display free space in a disk group:
# vxdg free (for all disk groups that the host can detect)
# vxdg -g diskgroup free (for a specific disk group)
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-18
Displaying Disk Group Information: CLI

To display disk group information:
• Use vxdg list to display disk group names, states, and IDs for all imported
disk groups in the system.
• Use vxdisk -o alldgs list to display all disk groups, including
deported disk groups. In the example, the deported disk group acctdg is
displayed in parentheses.
• Use vxdg free to display free space on each disk. This command displays
free space on all disks in all disk groups that the host can detect.
Note: This command does not show space on spare disks. Reserved disks are
displayed with an “r” in the FLAGS column.
Add -g diskgroup to restrict the output to a specific disk group.

Creating a Non-CDS Disk
and Disk Group
• If you are working with sliced disks and non-CDS disk
groups, you can initialize a disk as a sliced disk and
create a non-CDS disk group.
• To initialize a disk as a sliced disk:
# vxdisksetup -i device_tag format=sliced
• To initialize a non-CDS disk group:
# vxdg init diskgroup disk_name=device_tag
cds=off
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-19
Managing Disks
Creating a Non-CDS Disk and Disk Group
At times, you may be working with sliced disks and non-CDS disk groups, for
example, if you have not upgraded all of your systems to the latest VxVM version
or are working with a boot disk group.
To create a sliced disk, you add the format=sliced attribute to the
vxdisksetup command.
To create a non-CDS disk group, you add the cds=off attribute to the vxdg
init command.

Before Removing a Disk
• When removing a disk from a disk group, you have
two options:
– Move the disk to the free disk pool.
– Return the disk to an uninitialized state.
• You cannot remove the last disk in a disk group,
unless you destroy the disk group:
– In CLI, you must destroy the disk group to free the
last disk in the disk group.
– In VEA, when you remove the last disk in a disk
group, the disk group is automatically destroyed.
• Before removing a disk, ensure that the disk does
not contain data that is needed.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-20
Removing Disks
If a disk is no longer needed in a disk group, you can remove the disk. After you
remove a disk from a disk group, the disk cannot be accessed. When removing a
disk from a disk group, you have two options:
• Move the disk to the free disk pool. With this option, the disk remains under
Volume Manager control.
• Send the disk back to an uninitialized state. With this option, the disk is no
longer under Volume Manager control.
Note: The remove operation fails if there are any subdisks on the disk. However,
the destroy disk group operation does not fail if there are any volumes in the disk
group.
Before You Remove a Disk

Before removing a disk, make sure that the disk contains no data, the data is no
longer needed, or the data is moved to other disks. Removing a disk that is in use
by a volume can result in lost data or lost data redundancy.

Evacuating a Disk
Before removing a disk, you may need to evacuate data from the
disk to another disk in the disk group.
VEA:
• Select the disk that you want to evacuate.
• Select Actions—>Evacuate Disk.
vxdiskadm:
“Move volumes from a disk”
CLI:
vxevac -g diskgroup from_disk [to_disk]
# vxevac -g datadg datadg02 datadg03
To evacuate to any disk except for datadg03:
# vxevac -g datadg datadg02 !datadg03
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-21
Evacuating a Disk
Evacuating a disk moves the contents of the volumes on a disk to another disk. The
contents of a disk can be evacuated only to disks in the same disk group that have
sufficient free space.
Evacuating a Disk: VEA
Select: The disk that contains the objects and data to be moved to another
disk
Navigation path: Actions—>Evacuate Disk
Input: Auto Assign destination disks: VxVM selects the destination
disks to contain the content of the disk to be evacuated.
Manually assign destination disks: To manually select a
destination disk, highlight the disk in the left field and click Add
to move the disk to the right field.
Evacuating a Disk: vxdiskadm

Select the “Move volumes from a disk” option. When prompted, specify the name
of the disk that contains the data that you want to move and the disks onto which
you want to move the data.
Evacuating a Disk: CLI

To evacuate a disk from the command line, use the vxevac command:
vxevac -g diskgroup from_diskname [to_diskname]

Removing a Disk from VxVM
VEA:
• Select the disk that you want to remove.
• Select Actions—>Remove Disk from Dynamic Disk Group.
vxdiskadm:
“Remove a disk”
CLI:
vxdg -g diskgroup rmdisk disk_name Remove
Remove thethe
vxdiskunsetup [-C] device_tag disk
disk from
from the
the
disk
disk group,
group, then
then
Example: uninitialize
uninitialize it.
it.
# vxdg -g newdg rmdisk newdg02
# vxdiskunsetup -C Disk_2
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-22
Removing a Disk: VEA
Select: The disk to be removed

Navigation path: Actions—>Remove Disk from Dynamic Disk Group
Input: Disk group name: The disk group that contains the disk to be
removed.
Selected disks: The disk to be removed should be displayed in the
Selected disks field. Only empty disks are displayed in the list of
available disks as candidates for removal.
Note: If you select all disks for removal from the disk group, the disk group is
automatically destroyed.
Removing a Disk: vxdiskadm

To remove a disk from a disk group using vxdiskadm, select the “Remove a
disk” option. At the prompt, enter the disk media name of the disk to be removed.
When you remove a disk using the vxdiskadm interface, the disk is returned to
the free disk pool. The vxdiskadm interface does not have an option to return a
disk to an uninitialized state.

Removing a Disk: CLI
The vxdg rmdisk Command

To remove a disk from a disk group from the command line, you use the command
vxdg rmdisk. This command removes the disk from a disk group and places it
in the free disk pool.
You can verify the removal by using the vxdisk list command to display disk
information. A deconfigured disk has a status of online but no longer has a disk
media name or disk group assignment.
The vxdiskunsetup Command

Once the disk has been removed from its disk group, you can remove it from
Volume Manager control completely by using the vxdiskunsetup command.
This command reverses the configuration of a disk by removing the public and
private regions that were created by the vxdisksetup command. The
vxdiskunsetup command does not operate on disks that are active members of
a disk group.
This command does not usually operate on disks that appear to be imported by
some other host—for example, a host that shares access to the disk. You can use
the -C option to force deconfiguration of the disk, removing host locks that may be
detected.
You can verify the deconfiguration by using the vxdisk list command to
display disk information. A deconfigured disk has a status of online invalid.

Renaming a Disk
VEA:
• Select the disk that you want to rename.
• Select Actions—>Rename Disk.
• Specify the original disk name and the new name.
vxedit rename:
vxedit -g diskgroup rename old_name new_name
Example:
# vxedit -g datadg rename datadg01 datadg03
Notes:
• The new disk name must be unique within the disk group.
• Renaming a disk does not automatically rename subdisks on
that disk.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-23
Changing the Disk Media Name

VxVM creates a unique disk media name for a disk when you add a disk to a disk
group. Sometimes you may need to change a disk name to reflect changes of
ownership or use of the disk. Renaming a disk does not change the physical disk
device name. The new disk name must be unique within the disk group.
Before You Rename a Disk

Before you rename a disk, you should carefully consider the change. VxVM
names subdisks based on the disks on which they are located. A disk named
datadg01 contains subdisks that are named datadg01-01, datadg01-02,
and so on. Renaming a disk does not automatically rename its subdisks. Volumes
are not affected when subdisks are named differently from the disks.
Renaming a Disk: VEA
Select: The disk to be renamed

Navigation path: Actions—>Rename Disk
Input: Disk name: The disk media name of the disk to be renamed.
New name: The new disk media name for the disk.
Renaming a Disk: CLI

You can rename a disk by using the vxedit rename command. This command
can be used to rename any VxVM objects except for disk groups.

Deporting a Disk Group
acctdg What is a deported disk group?
volume • The disk group and its volumes are
unavailable.
• The disks cannot be removed.
• The disk group cannot be accessed
VM disks until it is imported.
Before deporting a disk group:
Deport
Deport • Unmount file systems
olddg • Stop volumes
volume When you deport a disk
group, you can specify:
• A new host
• A new disk group name
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-24
VM disks
Managing Disk Groups

Deporting a Disk Group
A deported disk group is a disk group over which management control has been
surrendered. The objects within the disk group cannot be accessed, its volumes are
unavailable, and the disk group configuration cannot be changed. (You cannot
access volumes in a deported disk group because the directory containing the
device nodes for the volumes are deleted upon deport.) To resume management of
the disk group, it must be imported.
A disk group cannot be deported if any volumes in that disk group are in use.
Before you deport a disk group, you must unmount file systems and stop any
volumes in the disk group.
Deporting and Specifying a New Host

When you deport a disk group using VEA or CLI commands, you have the option
to specify a new host to which the disk group is imported at reboot. If you know
the name of the host to which the disk group will be imported, then you should
specify the new host during the operation. If you do not specify the new host, then
the disks could accidentally be added to another disk group, resulting in data loss.
You cannot specify a new host using the vxdiskadm utility.
Deporting and Renaming

When you deport a disk group using VEA or CLI commands, you also have the
option to rename the disk group when you deport it. You cannot rename a disk
group when deporting using the vxdiskadm utility.

Deporting a Disk Group: VEA
Select
SelectActions—>Deport
Actions—>DeportDisk
DiskGroup.
Group.
Disk
Diskgroup
groupto
to
be
bedeported
deported
Options
Optionsenable
enableyou
youtoto
specify
specifyaanew
newname
name
and
andaanew
newhost
hostfor
forthe
the
disk
diskgroup.
group.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-25
Deporting a Disk Group: VEA
Select: The disk group to be deported

Navigation path: Actions—>Deport Disk Group
Input: Group name: Verify the name of the disk group to be deported.
New name: To change the name of the disk group when you
deport it, type a new disk group name in the New name field.
New Host: To specify a host machine to import the deported disk
group at reboot, type the host ID in the New Host field. If you are
importing the disk group to another system, then you should
specify the name of the new host.
Disks that were in the disk group now have a state of Deported. If the disk group
was deported to another host, the disk state is Locked.

Deporting a Disk Group: CLI
vxdiskadm:
“Remove access to (deport) a disk group”
vxdg deport:
vxdg deport diskgroup
# vxdg deport newdg
To deport and rename a disk group:
vxdg -n new_name deport old_name
# vxdg -n newerdg deport newdg
To deport a disk group and specify a new host:
vxdg -h hostname deport diskgroup
# vxdg -h server1 deport newdg
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-26
Deporting a Disk Group: vxdiskadm

To deport a disk group using vxdiskadm, select “Remove access to (deport) a
disk group,” from the main menu. You are asked if you want to disable, or offline,
the disks in the disk group. You should offline the disks if you plan to remove a
disk from a system without rebooting or physically move a disk to reconnect it to
another system.
Note: If you offline the disks, you must manually online the disks before you
import the disk group. To online a disk, use vxdiskadm option “Enable (online) a
disk device.”
Deporting a Disk Group: CLI

To deport a disk group, you can use the vxdg deport command. Before
deporting a disk group, unmount all file systems used within the disk group that is
to be deported, and stop all volumes in the disk group:
# umount mount_point
# vxvol -g diskgroup stopall

Importing a Disk Group
newacctdg
Importing a disk group
volume
reenables access to the
disk group.
When you import a disk
group, you can:
VM disks
• Specify a new disk group
Import
Import name.
olddg • Clear host locks.

volume • Import as temporary.
• Force an import.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-27
VM disks
Importing a Deported Disk Group

Importing a disk group reenables access to the objects in a deported disk group by
bringing the disk group under VxVM control in a new system. All volumes are
stopped by default after importing a disk group and must be started before data can
be accessed.
Importing and Renaming

A deported disk group cannot be imported if another disk group with the same
name has been created since the disk group was deported. You can import and
rename a disk group at the same time.
Importing and Clearing Host Locks

When a disk group is created, the system writes a lock on all disks in the disk
group. The lock is actually a value in the hostname field within the disk group
header. The lock ensures that dual-ported disks (disks that can be accessed
simultaneously by two systems) are not used by both systems at the same time. If a
system crashes, the locks stored on the disks remain, and if you try to import a disk
group containing those disks, the import fails. If you are sure that the disk group is
not in use by another host, you can clear the host locks when you import.

Importing As Temporary
You can temporarily import a disk group by using options in the VxVM interfaces.
A temporary import does not persist across reboots. A temporary import can be
useful, for example, if you need to perform administrative operations on the
temporarily imported disk group. If there is name collision, temporary importing
can be used to keep the original name.
Note: Temporary imports are also useful in a cluster environment. Because a
temporary import changes the autoimport parameter, the disk group is not
automatically reimported after a system crash.
Forcing an Import
A disk group import fails if the VxVM configuration daemon cannot find all of the
disks in the disk group. If the import fails because a disk has failed, you can force
the disk group to be imported using options in the VxVM interfaces. Forcing an
import should always be performed with caution.

Importing a Disk Group: VEA
Select
SelectActions—>Import
Actions—>ImportDisk
DiskGroup.
Group.
Options
Optionsinclude:
include:
•• Clearing
Clearinghost
hostIDs
IDs
at import
at import
•• Forcing
Forcingananimport
import
•• Starting
Startingall
allvolumes
volumes
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-28
Importing a Disk Group: VEA
Select: The disk group to be imported

Navigation path: Actions—>Import Disk Group
Input: Group name: Verify the name of the disk group to be imported.
New name: To change the name of the disk group at import, type
a new disk group name in this field.
Clear host ID: This option clears the existing host ID stamp on
all disks in the disk group at import. Do not use this option if
another host is using any disks in the disk group.
Force: Use this option with caution. This option forces the disk
group import when the host cannot access all disks in the disk
group. This option can cause disk group inconsistency if all disks
are still usable.
Start all volumes: This option starts all volumes upon import and
is selected by default.
Import shared: This option imports the disk group as a shared
disk group (applicable only in a cluster environment).
By default, when you import a disk group by using VEA, all volumes in the disk
group are started automatically.
Note: VEA does not support temporary import of a disk group.

Importing a Disk Group: CLI
vxdiskadm:
“Enable access to (import) a disk group”
vxdg import:
vxdg import diskgroup
# vxdg import newdg
After importing the disk group, start all volumes:
# vxvol -g newdg startall
To import and rename a disk group:
vxdg -n new_name import old_name
# vxdg -n newerdg import newdg
To import and rename temporarily:
vxdg -t -n new_name import old_name
# vxdg -t -n newerdg import newdg
To clear import locks, add the -C option:
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-29
# vxdg -tC -n newerdg import newdg

VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-29
Importing a Disk Group: vxdiskadm

To import a disk group using the vxdiskadm utility, you select “Enable access to
(import) a disk group”. A disk group must be deported from its previous system
before it can be imported to the new system. During the import operation, the
system checks for host import locks. If any locks are found, you are prompted to
clear the locks. By default, the vxdiskadm import option starts all volumes in the
disk group.
Importing a Disk Group: CLI

To import a disk group from the command line, you use vxdg import. When you
import a disk group from the command line, you must manually start all volumes
in the disk group by using the command:
vxvol -g diskgroup startall
To temporarily rename an imported disk group, you use the -t option. This option
imports the disk group temporarily and does not set the autoimport flag, which
means that the import cannot survive a reboot:
Typically, a disk group is imported if some disks in the disk group cannot be found
by the local host. You can use the -f option to force an import if, for example, one
of the disks is currently unusable or inaccessible.
# vxdg -f import newdg
Note: Be careful when using the -f option, because it can import the same disk
group twice from disjointed sets of disks and make the disk group inconsistent.

Example: HA Environment
Computer
Computer A
A Computer
Computer B
B
sysdg osdg
rootvol rootvol
Boot
Boot Disks
Disks
acctdg engdg
vol01 vol01
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-30
Additional
Additional Disks
Disks
Example: Disk Groups and High Availability

The example in the diagram represents a high availability environment.
In the example, Computer A and Computer B each have their own bootdg on
their own private SCSI bus. The two hosts are also on a shared SCSI bus. On the
shared bus, each host has a disk group, and each disk group has a set of VxVM
disks and volumes. There are additional disks on the shared SCSI bus that have not
been added to a disk group.
If Computer A fails, then Computer B, which is on the same SCSI bus as disk
group acctdg, can take ownership or control of the disk group and all of its
components.

Moving a Disk Group
Host A Host B
acctdg acctdg
Deport
Deport Import
Import
acctdg
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-31
Moving Disk Groups Between Systems

One of the main benefits of disk groups is that they can be moved between
systems. When you move a disk group from one system to another, all of the
VxVM objects within the disk group are moved, and you do not have to specify the
configuration again. The disk group configuration is relocated to the new system.
To move a disk group from one system to another, you deport the disk group from
one host and then import the disk group to another host.
Moving a Disk Group: VEA

To move a disk group from one machine to another:
1 Unmount file systems and stop all volumes in the disk group to be moved.
2 Deport the disk group to be moved to the other system.
3 Attach all of the physical disks in the disk group to the new system.
4 On the new system, import the deported disk group.
5 Restart and recover all volumes in the disk group on the new system.
Note: To move a disk group between two systems, VxVM must be running on
both systems.

Moving a Disk Group: vxdiskadm
To move a disk group between systems using the vxdiskadm utility, you perform
the deport and import options in sequence:
1 Deport a disk group from one system using the “Remove access to (deport) a
disk group” option.
2 Move all the disks to the second system and perform necessary system-
dependent steps to make the second system and Volume Manager recognize the
new disks. A reboot may be required.
3 Import the disk group to the new system using option 8, “Enable access to
(import) a disk group.”
Moving a Disk Group: CLI

To move a disk group between systems:
1 On the first system, deport the disk group to be moved.
# vxdg -h hostname deport diskgroup
Note: The -h hostname option is not required, but is useful because it
“reserves” a disk group for the target host.
2 Move all the disks to the second system and perform necessary system-
dependent steps to make the second system and Volume Manager recognize the
new disks. A reboot may be required.
3 Import the disk group to the new system:
# vxdg import diskgroup
4 After the disk group is imported, start all volumes in the disk group.

Renaming a Disk Group
Host A
oldnamedg newnamedg
Deport
Deport Import
Import
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-32
Renaming a Disk Group

Only one disk group of a particular name can exist for each system. You cannot
import or deport a disk group when the target system already has a disk group of
the same name. To avoid name collision when moving disk groups or to provide a
more appropriate name for a disk group, you can rename a disk group.
• To rename a disk group when moving it from one system to another, you
specify the new name during the deport or during the import operations.
• To rename a disk group without moving the disk group, you must still deport
and reimport the disk group on the same system.
Note: If the disk group contains a volume with a file system that is mounted using
/etc/vfstab, then the paths specified in this file must be manually updated.
Renaming a Disk Group: VEA

The VEA interface has a Rename Disk Group menu option. On the surface, this
option appears to be simply renaming the disk group. However, the option works
by deporting and reimporting the disk group with a new name.
Select: The disk group to be renamed

Navigation path: Actions—>Rename Disk Group
Input: Group name: Specify the disk group to be renamed.
New name: Type the new name for the disk group.

Renaming a Disk Group: CLI
To rename a disk group from the command line, use the -n new_name option in
the vxdg deport or vxdg import commands. You can specify the new name
during the deport or during the import operation:
vxdg -n new_name deport old_name
vxdg import new_name
or
vxdg deport old_name
vxdg -n new_name import old_name
Starting Volumes After Renaming a Disk Group

When you rename a disk group from the command line, you must restart all
volumes in the disk group by using the vxvol command:
vxvol -g new_name startall
The vxvol utility performs operations of Volume Manager volumes. For more
information on vxvol, see the vxvol(1m) manual page.
Renaming a Disk Group: CLI Example

For example, to rename the disk group datadg to mktdg, you can use either of
the following sequences of commands:
# vxdg -n mktdg deport datadg
# vxdg import mktdg
# vxvol -g mktdg startall
or
# vxdg deport datadg
# vxdg -n mktdg import datadg
# vxvol -g mktdg startall

Destroying a Disk Group
olddg Destroying a disk group:
• Means that the disk group no longer exists
• Returns all disks to the free disk pool
• Is the only method for freeing the last disk
in a disk group
VEA: Actions—>Destroy Disk Group.
Destroy
Destroy CLI: vxdg destroy diskgroup
Example: To destroy the disk group
olddg and place its disks in the free disk
pool:
# vxdg destroy olddg
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-33
Free Disk Pool
Destroying a Disk Group

Destroying a disk group permanently removes a disk group from Volume Manager
control and the disk group ceases to exist. When you destroy a disk group, all of
the disks in the disk group are reinitialized as empty disks and are returned to the
free disk pool. Volumes and configuration information about the disk group are
removed.
Because you cannot remove the last disk in a disk group, destroying a disk group is
the only method to free the last disk in a disk group for reuse. A disk group cannot
be destroyed if any volumes in that disk group are in use or contain mounted file
systems. The bootdg disk group cannot be destroyed.
Caution: Destroying a disk group can result in data loss. Only destroy a disk
group if you are sure that the volumes and data in the disk group are not needed.
Destroying a Disk Group: VEA
Select: The disk group to be destroyed

Navigation path: Actions—>Destroy Disk Group
Input: Group name: Specify the disk group to be destroyed.
Destroying a Disk Group: CLI

To destroy a disk group from the command line, use the vxdg destroy
command.

Disk Group Versioning
All disk groups have a version number based on the VxVM release.
Each disk group version supports a set of features. You must
upgrade old disk group versions in order to use new features.
VxVM Disk Group Supported Disk

Release Version Group Versions
1.2 10 10
1.3 15 15
2.0, 2.1 20 20
2.2 30 30
2.3, 2.4 40 40
2.5 50 50
3.0 60 20–40, 60
3.1 70 20–70
3.1.1 80 20–80
3.2, 3.5 90 20–90
4.0 110 20–110
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-34
Upgrading a Disk Group

All disk groups have an associated version number. Each VxVM release supports a
specific set of disk group versions and can import and perform tasks on disk
groups with those versions. Some new features and tasks only work on disk groups
with the current disk group version, so you must upgrade existing disk groups in
order to perform those tasks.
Prior to the release of VxVM 3.0, the disk group version was automatically
upgraded (if needed) when the disk group was imported. Starting with VxVM
release 3.0, the two operations of importing a disk group and upgrading its version
are separate. You can import a disk group from a previous version and use it
without upgrading it.
The first disk group version supported by a particular platform corresponds to the
first VxVM release on that platform. For example, the first VxVM release on HP-
UX was VxVM 3.1. Therefore, the first supported disk group version on that
platform was 70. On AIX and Linux, the first VxVM version was version 3.2, so
the earliest supported disk group version is 90.
You must upgrade older version disk groups before you can use new VxVM
features with those disk groups. Once you upgrade a disk group, the disk group
becomes incompatible with earlier releases of VxVM that do not support the new
version. Upgrading the disk group version is an online operation. You cannot
downgrade a disk group version.

If you do not upgrade older version disk groups, the disk groups can still be used
provided that you do not try to use the features of the current version. Attempts to
use a feature of the current version that is not a feature of the version the disk
group was imported from result in an error message similar to this:
vxvm:vxedit: ERROR: Disk group version doesn’t support
feature
Summary of Supported Features for Disk Group Versions

The following table summarizes supported features for each disk group version:
VxVM Disk New Features Supported Previous

Release Group Version
Version Features
Supported
4.0 110 Cross-platform data sharing (CDS), device 20, 30, 40, 50,
discovery layer (DDL) 2.0, disk group 60, 70, 80, 90
configuration backup and restore (CBR),
elimination of rootdg as a special disk group,
instant and space-optimized snapshots, serial
split brain detection, VERITAS Intelligent
Storage Provisioning (ISP), volume sets
3.2, 3.5 90 Disk group move, split and join, device 20, 30, 40, 50,
discovery layer (DDL), ordered allocation, 60, 70, 80
OS-independent naming support, persistent
FastResync, cluster support for Oracle
resilvering, layered volume support in clusters
3.1.1 80 VERITAS Volume Replicator (VVR) 20, 30, 40, 50,
enhancements 60, 70
3.1 70 Nonpersistent FastResync, VVR 20, 30, 40, 50,
enhancements, Unrelocate 60
3.0 60 Online relayout, safe RAID-5 subdisk moves 20, 30, 40
2.5 50 Storage Replicator for Volume Manager (an 20, 30, 40
earlier version of what is now VVR)
2.3, 2.4 40 Hot relocation 20, 30
2.2 30 VxSmartSync Recovery Accelerator 20
2.0, 2.1 20 Dirty region logging, disk group configuration 15
copy limiting, mirrored volumes logging,
new-style stripes, RAID-5 volumes, recovery
checkpointing
You can upgrade the disk group version using VEA or from the command line. The
vxdiskadm utility does not have an option to upgrade a disk group.

Upgrading a Disk Group: VEA
In the Disk Group Properties window:
• If the Current version property is Yes, then the disk group
version is current.
• The Version property displays the version number.
To upgrade a disk group:
1. Select the disk group to be upgraded.
2. Select Actions—>Upgrade Disk Group Version.
3. Confirm the upgrade when prompted.
Note: You cannot upgrade to a specific version using VEA. You
can only upgrade to the current version. To upgrade to a
specific version, use a CLI command.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-35
Upgrading a Disk Group: VEA

To determine if a disk group needs to be upgraded, you can view the status of the
disk group version in the Disk Group Properties window. The Current version field
states whether or not the disk group has been upgraded to the latest version. The
Version field indicates the version number.
To upgrade a disk group:
Select: The disk group to be upgraded

Navigation path: Actions—>Upgrade Disk Group Version
Note: You cannot upgrade to a specific disk group version by using VEA. You can
only upgrade to the current version. To upgrade to a specific version, use the
command line.

Upgrading a Disk Group: CLI
To display the disk group version:
# vxdg list newdg
Group: newdg
dgid: 971216408.1133.cassius
. . .
version: 110
To upgrade the disk group version:
vxdg [-T version] upgrade diskgroup
To upgrade datadg from version 40 to the current version:
# vxdg upgrade datadg
To upgrade datadg from version 20 to version 40:
# vxdg -T 40 upgrade datadg
To create a version 50 disk group:
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-36
# vxdg -T 50 init newdg newdg01=Disk_4
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-36
Upgrading a Disk Group: CLI

To display the disk group version for a specific disk group, you use the command:
vxdg list diskgroup
You can also determine the disk group version by using the vxprint command
with the -l option.
To upgrade a disk group from the command line, you use the vxdg upgrade
command. By default, VxVM upgrades a disk group to the highest version
supported by the VxVM release:
vxdg [-T version] upgrade diskgroup
To specify a different version, you use the -T version option.
You can also use the -T version option when creating a disk group. For
example, to create a disk group that can be imported by a system running VxVM
2.5, the disk group must be version 50 or less. To create a version 50 disk group,
you add -T 50 to the vxdg init command:
# vxdg -T 50 init newdg newdg01=device_name

Summary
• Describe the features and benefits of the two device-naming
schemes: traditional and enclosure-based naming.
• Identify the stages of VxVM disk configuration.
• Create a disk group by using VEA and command line utilities.
• View disk and disk group information and identify disk status.
• Manage disks, including adding a disk to a VxVM disk group,
removing a disk from a disk group, changing the disk media
name, and moving an empty disk from one disk group to
another.
• Manage disk groups, including deporting and importing a disk
group, moving a disk group, renaming a disk group, destroying
a disk group, and upgrading the disk group version.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-37
Summary
In this lesson, you learned how to perform tasks associated with the management
of disks and disk groups. This lesson described device-naming schemes, how to
add a disk to a disk group, how to view disk and disk group information, and how
to add, remove, rename, and move a disk. This lesson also described procedures
for creating, deporting, importing, destroying, and upgrading a disk group.
Next Steps
In the next lesson, you learn how to create a volume.
This guide provides detailed information on procedures and concepts
involving volume management and system administration using VERITAS
Volume Manager.
This guide provides detailed procedures for installing and initializing
VERITAS Volume Manager and VERITAS Enterprise Administrator.
Administrator

Lab 3
Lab 3: Managing Disks and Disk Groups
• In this lab, you use the VxVM interfaces to view the
status of disks, initialize disks, move disks to the
free disk pool, and move disks into and out of a disk
group.
• You also create new disk groups, remove disks
from disk groups, deport and import disk groups,
and destroy disk groups.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 3-38

To Begin This Lab


Lesson 4
Creating Volumes
Overview
Recovery Essentials
Configuring Volumes
Creating Volumes
Virtual Objects
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-2
Introduction
Overview
This lesson describes how to create a volume in VxVM. This lesson covers how to
create a volume using different volume layouts, how to display volume layout
information, and how to remove a volume.
Importance
By creating volumes, you begin to take advantage of the VxVM concept of virtual
storage. Volumes enable you to span data across multiple disks using a variety of
storage layouts and to achieve data redundancy and resilience.

Objectives
• Identify the features, advantages, and disadvantages of
volume layouts (concatenated, striped, mirrored, and
RAID-5) supported by VxVM.
• Create concatenated, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5
volumes by using VEA and from the command line.
• Display volume layout information by using VEA and by
using the vxprint command.
• Create and view layered volumes by using VEA and
from the command line.
• Remove a volume from VxVM by using VEA and from
the command line.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-3
Outline of Topics
• Selecting a Volume Layout
• Creating a Volume
• Displaying Volume Layout Information
• Creating a Layered Volume
• Removing a Volume
Lesson 4 Creating Volumes 4–3

Concatenated Layout
Disk Group datadg
Volume datavol
Plex datavol-01
datadg01-01
Subdisks 14
14GB
GB
datadg02-03
VxVM Disks datadg01 datadg02

88GB
GB datadg01-01 datadg02-01
Subdisks datadg02-02
datadg01-02
datadg02-03 66GB
GB
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-4
Selecting a Volume Layout

Each volume layout has different advantages and disadvantages. For example, a
volume can be extended across multiple disks to increase capacity, mirrored on
another disk to provide data redundancy, or striped across multiple disks to
improve I/O performance. The layouts that you choose depend on the levels of
performance and reliability required by your system.
Concatenated Layout
A concatenated volume layout maps data in a linear manner onto one or more
subdisks in a plex. Subdisks do not have to be physically contiguous and can
belong to more than one VM disk. Storage is allocated completely from one
subdisk before using the next subdisk in the span. Data is accessed in the
remaining subdisks sequentially until the end of the last subdisk.
For example, if you have 14 GB of data, then a concatenated volume can logically
map the volume address space across subdisks on different disks. The addresses
0 GB to 8 GB of volume address space map to the first 8-gigabyte subdisk, and
addresses 9 GB to 14 GB map to the second 6-gigabyte subdisk. An address offset
of 12 GB, therefore, maps to an address offset of 4 GB in the second subdisk.

Striped Layout
Disk Group datadg
SU
SU==Stripe
StripeUnit
Unit
Volume datavol 64K
64K(default)
(default)
Plex datavol-01
SU1 SU2 SU3 Stripes
Stripes
Columns
Columns
SU4 SU5 SU6
Subdisks SU7 SU8 SU9
SU10 SU11 SU12
VxVM Disks datadg01 datadg02 datadg03

datadg01-01 datadg02-01 datadg03-01
Subdisks datadg01-02 datadg02-02 datadg03-02
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-5
Striped Layout
A striped volume layout maps data so that the data is interleaved, or allocated in
stripes, among two or more subdisks on two or more physical disks. Data is
allocated alternately and evenly to the subdisks of a striped plex.
The subdisks are grouped into “columns.” Each column contains one or more
subdisks and can be derived from one or more physical disks. To obtain the
maximum performance benefits of striping, you should not use a single disk to
provide space for more than one column.
All columns must be the same size. The minimum size of a column should equal
the size of the volume divided by the number of columns. The default number of
columns in a striped volume is one-half the number of disks in the disk group.
Data is allocated in equal-sized units, called stripe units, that are interleaved
between the columns. Each stripe unit is a set of contiguous blocks on a disk. The
stripe unit size can be in units of sectors, kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes. The
default stripe unit size is 64K, which provides adequate performance for most
general purpose volumes. Performance of an individual volume may be improved
by matching the stripe unit size to the I/O characteristics of the application using
the volume.

Mirrored Layout
Each
Eachplex
plexmust
must
Disk Group datadg have
have diskspace
disk space
from
fromdifferent
different
Volume datavol disks
disksto
toachieve
achieve
redundancy.
redundancy.
Plexes datavol-01 datavol-02
datadg03-01
Subdisks datadg01-02
datadg02-02
VxVM Disks datadg01 datadg02 datadg03

Subdisks datadg02-02 datadg03-02
datadg01-02
datadg02-03 datadg03-03
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-6
Mirrored Layout
By adding a mirror to a concatenated or striped volume, you create a mirrored
layout. A mirrored volume layout consists of more than one plex that duplicate the
information contained in a volume. Each plex in a mirrored layout contains an
identical copy of the volume data. In the event of a physical disk failure and when
the plex on the failed disk becomes unavailable, the system can continue to operate
using the unaffected mirrors.
Although a volume can have a single plex, at least two plexes are required to
provide redundancy of data. Each of these plexes must contain disk space from
different disks to achieve redundancy.
Volume Manager uses true mirrors, which means that all copies of the data are the
same at all times. When a write occurs to a volume, all plexes must receive the
write before the write is considered complete.
You should distribute mirrors across controllers to eliminate the controller as a
single point of failure.

RAID-5 Layout
Disk Group datadg SU
SU==Stripe
StripeUnit
Unit
Volume datavol 16K
16K(default)
(default)
Plex datavol-01
PP==Parity; SU1 SU2 SU3 P Stripes
Parity;aa Stripes
Columns
Columns
calculated
calculatedvalue
valueused
used SU5 SU6 P SU4
to
toreconstruct
reconstructdata
data SU9 P SU7 SU8
after
afterdisk
diskfailure.
failure. P SU10 SU11 SU12
VxVM Disks datadg01 datadg02 datadg03 datadg04

datadg01-01 datadg02-01 datadg03-01 datadg04-01
Subdisks
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-7
RAID-5
A RAID-5 volume layout has the same attributes as a striped plex, but includes one
additional column of data that is used for parity. Parity provides redundancy.
Parity is a calculated value used to reconstruct data after a failure. While data is
being written to a RAID-5 volume, parity is calculated by doing an exclusive OR
(XOR) procedure on the data. The resulting parity is then written to the volume. If
a portion of a RAID-5 volume fails, the data that was on that portion of the failed
volume can be re-created from the remaining data and parity information.
RAID-5 volumes keep a copy of the data and calculated parity in a plex that is
striped across multiple disks. Parity is spread equally across columns. Given a
five-column RAID-5 where each column is 1 GB in size, the RAID-5 volume size
is 4 GB. One column of space is devoted to parity, and the remaining four 1-GB
columns are used for data.
The default stripe unit size for a RAID-5 volume is 16K. Each column must be the
same length but may be made from multiple subdisks of variable length. Subdisks
used in different columns must not be located on the same physical disk.
RAID-5 requires a minimum of three disks for data and parity. When implemented
as recommended, an additional disk is required for the log.
RAID-5 cannot be mirrored.

Comparing Volume Layouts
Concatenation Striping Mirroring RAID-5
• Removes size • Parallel data • Improved • Redundancy

restrictions transfer reliability and through parity
Advantages
availability
• Better • Load balancing • Requires less
utilization of • Improved read space than
free space • Improved performance mirroring
performance (if
• Simplified properly • Fast recovery • Improved read
administration configured) through performance
logging
• Fast recovery
through logging
• No • No • Requires more • Slower write
Disadvantages
redundancy. redundancy. disk space performance

than mirroring
• Single disk • Single disk • Slightly
failure causes failure causes slower write
volume failure. volume performance
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
failure. 4-8
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-8
Comparing Volume Layouts
Concatenation: Advantages
• Removes size restrictions: Concatenation removes the restriction on size of
storage devices imposed by physical disk size.
• Better utilization of free space: Concatenation enables better utilization of
free space on disks by providing for the ordering of available discrete disk
space on multiple disks into a single addressable volume.
• Simplified administration: Concatenation enables large file systems to be
created and reduces overall system administration complexity.
Concatenation: Disadvantages
No protection against disk failure: Concatenation does not protect against disk
failure. A single disk failure results in the failure of the entire volume.
Striping: Advantages
• Improved performance through parallel data transfer: Improved
performance is obtained by increasing the effective bandwidth of the I/O path
to the data. This may be achieved by a single volume I/O operation spanning
across a number of disks or by multiple concurrent volume I/O operations to
more than one disk at the same time.
• Load balancing: Striping is also helpful in balancing the I/O load from
multiuser applications across multiple disks.

Striping: Disadvantages
• No redundancy: Striping alone offers no redundancy or recovery features.
• Disk failure: Striping a volume increases the chance that a disk failure results
in failure of that volume. For example, if you have three volumes striped
across two disks, and one of the disks is used by two of the volumes, then if
that one disk goes down, both volumes go down.
Mirroring: Advantages
• Improved reliability and availability: With concatenation or striping, failure
of any one disk makes the entire plex unusable. With mirroring, data is
protected against the failure of any one disk. Mirroring improves the reliability
and availability of a striped or concatenated volume.
• Improved read performance: Reads benefit from having multiple places
from which to read the data.
Mirroring: Disadvantages
• Requires more disk space: Mirroring requires twice as much disk space,
which can be costly for large configurations. Each mirrored plex requires
enough space for a complete copy of the volume’s data.
• Slightly slower write performance: Writing to volumes is slightly slower,
because multiple copies have to be written in parallel. The overall time the
write operation takes is determined by the time needed to write to the slowest
disk involved in the operation.
The slower write performance of a mirrored volume is not generally significant
enough to decide against its use. The benefit of the resilience that mirrored
volumes provide outweighs the performance reduction.
RAID-5: Advantages
• Redundancy through parity: With a RAID-5 volume layout, data can be
re-created from remaining data and parity in case of the failure of one disk.
• Requires less space than mirroring: RAID-5 stores parity information, rather
than a complete copy of the data.
• Improved read performance: RAID-5 provides similar improvements in read
performance as in a normal striped layout.
• Fast recovery through logging: RAID-5 logging minimizes recovery time in
case of disk failure.
RAID-5: Disadvantages
Slow write performance: The performance overhead for writes can be
substantial, because a write can involve much more than simply writing to a data
block. A write can involve reading the old data and parity, computing the new
parity, and writing the new data and parity.

Creating a Volume
Disk Group datadg
Before creating a volume, initialize disks

and assign them
them to
to disk
disk groups.
groups.
• Striped: Minimum two disks
• Mirrored: Minimum one disk for
each plex
• RAID-5: Minimum three disks plus
one disk to contain the log
VxVM Disks datadg01 datadg02 datadg03 datadg04
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-9
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-9
Creating a Volume
Creating a Volume
When you create a volume using VEA or CLI commands, you indicate the desired
volume characteristics, and VxVM automatically creates the underlying plexes
and subdisks. The VxVM interfaces require minimal input if you use default
settings. For experienced users, the interfaces also enable you to enter more
detailed specifications regarding all aspects of volume creation.
Note: Most volume tasks cannot be performed with the vxdiskadm menu
interface—a management tool used for disk objects.
When you create a volume, two device node files are created that can be used to
access the volume:
• /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/volume_name
• /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/volume_name
Before You Create a Volume

Before you create a volume, you should ensure that you have enough disks to
support the layout type.
• A striped volume requires at least two disks.
• A mirrored volume requires at least one disk for each plex. A mirror cannot be
on the same disk that other plexes are using.
• A RAID-5 volume requires at least three disks. A RAID-5 log is created by
default and must use a separate disk, so you need one additional disk for the
log.

Assigning Disks: VEA
Actions—>New
Actions—>NewVolume
Volume
Step
Step1:
1:Select
Selectdisks
disksto
touse
usefor
forthe
thevolume.
volume.
Disks
Diskscan
canbebe
Included
Includedfor
foror
or
Excluded
Excludedfrom
from
volume
volumeuse.
use.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-10
4-10
Creating a Volume: VEA
Select: A disk group

Navigation path: Actions—>New Volume
Input: Disks for this volume: Let VxVM decide (default), or manually
select disks to use.
Volume attributes: Specify a volume name, the size of the
volume, the type of volume layout, and other layout
characteristics. Assign a meaningful name to the volume that
describes the data stored in the volume.
File system: Create a file system on the volume and set file
system options.
New Volume Wizard Step 1: Assigning Disks to Use for a New Volume
By default, VxVM locates available space on all disks in the disk group and
assigns the space to a volume automatically based on the layout you choose.
Alternatively, you can choose specific disks, mirror or stripe across controllers,
trays, targets, or enclosures, or implement ordered allocation. Ordered allocation is
a method of allocating disk space to volumes based on a specific set of VxVM
rules.

Setting Volume Attributes: VEA
Step
Step2:
2:Specify
Specifyvolume
volumeattributes.
attributes. Default
Defaultoptions
options
change
changebased
basedon
on
the
thelayout
layouttype
type
you
youselect.
select.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-11
New Volume Wizard Step 2: Specifying Attributes for a New Volume

Volume name: Assign a meaningful name to the volume that describes the data
stored in the volume.
Size: Specify a size for the volume. The default unit is GB. If you select the Max
Size button, VxVM determines the largest size possible for the volume based on
the layout selected and the disks to which the volume is assigned.
• Select a size for the volume based on the volume layout and the space available
in the disk group. The size of the volume must be less than or equal to the
available free space on the disks.
• The size specified in the Size field is the usable space in the volume. For a
volume with redundancy (RAID-5, mirrored), VxVM allocates additional free
space for the volume’s parity information (RAID-5) or additional plexes
(mirrored).
• The free space available for constructing a volume of a specific layout is
generally less than the total free space in the disk group unless the layout is
concatenated or striped with no mirroring or logging.
Layout: Select a layout type from the group of options. The default layout is
concatenated.
• Concatenated: The volume is created using one or more regions of specified
disks.
• Striped: The volume is striped across two or more disks. The default number
of columns across which the volume is striped is two, and the default stripe
unit size is 128 sectors (64K) on Solaris, AIX, and Linux; 64 sectors (64K) on

HP-UX. You can specify different values.
• RAID-5: In the Number of Columns field, specify the number of columns
(disks) across which the volume is striped. The default number of columns is
three, and the default stripe unit size is 16K (32 sectors on Solaris, AIX, and
Linux; 16 sectors on HP-UX). RAID-5 requires one more column than the
number of data columns. The extra column is used for parity. A RAID-5
volume requires at least one more disk than the number of column; one disk is
needed for logging, which is enabled by default.
• Concatenated Mirrored and Striped Mirrored: These options denote
layered volume layouts.
Mirror info:
• Mirrored: Mirroring is recommended. To mirror the volume, mark the
Mirrored check box. Only striped or concatenated volumes can be mirrored.
RAID-5 volumes cannot be mirrored.
• Total mirrors: Type the total number of mirrors for the volume. A volume can
have up to 32 plexes; however, the practical limit is 31. One plex is reserved by
VxVM to perform restructuring or relocation operations.
Enable logging: To enable logging, mark the Enable logging check box. If you
enable logging, a log is created that tracks regions of the volume that are currently
being changed by writes. In case of a system failure, the log is used to recover only
those regions identified in the log.
VxVM creates a dirty region log or a RAID-5 log, depending on the volume
layout. If the layout is RAID-5, logging is enabled by default, and VxVM adds an
appropriate number of logs to the volume.
Enable FastResync: To enable FastResync, mark the Enable FastResync check
box. This option is displayed only if you have licensed the FastResync option.
Initialize zero: To clear the volume before enabling it for general use, mark the
Initialize zero check box. In what situations should you consider using the
Initialize zero option?
• Under RAID-5 creation, creation time of the RAID-5 volume can be up to 25
percent faster when you initialize zero. With this method of initialization, 0’s
are written unconditionally to the volume, instead of the traditional
initialization method of XORing each cell.
• For security purposes, you can use the Initialize Zero option to overwrite all
existing data in the volume area.
• You should also consider this option when creating a new pair of volumes on
remote systems while using VERITAS Volume Replicator (VVR). By zeroing,
you are assured that corresponding volumes in the primary and secondary
replicated volume groups (RVGs) are initialized accordingly, avoiding the need
for full synchronization of the volumes.
No layered volumes: To prevent the creation of a layered volume, mark the No
layered volumes check box. This option ensures that the volume has a nonlayered
layout. If a layered layout is selected, this option is ignored.

Adding a File System: VEA
Step
Step3:
3:Create
Createaafile
file
system
system onthe
on thevolume.
volume.
File
File
system
system Mount
type Mountpoint
point
type
Create
Createand
and
mount
mountoptions
options
Mount
Mountat
atboot
boot
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-12
New Volume Wizard Step 3: Creating a File System on a New Volume

When you create a volume, you can place a file system on the volume and specify
options for mounting the file system. You can place a file system on a volume
when you create a volume or any time after creation.
The default option is “No file system.” To place a file system on the volume, select
the “Create a file system” option and specify:
• File system type: Specify the file system type as either vxfs (VERITAS File
System) or other OS-supported file system types (UFS on Solaris; HFS on HP-
UX; on AIX, JFS and JFS2 are not supported on VxVM volumes). To add a
VERITAS file system, the VxFS product must be installed with appropriate
licenses.
• Create Options:
– Compress: If your platform supports file compression, this option
compresses the files on your file system (not available on Solaris).
– Allocation unit or Block size: Select an allocation unit size (for OS-
supported file system types); or a block size (for VxFS file systems).
– New File System Details: Click this button to specify additional file
system-specific mkfs options. For VxFS, the only explicitly available
additional options are large file support and log size. You can specify other
options in the Extra Options field.
• Mount Options:
– Mount Point: Specify the mount point directory on which to mount the
file system. The new file system is mounted immediately after it is created.

Leave this field empty if you do not want to mount the file system.
– Create mount point: Mark this check box to create the directory if it does
not exist. The mount point must be specified.
– Read only: Mark this check box to mount the file system as read only.
– Honor setuid: Mark this check box to mount the file system with the suid
mount option. This option is marked by default.
– Add to file system table: Mark this check box to include the file system in
the /etc/vfstab file (Solaris), the /etc/fstab file (HP-UX, Linux),
or the /etc/filesystems file (AIX).
– Mount at boot: Mark this check box to mount the file system
automatically whenever the system boots.
– fsck pass: Specify how many fsck passes will be run if the file system is
not clean at mount time.
– Mount File System Details: Click this button to specify additional mount
options. For VxFS, the explicitly available additional options include
disabling Quick I/O, setting directory permissions and owner, and setting
caching policy options. You can specify other options, such as quota, in
the Extra options field.

Creating a Volume: CLI
To create a volume:
vxassist -g diskgroup make volume_name
length [attributes]
Block and character (raw) device files are set up that

you can use to access the volume:
• Block device file for the volume:
/dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/volume_name
• Character device file for the volume:
/dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/volume_name
To display volume attributes, use:
vxassist -g diskgroup help showattrs
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-13
Creating a Volume: CLI

To create a volume from the command line, you use the vxassist command.
You specify the basic attributes of the desired volume layout, and VxVM
automatically creates the underlying plexes and subdisks. This command uses
default values for volume attributes, unless you provide specific values.
vxassist [-g diskgroup] make volume_name length [attributes]
In the syntax:
• Use the -g option to specify the disk group in which to create the volume. If
you do not specify a disk group, VxVM creates the volume in your default disk
group.
• make is the keyword for volume creation.
• volume_name is a name you give to the volume. Specify a meaningful name.
• length specifies the number of sectors in the volume. You can specify the
length in kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes by adding an m, k, or g to the
length. If no unit is specified, sectors are assumed.
You can specify many additional attributes, such as volume layout or specific
disks. For detailed descriptions of all attributes that you can use with vxassist,
see the vxassist(1m) manual page.

Concatenated Volume: CLI
To create a concatenated volume:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 10g
Disk
Diskgroup
groupname
name Volume
Volumename
name Volume
Volumesize
size
If an /etc/default/vxassist file exists with a

different default layout, use:
layout=nostripe
To create a concatenated volume on specific
disks:
datadg02 datadg03
Disk
Diskmedia
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
medianames
names
4-14
Creating a Concatenated Volume: CLI

By default, vxassist creates a concatenated volume that uses one or more
sections of disk space. The vxassist command attempts to locate sufficient
contiguous space on one disk for the volume. However, if necessary, the volume is
spanned across multiple disks. VxVM selects the disks on which to create the
volume.
To create a concatenated volume called datavol with a length of 10 gigabytes, in
the disk group datadg, using any available disks, you type:
Note: To guarantee a concatenated volume is created, you should include the
attribute layout=nostripe in the vxassist make command. Without the
layout attribute, the default layout is used that may have been changed by the
creation of the /etc/default/vxassist file.
For example:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 10g layout=nostripe
If you want the volume to reside on specific disks, you can designate the disks by
adding the disk media names to the end of the command. More than one disk can
be specified.
vxassist [-g diskgroup] make volume_name length [disks...]

Striped Volume: CLI
To create a striped volume:
vxassist -g diskgroup make volume_name length
layout=stripe ncol=n stripeunit=size
[disks...]
Examples:
# vxassist -g acctdg make payvol 2g
layout=stripe ncol=3 !acctdg04
# vxassist -g acctdg make expvol 2g

layout=stripe ncol=3 stripeunit=64k
acctdg01 acctdg02 acctdg03
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-15
Creating a Striped Volume: CLI

To create a striped volume, you add the layout type and other attributes to the
vxassist make command.
vxassist [-g diskgroup] make volume_name length
layout=stripe ncol=n stripeunit=size [disks...]
In the syntax:
• layout=stripe designates the striped layout.
• ncol=n designates the number of stripes, or columns, across which the
volume is created. This attribute has many aliases. For example, you can also
use nstripe=n or stripes=n.
If you do not provide a number of columns, then VxVM selects a number of
columns based on the number of free disks in the disk group. The minimum
number of stripes in a volume is 2, and the maximum is 8. You can edit these
minimum and maximum values in /etc/default/vxassist.
• stripeunit=size specifies the size of the stripe unit to be used. The
default is 64K.
• To stripe the volume across specific disks, you can specify the disk media
names at the end of the command. The order in which disks are listed on the
command line does not imply any ordering of disks within the volume layout.
By default, VxVM selects any available disks with sufficient space.
To exclude a disk or list of disks, add an exclamation point (!) before the disk
media names. For example, !datadg01 specifies that the disk datadg01
should not be used to create the volume.

RAID-5 Volume: CLI
To create a RAID-5 volume:
vxassist -g diskgroup make volume_name length
layout=raid5 ncol=n stripeunit=size
[disks...]
• Default ncol=3
• Default stripeunit=16K
• Log is created by default. Therefore, you need at
least one more disk than the number of columns.
Example:
# vxassist -g acctdg make payvol 10g
layout=raid5
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-16
Creating a RAID-5 Volume: CLI

To create a RAID-5 volume from the command line, you use the same syntax as
for creating a striped volume, except that you use the attribute layout=raid5:
layout=raid5 ncol=n stripeunit=size [disks...]
Notes:
• For a RAID-5 volume, the default stripe unit size is 32 sectors (16K).
• When a RAID-5 volume is created, a RAID-5 log is created by default. This
means that you must have at least one additional disk available for the log.
• If you do not want the default log, then add the nolog option in the syntax,
layout=raid5,nolog.
• If you specify too few disks when creating a volume, you receive the error
message “Cannot allocate space for a x block volume”, even if there is enough
space in the disk group.

Mirrored Volume: CLI
To create a mirrored volume:
vxassist -g diskgroup [-b] make volume_name
length layout=mirror [nmirror=number]
Examples:
Concatenated
Concatenated # vxassist -g datadg make datavol 5g
and
andmirrored
mirrored layout=mirror
Specify
Specifythree
three
mirrors.
mirrors. layout=stripe,mirror nmirror=3
Run
Runprocess
processin
in
# vxassist -g datadg -b make datavol
background.
background. 5g layout=stripe,mirror nmirror=3
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-17
Creating a Mirrored Volume: CLI

To mirror a concatenated volume, you add the layout=mirror attribute in the
vxassist command.
vxassist -g diskgroup [-b] make volume_name length
layout=mirror [nmirror=number_of_mirrors]
• To specify more than two mirrors, you add the nmirror attribute.
• When creating a mirrored volume, the volume initialization process requires
that the mirrors be synchronized. The vxassist command normally waits for
the mirrors to be synchronized before returning to the system prompt. To run
the process in the background, you add the -b option.

Mirrored Volume with Log: CLI
To create a mirrored volume with a log:
vxassist -g diskgroup [-b] make volume_name
length layout=mirror logtype=drl [nlog=n]
• logtype=drl enables dirty region logging.
• nlog=n creates n logs and is used when you want more
than one log plex to be created.
To create a concatenated volume that is mirrored

and logged:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 5m
layout=mirror logtype=drl
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-18
Creating a Mirrored and Logged Volume: CLI

When you create a mirrored volume, you can add a dirty region log by adding the
logtype=drl attribute:
vxassist -g diskgroup [-b] make volume_name length
layout=mirror logtype=drl [nlog=n]
In the syntax:
• Specify logtype=drl to enable dirty region logging. A log plex that consists
of a single subdisk is created.
• If you plan to mirror the log, you can add more than one log plex by specifying
a number of logs using the nlog=n attribute, where n is the number of logs.

Estimating Volume Size: CLI
To determine largest possible size for a volume:
vxassist -g diskgroup maxsize attributes
Example:
# vxassist -g datadg maxsize layout=raid5
Maximum volume size: 376832 (184Mb)
To determine how much a volume can expand:

vxassist -g diskgroup maxgrow volume
Example:
# vxassist -g datadg maxgrow datavol
Volume datavol can be extended by 366592 to
1677312 (819Mb)
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-19
Estimating Volume Size: CLI

The vxassist command can determine the largest possible size for a volume that
can currently be created with a given set of attributes. vxassist can also
determine how much an existing volume can be extended under the current
conditions.
To determine the largest possible size for the volume to be created, use the
command:
vxassist -g diskgroup maxsize attributes...
This command does not create the volume but returns an estimate of the maximum
volume size. The output value is displayed in sectors, by default.
If the volume with the specified attributes cannot be created, an error message is
returned:
vxvm:vxassist: ERROR: No volume can be created within the
given constraints
To determine how much an existing volume can be expanded, use the command:
vxassist -g diskgroup maxgrow volume_name
This command does not resize the volume but returns an estimate of how much an
existing volume can be expanded. The output indicates the amount by which the
volume can be increased and the total size to which the volume can grow. The
output is displayed in sectors, by default.

Object Views in the Main Window
Highlight aa disk
disk group, and
and click
click the
the Volumes
Volumes tab.
tab.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Highlight
Highlight a volume, and click
4-20
the
the tabs to display details.
4-20
Displaying Volume Layout Information

Displaying Volume Information: VEA
To display information about volumes in VEA, you can select from several
different views.
Object Views in Main Window

You can view volumes and volume details by selecting an object in the object tree
and displaying volume properties in the grid:
• To view the volumes in a disk group, select a disk group in the object tree, and
click the Volumes tab in the grid.
• To explore detailed components of a volume, select a volume in the object tree,
and click each of the tabs in the grid.

Disk View Window
Highlight
Highlightaavolume,
volume,and
andselect
selectActions—>Disk
Actions—>DiskView.
View.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-21
Disk View Window

The Disk View window displays a close-up graphical view of the layout of
subdisks in a volume. To display the Disk View window, select a volume or disk
group and select Actions—>Disk View.
Display options in the Disk View window include:
• Expand: Click the Expand button to display detailed information about all
disks in the Disk View window.
• Vol Details: Click the Vol Details button to include volume names, layout
types, and volume status for each subdisk.
• Projection: Click the Projection button to highlight objects associated with a
selected subdisk or volume. Projection shows the relationships between objects
by highlighting objects that are related to or part of a specific object.
Caution: You can move subdisks in the Disk View window by dragging subdisk
icons to different disks or to gaps within the same disk. Moving subdisks
reorganizes volume disk space and must be performed with care.

Volume View Window
Highlight
Highlightaavolume,
volume,and
andselect
selectActions—>Volume
Actions—>VolumeView.
View.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-22
Volume View Window

The Volume View window displays characteristics of the volumes on the disks. To
display the Volume View window, select a volume or disk group and select
Actions—>Volume View.
Display options in the Volume View window include:
• Expand: Click the Expand button to display detailed information about
volumes.
• New volume: Click the New Volume button to invoke the New Volume
wizard.

Volume to Disk Map Window
Highlight
Highlightaadisk
diskgroup,
group,
and select Actions—>
and select Actions—>
Disk/Volume
Disk/VolumeMap.
Map.
Click
Clickaatriangle
triangleto
todisplay
displayor
or
hide subdisks.
hide subdisks.
Click
Clickaadot
dotto
to
highlight
highlightan
an
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115intersecting row
intersecting row 4-23
and
andcolumn.
column.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-23
Volume to Disk Mapping Window

The Volume to Disk Mapping window displays a tabular view of volumes and their
relationships to underlying disks. To display the Volume to Disk Mapping window,
highlight a disk group, and select Actions—>Disk/Volume Map.
To view subdisk layouts, click the triangle button to the left of the disk name, or
select View—>Expand All.
To help identify the row and column headings in a large grid, click a dot in the grid
to highlight the intersecting row and column.

Volume Layout Window
Highlight
Highlightaavolume,
volume,and
andselect
selectActions—>Layout
Actions—>LayoutView.
View.
Select
SelectView—>Horizontal
View—>Horizontaloror
View—>Vertical
View—>Verticalto tochange
changethe
the
orientation
orientationof
ofthe
thediagram.
diagram.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-24
Volume Layout Window

The Volume Layout window displays a graphical view of the selected volume’s
layout, components, and properties. You can select objects or perform tasks on
objects in the Volume Layout window. This window is dynamic, so the objects
displayed in this window are automatically updated when the volume’s properties
change.
To display the Volume Layout window, highlight a volume, and select
Actions—>Layout View.
The View menu changes the way objects are displayed in this window. Select
View—>Horizontal to display a horizontal layout and View—>Vertical to display
a vertical layout.

Volume Properties Window
Right-click
Right-clickaa
volume
volumeand
andselect
select
Properties.
Properties.
Used
Used for
for FastResync
FastResync
Refers
Refers to
to volumes
volumes managed
managed under
under
Intelligent
Intelligent Storage
Storage Provisioning
Provisioning (ISP)
(ISP)
Refers
Refers to
to volume
volume set
set
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-25
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-25
Volume Properties Window

The Volume Properties window displays a summary of volume properties. To
display the Volume Properties window, right-click a volume and select Properties.

Displaying Volume Info: CLI
To display volume configuration information:
vxprint -g diskgroup [options]
• -vpsd Select only volumes (v), plexes (p), subdisks (s),
or disks (d).
• -h List hierarchies below selected records.
• -r Display related records of a volume containing
subvolumes.
• -t Print single-line output records that depend upon
the configuration record type.
• -l Display all information from each selected record.
• -a Display all information about each selected
record, one record per line.
• -A Select from all active disk groups.
• -e pattern Show records that match an editor pattern.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-26
Displaying Volume Layout Information: CLI
The vxprint Command

You can use the vxprint command to display information about how a volume is
configured. This command displays records from the VxVM configuration
database.
vxprint -g diskgroup [options]
The vxprint command can display information about disk groups, disk media,
volumes, plexes, and subdisks. You can specify a variety of options with the
command to expand or restrict the information displayed. Only some of the
options are presented in this training. For more information about additional
options, see the vxprint(1m) manual page.

Common Options
Option Description
-vpsd Select only volumes (v), plexes (p), subdisks (s), or disks (d).
Options can be used individually or in combination.
-h List hierarchies below selected records.
-r Display related records of a volume containing subvolumes.
Grouping is done under the highest-level volume.
-t Print single-line output records that depend upon the
configuration record type. For disk groups, the output consists of
the record type, the disk group name, and the disk group ID.
-l Display all information from each selected record. Most records
that have a default value are not displayed. This information is in
a free format that is not intended for use by scripts.
-a Display all information about each selected record—one record
per line, with a one-space character between each field; the list of
associated records is displayed.
-A Select from all active disk groups.
-e pattern Show records that match an editor pattern.
Additional Options
Option Description
-F[type:]format_spec Enable the user to define which fields to display.
-D - Read a configuration from the standard input. The
standard input is expected to be in standard
vxmake input format.
-m Display all information about each selected record
in a format that is useful as input to the vxmake
utility.
-f Display information about each record as one-line
output records.
-n Display only the names of selected records.
-G Display only disk group records.
-Q Suppress the disk group header that separates each
disk group. A single blank line separates each disk
group.
-q Suppress headers that would otherwise be printed
for the default and the -t and -f output formats.

Displaying Volume Info: CLI
## vxprint
vxprint -g
-g datadg
datadg -ht
-ht || more
more
DG NAME NCONFIG NLOG MINORS GROUP-ID
ST NAME STATE DM_CNT SPARE_CNT APPVOL_CNT
DM NAME DEVICE TYPE PRIVLEN PUBLEN STATE
RV NAME RLINK_CNT KSTATE STATE PRIMARY DATAVOLS SRL
RL NAME RVG KSTATE STATE REM_HOST REM_DG REM_RLNK
CO NAME CACHEVOL KSTATE STATE
VT NAME NVOLUME KSTATE STATE
V NAME RVG KSTATE STATE LENGTH READPOL PREFPLEX UTYPE
PL NAME VOLUME KSTATE STATE LENGTH LAYOUT NCOL/WID MODE
SD NAME PLEX DISK DISKOFFS LENGTH [COL/]OFF DEVICE MODE
SV NAME PLEX VOLNAME NVOLLAYR LENGTH [COL/]OFF AM/NM MODE
SC NAME PLEX CACHE DISKOFFS LENGTH [COL/]OFF DEVICE MODE
DC NAME PARENTVOL LOGVOL
SP NAME SNAPVOL DCO
dg datadg default default 91000 1000753077.1117.train12
dm datadg01 c1t10d0s2 auto 2048 4191264 - To

Tointerpret
interpretthe
the
dm datadg02 c1t11d0s2 auto 2048 4191264 -
dm datadg03 c1t14d0s2 auto 2048 4191264 - output,
output,match
matchheader
header
dm datadg04 c1t15d0s2 auto 2048 4191264 - lines
lineswith
withoutput
outputlines.
lines.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
v datavol01 - ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 SELECT - fsgen 4-27
pl datavol01-01 datavol01 ENABLED ACTIVE 21168 CONCAT - RW

sd datadg01-01 datavol01-01 datadg01 0 21168 0 c1t10d0 ENA
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-27
Displaying Information for All Volumes

To display the volume, plex, and subdisk record information for a disk group:
vxprint -g diskgroup -ht
In the output, the top few lines indicate the headers that match each type of output
line that follows. Each volume is listed along with its associated plexes and
subdisks and other VxVM objects.
• dg is a disk group.
• st is a storage pool (used in Intelligent Storage Provisioning).
• dm is a disk.
• rv is a replicated volume group (used in VERITAS Volume Replicator).
• co is a cache object.
• vt is a volume template (used in Intelligent Storage Provisioning).
• rl is an rlink (used in VERITAS Volume Replicator).
• v is a volume.
• pl is a plex.
• sd is a subdisk.
• sv is a subvolume.
• sc is a storage cache.
• dc is a data change object.
• sp is a snap object.
For more information, see the vxprint(1m) manual page.

What Is a Layered Volume?
Original Mirroring
• The loss of disk results in the loss
of the complete plex.
• A second disk failure could result
in the loss of the complete
volume.
Layered Volumes
• Mirroring is performed at the
column or subdisk level.
• Disk losses are less likely to
affect the complete volume.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-28
Creating a Layered Volume

What Is a Layered Volume?
VxVM provides two ways to mirror your data:
• Original VxVM mirroring: With the original method of mirroring, data is
mirrored at the plex level. The loss of a disk results in the loss of a complete
plex. A second disk failure could result in the loss of a complete volume if the
volume has only two mirrors. To recover the volume, the complete volume
contents must be copied from backup.
• Enhanced mirroring: VxVM 3.0 introduced support for an enhanced type of
mirrored volume called a layered volume. A layered volume is a virtual
Volume Manager object that mirrors data at a more granular level. To do this,
VxVM creates subvolumes from traditional bottom-layer objects, or subdisks.
These subvolumes function much like volumes and have their own associated
plexes and subdisks.
With this method of mirroring, data is mirrored at the column or subdisk level.
Loss of a disk results in the loss of a copy of a column or subdisk within a plex.
Further disk losses may occur without affecting the complete volume. Only the
data contents of the column or subdisk affected by the loss of the disk need to
be recovered. This recovery can be performed from an up-to-date mirror of the
failed disk.
Note: Only VxVM versions 3.0 and later support layered volumes. To create a
layered volume, you must upgrade the disk group that owns the layered
volume to version 60 or above.

Traditional Mirroring
What
What happens
happens ififtwo
two Mirrored
disks fail?
disks fail? volume
sd1 sd2
Underlying Disks sd3 sd4
Plex Plex
sd1 sd2 sd3 sd4
sd
sd==subdisk
subdisk
disk01 disk02 disk03 disk04 Volume Status
X X Down
X X Up
X X Down
X X Down
When
Whentwo twodisks
disks
X X Up fail,
fail,volume
volume
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
X X Down survives
survives2/6,
2/6,or
or 4-29
XX==failed 1/3 times.

1/3 times.
faileddisk
disk
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-29
Comparing Regular Mirroring with Enhanced Mirroring

To understand the purpose and benefits of layered volume layouts, compare
regular mirroring with the enhanced mirroring of layered volumes in a disk failure
scenario.
Regular Mirroring
The example illustrates a regular mirrored volume layout called a mirror-stripe
layout. Data is striped across two disks, disk01 and disk03, to create one plex,
and that plex is mirrored and striped across two other disks, disk02 and disk04.
If two drives fail, the volume survives 2 out of 6 (1/3) times. As more subdisks are
added to each plex, the odds of a traditional volume surviving a two-disk failure
approach (but never equal) 50 percent.
If a disk fails in a mirror-stripe layout, the entire plex is detached, and redundancy
is lost on the entire volume. When the disk is replaced, the entire plex must be
brought up-to-date, or resynchronized.

Layered Volumes
What
What happens
happens ifif Layered
Plex
two
twodisks
disks fail?
fail? volume
Subvolumes
Subvolumes
Underlying Disks
sd1 sd2 sd3 sd4

sd1 sd2 sd3 sd4 Plex Plex Plex Plex
sd
sd==subdisk
subdisk
disk01 disk02 disk03 disk04 Volume Status
X X Down
X X Up
X X Up
X X Up
When
Whentwo twodisks
disks
X X Up fail,
fail,volume
volume
X X Down survives
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 survives4/6,
4/6,or
or 4-30
XX==failed 2/3 times.

2/3 times.
faileddisk
disk
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-30
Layered Volumes
The example illustrates a layered volume layout called a stripe-mirror layout. In
this layout, VxVM creates underlying volumes that mirror each subdisk. These
underlying volumes are used as subvolumes to create a top-level volume that
contains a striped plex of the data.
If two drives fail, the volume survives 4 out of 6 (2/3) times. In other words, the
use of layered volumes reduces the risk of failure rate by 50 percent without the
need for additional hardware. As more subvolumes are added, the odds of a
volume surviving a two-disk failure approach 100 percent. For volume failure to
occur, both subdisks that make up a subvolume must fail. If a disk fails, only the
failing subdisk must be detached, and only that portion of the volume loses
redundancy. When the disk is replaced, only a portion of the volume needs to be
recovered, which takes less time.
Failed Volume Status

Subdisks
Stripe-Mirror (Layered) Mirror-Stripe (Nonlayered)
1 and 2 Down Down
1 and 3 Up Up
1 and 4 Up Down
2 and 3 Up Down
2 and 4 Up Up
3 and 4 Down Down

How Do Layered Volumes Work?
Top-Level Volume Volume •• Volumes
Volumesareare
constructed
constructedfrom
from
Subvolume subvolumes.
subvolumes.
•• Top-level
Top-levelvolume
volumeis is
Subvolume accessible
accessibletoto
Plex
applications.
applications.
Volume Volume Advantages

Advantages
•• Improved
Improved
Subdisk Subdisk Subdisk Subdisk redundancy
redundancy
Subvolumes
•• Faster
Fasterrecovery
recovery
Plex Plex times
Plex Plex times
Disadvantages
Disadvantages
Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3 Disk 4 •• Requires
Requiresmore
more
VxVM
VxVMobjects
objects
Underlying
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 Subdisk Subdisk Subdisk Subdisk 4-31
Disks
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-31
How Do Layered Volumes Work?

In a regular mirrored volume, top-level plexes are made up of subdisks. In a
layered volume, these subdisks are replaced by subvolumes. Each subvolume is
associated with a second-level volume. This second-level volume contains second-
level plexes, and each second-level plex contains one or more subdisks.
In a layered volume, only the top-level volume is accessible as a device for use by
applications.
Note: You can also build a layered volume from the bottom up by using the
vxmake command. For more information, see the vxmake(1m) manual page.
Layered Volumes: Advantages

Improved redundancy: Layered volumes tolerate disk failure better than
nonlayered volumes and provide improved data redundancy.
Faster recovery times: If a disk in a layered volume fails, a smaller portion of the
redundancy is lost, and recovery and resynchronization times are usually quicker
than for a nonlayered volume that spans multiple drives.
For a stripe-mirror volume, recovery of a single subdisk failure requires
resynchronization of only the lower plex, not the top-level plex. For a mirror-stripe
volume, recovery of a single subdisk failure requires resynchronization of the
entire plex (full volume contents) that contains the subdisk.

Layered Volumes: Disadvantages
Requires more VxVM objects. Layered volumes consist of more VxVM objects
than nonlayered volumes. Therefore, layered volumes may fill up the disk group
configuration database sooner than nonlayered volumes. When the configuration
database is full, you cannot create more volumes in the disk group.
The minimum size of the private region is 2048 sectors rounded up to the cylinder
boundary. With modern disks with large cylinder sizes, this size can be quite large.
Each VxVM object requires about 256 bytes.
The private region can be made larger when a disk is initialized, but only from the
command line. The size cannot be changed once disks have been initialized.
Note: With VxVM 3.2 and later, the maximum size of the private region was
doubled in order to better accommodate layered volumes.

mirror-concat (Non-Layered)
Volume
1.5 GB
Top-level volume
Subdisk 1 Subdisk 3
contains more than
one plex (mirror). 1.5 GB 1 GB
Subdisk 4 500 MB
Plexes are
concatenated.
Concat Plex Concat Plex
1.5 GB 1.5 GB
Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3 Disk 4
Underlying Subdisk 1
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 Subdisk 3 Subdisk 4 4-32
Disks 1.5 GB 1 GB 500 MB
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-32
Layered Volume Layouts

In general, you should use regular mirrored layouts for smaller volumes and
layered layouts for larger volumes. Before you create layered volumes, you need to
understand the terminology that defines the different types of mirrored layouts in
VxVM.
mirror-concat
Layout Type Description

mirror-concat The top-level volume contains more than one plex
(mirror), and the plexes are concatenated in structure.
This layout mirrors data across concatenated plexes. The concatenated plexes can
be comprised of subdisks of different sizes. In the example, the plexes are mirrors
of each other; each plex is a concatenation of one or more subdisks, and the plexes
are of equal size.
When you create a simple mirrored volume that is less than 1 GB in size, a
nonlayered mirrored volume is created by default.

mirror-stripe (Non-Layered)
Volume
1.5 GB
Top-level volume Subdisk 1 Subdisk 3

contains more than 750 MB 750 MB
one plex (mirror).
Subdisk 2 Subdisk 4
Plexes are striped. 750 MB 750 MB
Striped Plex Striped Plex
1.5 GB 1.5 GB
Underlying
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Subdisk 1 Subdisk 2 Subdisk 3 Subdisk 4 4-33
Disks 750 MB 750 MB 750 MB 750 MB
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-33
mirror-stripe

mirror-stripe The top-level volume contains more than one plex
(mirror), and the plexes are striped in structure.
This layout mirrors data across striped plexes. The striped plexes can be made up
of different numbers of subdisks. In the example, plexes are mirrors of each other;
each plex is striped across the same number of subdisks. Each striped plex can
have different numbers of columns and different stripe unit sizes. One plex could
also be concatenated.
When you create a striped mirrored volume that is less than one gigabyte in size, a
nonlayered mirrored volume is created by default.

concat-mirror (Layered)
Top-Level Volume Volume 3.5 GB
Top-level volume
Subvolume comprises a
1.5 GB concatenated plex.
Subvolume Subvolumes are
2 GB mirrored.
Concat Plex 3.5 GB
Volume Volume
1.5 GB 2 GB
Subdisk 1 Subdisk 2 Subdisk 3 Subdisk 4
Subvolumes 1.5 GB 1.5 GB 2 GB 2 GB
Concat Plex Concat Plex
1.5 GB 1.5 GB Concat Plex Concat Plex
2 GB 2 GB

Underlying
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 Subdisk 1 Subdisk 2 Subdisk 3 Subdisk 4 4-34
Disks 1.5 GB 1.5 GB 2 GB 2 GB
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-34
concat-mirror

concat-mirror The top-level volume comprises one plex, and the
component subdisks (subvolumes) are mirrored.
This volume layout contains a single plex made up of one or more concatenated
subvolumes. Each subvolume comprises two concatenated plexes (mirrors) made
up of one or more subdisks. If you have two subdisks in the top-level plex, then a
second subvolume is created, which is used as the second concatenated subdisk of
the plex. Additional subvolumes can be added and concatenated in the same
manner.
In the VEA interface, the GUI term used for a layered, concatenated layout is
Concatenated Mirrored. Concatenated Mirrored volumes are mirrored by default
and therefore require more disks than unmirrored concatenated volumes.
Concatenated Mirrored volumes require at least two disks.

stripe-mirror (Layered)
Top-Level Volume Volume 1.5 GB
Top-level volume
Subvolume comprises a
750 MB striped plex.
Subvolume Subvolumes are
750 MB mirrored.
Striped Plex 1.5 GB
Volume Volume
750 MB 750 MB
Subdisk 1 Subdisk 2 Subdisk 3 Subdisk 4

Subvolumes 750 MB 750 MB 750 MB 750 MB
Concat Plex Concat Plex Concat Plex Concat Plex
750 MB 750 MB 750 MB 750 MB

Underlying
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Subdisk 1 Subdisk 2 Subdisk 3 Subdisk 4 4-35
Disks
750 MB 750 MB 750 MB 750 MB
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-35
stripe-mirror

stripe-mirror The top-level volume comprises one plex, and the
component subdisks (subvolumes) are mirrored.
This volume layout stripes data across mirrored volumes. The difference between
stripe-mirror and concat-mirror is that the top-level plex is striped rather than
concatenated.
In the VEA interface, the GUI term used for a layered, striped layout is Striped
Mirrored. Striped Mirrored volumes are mirrored by default and therefore require
more disks than unmirrored striped volumes. Striped Mirrored volumes require at
least four disks.

Creating Layered Volumes
VEA:
In the New Volume Wizard, select Concatenated Mirrored or
Striped Mirrored as the volume layout.
vxassist make:
layout=stripe-mirror
layout=concat-mirror
Note:
To create simple mirrored volumes (nonlayered), you can use:
• layout=mirror-concat
• layout=mirror-stripe
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-36
Creating a Layered Volume: VEA

In the New Volume wizard, select one of the two layered volume layout types:
• Concatenated Mirrored: The Concatenated Mirrored layout refers to a
concat-mirror volume.
• Striped Mirrored: The Striped Mirrored layout refers to a stripe-mirror
volume.
Creating a Layered Volume: CLI

To create a mirrored volume from the command line:
vxassist -g diskgroup make volume_name length layout=type
[other_attributes]
In the syntax, you can specify any of the following layout types:
• To create layered volumes
– layout=concat-mirror
– layout=stripe-mirror
• To create simple mirrored volumes
– layout=mirror-concat
– layout=mirror-stripe
For striped volumes, you can specify other attributes, such as
ncol=number_of_columns and stripeunit=size.

Viewing Layered Volumes
vxprint
vxprint -rth
-rth vol01
vol01
...
...
Top-level vv vol01
vol01 -- ENABLED
ENABLED ACTIVE...
ACTIVE...
volume and plex pl
pl vol01-03
vol01-03 vol01
vol01 ENABLED
ENABLED ACTIVE...
ACTIVE...
Subvolume, sv
sv vol01-S01
vol01-S01 vol01-03
vol01-03 vol01-L01
vol01-L01 1...
1...
second-level v2
v2 vol01-L01
vol01-L01 -- ENABLED
ENABLED ACTIVE...
ACTIVE...
volume, plex, p2
p2 vol01-P01 vol01-L01
vol01-P01 vol01-L01 ENABLED
ENABLED ACTIVE...
ACTIVE...
and subvolume s2
s2 datadg05-02
datadg05-02 vol01-P01
vol01-P01 datadg05
datadg05 0...
0...
p2
p2 vol01-P02
vol01-P02 vol01-L01
vol01-L01 ENABLED
ENABLED ACTIVE...
ACTIVE...
s2 datadg03-02 vol01-P02
s2 datadg03-02 vol01-P02 datadg03
datadg03 0...
0...
sv
sv vol01-S02
vol01-S02 vol01-03
vol01-03 vol01-L02
vol01-L02 1...
1...
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-37
Viewing a Layered Volume: VEA

To view the layout of a layered volume, you can use any of the methods for
displaying volume information, including:
• Object views in the main window
• Disk View window
• Volume View window
• Volume to Disk Mapping window
• Volume Layout window
Viewing a Layered Volume: CLI

To view the configuration of a layered volume from the command line, you use the
-r option of the vxprint command. The -r option ensures that subvolume
configuration information for a layered volume is displayed. The -L option is also
useful for displaying layered volume information.

Removing a Volume
• When a volume is removed, the space used by the
volume is freed and can be used elsewhere.
• Unmount the file system before removing the volume.
VEA:
• Select the volume that you want to remove.
• Select Actions—>Delete Volume.
vxassist remove volume:
vxassist -g diskgroup remove volume volume_name
# vxassist -g datadg remove volume datavol
vxedit:
vxedit -g diskgroup -rf rm volume_name
# vxedit -g datadg -rf rm datavol
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-38
Removing a Volume
You should only remove a volume if you are sure that you do not need the data in
the volume, or if the data is backed up elsewhere. A volume must be closed before
it can be removed. For example, if the volume contains a file system, the file
system must be unmounted. You must manually edit the OS-specific file system
table file in order to remove the entry for the file system and avoid errors at boot. If
the volume is used as a raw device, the application, such as a database, must close
the device.
Removing a Volume: VEA
Select: A volume
Navigation path: Actions—>Delete Volume
Input: Verify the volume to be removed and confirm its removal.
Removing a Volume: CLI

You can use the vxassist remove command with VxVM release 3.0 and later:
vxassist [-g diskgroup] remove volume volume_name
For earlier versions of VxVM, use the vxedit command:
vxedit [-g diskgroup] -rf rm volume_name
If the -r option is not used, the removal fails if the volume has an associated plex.
The -f option stops the volume so that it can be removed. For more information,
see the vxedit(1m) manual page.

Summary
• Identify the features, advantages, and disadvantages of
volume layouts (concatenated, striped, mirrored, and
RAID-5) supported by VxVM.
• Create concatenated, striped, mirrored, and RAID-5
volumes by using VEA and from the command line.
• Display volume layout information by using VEA and by
using the vxprint command.
• Create and view layered volumes by using VEA and
• Remove a volume from VxVM by using VEA and from
the command line.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-39
Summary
This lesson described how to create a volume in VxVM. This lesson covered how
to create a volume using different volume layouts, how to display volume layout
information, and how to remove a volume.
Next Steps
In the next lesson, you learn how to configure additional volume attributes.
Volume Manager.
Administrator
Volume Manager and VERITAS Enterprise Administrator.

Lab 4
Lab 4: Creating Volumes
• In this lab, you create simple concatenated
volumes, striped volumes, mirrored volumes, and
volumes with logs.
• You also practice creating a RAID-5 volume,
creating a volume with a file system, and creating a
layered volume.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 4-40

Goal
In this lab, you create simple concatenated volumes, striped volumes, mirrored
volumes, and volumes with logs. You also practice creating a RAID-5 volume,
creating a volume with a file system, and creating a layered volume.
To Begin This Lab



Lesson 5
Configuring Volumes
Overview
Recovery Essentials
Configuring Volumes
Creating Volumes
Virtual Objects
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-2
Introduction
Overview
This lesson describes how to configure volumes in VxVM. This lesson covers how
to add and remove a mirror, add a log, change the volume read policy, and allocate
storage to volumes. This lesson also describes how to add a file system to a volume
and administer VERITAS File System.
Importance
By configuring volume attributes, you can create volumes that meet the needs of
your business environment.

Objectives
• Add a mirror to and remove a mirror from an existing volume
by using VEA and from the command line.
• Add a dirty region log or RAID-5 log to an existing volume by
using VEA and from the command line.
• Change the volume read policy for a mirrored volume to
specify which plex in a volume is used to satisfy read
requests by using VEA and from the command line.
• Allocate storage for a volume by specifying storage attributes
and ordered allocation.
• Add a file system to an existing volume and administer
VERITAS File System.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-3
Outline of Topics
• Administering Mirrors
• Adding a Log to a Volume
• Changing the Volume Read Policy
• Allocating Storage for Volumes
• Administering File Systems
Lesson 5 Configuring Volumes 5–3

Adding a Mirror to a Volume
• Only concatenated or striped volumes can be
mirrored.
• By default, a mirror is created with the same plex
layout as the original volume.
• Each mirror must reside
on separate disks.
• All disks must be in the
same disk group.
• A volume can have up to
32 plexes, or mirrors.
• Adding a mirror requires volume resynchronization.

VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-4
Administering Mirrors
Adding a Mirror
If a volume was not originally created as a mirrored volume, or if you want to add
additional mirrors, you can add a mirror to an existing volume.
Only concatenated or striped volumes can be mirrored. You cannot mirror a
RAID-5 volume. By default, a mirror is created with the same plex layout as the
plex already in the volume. For example, assume that a volume is composed of a
single striped plex. If you add a mirror to the volume, VxVM makes that plex
striped, as well. You can specify a different layout using VEA or from the
command line.
A mirrored volume requires at least two disks. You cannot add a mirror to a disk
that is already being used by the volume. A volume can have multiple mirrors, as
long as each mirror resides on separate disks.
Only disks in the same disk group as the volume can be used to create the new
mirror. Unless you specify the disks to be used for the mirror, VxVM
automatically locates and uses available disk space to create the mirror.
A volume can contain up to 32 plexes (mirrors); however, the practical limit is 31.
One plex should be reserved for use by VxVM for background repair operations.
Note: Adding a mirror requires resynchronization of the additional plex, so this
operation may take some time.

Adding a Mirror
VEA:
• Select the volume to be mirrored.
• Select Actions—>Mirror—>Add.
vxassist mirror:
vxassist -g diskgroup mirror volume
[layout=layout_type] [disk_name]
Example:
# vxassist -g datadg mirror datavol
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-5
Adding a Mirror: VEA
Select: The volume to be mirrored

Navigation path: Actions—>Mirror—>Add
Input: Number of mirrors to add: Type a number. Default is 1.
Choose the layout: Select from Concatenated or Striped.
Select disks to use: VxVM can select the disks, or you can
choose specific disks. You can also mirror or stripe across
controllers, trays, targets, or enclosures.
To verify that a new mirror was added, view the total number of copies of the
volume as displayed in the main window. The total number of copies is increased
by the number of mirrors added.
Adding a Mirror: CLI

To mirror the volume datavol in the disk group datadg:
# vxassist -g datadg mirror datavol
To add a mirror onto a specific disk, you specify the disk name in the command:
# vxassist -g datadg mirror datavol datadg03

Removing a Mirror
Why remove a mirror?

• To provide free space
• To reduce number of mirrors
• To remove a temporary mirror
When a plex is removed, space from the

subdisks is returned to the free space pool.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-6
Removing a Mirror
When a mirror (plex) is no longer needed, you can remove it. When a mirror is
removed, the space occupied by that mirror can be used elsewhere. Removing a
mirror can be used:
• To provide free disk space
• To reduce the number of mirrors in a volume in order to reduce I/O to the
volume
• To remove a temporary mirror that was created to back up a volume and is no
longer needed
Space from the subdisks of a removed plex is returned to the disk group’s free
space pool.
Caution: Removing a mirror results in loss of data redundancy. If a volume only
has two plexes, removing one of them leaves the volume unmirrored.

Removing a Mirror
VEA:
• Select Actions—>Mirror—>Remove.
• Remove by mirror name, quantity, or disk.
vxassist remove mirror:
vxassist -g diskgroup remove mirror volume [!]dm_name
To remove the plex that contains a subdisk from the disk datadg02:
# vxassist -g datadg remove mirror datavol !datadg02
To remove the plex that uses any disk except datadg02:
# vxassist -g datadg remove mirror datavol datadg02
vxplex and vxedit in sequence:

vxplex -g diskgroup dis plex_name
vxedit -g diskgroup -rf rm plex_name
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-7
Removing a Mirror: VEA
Select: The volume that contains the mirror to be removed

Navigation path: Actions—>Mirror—>Add
Input: Remove mirrors by: You can remove a mirror by the name of the
mirror, by quantity, or by disk.
By mirror: To specify the name of the mirror to be removed,
select Mirror. Add the plex to be removed to the “Selected
mirrors” field.
By quantity: To specify a number of mirrors to be removed,
select Quantity/Disk, and type the number of mirrors to be
removed in the “Mirror quantity” field.
By disk: To specify the name of disks on which mirrors should be
preserved, select Quantity/Disk. Add the disks that are to retain
their plexes to the “Protect from removal” field.
Removing a Mirror: CLI

To remove a mirror from the command line, you use the command:
vxassist [-g diskgroup] remove mirror volume [!]dm_name
When deleting a mirror (or a log), you indicate the storage to be removed using the
form !dm_name.
For example, for the volume datavol, to remove the plex that contains a subdisk
from the disk datadg02:

# vxassist -g datadg remove mirror datavol !datadg02
To remove the plex that uses any disk except datadg02:
# vxassist -g datadg remove mirror datavol datadg02
You can also use the vxplex and vxedit commands in combination to remove a
mirror:
vxplex [-g diskgroup] dis plex_name
vxedit [-g diskgroup] -rf rm plex_name
For example:
# vxplex -g datadg dis datavol-02
# vxedit -g datadg -rf rm datavol-02
You can also use the single command:
# vxplex -g diskgroup -o rm dis plex_name
For more information, see the vxplex(1m) and vxedit(1m) manual pages.

Adding a Log to a Volume
Dirty Region Logging RAID-5 Logging

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VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
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VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-8
Adding a Log to a Volume

Logging in VxVM
By enabling logging, VxVM tracks changed regions of a volume. Log information
can then be used to reduce plex synchronization times and speed the recovery of
volumes after a system failure. Logging is an optional feature, but is highly
recommended, especially for large volumes.
VxVM supports two types of logging:
• Dirty region logging (for mirrored volumes)
• RAID-5 logging (for RAID-5 volumes)
Dirty Region Logging

Dirty region logging (DRL) is used with mirrored volume layouts. DRL keeps
track of the regions that have changed due to I/O writes to a mirrored volume.
Prior to every write, a bit is set in a log to record the area of the disk that is being
changed. In case of system failure, DRL uses this information to recover only the
portions of the volume that need to be recovered.
If DRL is not used and a system failure occurs, all mirrors of the volumes must be
restored to a consistent state by copying the full contents of the volume between its
mirrors. This process can be lengthy and I/O intensive.

When you enable logging on a mirrored volume, one log plex is created by default.
The log plex uses space from disks already used for that volume, or you can
specify which disk to use. To enhance performance, you should consider placing
the log plex on a disk that is not already in use by the volume. You can create
additional DRL logs on different disks to mirror the DRL information.
RAID-5 Logging
When you create a RAID-5 volume, a RAID-5 log is added by default. RAID-5
logs speed up the resynchronization time for RAID-5 volumes after a system
failure. A RAID-5 log maintains a copy of the data and parity being written to the
volume at any given time. If a system failure occurs, VxVM can replay the
RAID-5 log to resynchronize the volume. This copies the data and parity that was
being written at the time of failure from the log to the appropriate areas of the
RAID-5 volume.
You can create multiple RAID-5 logs on different disks to mirror the log
information. Ideally, each RAID-5 volume should have at least two logs to protect
against the loss of logging information due to the failure of a single disk. A
RAID-5 log should be stored on a separate disk from the volume data and parity
disks. Therefore, at least four disks are required to implement RAID-5 with
logging. Although a RAID-5 volume cannot be mirrored, RAID-5 logs can be
mirrored.
To support concurrent access to the RAID-5 array, the log should be several times
the stripe size of the RAID-5 plex. As a guideline, make the log six times the size
of a full-stripe write to the RAID-5 volume.

Adding/Removing a Log
VEA:
• Actions—>Log—>Add
• Actions—>Log—>Remove
vxassist addlog:
vxassist -g diskgroup addlog volume [logtype=drl]
[nlog=n] [attributes]
Examples:
• To add a dirty region log to an existing mirrored volume:
# vxassist -g datadg addlog datavol logtype=drl
• To add a RAID-5 log to a RAID-5 volume, no log type is needed:
# vxassist -g acctdg addlog payvol
• To remove a log from a volume:
vxassist -g diskgroup remove log [nlog=n] volume
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-9
Adding a Log: VEA
Select: The volume to be logged

Navigation path: Actions—>Log—>Add
Input: Disk to contain the log: By default, VxVM locates available
space on any disk in the disk group and assigns the space
automatically. To place the log on specific disks, select “Manually
assign destination disks,” and select the disk to contain the log.
You can add a log to a volume when you create the volume or at any time after
volume creation. The type of log that is created is based on the type of volume
layout.
Removing a Log: VEA
Select: The volume that contains the log to be removed

Navigation path: Actions—>Log—>Remove
Input: Removal method: You can specify a removal method similar
to removing a mirror.
Note: When you remove the only log from a volume, logging is no longer in
effect, and recovery time increases in the event of a system crash.

Adding a Log: CLI
You can add a dirty region log to a mirrored volume or add a RAID-5 log to a
RAID-5 volume by using the vxassist addlog command. To add a dirty
region log to a mirrored volume, you use the logtype=drl attribute. For a
RAID-5 volume, you do not need to specify a log type. VxVM adds a RAID-5 log
based on the volume layout.
# vxassist -g diskgroup addlog volume_name [logtype=drl]
[nlog=n] [attributes]
For example, to add a dirty region log to the mirrored volume datavol in the disk
group datadg:
# vxassist -g datadg addlog datavol logtype=drl
To add two dirty region logs, you add the nlog attribute:
# vxassist -g datadg addlog datavol logtype=drl nlog=2
To add a RAID-5 log to the RAID-5 volume payvol in the disk group acctdg:
# vxassist -g acctdg addlog payvol
VxVM recognizes that the layout is RAID-5 and adds a RAID-5 log.
You can specify additional attributes, such as the disks that should contain the log,
when you run the vxassist addlog command. When no disks are specified,
VxVM uses space from the disks already in use by that volume, which may not be
best for performance.
Removing a Log: CLI

You can remove a dirty region log or a RAID-5 log by using the vxassist
remove log command with the name of the volume. The appropriate type of log
is removed based on the type of volume.
vxassist -g diskgroup remove log volume_name
For example, to remove the dirty region log from the volume datavol, you type:
# vxassist -g datadg remove log datavol
By default, vxassist removes one log. To remove more than one log, you can
add the nlog=n attribute to specify the number of logs to be removed:
# vxassist -g datadg remove log nlog=2 datavol

Volume Read Policies
Round
RoundRobin
Robin Preferred
Preferred Plex
Plex
Volume Volume
Read Read Read

I/O I/O I/O
Read Preferred
Preferred
I/O
Selected
Selected Plex
Plex Volume
Read Is there a
I/O striped plex?
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-10
Default
Default Method
Method
Changing the Volume Read Policy

Volume Read Policies with Mirroring
One of the benefits of mirrored volumes is that you have more than one copy of the
data from which to satisfy read requests. You can specify which plex VxVM
should use to satisfy read requests by setting the read policy. The read policy for a
volume determines the order in which volume plexes are accessed during I/O
operations.
VxVM has three read policies:
• Round robin: If you specify a round-robin read policy, VxVM reads each plex
in turn in “round-robin” manner for each nonsequential I/O detected.
Sequential access causes only one plex to be accessed in order to take
advantage of drive or controller read-ahead caching policies. If a read is within
256K of the previous read, then the read is sent to the same plex.
• Preferred plex: With the preferred plex read policy, Volume Manager reads
first from a plex that has been named as the preferred plex. Read requests are
satisfied from one specific plex, presumably the plex with the highest
performance. If the preferred plex fails, another plex is accessed.
• Selected plex: This is the default read policy. Under the selected plex policy,
Volume Manager chooses an appropriate read policy based on the plex
configuration to achieve the greatest I/O throughput. If the volume has an
enabled striped plex, the read policy defaults to that plex; otherwise, it defaults
to a round-robin read policy.

Setting the Volume Read Policy
VEA:
• Actions—>Set Volume Usage
• Select from Based on layouts, Round robin, or Preferred.
vxvol rdpol:
vxvol -g diskgroup rdpol policy volume_name [plex]
Examples:
• To set the read policy to round robin:
# vxvol -g datadg rdpol round datavol
• To set the read policy to read from a preferred plex:
# vxvol -g datadg rdpol prefer datavol datavol-02
• To set the read policy to select a plex based on layouts:
# vxvol -g datadg rdpol select datavol
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-11
Changing the Volume Read Policy: VEA
Select: A volume
Navigation path: Actions—>Set Volume Usage
Input: Volume read policy: Select Based on layouts (default; the
selected plex method), Round robin, or Preferred. If you select
Preferred, then you can also select the preferred plex from the list
of available plexes.
Changing the Volume Read Policy: CLI

vxvol -g diskgroup rdpol round volume_name
vxvol -g diskgroup rdpol prefer volume_name preferred_plex
vxvol -g diskgroup rdpol select volume_name

Specifying Storage Attributes
With storage attributes, you can specify:
• Which storage devices are used by the volume
• How volumes are mirrored across devices
When creating a volume, you can:
• Include specific disks, controllers, enclosures,
targets, or trays to be used for the volume.
• Exclude specific disks, controllers, enclosures,
targets, or trays from being used for the volume.
• Mirror volumes across specific controllers,
enclosures, targets, or trays. (By default, VxVM
mirrors across different disks.)
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-12
Allocating Storage for Volumes

Specifying Storage Attributes for Volumes
VxVM automatically selects the disks on which each volume resides, unless you
specify otherwise. To create a volume on specific disks, you can designate those
disks when creating a volume. By specifying storage attributes when you create a
volume, you can:
• Include specific disks, controllers, enclosures, targets, or trays to be used for
the volume.
• Exclude specific disks, controllers, enclosures, targets, or trays to be used for
the volume.
• Mirror volumes across specific controllers, enclosures, targets, or trays. (By
default, VxVM does not permit mirroring on the same disk.)
By specifying storage attributes, you can ensure a high availability environment.
For example, you can only permit mirroring of a volume on disks connected to
different controllers, and eliminate the controller as a single point of failure.
Note: When creating a volume, all storage attributes that you specify for use must
belong to the same disk group. Otherwise, VxVM does not use them to create a
volume.

Storage Attributes: Methods
VEA: In the New Volume wizard, select “Manually
select disks for use by this volume,” and select
the disks and storage allocation policy.
CLI: Add storage attributes to vxassist make:

vxassist [-g diskgroup] make volume length
[layout=layout] [mirror=ctlr|enclr|target]
[!][storage_attributes...]
• Disks: datadg02 • Mirror across controllers:
mirror=ctlr
• Controllers: ctlr:c2
Exclude
Exclude • Mirror across enclosures:
• Enclosures: enclr:emc1
mirror=enclr
• Targets: target:c2t4
• Mirror across targets:
• Trays: c2tray2 mirror=target
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-13
Specifying Storage Attributes: VEA

In the New Volume wizard, select “Manually select disks for use by this volume.”
Select the disks and the storage layout policy for allocating storage to a volume.
You can specify that the volume is to be mirrored or striped across controllers,
enclosures, targets, or trays.
Note: A tray is a set of disks within certain Sun arrays.
Specifying Storage Attributes: CLI

To create a volume on specific disks, you add storage attributes to the end of the
vxassist command:
[layout=layout] storage_attributes...
Storage attributes can include:
• Disk names, in the format diskname, for example, datadg02

• Controllers, in the format ctlr:controller_name, for example,
ctlr:c2
• Enclosures, in the format enclr:enclosure_name, for example,
enclr:emc1
• Targets, in the format target:target_name, for example, target:c2t4
• Trays, in the format c#tray#, for example, c2tray2
To exclude a disk, controller, enclosure, target, or tray, you add the exclusion
symbol (!) before the storage attribute. For example, to exclude datadg02 from
volume creation, you use the format: !datadg02.
When mirroring volumes across controllers, enclosures, or targets, you can use
additional attributes:
• The attribute mirror=ctlr specifies that disks in one mirror should not be
on the same controller as disks in other mirrors within the same volume.
• The attribute mirror=enclr specifies that disks in one mirror should not be
in the same enclosure as disks in other mirrors within the same volume.
• The attribute mirror=target specifies that volumes should be mirrored
between identical target IDs on different controllers.
Note: The vxassist utility has an internal default mirror=disk attribute that
prevents you from mirroring data on the same disk.

Storage Attributes: Examples
To create datavol using any disks except for datadg05:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 5g !datadg05
To exclude all disks on controller c2:

# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 5g !ctlr:c2
To include all disks on c1, except for target t5:

# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 5g ctlr:c1
!target:c1t5
To create a mirrored volume with one plex on c2 and the

other plex on c3:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 10g layout=mirror
nmirror=2 mirror=ctlr ctlr:c2 ctlr:c3
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-14
Example: Creating a Volume on Specific Disks

To create a 5-GB volume called datavol on datadg03 and datadg04:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 5g datadg03 datadg04
Examples: Excluding Storage from Volume Creation

To create the volume datavol using any disks except for datadg05:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 5g !datadg05
To exclude all disks that are on controller c2:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 5g !ctlr:c2
To include only disks on controller c1 except for target t5:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 5g ctlr:c1 !target:c1t5
To exclude disks datadg07 and datadg08 when calculating the maximum size
of a RAID-5 volume that vxassist can create using the disks in the disk group
datadg:
# vxassist -g datadg maxsize layout=raid5 nlog=2 !datadg07
!datadg08
Example: Mirroring Across Controllers

To create a mirrored volume with two data plexes, and specify that disks in one
mirror should not be on the same controller as disks in other mirrors within the
same volume:

nmirror=2 mirror=ctlr ctlr:c2 ctlr:c3
The disks in one data plex are all attached to controller c2, and the disks in the
other data plex are all attached to controller c3. This arrangement ensures
continued availability of the volume should either controller fail.
Example: Mirroring Across Enclosures

To create a mirrored volume with two data plexes, and specify that disks in one
mirror should not be in the same enclosure as disks in other mirrors within the
same volume:
nmirror=2 mirror=enclr enclr:emc1 enclr:emc2
The disks in one data plex are all taken from enclosure emc1, and the disks in the
other data plex are all taken from enclosure emc2. This arrangement ensures
continued availability of the volume should either enclosure become unavailable.

Ordered Allocation
With VxVM 3.2 and later, ordered allocation
enables you to control how columns and mirrors
are laid out when creating a volume.
With ordered allocation, storage is allocated in a
specific order:
• First, VxVM concatenates subdisks in columns.
• Secondly, VxVM groups columns in striped plexes.
• Finally, VxVM forms mirrors.
Note: When using ordered allocation, the number of disks
specified must exactly match the number of disks needed for a
given layout (you cannot specify more).
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-15
Specifying Ordered Allocation of Storage for Volumes

In addition to specifying which storage devices VxVM uses to create a volume,
you can also specify how the volume is distributed on the specified storage. By
using the ordered allocation feature of VxVM, you can control how volumes are
laid out on specified storage. Ordered allocation is available in VxVM 3.2 and
later.
When you use ordered allocation in creating a volume, columns and mirrors are
created on disks based on the order in which you list the disks on the command
line. Storage is allocated in the following order:
• First, VxVM concatenates the disks.
• Secondly, VxVM forms columns.
• Finally, VxVM forms mirrors.
For example, if you are creating a three-column mirror-stripe volume using six
specified disks, VxVM creates column 1 on the first disk, column 2 on the second
disk, and column 3 on the third disk. Then, the mirror is created using the fourth,
fifth, and sixth specified disks. Without the ordered allocation option, VxVM uses
the disks in any order.

Ordered Allocation: Methods
VEA:
In the New Volume wizard, select “Manually
select disks for use by this volume.”
Select the disks, the storage
allocation policy, and
mark the Ordered check box.
CLI:
Add the -o ordered option:
vxassist [-g diskgroup][-o ordered] make
volume length [layout=layout]...
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-16
Specifying Ordered Allocation: VEA

In the New Volume wizard, select “Manually select disks for use by this volume.”
Select the disks and storage layout policy, and mark the Ordered check box.
When Ordered is selected, VxVM uses the specified storage to first concatenate
disks, then to form columns, and finally to form mirrors.
Specifying Ordered Allocation: CLI

To implement ordered allocation, use the -o ordered option to vxassist:
vxassist [-g diskgroup] [-o ordered] make volume_name...
Two optional attributes are also available with the -o ordered option:
• You can use the col_switch=size1,size2... attribute to specify how to
allocate space from each listed disk to concatenate subdisks in a column before
switching to the next disk. The number of size arguments determines how
many disks are concatenated to form a column.
• You can use the logdisk=disk attribute to specify the disk on which logs
are created. This attribute is required when using ordered allocation in creating
a RAID-5 volume, unless nolog or noraid5log is specified. For other types
of volume layouts, this attribute is optional.

Ordered Allocation: Examples
Specifying the Order of Columns datavol
# vxassist -g datadg -o ordered
make datavol 2g layout=stripe
ncol=3 datadg02 datadg04 datadg06
02 04 06
Specifying the Order of Mirrors datavol

# vxassist -g datadg -o ordered
make datavol 2g layout=mirror
datadg02 datadg04
02 04
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-17
Example: Order of Columns

To create a 10-GB striped volume, called datavol, with three columns striped
across three disks:
# vxassist -g datadg -o ordered make datavol 10g
layout=stripe ncol=3 datadg02 datadg04 datadg06
Because the -o ordered option is specified, column 1 is placed on datadg02,
column 2 is placed on datadg04, and column 3 is placed on datadg06. Without
this option, column 1 can be placed on any of the three disks, column 2 on any of
the remaining two disks, and column 3 on the remaining disk.
Example: Order of Mirrors

To create a mirrored volume using datadg02 and datadg04:
layout=mirror datadg02 datadg04
Because the -o ordered option is specified, the first mirror is placed on
datadg02 and the second mirror is placed on datadg04. Without this option,
the first mirror could be placed on either disk.
Note: There is no logical difference between the mirrors. However, by controlling
the order of mirrors, you can allocate plex names with specific disks (for example,
datavol-01 with datadg02 and datavol-02 with datadg04). This level of
control is significant when you perform mirror breakoff and disk group split
operations. You can establish conventions that indicate to you which specific disks
are used for the mirror breakoff operations.

Ordered Allocation: Examples
Specifying Column Concatenation
layout=mirror-stripe ncol=2 col_switch=3g,2g datadg01
datadg02 datadg03 datadg04 datadg05 datadg06 datadg07
datadg08 datavol
3 GB 3 GB 3 GB 3 GB
2 GB 2 GB 2 GB 2 GB
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
Specifying Other Storage Classes

layout=mirror-stripe ncol=3 ctlr:c1 ctlr:c2 ctlr:c3
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-18
ctlr:c4 ctlr:c5 ctlr:c6
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-18
Example: Concatenating Columns

You can use the col_switch attribute to specify how to concatenate space on the
disks into columns. For example, to create a 2-column, mirrored-stripe volume:
layout=mirror-stripe ncol=2 col_switch=3g,2g datadg01
datadg02 datadg03 datadg04 datadg05 datadg06 datadg07
datadg08
Because the col_switch attribute is included, this command allocates 3 GB
from datadg01 and 2 GB from datadg02 to column 1, and 3 GB from
datadg03 and 2 GB from datadg04 to column 2. The mirrors of these columns
are then similarly formed from disks datadg05 through datadg08.
Example: Other Storage Classes

You can use other storage specification classes, such as controllers, enclosures,
targets, and trays, with ordered allocation. For example, to create a 3-column,
mirrored-stripe volume between specified controllers:
layout=mirror-stripe ncol=3 ctlr:c1 ctlr:c2 ctlr:c3
ctlr:c4 ctlr:c5 ctlr:c6
This command allocates space for column 1 from disks on controllers c1, for
column 2 from disks on controller c2, and so on.

Adding a File System: VEA
Select
SelectActions—>File
Actions—>FileSystem—>New
System—>NewFile
FileSystem.
System.
Mount
Mount File
File System
System Details
Details
New
New File
File System
System Details
Details
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-19
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-19
Administering File Systems

A file system provides an organized structure to facilitate the storage and retrieval
of files. You can add a file system to a volume when you initially create a volume
or any time after you create the volume.
Adding a File System to a Volume: VEA
Select: A volume
Navigation path: Actions—>File System—>New File System
Input: File system type: Select vxfs or other supported platform-specific
file system type.
Create options: Set mkfs options.
Mount options: Specify a mount point and other mount options.
Mounting a File System: VEA

A file system created with VEA is mounted automatically if you specify the mount
point in the New File System dialog box. If a file system was previously created,
but not mounted, on a volume, you can explicitly mount the file system by using
Actions—>File System—>Mount File System.
Unmounting a File System: VEA

To unmount a file system on a volume, select the file system or volume containing
the file system, and select Actions—>File System—>Unmount File System.

Adding a File System: CLI
1. Create the file system using mkfs (VxFS) or OS-specific file
system creation commands.
2. Create a mount point directory on which to mount the file
system.
3. Mount the volume to the mount point by using the mount
command.
– Data is accessed through the mount point directory.
– When data is written to files, it is actually written to the
block device file:
/dev/vx/dsk/disk_group/volume_name
– When fsck is run on the file system, the raw device file is
checked:
/dev/vx/rdsk/disk_group/volume_name
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-20
Adding a File System to a Volume: CLI

To add a file system to a volume from the command line, you must create the file
system, create a mount point for the file system, and then mount the file system.
Notes:
• When creating a file system on a volume, the size of the file system defaults to
and cannot exceed the size of the volume.
• When a file system has been mounted on a volume, the data is accessed
through the mount point directory.
• When data is written to files, it is actually written to the block device file:
/dev/vx/dsk/disk_group/volume_name.
• When fsck is run on the file system, the raw device file is checked:
/dev/vx/rdsk/disk_group/volume_name.
Solaris
To create and mount a VxFS file system:
# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
# mkdir /data
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /data
To create and mount a UFS file system:
# newfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
# mkdir /data
# mount /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /data

HP-UX
To create and mount a VxFS file system:
# mkdir /data
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /data
To create and mount an HFS file system:
# newfs -F hfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
# mkdir /data
# mount -F hfs /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /data
AIX
To create and mount a VxFS file system using mkfs:
# mkfs -V vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
# mkdir /data
# mount -V vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /data
To create and mount a VxFS file system using crfs:
# crfs -v vxfs -d /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol -m /data -A
yes
Notes:
• An uppercase V is used with mkfs; a lowercase v is used with crfs (to avoid
conflict with another crfs option).
• crfs creates the file system, creates the mount point, and updates the file
systems file (/etc/filesystems). The -A yes option requests mount at
boot.
• If the file system already exists in /etc/filesystems, you can mount the
file system by simply using the syntax: # mount mount_point
Linux
To create and mount a VxFS file system using mkfs:
# mkfs -t vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
# mkdir /data
# mount -t vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /data

Mount File System at Boot
To mount the file system automatically at boot time, edit
the OS-specific file system table file to add an entry for
the file system.
Specify information such as:
• Device to mount: /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol
• Device to fsck: /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
• Mount point: /data
• File system type: vxfs
• fsck pass: 1
• Mount at boot: yes
• Mount options: -
In VEA, select “Add to file system table”

and “Mount at boot” in the New File
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-21
System dialog box.

VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-21
Mounting a File System at Boot: CLI

If you want the file system to be mounted at every system boot, you must edit the
file system table file by adding an entry for the file system. If you later decide to
remove the volume, you must remove the entry in the file system table file.
Platform File System Table File

Solaris /etc/vfstab
HP-UX /etc/fstab
AIX /etc/filesystems
Linux /etc/fstab
Notes:
• In VEA, when you create a file system, if you select the “Add to file system
table” and “Mount at boot” check boxes, the entry is made automatically in the
file system table file. If the volume is later removed through VEA, its
corresponding file system table file entry is also removed automatically.
• In AIX, you can use the following commands when working with the file
system table file, /etc/filesystems:
– To view entries: # lsfs mount_point
– To change details of an entry, use chfs. For example, to turn off mount at
boot: # chfs -A no mount_point
– To remove an entry: # rmfs mount_point

Using VxFS Commands
• VxFS can be used as the basis for any file system except for
file systems used to boot the system.
• Specify directories in the PATH environment variable to
access VxFS-specific commands.
• VxFS uses standard file system management syntax:
command [fs_type] [generic_options]
[-o VxFS_options] [special|mount_point]
• Use the file system switchout to access VxFS-specific
versions of standard commands.
• Without the file system switchout, the file system type is
taken from the default specified in the default file system file.
To use VxFS as your default, change this file to contain vxfs.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-22
Using VERITAS File System Commands

You can generally use VERITAS File System (VxFS) as an alternative to other
disk-based, OS-specific file systems, except for the file systems used to boot the
system. File systems used to boot the system are mounted read-only in the boot
process, before the VxFS driver is loaded.
VxFS can be used in place of:
• UNIX File System (UFS) on Solaris, except for root, /usr, /var, and /opt.
• Hierarchical File System (HFS) on HP-UX, except for /stand.
• Journaled File System (JFS) and Enhanced Journaled File System (JFS2) on
AIX, except for root and /usr.
• Extended File System Version 2 (EXT2) and Version 3 (EXT3) on Linux,
except for root, /boot, /etc, /lib, /var, and /usr.
Location of VxFS Commands:
Platform Location of VxFS Commands

Solaris /opt/VRTSvxfs/sbin, /usr/lib/fs/vxfs, /etc/fs/vxfs
HP-UX /usr/sbin, /opt/VRTS/bin, /sbin/fs
AIX /opt/VRTSvxfs/sbin, /usr/lib/fs/vxfs, /etc/fs/vxfs
Linux /sbin, /usr/lib/fs/vxfs
Specify these directories in the PATH environment variable.

General File System Command Syntax
VERITAS File System uses standard file system management command syntax:
command [fs_switchout] [generic_options] [-o
specific_options] [special | mount_point]
To access VxFS-specific versions, or wrappers, of standard commands, you use
the Virtual File System switchout mechanism followed by the file system type,
vxfs. The switchout mechanism directs the system to search the appropriate
directories for VxFS-specific versions of commands.
Platform File System Switchout

Solaris -F vxfs
HP-UX -F vxfs
AIX -V vxfs (or -v vxfs when used with crfs)
Linux -t vxfs
Using VxFS Commands by Default

If you do not use the switchout mechanism, then the file system type is taken from
the default specified in the OS-specific default file system file. If you want
VERITAS File System to be your default file system type, then you change the
default file system file to contain vxfs.:
Platform Default File System File

Solaris /etc/default/fs
HP-UX /etc/default/fs
AIX /etc/vfs
Linux /etc/default/fs

VxFS-Specific mkfs Options
mkfs [fs_type] [-o specific_options] special
-o N -o bsize=n
• Provides information only • Sets logical block size
• Does not create the file • Default: 1024 bytes (1K) for most
system • Cannot be changed after creation
• In most cases, the default is best.
-o largefiles|
• Resizing the file system does not
nolargefiles change the block size.
• Supports files > 2 gigabytes
(or > 8 million files) -o logsize=n
• Default: largefiles • Sets size of logging area
• Default depends on file system size.
-o version=n • Default is sufficient for most
• Specifies layout version workloads.
• Valid values are 4, 5, and 6. • Log size can be changed after
• Default: Version 6 creation using fsadm.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-23
Using mkfs Command Options

You can set a variety of file system properties when you create a VERITAS file
system by adding VxFS-specific options to the mkfs command. For example:
• -o N
Reports the same structural information about the file system as if it had
actually been created, without actually creating the file system.
• -o largefiles|nolargefiles
Controls the largefiles flag for the file system. By default, the
largefiles flag is on, which enables the creation of files 2 gigabytes or
larger and the use of more than 8 million inodes in a file system. If you turn the
flag off, then files in the file system are limited to less than 2 GB in size.
After file system creation, you can use the -o largefiles option to the
fsadm command to enable or disable large file support. See the
fsadm_vxfs(1m) manual page for more information.
• -o version=n
The -o version=n option specifies a particular file system layout version
to be used when making the file system, where n is the VxFS file system
layout version number. Valid values are 4, 5, and 6. When no option is
specified, the default is file system layout Version 6.
– The Version 4 layout enables extents to be variable in size, enables support
for large files, and adds typed extents to the VxFS architecture. Version 4
supports files and file systems up to one terabyte in size.
– The Version 5 layout enables the creation of file system sizes up to 32

terabytes. Files can be a maximum of two terabytes. File systems larger
than 1 terabyte must be created on a VxVM volume and require an 8K
block size.
– The Version 6 layout enables the creation of files and file systems up to 8
exabytes (263) in size, and enables features such as multidevice support,
cross-platform data sharing, named data streams, and file change log.
Note: With VxFS 4.0 and later, VxFS file systems with layout versions 1 and 2
can no longer be created or mounted.
• -o bsize=n
Sets the block size for files on the file system, where n is the block size in
bytes for files on the file system. Block size represents the smallest amount of
disk space allocated to a file and must be a power of two selected from the
range 1024 to 8192. The default block size is 1024 bytes for file systems
smaller than one terabyte. The default block size is 8K for file systems greater
than 1 TB.
Overall file system performance can be improved or degraded by changing the
block size. In most cases, you do not need to specify a block size when creating
a file system. However, for large file systems with relatively few files, you may
want to experiment with larger block sizes.
Resizing the file system does not change the block size. Therefore, you
typically set a larger than usual block size if you expect to extend the file
system in the near future. Determining an appropriate block size involves a
trade-off between memory consumption and wasted disk space.
• -o logsize=n
Allocates the number of file system blocks for an activity logging area, where
n is the number of file system blocks. The activity logging area, called the
intent log, contains a record of changes to be made to the structure of the file
system.
When you create a file system with mkfs, VxFS uses a default log size (in the
range of 256K to 64 MB) that is based on the file system size. The larger the
file system, the larger the default intent log size. The log size can be changed
after the file system is created by using the log option of the fsadm
command. The minimum log size is the number of file system blocks that
make the log no less than 256K. The maximum log size is the number of file
system blocks that make the log no greater than 2 GB.
For more information on mkfs options, see the mkfs_vxfs(1m) manual page.

Maximum File/File System Sizes
Solaris
• File = 263 bytes Requirements:
Requirements:
• File System = 263 bytes •• VxFS
VxFS 4.0
4.0 file
file system
system (with
(with
version
version 66 file
file system
system layout)
layout)
Linux on
on aa VxVM
VxVM 4.04.0 volume
volume
• File = 16 TB
•• 64-bit
64-bit kernel
kernel
• File System = 2 TB
HP-UX
• File = 241 bytes
• File System = 2 TB
AIX
Note: On a 32-bit kernel, the
• File = 244 bytes maximum file size is 2 TB and
• File System = 247 bytes the maximum file system size
is 1 TB.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-24
Maximum File and File System Sizes

The maximum file and file system sizes can be obtained when using a VxFS 4.0
file system on a VxVM 4.0 volume and running on a 64-bit kernel.

Other VxFS Commands
Mount options:
# mount ... -r ... Mount as read only
# mount -v Display mounted file systems
# mount -p Display in file system table format
# mount -a Mount all in file system table
Unmount options:
# umount /mydata Unmount a file system
# umount -a Unmount all mounted file systems
# umount -o force /mydata Force an unmount
Display file system type:
# fstyp -v /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol
Display free space:
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-25
# df -F vxfs /mydata
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-25
Other mount Command Options

The following options are available with the VxFS-specific mount command:
• To mount the file system as read-only, add the -r option to the mount
command.
• To display a list of currently mounted file systems:
# mount -v
• To display a list of mounted file systems in the file system table format:
# mount -p
• To mount all file systems listed in the file system table file:
# mount -a
Unmounting a File System

To unmount a file system from the command line, you use the umount command:
• To unmount a currently mounted file system:
umount mount_point
• To unmount all file systems, except the ones required by the operating system:
umount -a
• To perform a forced unmount of a VxFS file system:
umount -o force mount_point

A forced unmount can be useful in situations such as high availability
environments, where a mounted file system could prevent timely failover. Any
active process with I/O operations pending on an unmounted file system
receives an I/O error.
Caution: This command can cause data loss.
Identifying File System Type

If you do not know the file system type of a particular file system, you can
determine the file system type by using the fstyp command. You can use the
fstyp command to describe either a mounted or unmounted file system.
To determine the type of file system on a disk partition, you use the following
syntax:
fstyp [-v] special
In the syntax, you specify the command followed by the name of the device. You
can use the -v option to specify verbose mode.
In VEA, right-click a file system in the object tree, and select Properties. The file
system type is displayed in the File System Properties window.
Identifying Free Space

To report the number of free disk blocks and inodes for a VxFS File System, you
use the df command. The df command displays the number of free blocks and
free inodes in a file system or directory by examining the counts kept in the
superblocks. Extents smaller than 8K may not be usable for all types of allocation,
so the df command does not count free blocks in extents below 8K when reporting
the total number of free blocks.
df [-F vxfs] [generic_options] [-o s]
[special|mount_point]
The -o s option is specific to VxFS. You can use this option to print the number
of free extents of each size.
In VEA, right-click a file system, and select Properties to display free space and
usage information.

Traditional Block-Based Allocation
Block-based allocation: Inode
Inode
n
• Allocates space to the next n+3
n+8
rotationally adjacent block n+13
n+20
• Allocates blocks at random n+21
from a free block map
• Becomes less effective
n n+3 n+8
as file system fills
• Requires extra disk I/O
to write metadata n+13 n+20 n+21
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-26
Comparing VxFS with Traditional File System Allocation Policies

Both VxFS and traditional UNIX file systems, such as UFS, use index tables to
store information and location information about blocks used for files. However,
VxFS allocation is extent-based, while other file systems are block-based.
• Block-based allocation: File systems that use block-based allocation assign
disk space to a file one block at a time.
• Extent-based allocation: File systems that use extent-based allocation assign
disk space in groups of contiguous blocks, called extents.
Example: UFS Block-Based Allocation

UFS allocates space for files one block at a time. When allocating space to a file,
UFS uses the next rotationally adjacent block until the file is stored.
UFS can perform at a level similar to an extent-based file system on sequential I/O
by using a technique called block clustering. In UFS, the maxcontig file system
tunable parameter can be used to cluster reads and writes together into groups of
multiple blocks. Through block clustering, writes are delayed so that several small
writes are processed as one large write. Sequential read requests can be processed
as one large read through read-ahead techniques.
Block-based allocation requires extra disk I/O to write file system block structure
information, or metadata. Metadata is always written synchronously to disk, which
can significantly slow overall file system performance. Over time, block-based
allocation produces a fragmented file system with random file access.

VxFS Extent-Based Allocation
Inode:
Inode: An index
index block
block n, 17 Address-length
Address-length
associated n+37, 6
associated with
with a file
file pair
pair consists
consists of:
of:
•• Starting block
block
•• Length of
of extent
n n+1 n+2 n+3 n+4 n+5 n+6 n+7 n+8
n+9 n+10 n+11 n+12 n+13 n+14 n+15 n+16 n+17 n+37 n+38 n+39
• Extent size is based on Extent: n+40 n+41 n+42

Extent: A
A set
set
the size of I/O write of contiguous
of contiguous
requests.
blocks
blocks
• When a file expands,
another extent is allocated.
• Additional extents are
progressively larger, reducing
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-27
the total number of extents
used by a file.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-27
VxFS Extent-Based Allocation

VERITAS File System selects a contiguous range of file system blocks, called an
extent, for inclusion in a file. The number of blocks in an extent varies and is based
on either the I/O pattern of the application, or explicit requests by the user or
programmer. Extent-based allocation enables larger I/O operations to be passed to
the underlying drivers.
VxFS attempts to allocate each file in one extent of blocks. If this is not possible,
VxFS attempts to allocate all extents for a file close to each other.
Each file is associated with an index block, called an inode. In an inode, an extent
is represented as an address-length pair, which identifies the starting block address
and the length of the extent in logical blocks. This enables the file system to
directly access any block of the file.
VxFS automatically selects an extent size by using a default allocation policy that
is based on the size of I/O write requests. The default allocation policy attempts to
balance two goals:
• Optimum I/O performance through large allocations
• Minimal file system fragmentation through allocation from space available in
the file system that best fits the data
The first extent allocated is large enough for the first write to the file. Typically, the
first extent is the smallest power of 2 that is larger than the size of the first write,
with a minimum extent allocation of 8K. Additional extents are progressively
larger, doubling the size of the file with each new extent. This method reduces the
total number of extents used by a single file.

There is no restriction on the size of an extent. When a file needs to expand to a
size larger than the extent size, the operating system allocates another extent of
disk blocks, and the inode is updated to include a pointer to the first block of the
new extent along with its size.
Benefits of Extent-Based Allocation

Benefits of extent-based allocation include:
• Good performance: By grouping multiple blocks into large writes, extent-
based allocation is faster than block-at-a-time operations.
Note: Random I/O does not benefit as much, because the I/O sizes are
generally small. To perform a random read of a file, the file system must look
up the block address for each desired block, which is similar to block-based
allocation.
• Less metadata overhead: Metadata is written when a file is created, but
subsequent writes within an extent do not require additional metadata writes.
Therefore, a file with only a few very large extents requires only a small
amount of metadata. Also, to read all blocks in an extent sequentially, the file
system must only read the starting block number and the length of the extent,
resulting in very little sequential read overhead. Extent-based allocation can
address files of any supported size up to 20 GB directly and efficiently. Also,
large files can be accessed with fewer pointers and less indirection than block-
based allocation.
Note: Improper extent sizes can reduce performance benefits, as follows:
• If the extent size is too small, the system loses some performance benefits and
acts more like an indexed allocation system.
• If the extents size is too large, the file system contains allocated disk space that
is not actually in use, which is wasted space.

The vxupgrade Command
For better performance, use file system layout
Version 6 for new file systems. To upgrade the layout
online, use vxupgrade:
vxupgrade [-n new_version] [-o noquota]
[-r rawdev] mount_point
To display the current file system layout version number:

# vxupgrade /mnt
Upgrading must be performed in stages. For example,

to upgrade the file system layout from Version 4 to
Version 6:
# vxupgrade -n 5 /mnt
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-28
Upgrading the VxFS File System Layout

The placement of file system structures and the organization of user data on disk is
referred to as the file system layout. The evolution of VERITAS File System has
included six different file system layout versions. Each version has become
increasingly complex to support greater scalability for large files and to minimize
file system fragmentation.
By default, any new file system that you create using VxFS 4.0 has file system
layout Version 6. You can upgrade an existing file system that has an earlier file
system layout to Version 6 by using the vxupgrade command. The upgrade does
not require an unmount and can be performed online.
Upgrading to disk layout Version 6 changes all inodes in the file system. After a
file system is upgraded to disk layout Version 6, it cannot be mounted with releases
prior to VxFS 4.0.
Performing Online Upgrades

Only a privileged user can upgrade the file system layout. Once you upgrade to a
later layout version, you cannot downgrade to an earlier layout version while the
file system is online.
You must perform the layout upgrade procedure in stages when using the
vxupgrade command. You cannot upgrade Version 4 file systems directly to
Version 6. For example, you must upgrade from Version 4 to Version 5, then from
Version 5 to Version 6.

The vxupgrade Command
To upgrade the VxFS file system layout, you use the vxpgrade command. The
vxupgrade command only operates on file systems mounted for read/write
access.
vxupgrade [-n new_version] [-o noquota] [-r rawdev]
mount_point
• The -n option specifies the new file system layout version number to which
you are upgrading. The new version can be 5 or 6.
• The -r rawdev option specifies the path of the raw device. You use this
option when vxupgrade cannot determine which raw device corresponds to
the mount point—for example, when /etc/mnttab is corrupted.
Displaying the File System Layout Version

You can use the vxupgrade command without the -n option to display the file
system layout version number of a file system.
To display the file system layout version number of a VERITAS file system
mounted at /mnt, you type:
# vxupgrade /mnt
/mnt: vxfs file system version 4 layout
In the output, the current file system layout version is displayed.
Using the vxupgrade Command

A VxFS file system with Version 4 file system layout is mounted at /mnt. To
upgrade this file system to Version 6 layout, you execute the following sequence of
commands:
If you attempt to upgrade directly from file system layout Version 4 to Version 6,
you receive an error.
How Does vxupgrade Work?

The upgrade process follows this sequence of events:
1 The vxupgrade command creates the lock file in /lost+found/.fsadm.
The lock file blocks any use of the fsadm utility on this file system during the
vxupgrade procedure.
2 The file system is frozen.
3 New file system structures are allocated and initialized.
4 The file system thaws, and the inodes are released.
5 The lock file in /lost+found/.fsadm is removed.
This process does not keep the file system frozen for more than a few seconds.

VxFS Structure
Allocation Unit 0 Structural

32K blocks Fileset
Allocation Unit 1 • Object Location Table file
32K blocks • Label file (Superblock)
• Device file
Allocation Unit 2 • Fileset Header file
32K blocks • Inode List file
• Inode Allocation Unit file
... • Log file (Intent Log)
• Extent AU State file
• Extent AU Summary file
Allocation Unit n • Free Extent Map file
32K blocks • Quotas files
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-29
VxFS Structural Components

The structure of a VERITAS file system is complex, and only the main structures
are presented in this topic. For more information about structural components, see
the VERITAS File System System Administrator’s Guide.
VxFS layout Versions 4, 5, and 6 include the following structural components:
• Allocation units
• Structural files
VxFS Allocation Units

With the VxFS layout, the entire file system space is divided into fixed-size
allocation units. The first allocation unit starts at block zero, and all allocation
units are a fixed length of 32K blocks. A file system with a block size of 1K has an
AU size of 32 MB, and for a block size of 8K, the AU size is 256 MB. An
exception is the last allocation unit in the file system, which occupies whatever
space remains at the end of the file system. An allocation unit is roughly equivalent
to the cylinder group in UFS.
VxFS Structural Files

All structural information about the file system is contained in files within a
structural fileset. With the exception of the superblock, which has a known
location, structural files are not stored in a fixed location. The object location table
(OLT) is used to keep track of locations of other structural files.

Earlier VxFS layout versions placed structural information in fixed locations
within allocation units. When structural information from the allocation units is
separated, expansion of the file system simply requires extending the appropriate
structural files. This design also removes extent size restrictions of layout Versions
1 and 2 by enabling extents to span allocation units. To display file system
structures, use the ncheck_vxfs (1m) command.
The structural files in the VxFS Version 4, 5, and 6 file system layouts are:
File Description
Object Location Contains the object location table (OLT), which is used to
Table File locate the other structural files
Label File Encapsulates the superblock and superblock replicas
The superblock contains fundamental information about the
file system, such as file system type, size, layout, and
available resources. The location of the primary superblock
is known. The label file can locate superblock copies if there
is structural damage to the file system.
Device File Records device information, such as volume length and
volume label, and contains pointers to other structural files
Fileset Header File Holds information on a per-fileset basis, which may include
the inode of the fileset’s inode list file, the maximum number
of inodes allowed, an indication of whether the file system
supports large files, and the inode number of the quotas file
if the fileset supports quotas
Inode List File Contains inode lists that are stored in inode list files
Increasing the number of inodes involves increasing the size
of the file after expanding the inode allocation unit file.
Inode Allocation Holds the free inode map, extended operations map, and a
Unit File summary of inode resources
Log File Maps the block used by the file system intent log (The intent
log is a record of current activity used to guarantee file
system integrity in the event of system failure.)
Extent Allocation Indicates the allocation state of each AU by defining whether
Unit State File each AU is free, allocated as a whole (no bitmaps allocated),
or expanded
Extent Allocation Contains the AU summary for each allocation unit, which
Unit Summary File contains the number of free extents of each size (The
summary for an extent is created only when an allocation
unit is expanded for use.)
Free Extent Map Contains the free extent maps for each of the allocation units
File
Quotas Files If the file system supports quotas, there is a quotas file that
is used to track the resources allocated to each user.

Fragmentation
Degree of fragmentation depends on:
• File system usage
• File system activity patterns
Initial
Initial Allocation
Allocation Fragmented
Fragmented Defragmented
Defragmented
Fragmentation types:
• Directory fragmentation
• Extent fragmentation
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-30
Controlling File System Fragmentation

In a VERITAS file system, when free resources are initially allocated to files, they
are aligned in the most efficient order possible to provide optimal performance. On
an active file system, the original order is lost over time as files are created,
removed, and resized. As space is allocated and deallocated from files, the
available free space becomes broken up into fragments. This means that space has
to be assigned to files in smaller and smaller extents. This process is known as
fragmentation. Fragmentation leads to degraded performance and availability. The
degree of fragmentation depends on file system usage and activity patterns.
Allocation units in VxFS are designed to help minimize and control fragmentation.
However, over time file systems eventually become fragmented.
VxFS provides online reporting and optimization utilities to enable you to monitor
and defragment a mounted file system. These utilities are accessible through the
file system administration command, fsadm. Using the fsadm command, you
can track and eliminate fragmentation without interrupting user access to the file
system.
Types of Fragmentation
VxFS addresses two types of fragmentation:
• Directory fragmentation
As files are created and removed, gaps are left in directory inodes. This is
known as directory fragmentation. Directory fragmentation causes directory
lookups to become slower.

• Extent fragmentation
As files are created and removed, the free extent map for an allocation unit
changes from having one large free area to having many smaller free areas.
Extent fragmentation occurs when files cannot be allocated in contiguous
chunks and more extents must be referenced to access a file. In a case of
extreme fragmentation, a file system may have free space, none of which can
be allocated.

Monitoring Fragmentation
To monitor directory fragmentation:
# fsadm -D /mnt1
Dirs Total Immed Immeds Dirs to Blocks
Searched Blocks Dirs to Add Reduce to Reduce
total 486 99 388 6 6 6
A
A high
high total
total in
in the
the Dirs
Dirs to
to Reduce
Reduce
column
column indicates
indicates fragmentation.
fragmentation.
To monitor extent fragmentation:

# fsadm -E /home
...
% Free blocks in extents smaller than 64 blks: 8.35

% Free blocks in extents smaller than 8 blks: 4.16
% blks allocated to extents 64 blks or larger: 45.81
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 Output
Output displays
displays percentages
percentages of
of free
free 5-31
and
and allocated
allocated blocks
blocks per
per extent
extent size.
size.
Running Fragmentation Reports

You can monitor fragmentation in a VERITAS file system by running reports that
describe fragmentation levels. You use the fsadm command to run reports on
both directory and extent fragmentation. The df command, which reports on file
system free space, also provides information useful in monitoring fragmentation.
• To obtain a directory fragmentation report, you use the -D option in the fsadm
command:
fsadm -D mount_point
In the syntax, you specify the fsadm -D command and the mount point that
identifies the file system.
• To obtain an extent fragmentation report, you use the -E option in the fsadm
command:
fsadm -E [-l largesize] mount_point
In the syntax, you specify the fsadm -E command followed by the mount
point that identifies the file system.
By default, the largesize value is 64 blocks. This means that the extent
fragmentation report considers extents of size 64 blocks or larger to be
immovable; that is, reallocating and consolidating these extents does not
improve performance. You can specify a different largesize value by using
the -l option.
• You can also use the df -F vxfs -o s command to print the number of free
extents of each size.

Interpreting Fragmentation Reports
In general, for optimum performance, the percentage of free space in a file system
should not fall below 10 percent. A file system with 10 percent or more free space
has less fragmentation and better extent allocation.
The simplest way to determine the degree of fragmentation is to view the
percentages in the extent fragmentation report and follow these guidelines:
• An unfragmented file system has one or more of the following characteristics:
– Less than five percent of free space in extents of less than 64 blocks in
length
– Less than one percent of free space in extents of less than eight blocks in
length
– More than five percent of the total file system size available as free extents
in lengths of 64 or more blocks
• A badly fragmented file system has one or more of the following
characteristics:
– More than 50 percent of free space used by small extents of less than 64
blocks in length
– A large number of small extents that are free (Generally, a fragmented file
system has greater than five percent of free space in extents of less than 8
blocks in length.)
– Less than five percent of the total file system size available is in large
extents, which are defined as free extents in lengths of 64 or more blocks.
Note: You should also consider file size when interpreting fragmentation
reports. If most of the files are less than 64 blocks in size, then this last
characteristic would not represent a fragmented file system.
Percentage Unfragmented Badly Fragmented

Percentage of free space in extents of < 5% > 50%
less than 64 blocks in length
Percentage of free space in extents of < 1% > 5%
less than 8 blocks in length
Percentage of total file system size in > 5% < 5%
extents of length 64 blocks or greater

Defragmenting a File System
fsadm [-d] [-D] [-e] [-E] [-t time][-p passes] mount_point
During extent reorganization: During directory reorganization:

• Small files are made contiguous. • Valid entries are moved to the
• Large files are built from large front.
extents. • Free space is clustered in the
• Small, recent files are moved center of the allocation unit.
near the inodes. • Directories are packed into inode
• Large, old files are moved to end area.
of the AU. • Directories are placed before
• Free space is clustered in the other files.
center. • Entries are sorted by access time.
Example: Example:
fsadm -e -E -s /mnt1 fsadm -d -D /mnt1
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-32
VxFS Defragmentation
You can use the online administration utility fsadm to defragment, or reorganize,
file system directories and extents. The fsadm utility defragments a file system
mounted for read/write access by:
• Removing unused space from directories
• Making all small files contiguous
• Consolidating free blocks for file system use
Only a privileged user can reorganize a file system.
Defragmenting Extents
Defragmenting extents, called extent reorganization, can improve performance:
fsadm -e mount_point
During extent reorganization:
• Small files (less than 64K) are made into one contiguous extent.
• Large files are built from large extents.
• Small and recently used (less than 14 days) files are moved near the inode area.
• Large or old files (more than 14 days since last access) are moved to the end of
the allocation unit.
• Free space is clustered in the center of the data area.
Extent reorganization is performed on all inodes in the file system. Each pass
through the inodes moves the file system closer to optimal organization.

Defragmenting Directories
Defragmenting directories, called directory reorganization, is not nearly as critical
as extent reorganization, but regular directory reorganization improves
performance:
fsadm -d mount_point
Directories are reorganized through compression and sorting. During directory
reorganization:
• Valid entries are moved to the front of the directory.
• Free space is clustered in the center of the allocation unit.
• Directories and symbolic links are packed into the inode immediate area.
• Directories and symbolic links are placed before other files.
• Entries are sorted by the time of last access.
Other fsadm Defragmentation Options

If you specify both -d and -e, directory reorganization is always completed
before extent reorganization.
If you use the -D and -E with the -d and -e options, fragmentation reports are
produced both before and after the reorganization.
You can use the -t and -p options to control the amount of work performed by
fsadm, either in a specified time or by a number of passes. By default, fsadm
runs five passes. If both -t and -p are specified, fsadm exits if either of the
terminating conditions is reached.
For more information on defragmentation options, see the fsadm_vxfs(1m)
manual page.
Duration of Defragmentation
The time it takes to complete extent reorganization varies, depending on the degree
of fragmentation, disk speed, and the number of inodes in the file system. In
general, extent reorganization takes approximately one minute for every 100
megabytes of disk space.

Scheduling Defragmentation
• The frequency of defragmentation depends on
usage, activity patterns, and importance of
performance.
• Run defragmentation on demand or as a cron job:
– Daily or weekly for frequently used file systems
– Monthly for infrequently used file systems
• Adjust defragmentation intervals based on reports.
• To defragment using VEA, highlight a file system
and select Actions—>Defrag File System.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-33
Scheduling Defragmentation
The best way to ensure that fragmentation does not become a problem is to
defragment the file system on a regular basis. The frequency of defragmentation
depends on file system usage, activity patterns, and the importance of file system
performance. In general, follow these guidelines:
• Schedule defragmentation during a time when the file system is relatively idle.
• For frequently used file systems, you should schedule defragmentation daily or
weekly.
• For infrequently used file systems, you should schedule defragmentation at
least monthly.
• Full file systems tend to fragment and are difficult to defragment. You should
consider expanding the file system.
To determine the defragmentation schedule that is best for your system, select
what you think is an appropriate interval for running extent reorganization and run
the fragmentation reports both before and after the reorganization. If the degree of
fragmentation is approaching the bad fragmentation figures, then the interval
between fsadm runs should be reduced. If the degree of fragmentation is low, then
the interval between fsadm runs can be increased.
You should schedule directory reorganization for file systems when the extent
reorganization is scheduled. The fsadm utility can run on demand and can be
scheduled regularly as a cron job.
The defragmentation process can take some time. You receive an alert when the
process is complete.

1 The
The intent
intent log
log records
Intent Log pending
pending file
file system
changes
changes before
before metadata
is
is changed.
changed.
Allocation Units Structural Intent Log
Files
Crash
Crash
Data Metadata
2 fsck
fsck
After
After the
the intent
intent log
log is written, other 3
file
file system updates areare made.
made. If
If the
the system
system
crashes,
crashes, the
the
intent
intent log
log is
is
replayed
replayed byby
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Disk VxFS
VxFS fsck.
fsck. 5-34
Role of the Intent Log

A file system may be left in an inconsistent state after a system failure. Recovery
of structural consistency requires examination of file system metadata
structures.VERITAS File System provides fast file system recovery after a system
failure by using a tracking feature called intent logging, or journaling. Intent
logging is the process by which intended changes to file system metadata are
written to a log before changes are made to the file system structure. Once the
intent log has been written, the other updates to the file system can be written in
any order. In the event of a system failure, the VxFS fsck utility replays the intent
log to nullify or complete file system operations that were active when the system
failed.
Traditionally, the length of time taken for recovery using fsck was proportional to
the size of the file system. For large disk configurations, running fsck is a time-
consuming process that checks, verifies, and corrects the entire file system.
The VxFS version of the fsck utility performs an intent log replay to recover a
file system without completing a full structural check of the entire file system. The
time required for log replay is proportional to the log size, not the file system size.
Therefore, the file system can be recovered and mounted seconds after a system
failure. Intent log recovery is not readily apparent to users or administrators, and
the intent log can be replayed multiple times with no adverse effects.
Note: Replaying the intent log may not completely recover the damaged file
system structure if the disk suffers a hardware failure. Such situations may require
a complete system check using the VxFS fsck utility.

Maintaining VxFS Consistency
To check file system consistency by using the intent log for
the VxFS on the volume datavol:
# fsck [fs_type] /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
To perform a full check without using the intent log:
# fsck [fs_type] -o full,nolog
/dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
To check two file systems in parallel using the intent log:
# fsck [fs_type] -o p /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0s4
/dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s5
To perform a file system check using the VEA GUI, highlight an

unmounted file system, and select Actions—>Check File System.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-35
Maintaining File System Consistency

You use the VxFS-specific version of the fsck command to check the consistency
of and repair a VxFS file system. The fsck utility replays the intent log by
default, instead of performing a full structural file system check, which is usually
sufficient to set the file system state to CLEAN. You can also use the fsck utility to
perform a full structural recovery in the unlikely event that the log is unusable.
The syntax for the fsck command is:
fsck [fs_type] [generic_options] [-y|-Y] [-n|-N]
[-o full,nolog] special
Generic fsck Options

For a complete list of generic options, see the fsck(1m) manual page. Some of
the generic options include:
Option Description
-m Checks, but does not repair, a file system before mounting
-n|N Assumes a response of no to all prompts by fsck (This option
does not replay the intent log and performs a full fsck.)
-V Echoes the expanded command line but does not execute the
command
-y|Y Assumes a response of yes to all prompts by fsck (If the file
system requires a full fsck after the log replay, then a full fsck is
performed.)

VxFS-Specific fsck Options
Option Description
-o full Perform a log replay and a full file system check. (By default,
VxFS performs an intent log replay only.)
-o nolog Do not perform log replay. You can use this option if the log area
becomes physically damaged.
-o p Note: This option is supported in Solaris 8, update 2 and later.
Allow parallel log replay for several VxFS file systems. Each
message from fsck is prefixed with the device name to identify
the device. This suboption does not perform a full file system
check in parallel; that is still done sequentially on each device,
even when multiple devices are specified.

Resizing the Intent Log
• Intent log size can be changed using fsadm:
fsadm [-F vxfs] -o log=size [,logdev=device]
mount_point
Specify a Place log on a
new log size. separate device.
• Default log size: Depends on file system size

• Maximum log size: 2 GB
• Minimum log size: 256K
• Larger log sizes may improve performance for intensive
synchronous writes, but may increase:
– Recovery time
– Memory requirements
– Log maintenance time
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-36
Resizing the Intent Log

The VxFS intent log is allocated when the file system is first created. The size of
the intent log is based on the size of the file system—the larger the file system, the
larger the intent log.
• Default log size: Based on file system size; in the range 256K to 64 MB
• Maximum log size: 2 GB (Version 6 layout); 16 MB (Versions 4 and 5 layout)
• Minimum log size: 256K
With the Version 6 disk layout, you can dynamically increase or decrease the intent
log size using the log option of the fsadm command. The allocation can be
directed to a specified intent logging device, as long as the device exists and
belongs to the same volume set as the file system.
Increasing the size of the intent log can improve system performance because it
reduces the number of times the log wraps around. However, increasing the intent
log size can lead to greater times required for a log replay if there is a system
failure.
Memory requirements for log maintenance increase as the log size increases. The
log size should never be more than 50 percent of the physical memory size of the
system.
A small log uses less space on the disk and leaves more room for file data. For
example, setting a log size smaller than the default log size may be appropriate for
a small floppy device. On small systems, you should ensure that the log size is not
greater than half the available swap space.

Logging mount Options
mount -F vxfs [-o specific_options] ...
Most logging delayed; great

All structural performance improvement,
changes logged but changes could be lost
-o log -o tmplog
Integrity Performance
-o blkclear -o delaylog
All storage initialized; Default; some logging
provides increased delayed; improves
security; slower than performance
standard file system
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-37
Controlling Logging Behavior

VERITAS File System provides VxFS-specific logging options that you can use
when mounting a file system to alter default logging behavior. By default, when
you mount a VERITAS file system, the -o delaylog option is used with the
mount command. With this option, some system calls return before the intent log
is written. This logging delay improves the performance of the system, and this
mode approximates traditional UNIX guarantees for correctness in case of system
failures. You can specify other mount options to change logging behavior to
further improve performance at the expense of reliability.
Selecting mount Options for Logging

You can add VxFS-specific mount options to the standard mount command using
-o in the syntax:
mount [-F vxfs] [generic_options] [-o specific_options]
special mount_point
Logging mount options include:
• -o log
• -o delaylog
• -o tmplog
• -o blkclear

-o blkclear
The blkclear option is used in increased data security environments. This
option guarantees that all storage is initialized before being allocated to files.
The increased integrity is provided by clearing extents on disk when they are
allocated within a file. Extending writes are not affected by this mode. A
blkclear mode file system should be approximately ten percent slower than a
standard mode VxFS file system, depending on the workload.
-o log
This option guarantees that all structural changes to the file system have been
logged on disk when the system call returns. If a system failure occurs, fsck
replays recent changes so that they are not lost.
-o delaylog
This is the default option that does not need to be specified. When you use this
option, some system calls return before the intent log is written, and the logging
delay improves the performance of the system. With this option, VxFS
synchronously maintains structural changes to the file system, and operations such
as file create, file delete, and extending file sizes are guaranteed to go into the log.
Other operations such as synchronous I/Os (for example, a database transaction
log) are also guaranteed to be stored on disk. For some workloads, such as file
servers, where the application does not request synchronous semantics, VxFS tries
to cache things when allowed to improve performance. If VxFS is not allowed to
cache things, for example, in database environments or NFS environments where
the database sets the caching policies, VxFS will strictly adhere to those policies.
However, when the application allows VxFS to choose the caching policy, VxFS
will attempt to do the best job from a performance and memory management
perspective.
-o tmplog
With the tmplog option, intent logging is almost always delayed. This option
greatly improves performance, but recent changes may disappear if the system
crashes. This mode is only recommended for temporary file systems.
On most UNIX systems, temporary file system directories (such as /tmp and
/usr/tmp) often hold files that do not need to be retained when the system
reboots. The underlying file system does not need to maintain a high degree of
structural integrity for these temporary directories.

Logging and Performance
To select the best logging mode for your environment:
• Understand the different logging options.
• Test sample loads and compare performance results.
• Consider the type of operations performed as well as the
workload.
• Performance of I/O to devices can improve if writes are
performed in a particular size, or in a multiple of that size.
To specify an I/O size to be used for logging, use the
mount option:
-o logiosize=size
• Place intent log on a separate volume and disk.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-38
Logging and VxFS Performance

In environments where data reliability and integrity is of the highest importance,
logging is essential. However, logging does incur performance overhead. If
maximum data reliability is less important than maximum performance, then you
can experiment with logging mount options. When selecting mount options for
logging to try to improve performance, follow these guidelines:
Test representative system loads.

The best way to select a logging mode is to test representative system loads against
the logging modes and compare the performance results.
Consider the type of operations and the workload.

The degree of performance improvement depends on the operations being
performed and the workload.
• File system structure-intensive loads (such as mkdir, create, and rename)
may show over 100 percent improvement.
• Read/write intensive loads should show less improvement.

Experiment with different logging modes.
• The delaylog and tmplog modes are capable of significantly improving
performance.
– With delaylog, the improvement over log mode is typically about 15 to
20 percent.
– With tmplog, the improvement is even higher.
• A nodatainlog mode file system should be approximately 50 percent
slower than a standard mode VxFS file system for synchronous writes. Other
operations are not affected.
Experiment with I/O Sizes for Logging

The performance of some storage devices, such as those using read-modify-write
features, improves if the writes are performed in a particular size, or in a multiple
of that size. When you mount a file system, you can specify the I/O size to be used
for logging by using the logiosize option to the mount command:
# mount -F vxfs -o logiosize=size special mount_point
You can specify a size (in bytes) of 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, or 8192. If you specify
an I/O size for logging, VxFS writes the intent log in at least that size, or in a
multiple of that size, to obtain maximum performance from devices that employ a
read-modify-write feature.
Note: A read-modify-write operation is a RAID-5 algorithm used for short write
operations, that is, write operations in which the number of data columns that must
be written to is less than half the total number of data columns.
Place the intent log on a separate volume.

By placing the intent log on a separate volume and disk, you eliminate the disk
seek time between the VxFS data and log areas on disk and increase the
performance of synchronous log writes.
Prior to VxFS 4.0, you could use VERITAS QuickLog to enhance VxFS
performance by exporting the file system log to a separate physical volume.
However, QuickLog does not operate on the Version 6 disk layout introduced in
the VxFS 4.0 release.
With VxFS 4.0 and later, the same task can be accomplished by using the
multivolume support feature of VxFS. With multivolume support, a single VxFS
file system can be mounted on multiple volumes combined into a volume set. You
can dedicate one of the volumes in the volume set to the intent log.

File Change Log
• Tracks changes to files and directories in a file system
for use by backup utilities, webcrawlers, search engines,
and replication programs.
• In contrast to the intent log, the FCL is not used for
recovery.
• Location: mount_point/lost+found/changelog
• To activate/deactivate an FCL for a mounted file system:
# fcladm on|off mount_point (Default is off.)
• To remove an FCL (FCL must be off first):
# fcladm rm mount_point
• To obtain current FCL state for a mounted file system:
# fcladm state mount_point
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-39
File Change Log

The VxFS File Change Log (FCL) is another type of log that tracks changes to
files and directories in a file system. Applications that can make use of the FCL are
those that are typically required to scan an entire file system to discover changes
since the last scan, such as backup utilities, webcrawlers, search engines, and
replication programs. The File Change Log records file system changes such as
creates, links, unlinks, renaming, data appended, data overwritten, data truncated,
extended attribute modifications, holes punched, and other file property updates.
Note: The FCL records only that data has changed, not the actual data. It is the
responsibility of the application to examine the files that have changed data to
determine which data has changed.
FCL stores changes in a sparse file in the file system namespace. The FCL log file
is always located in mount_point/lost+found/changelog.
Comparing the Intent Log and the File Change Log

The intent log is used to speed recovery of the file system after a crash. The FCL
has no such role. Instead, the FCL is used to improve the performance of
applications. For example: your IT department mandates that all systems undergo
a virus scan once a week. The virus scan takes some time and your system takes a
performance hit during the scan. To improve this situation, an FCL could be used
with the virus scanner. The virus scanner, if using and FCL, could read the log,
find all files on your system that are either new or that have been modified, and
scan only those files.

Summary
• Add a mirror to and remove a mirror from an existing volume
• Add a dirty region log or RAID-5 log to an existing volume by
using VEA and from the command line.
• Change the volume read policy for a mirrored volume to
specify which plex in a volume is used to satisfy read requests
• Allocate storage for a volume by specifying storage attributes
and ordered allocation.
• Add a file system to an existing volume and administer
VERITAS File System.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-40
Summary
This lesson described how to configure volumes in VxVM. This lesson covered
how to add and remove a mirror, how to add a log, and how to add a file system to
a volume. In addition, methods for allocating storage for volumes and changing
the volume read policy were also covered.
Next Steps
In the next lesson, you learn how to reconfigure volumes while online.
Volume Manager.
Administrator

Lab 5
Lab 5: Configuring Volumes
• This lab provides additional practice in configuring
volume attributes.
• In this lab, you add mirrors, logs, and file systems
to existing volumes, change the volume read
policy, and specify ordered allocation of storage to
volumes.
• You also practice basic file system administration.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 5-41

To Begin This Lab


Lesson 6
Overview
Recovery Essentials
Configuring Volumes
Creating Volumes
Virtual Objects
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-2
Introduction
Overview
This lesson describes how to perform and monitor volume maintenance tasks
using VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM). This lesson describes how to perform
online administration tasks, such as resizing a volume and changing the layout of a
volume, and how to analyze volume configurations with the Storage Expert utility.
Importance
With VxVM, you can perform volume maintenance, such as changing the size and
layout of a volume, without disrupting applications or file systems that are using
the volume. A volume layout can be resized, reconfigured, monitored, and
controlled while the volume is online and accessible to users. The Storage Expert
utility enables you to analyze volume configurations based on VxVM best
practices.

Objectives
• Resize a volume, file system, or LUN while the
volume remains online.
• Change the volume layout while the volume remains
online.
• Manage volume maintenance tasks with VEA and
• Analyze volume configurations by using the Storage
Expert utility.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-3
Outline of Topics
• Resizing a Volume
• Changing the Volume Layout
• Managing Volume Tasks
• Analyzing Volume Configurations with Storage Expert
Lesson 6 Reconfiguring Volumes Online 6–3

Resizing a Volume
To resize a volume, you can:
• Specify a desired new volume size.
• Add to or subtract from the current volume size.
Expanding a volume provides more space to users:

• Disk space must be available.
• VxVM assigns disk space, or you can specify disks.
Shrinking a volume enables you to use space
elsewhere. VxVM returns space to the free
space pool.
If a volume is resized, its file system must also be resized.
• VxFS can be expanded or reduced while mounted.
• UFS can be expanded, but not reduced.
• Ensure that the data manager application supports resizing.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-4
Resizing a Volume
Resizing a Volume
If users require more space on a volume, you can increase the size of the volume.
If a volume contains unused space that you need to use elsewhere, you can shrink
the volume. To resize a volume, you can specify either:
• The desired new size of the volume, or
• The amount of space to add to or subtract from the current volume size
When the volume size is reduced, the resulting extra space is returned to the free
space pool.
When the volume size is increased, sufficient disk space must be available in the
disk group. When increasing the size of a volume, VxVM assigns the necessary
new space from available disks. By default, VxVM uses space from any disk in the
disk group, unless you define specific disks.
Resizing a Volume with a File System

Volumes and file systems are separate virtual objects. When a volume is resized,
the size of the raw volume is changed. If a file system exists that uses the volume,
the file system must also be resized.
If a volume is expanded, its associated file system must also be expanded to be
able to use the increased storage space. A VERITAS File System (VxFS) can be
enlarged or reduced while mounted.

When you resize a volume using VEA or the vxresize command, the file system
is also resized.
Resizing Volumes with Other Types of Data

For volumes containing data other than file systems, such as raw database data,
you must ensure that the data manager application can support the resizing of the
data device with which it has been configured.

Resizing a Volume: Methods
Method What Is Resized?

File
VEA Both volume and file system system
must be
vxresize Both volume and file system mounted
vxassist Volume only
fsadm File system only
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-5
Resizing a Volume and File System: Methods

To resize a volume from the command line, you can use either the vxassist
command or the vxresize command. Both commands can expand or reduce a
volume to a specific size or by a specified amount of space, with one significant
difference:
• vxresize automatically resizes a volume’s file system.
• vxassist does not resize a volume’s file system.
When using vxassist, you must resize the file system separately by using the
fsadm command.
When you expand a volume, both commands automatically locate available disk
space unless you designate specific disks to use. When you shrink a volume,
unused space is returned to the free space pool of the disk group.
When you resize a volume, you can specify the length of a new volume in sectors,
kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes. The unit of measure is added as a suffix to the
length (s, k, m, or g). If no unit is specified, the default unit is sectors.
Notes:
• Do not shrink a volume below the size of the file system or database using the
volume. If you have a VxFS file system, you can shrink the file system and
then shrink the volume. If you do not shrink the file system first, you risk
unrecoverable data loss. Shrinking a volume can always be safely performed
on empty volumes.
• You cannot grow or shrink any volume associated with an encapsulated boot
disk. These volumes map to a physical underlying partition on the disk and

must be contiguous. If you attempt to grow these volumes, the system could
become unbootable if you need to revert back to slices to boot. Growing these
volumes can also prevent a successful OS upgrade, and you might have to do a
fresh install. Additionally, the upgrade_start script might fail.

Resizing a Volume: VEA
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VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-6
Resizing a Volume and File System: VEA
Select: The volume to be resized

Navigation path: Actions—>Resize Volume
Input: Add by: To increase the volume size by a specific amount of
space, input how much space should be added to the volume.
Subtract by: To decrease the volume size by a specific amount of
space, input how much space should be removed.
New volume size: To specify a new volume size, input the size.
Max Size: To determine the largest possible size, click Max Size.
Select disks for use by this volume: You can select specific
disks to use and specify mirroring and striping options.
Force: You can force the resize if the size is being reduced and
the volume is active.
Notes: When you resize a volume, if a VERITAS file system (VxFS) is mounted
on the volume, the file system is also resized. The file system is not resized if it is
unmounted.

Resizing a Volume: vxresize
vxresize [-b] fs_type -g diskgroup volume
[+|-]new_length
Original volume size: 10 MB
1 # vxresize -g mydg myvol 50m
2 # vxresize -g mydg myvol +10m
3 # vxresize -g mydg myvol 40m
4 # vxresize -g mydg myvol -10m
10 MB 50 MB 60 MB 40 MB 30 MB
Original 1 2 3 4
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-7
Resizing a Volume and File System: vxresize

vxresize [-b] fstype -g diskgroup volume new_length
The new_length operand can begin with a plus sign (+) to indicate that the new
length is added to the current volume length. A minus sign (-) indicates that the
new length is subtracted from the current volume length. The -b option runs the
process in the background.
The ability to expand or shrink a file system depends on the file system type and
whether the file system is mounted or unmounted.
File System Type Mounted FS Unmounted FS

VxFS Expand and shrink Not allowed
UFS Expand only Expand only
Example: The size of the volume myvol is 10 MB. To extend myvol to 50 MB:
# vxresize -g mydg myvol 50m
To extend myvol by an additional 10 MB:
# vxresize -g mydg myvol +10m
To shrink myvol back to a length of 40 MB:
# vxresize -g mydg myvol 40m
To shrink myvol by an additional 10 MB:
# vxresize -g mydg myvol -10m

Resizing a Volume: vxassist
vxassist -g diskgroup {growto|growby|shrinkto|
shrinkby} volume size
Original volume size: 20 MB
1 # vxassist -g datadg growto datavol 40m
2 # vxassist -g datadg growby datavol 10m
3 # vxassist -g datadg shrinkto datavol 30m
4 # vxassist -g datadg shrinkby datavol 10m
20 MB 40 MB 50 MB 30 MB 20 MB
Original 1 2 3 4
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-8
Resizing a Volume Only: vxassist

vxassist -g diskgroup {growto|growby|shrinkto|shrinkby}
volume_name size
• growto Increases volume to specified length
• growby Increases volume by specified amount
• shrinkto Reduces volume to specified length
• shrinkby Reduces volume by specified amount
Example: Resizing a Volume with vxassist

The size of the volume datavol is 20 MB. To extend datavol to 40 MB:
# vxassist -g datadg growto datavol 40m
To extend datavol by an additional 10 MB:
# vxassist -g datadg growby datavol 10m
To shrink datavol back to a length of 30 MB:
# vxassist -g datadg shrinkto datavol 30m
To shrink datavol by an additional 10 MB:
# vxassist -g datadg shrinkby datavol 10m
The size of the volume is returned to 20 MB.

Resizing a File System: fsadm
fsadm [fs_type] [-b newsize] [-r rawdev]
mount_point
Example: Expand the file system /datavol from 512,000
sectors to 1,024,000 sectors.
1. Verify the free space on the underlying device:
# vxdg -g datadg free
2. Expand the volume using vxassist:
# vxassist -g datadg growto myvol 1024000
3. Expand the file system using fsadm:
# fsadm -F vxfs -b 1024000 -r
/dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol /datavol
4. Verify that the file system was resized by using df:
# df -k /datavol
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-9
Resizing a File System Only: fsadm

You may need to resize a file system to accommodate a change in use—for
example, when there is an increased need for space in the file system. You may
also need to resize a file system as part of a general reorganization of disk
usage—for example, when a large file system is subdivided into several smaller
file systems. You can resize a VxFS file system while the file system remains
mounted by using the fsadm command.
fsadm [fs_type] [-b newsize] [-r rawdev] mount_point
Using fsadm to resize a file system does not automatically resize the underlying
volume. When you expand a file system, the underlying device must be large
enough to contain the new larger file system.
When you shrink a file system, unused space is released at the end of the
underlying device, which can be a VxVM volume or disk partition. You can then
resize the device, but be careful not to make the device smaller than the size of the
file system.
Notes: When resizing a file system, avoid the following common errors:
• Resizing a file system that is very busy: Although resizing a file system
requires that the file system be mounted, the file system “freezes” when the
actual resizing occurs. Freezing temporarily prevents new access to the file
system, but waits for pending I/Os to complete. You should attempt to resize a
file system during a time when the file system is under less of a load.
• Resizing a file system that has a mounted snapshot file system: If a
snapshot file system is mounted on the file system being resized, the resize
fails. File systems that have snapshots mounted on them cannot be resized.

• Resizing a corrupt file system: A file system that has experienced structural
damage and is marked for full fsck cannot be resized. If the resize fails due to
structural damage, you must unmount the file system, perform a fsck,
remount the file system, and try the resize again.
• Resizing a file system that is nearly 100 percent full: The resize operation
needs space to expand a file system, and if a file system is nearly 100 percent
full, an error may be returned. When increasing the size of a file system, the
size of the internal structural files must first be extended. If the file system is
full or almost full, and the size that you have specified is not possible, then
VxFS automatically attempts to increase by a smaller amount. If expansion is
still not possible, try to defragment the file system or move some files
temporarily to another file system.

Resizing a Dynamic LUN
• If you resize a LUN in the hardware, you should resize the
VxVM disk corresponding to that LUN.
• Disk headers and other VxVM structures are updated to
reflect the new size.
• Intended for devices that are part of an imported disk group.
VEA:
• Select the disk that you want to expand.
• Select Actions—>Resize Disk.
CLI:
vxdisk [-f] -g diskgroup resize
{accessname|medianame} length=attribute
Example:
vxdisk -g datadg resize datadg01 length=8.5GB
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-10
Resizing a Dynamic LUN

When you resize a LUN in the hardware, you can should resize the VxVM disk
corresponding to that LUN. You can use vxdisk resize to update disk headers
and other VxVM structures to match a new LUN size. This command does not
resize the underlying LUN itself.
Resizing a LUN: VEA
Select: The disk to be resized

Navigation path: Actions—>Resize Disk
Input: New disk size: Specify a new disk size. If the new size is smaller
than the current disk size, then this is a shrink request and the
subdisks that fall outside the new disk size need to be preserved.
Select a Disk to Resize: Select the disk to be resized (from the
selected disk group)
Force: Before reducing the size of a device, volumes on the
device should first be reduced in size or moved off the device. By
default, the resize fails if any subdisks would be disabled.
Selecting the Force checkbox overrides this behavior.
Resizing a LUN: CLI

vxdisk [-f] [-g diskgroup] resize {accessname|medianame}
length=attribute

Changing the Volume Layout
Online relayout: Change the volume layout or
layout characteristics while the volume is online.
volume volume
Examples:
• Relayout concatenated to mirror-concat to achieve redundancy.
• Relayout RAID-5 to mirrored for better write performance.
• Relayout mirrored to RAID-5 to save space.
• Change stripe unit size or add columns to achieve desired
performance.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-11

What Is Online Relayout?
You may need to change the volume layout in order to change the redundancy or
performance characteristics of an existing volume.
The online relayout feature of VxVM enables you to change from one volume
layout to another by invoking a single command. You can also modify the
performance characteristics of a particular layout to reflect changes in your
application environment. While relayout is in progress, data on the volume can be
accessed without interruption.
Online relayout eliminates the need for creating a new volume in order to obtain a
different volume layout.

Supported Transformations
Use online relayout to change the volume or plex
layout to or from:
• Concatenated
• Striped
• RAID-5
• Striped mirrored
• Concatenated mirrored
Also use online relayout to change the number of
columns or stripe unit size for a RAID-5 or striped plex.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-12
Supported Transformations
By using online relayout, you can change the layout of an entire volume or a
specific plex. VxVM currently supports the transformations listed in the slide.
Note: Online relayout should be used only with volumes created with the
vxassist command or through the VEA interface.

How Does Relayout Work?
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• If volume size is 1 GB or greater, the temp area = 1 GB.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-13
The larger the temporary space, the faster the relayout, because
larger pieces can be copied at one time.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-13
How Does Online Relayout Work?

The transformation of data from one layout to another involves rearranging the
data in the existing layout into the new layout. Data is removed from the source
subvolume in portions and copied into a temporary subvolume, or scratch pad.
The temporary storage space is taken from the free space in the disk group. Data
redundancy is maintained by mirroring any temporary space used.
The area in the source subvolume is then transformed to the new layout, and data
saved in the temporary subvolume is written back to the new layout. This
operation is repeated until all the storage and data in the source subvolume have
been transformed to the new layout. Read/write access to data is not interrupted
during the transformation.
If all of the plexes in the volume have identical layouts, VxVM changes all plexes
to the new layout. If the volume contains plexes with different layouts, you must
specify a target plex. VxVM changes the layout of the target plex and does not
change the other plexes in the volume.
File systems mounted on the volumes do not need to be unmounted to perform
online relayout, as long as online resizing operations can be performed on the file
system.
If the system fails during a transformation, data is not corrupted. The
transformation continues after the system is restored and read/write access is
maintained.

Temporary Storage Space
VxVM determines the size of the temporary storage area, or you can specify a size
through VEA or vxassist. Default sizes are as follows:
• If the original volume size is less than 50 MB, the temporary storage area is the
same size as the volume.
• If the original volume is larger than 50 MB, but smaller than 1 GB, the
temporary storage area is 50 MB.
• If the original volume is larger than 1 GB, the temporary storage area is 1 GB.
Specifying a larger temporary space size speeds up the layout change process,
because larger pieces of data are copied at a time. If the specified temporary space
size is too small, VxVM uses a larger size.

Online Relayout Notes
• You can reverse online relayout at any time.
• Some layout transformations can cause a slight
increase or decrease in the the volume length due
to subdisk alignment policies. If volume length
increases during relayout, VxVM resizes the file
system using vxresize.
• Relayout does not change log plexes.
• You cannot:
– Create a snapshot during relayout.
– Change the number of mirrors during relayout.
– Perform multiple relayouts at the same time.
– Perform relayout on a volume with a sparse plex.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-14
Notes on Online Relayout

• Reversing online relayout: You can reverse the online relayout process at any
time, but the data may not be returned to the exact previous storage location.
Any existing transformation in the volume should be stopped before
performing a reversal.
• Volume length: Some layout transformations can cause a slight increase or
decrease in the volume length due to subdisk alignment policies. If the volume
length changes during online relayout, VxVM uses vxresize to shrink or
grow a file system mounted on the volume.
• Log plexes: When you change the layout of a volume, the log plexes are not
changed. Before you change the layout of a mirrored volume with a log, the
log plexes should be removed and then re-created after the relayout.
• Volume snapshots: You cannot create a snapshot of a volume when there is an
online relayout operation running on the volume.
• Number of mirrors: During a transformation, you cannot change the number
of mirrors in a volume.
• Multiple relayouts: A volume cannot undergo multiple relayouts at the same
time.
• Sparse plexes: Online relayout cannot be used to change the layout of a
volume with a sparse plex.

Changing the Layout: VEA
Highlight
Highlightaavolume,
volume,and
andselect
selectActions—>Change
Actions—>ChangeLayout.
Layout.
Select
Selectaanew
new
volume
volumelayout.
layout.
Set
Setrelayout
relayoutoptions.
options.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-15
Changing the Volume Layout: VEA
Select: The volume to be changed to a different layout

Navigation path: Actions—>Change Layout
Input: Layout: Select the new volume layout and specify layout details
as necessary.
Options:
To retain the original volume size when the volume layout
changes, mark the “Retain volume size at completion” check box.
To specify the size of the pieces of data that are copied to
temporary space during the volume relayout, type a size in the
“Temp space size” field.
To specify additional disk space to be used for the new volume
layout (if needed), specify a disk in the Disk(s) field or browse to
select a disk.
To specify the temporary disk space to be used during the volume
layout change, specify a disk in the “Temp disk(s)” field or
browse to select a disk.
If the volume contains plexes with different layouts, specify the
plex to be changed to the new layout in the “Target plex” field.

Changing the Layout: VEA
Relayout
RelayoutStatus
StatusMonitor
MonitorWindow
Window
Status
Status
Information
Information
Relayout
Relayout
controls
controls
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-16
When you launch a relayout operation, the Relayout Status Monitor window is
displayed. This window provides information and options regarding the progress
of the relayout operation.
• Volume Name: The name of the volume that is undergoing relayout
• Initial Layout: The original layout of the volume
• Desired Layout: The new layout for the volume
• Status: The status of the relayout task
• % Complete: The progress of the relayout task
The Relayout Status Monitor window also contains options that enable you to
control the relayout process:
• Pause: To temporarily stop the relayout operation, click Pause.
• Abort: To cancel the relayout operation, click Abort.
• Continue: To resume a paused or aborted operation, click Continue.
• Reverse: To undo the layout changes and return the volume to its original
layout, click Reverse.

Changing the Layout: CLI
vxassist relayout
• Used for nonlayered relayout operations
• Used for changing layout characteristics, such as stripe width
and number of columns
vxassist convert
• Used to change RAID-5 to a stripe-mirror.
• Changes nonlayered volumes to layered volumes, and vice
versa
Note: vxassist relayout cannot create a nonlayered mirrored
volume in a single step. The command always creates a layered
mirrored volume even if you specify a non-layered mirrored
layout. Use vxassist convert to convert the resulting layered
volume into a nonlayered volume.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-17
Changing the Volume Layout: CLI

From the command line, online relayout is initiated using the vxassist
command.
• The vxassist relayout command is used for all nonlayered
transformations, including changing the layout of a plex, stripe size, and/or
number of columns.
• The vxassist convert command is used to change the resilience level of a
volume; that is, to convert a volume from nonlayered to layered, or vice versa.
Use this option only when layered volumes are involved in the transformation.
The vxassist relayout operation involves the copying of data at the disk
level in order to change the structure of the volume. The vxassist convert
operation does not copy data; it only changes the way the data is referenced.
Note: vxassist relayout cannot create a nonlayered mirrored volume in a
single step. The command always creates a layered mirrored volume even if you
specify a non-layered mirrored layout, such as mirror-stripe or mirror-concat. Use
the vxassist convert command to convert the resulting layered mirrored
volume into a nonlayered mirrored volume.

vxassist relayout
vxassist -g diskgroup relayout volume|plex
layout=layout ncol=[+|-]ncol stripeunit=size
To change to a striped layout:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol layout=stripe ncol=2
To add a column to striped volume datavol:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol ncol=+1
To remove a column from datavol:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol ncol=-1
To change stripe unit size and number of columns:
# vxassist –g datadg relayout datavol stripeunit=32k ncol=5
To change mirrored layouts to RAID-5, specify the plex to be
converted (instead of the volume):
# vxassist -g datadg relayout datavol01-01 layout=raid5
stripeunit=32k ncol=3
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-18
The vxassist relayout Command

The vxassist relayout command performs most online relayout operations:
vxassist -g diskgroup relayout volume_name|plex_name
layout=layout ncol=[+|-]ncol stripeunit=size
[tmpsize=tmpsize]
Notes:
• When changing to a striped layout, you should always specify the number of
columns, or the operation may fail with the following error:
vxvm:vxassist: ERROR: Cannot allocate space for 51200
block volume
vxvm:vxassist: ERROR: Relayout operation aborted.
• Any layout can be changed to RAID-5 if sufficient disk space and disks exist in
the disk group. If the ncol and stripeunit options are not specified, the
default characteristics are used.
When using vxassist to change the layout of a volume to RAID-5, VxVM
may place the RAID-5 log on the same disk as a column, for example, when
there is no other free space available. To place the log on a different disk, you
can remove the log and then add the log to the location of your choice.
• If you convert a mirrored volume to RAID-5, you must specify which plex is to
be converted. All other plexes are removed when the conversion has finished,
releasing their space for other purposes. If you convert a mirrored volume to a
layout other than RAID-5, the unconverted plexes are not removed.

vxassist convert
Use vxassist convert to convert:
• mirror-stripe to stripe-mirror
• stripe-mirror to mirror-stripe
• mirror-concat to concat-mirror
• concat-mirror to mirror-concat
To convert the striped volume datavol to a layered

stripe-mirror layout:
# vxassist –g datadg convert datavol
layout=stripe-mirror
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-19
The vxassist convert Command

To change the resilience level of a volume; that is, to convert a nonlayered volume
to a layered volume, or vice versa, you use the vxassist convert option.
Available conversion operations include:
• mirror-stripe to stripe-mirror
• stripe-mirror to mirror-stripe
• mirror-concat to concat-mirror
• concat-mirror to mirror-concat
The syntax for vxassist convert is:
vxassist -g diskgroup convert volume_name|plex_name
layout=layout

Managing Volume Tasks: VEA
Relayout Status Monitor Window
• Displays automatically when you start relayout
• Enables you to view progress, pause, abort, continue, or reverse the
relayout task
• Is also accessible from the Volume Properties window
Task History Window
• Displays information about the current-session tasks
• Can be accessed by clicking the Tasks tab at the bottom of the main
window
• Enables you to right-click a task to abort, pause, resume, or throttle a
task in progress
Command Log File
• Contains history of current- and previous-session tasks
• Is located in /var/adm/vx/veacmdlog
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-20
Managing Volume Tasks

Managing Volume Tasks: VEA
Relayout Status Monitor Window

Through the Relayout Status Monitor window, you can view the progress of the
relayout task and also pause, abort, continue, or reverse the relayout task. You can
also access the Relayout Status Monitor through the Volume Properties window.
Task History Window

The Task History window displays a list of tasks performed in the current session
and includes the name of the operation performed, target object, host machine,
start time, status, and progress. To display the Task History window, click the
Tasks tab at the bottom of the main window.
When you right-click a task in the list and select Properties, the Task Properties
window is displayed. In this window, you can view the underlying commands
executed to perform the task.
Command Log File

The command log file, located in /var/adm/vx/veacmdlog, contains a
history of VEA tasks performed in the current session and in previous sessions.
The file contains task descriptions and properties, such as date, command, output,
and exit code. All sessions since the initial VEA session are recorded. The log file
is not self-limiting and should therefore be initialized periodically to prevent
excessive use of disk space.

Managing Volume Tasks: CLI
What is a task?
• A task is a long-term operation, such as online
relayout, that is in progress on the system.
• Task ID is a unique number assigned to a single task.
• Task tag is a string assigned to a task or tasks by
the administrator to simplify task management. For most
utilities, you specify a task tag using:
-t tag
Use the vxtask command to:
• Display task information.
• Pause, continue, and abort tasks.
• Modify the progress rate of a task.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-21
Managing Volume Tasks: CLI

To monitor and control volume maintenance operations from the command line,
you use the vxtask and vxrelayout commands.

vxtask list
To display information about tasks:
vxtask [-ahlpr] list [task_id|task_tag]
VxVM-assigned
VxVM-assigned Percentage
Percentage of
of Starting,
Starting, ending,
ending, and
and
Task
Task ID
ID task
task complete
complete current
current offset
offset
## vxtask
vxtask list
list
TASKID
TASKID PTID
PTID TYPE/STATE
TYPE/STATEPCT
PCT PROGRESS
PROGRESS
198
198 RELAYOUT/R
RELAYOUT/R58.48%
58.48% 0/20480/11976
0/20480/11976 RELAYOUT
RELAYOUT myvol
myvol
Parent
Parent ID
ID Description
Description State
State of
of Affected
Affected
of
of task
task Running
Running (R),
(R), VxVM
VxVM object
object
Paused
Paused (P),
(P), or
or
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Aborting
Aborting (A)
(A) 6-22
Displaying Task Information with vxtask

To display information about tasks, such as relayout or resynchronization
processes, you use the vxtask list command. Without any options, vxtask
list prints a one-line summary for each task running on the system. Information
in the output includes:
• TASKID The task identifier assigned to the task by VxVM
• PTID The ID of the parent task, if any
If the task must be completed before a higher-level task is
completed, the higher-level task is called the parent task.
• TYPE/STATE The task type and state
The type is a description of the work being performed, such
as RELAYOUT. The state is a single letter representing one
of three states:
–R: Running
–P: Paused
–A: Aborting
• PCT The percentage of the operation that has been completed
to this point
• PROGRESS The starting, ending, and current offset for the operation,
separated by slashes, a description of the task, and names
of objects that are affected

vxtask list Options
To display task information in long format:
# vxtask -l list
To display a hierarchical listing of parent/child tasks:
# vxtask -h list
To limit output to paused tasks:
# vxtask -p list
To limit output to running tasks:
# vxtask -r list
To limit output to aborted tasks:
# vxtask -a list
To limit output to tasks with a specific task ID or task tag:
# vxtask list convertop1
Task
Tasktag
tag
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-23
Options for vxtask list

Several options for vxtask list are illustrated in the slide.

vxtask monitor
To provide a continuously updated list of tasks running
on the system, use vxtask monitor:
vxtask [-c count] [-ln] [-t time]
[-w interval] monitor [task_id|task_tag]
• -l: Displays task information in long format
• -n: Displays information for tasks that are newly registered while the
program is running
• -c count: Prints count sets of task information and then exits
• -t time: Exits program after time seconds
• -w interval: Prints “waiting ...” after interval seconds with no
activity
When a task is completed, the STATE is displayed
as EXITED.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-24
Monitoring a Task with vxtask

To provide a continuously updated listing of tasks running on the system, you use
the vxtask monitor command. (The vxtask list output represents a point
in time and is not continuously updated.) With vxtask monitor, you can track
the progress of a task on an ongoing basis. By default, vxtask monitor prints a
one-line summary for each task running on the system.
# vxtask monitor
TASKID PTID TYPE/STATE PCT PROGRESS
198 RELAYOUT/R 58.48% 0/20480/11976 RELAYOUT datavol
The output is the same as for vxtask list, but changes as information about the
task changes.
When a task is completed, the STATE is displayed as EXITED.

vxtask abort|pause|resume
To abort, pause, or resume a task:
vxtask abort|pause|resume task_id|task_tag
To pause the task with the task ID 198:

# vxtask pause 198
To resume the task with the task ID 198:

# vxtask resume 198
To abort the task with the task tag convertop1:

# vxtask abort convertop1
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-25
Controlling Tasks with vxtask

You can abort, pause, or resume a task by using the vxtask command. You
specify the task ID or task tag to identify the task.
Using pause, abort, and resume

For example, you can pause a task when the system is under heavy contention
between the sequential I/O of the synchronization process and the applications
trying to access the volume. The pause option allows for an indefinite amount of
time for an application to complete before using the resume option to continue
the process.
The abort option is often used when reversing a process. For example, if you
start a process and then decide that you do not want to continue, you reverse the
process. When the process returns to 0 percent, you use abort to stop the task.
Note: Once you abort or pause a relayout task, you must at some point either
resume or reverse it.

vxrelayout
The vxrelayout command can also be used to
display the status of, reverse, or start a relayout
operation:
vxrelayout –g diskgroup status|reverse|start
volume
Note: You cannot stop a relayout with vxrelayout. Only the
vxtask command can stop a relayout operation.
## vxrelayout
vxrelayout -g
-g datadg
datadg status
status datavol
datavol
STRIPED, Source
Source layout
layout
STRIPED, columns=5,
columns=5, stwidth=128
stwidth=128 -->
-->
STRIPED, columns=6, stwidth=128
STRIPED, columns=6, stwidth=128 Destination
Destination layout
layout
Relayout
Relayout running,
running, 58.48%
58.48% completed.
completed.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 Task
Task status
status Percentage
Percentage of
of task
task 6-26
completed
completed
Controlling Relayout Tasks with vxrelayout

The vxrelayout command can also be used to display the status of relayout
operations and to control relayout tasks.
• The status option displays the status of an ongoing or discontinued layout
conversion.
• The reverse option reverses a discontinued layout conversion. Before using
this option, the relayout operation must be stopped using vxtask abort.
• The start option continues a discontinued layout conversion. Before using
this option, the relayout operation must have been stopped using vxtask
abort.
For example, to display information about the relayout operation being performed
on the volume datavol, which exists in the datadg disk group:
# vxrelayout -g datadg status datavol
STRIPED, columns=5, stwidth=128 --> STRIPED, columns=6,
stwidth=128
Relayout running, 58.48% completed.
The output displays the characteristics of both the source and destination layouts
(including the layout type, number of columns, and stripe width), the status of the
operation, and the percentage completed.
In the example, the output indicates that an increase from five to six columns for a
striped volume is more than halfway completed.

Controlling Task Progress
To control the I/O rate for mirror copy operations
from the command line, use vxrelayout options:
-o slow=iodelay
• Use this option to reduce the system performance impact
of copy operations by setting a number of milliseconds to
delay copy operations
• Process runs faster without this option.
-o iosize=size
• Use this option to perform copy operations in regions with
the length specified by size.
• Specifying a larger number typically causes the operation
to complete sooner, but with greater impact on other
processes using the volume.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-27
Controlling the Task Progress Rate

VxVM provides additional options that you can use with the vxrelayout
command to pass usage-type-specific options to an operation. These options can
be used to control the I/O rate for mirror copy operations by speeding up or
slowing down resynchronization times.
-o slow=iodelay
This option reduces the system performance impact of copy operations. Copy
operations are usually a set of short copy operations on small regions of the
volume (normally from 16K to 128K). This option inserts a delay between the
recovery of each such region. A specific delay can be specified with iodelay as a
number of milliseconds. The process runs faster when you do not set this option.
-o iosize=size
This option performs copy operations in regions with the length specified by
size, which is a standard VxVM length number. Specifying a larger number
typically causes the operation to complete sooner, but with greater impact on other
processes using the volume. The default I/O size is typically 32K.
Caution: Be careful when using these options to speed up operations, because
other system processes may slow down. It is always acceptable to increase the
slow options to enable more system resources to be used for other operations.

Controlling Task Progress: VEA
Right-click
Right-clickaatask
taskin
inthe
theTask
TaskHistory
Historywindow,
window,
and select Throttle Task.
and select Throttle Task.
Set
Setthe
thethrottling
throttling
value
valuein
inthe
theThrottle
Throttle
Task
Task dialogbox.
dialog box.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-28
Slowing a Task with vxtask

You can also set the slow attribute in the vxtask command by using the syntax:
vxtask [-i task_id] set slow=value
Throttling a Task with VEA

You can reduce the priority of any task that is time-consuming. Right-click the task
in the Task History window, and select Throttle Task. In the Throttle Task dialog
box, use the slider to set a throttling value. The larger the throttling value, the
slower the task is performed.

What Is Storage Expert?
VERITAS Storage Expert (VxSE) is a command line utility
that provides volume configuration analysis.
Storage Expert:
• Analyzes configurations based on a set of “rules”, or VxVM
“best practices”
• Produces a report of results in ASCII format
• Provides recommendations, but does not launch any
administrative operations
Administrator: Storage
Administrator:
•• AreAreallallofofmy
mylogs
logs
Expert Rules:
mirrored? VxVM Report:
mirrored?
•• AreAreallallofofmy
my “Best INFO
volumes
volumesredundant?
redundant? Practices” VIOLATION
•• Should
Shouldmy
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115mymirror-stripe
mirror-stripe PASS 6-29
be
beaastripe-mirror?
stripe-mirror?
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-29
Analyzing Volume Configurations with Storage Expert

What Is Storage Expert?
As your environment grows, your volume configurations become increasingly
complex. You should monitor your configurations to ensure appropriate fault
tolerance, layout, recovery time, and utilization of storage. Checking each volume
manually to verify that you have appropriate storage layouts can be a time-
consuming task.
The VERITAS Storage Expert (VxSE) utility is designed to help you locate poor
volume configurations, monitor your volumes, and provide advice on how to
improve volume configurations. Storage Expert is a command line utility that is
included as part of VxVM. Storage Expert provides volume configuration analysis
based on a set of configuration rules that compare your volumes and disk groups to
VxVM “best practice” management policies. Storage Expert reports the status of
your volumes compared to the rules and makes recommendations, but does not
launch any VxVM administrative operations.
Storage Expert consists of a set of scripts (called rules), an engine that runs the
scripts (the rules engine), and a report generator. When you run a Storage Expert
rule, the utility:
1 Gathers information about your VxVM objects and configuration
2 Analyzes the data by comparing it to predefined VxVM best practices
3 Produces a report in ASCII format containing the results and recommendations
for your configuration

What Are the Rules?
Storage Expert contains 23 rules. Rules provide answers to
questions about:
• Resilience
– Do my mirrored volumes have DRLs? (vxse_drl1)
– Is my RAID-5 log appropriately sized? (vxse_raid5log2)
• Disk groups and associated objects
– Are all of my disk groups of the current version? (vxse_dg4)
– Are all of my volumes redundant? (vxse_redundancy)
– Is my disk group configuration database too full? (vxse_dg1)
• Striping
– Are my stripes an appropriate size? (vxse_stripes1)
– Do my striped volumes have too few or too
many columns? (vxse_stripes2)
• Spare disks
– Do I have enough spare disks? (vxse_spares)
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-30
– Do I have too many spare disks? (vxse_spares)
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-30
What Are the Storage Expert Rules?

Storage Expert currently contains 23 rules. Each rule performs a different check on
your storage configuration. A complete list of Storage Expert rules, their
customizable attributes, and default values is included at the end of this section.
Rules enable you to answer questions such as:
• Does your storage configuration have the resilience to withstand disk
failure and system failure?
– Do your large mirrored volumes have associated DRLs? (vxse_drl1)
– Are the DRLs mirrored? (vxse_drl2)
– Do your RAID-5 volumes have logs? (vxse_raid5log1)
– Is your RAID-5 log an appropriate size? (vxse_raid5log2)
– Are your RAID-5 logs mirrored? (vxse_raid5log3)
• Are your disk groups and VxVM objects configured to ensure integrity
and resilience?
– Is your disk group configuration database becoming too full? (vxse_dg1)
– Are your volumes redundant? (vxse_redundancy)
– Do your disk groups contain any disabled or detached plexes, or any
stopped or disabled volumes? (vxse_volplex)
– Does your disk group have too many or too few disk group configuration
copies? (vxse_dg2)
– Do your disk groups have the latest disk group version number?
(vxse_dg4)

– Do you have too many configured disks in a disk group? (vxse_dg1)
– Do you have any initialized disks that are not part of a disk group?
(vxse_disk)
– Do you have any disk groups that are detected, but not imported?
(vxse_dg6)
• Are your striping parameters for striped and RAID-5 volumes configured
appropriately?
– Should your large mirror-stripe volumes be reconfigured as stripe-mirror
volumes? (vxse_mirstripe)
– Do your RAID-5 volumes have too few or too many columns?
(vxse_raid5)
– Is the stripe unit size set to an integer multiple of the default 8K?
(vxse_stripes1)
– Do your striped plexes have too few or too many columns?
(vxse_stripes2)
• Do you have adequate spare disks configured for use in a disk group?
– Do you have enough spare disks in a disk group? (vxse_spares)
– Do you have too many spare disks in a disk group? (vxse_spares)

Running Storage Expert Rules
• VxVM and VEA must be installed.
• Rules are located in /opt/VRTS/vxse/vxvm. Add this path to
your PATH variable.
• Syntax:
rule_name [options] {info|list|check|run}
• In the syntax:
– info Displays rule description
– list Displays attributes of rule
– check Displays default values
– run Runs the rule
• In the output:
– INFO Information is displayed.
– PASS Object met rule conditions.
– VIOLATION Object did not meet conditions.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-31
Before Using Storage Expert

Before you run Storage Expert, ensure that:
• You have root user privileges.
• The following packages are installed:
– VRTSvxvm
– VRTSob
– VRTSvmpro
– VRTSfspro
• The VEA service is started on the system.
Note: The VEA packages must be installed to run Storage Expert, even if you
are not using the VEA GUI, and even though Storage Expert cannot be
administered through the VEA.
Running a Storage Expert Rule

Storage Expert rules are located in the /opt/VRTS/vxse/vxvm directory. Add
this path to your PATH environment variable before running a rule. The syntax for
running a rule is:
rule_name [options] {info|list|check|run}
[attribute=value]
In the syntax:
• info Displays a description of the rule
• list Displays attributes of the rule that can be modified by the user

• check Displays the default values of user-definable rule attributes
• run Runs the rule
Options include:
• -g diskgroup Runs a rule for a specific disk group
• -d defaults_file Runs a rule using a user-created defaults file
• -v Displays output in verbose mode
Rule Output
When you run a rule, output is generated that indicates the status of objects that are
examined against the rule. In the output:
• INFO Indicates information about an object
• PASS Indicates that the object met the conditions of the rule
• VIOLATION Indicates that the object did not meet the conditions of the rule
Notes:
• By default, output is displayed on the screen, but you can redirect the output to
a file using standard UNIX redirection.
• You can also set Storage Expert to run as a cron job to notify administrators
and automatically archive reports.

Running Storage Expert: Examples
• To display a description of rule vxse_raid5log1:
# vxse_raid5log1 info
vxse:vxse_raid5log1: INFO: vxse_raid5log1 -DESCRIPTION
vxse:vxse_raid5log1: INFO: ---------------------------
vxse:vxse_raid5log1: INFO: This rule checks for RAID-5
vxse:vxse_raid5log1: INFO: volumes which do not have
vxse:vxse_raid5log1: INFO: an associated log
• To run vxse_raid5log1 on the disk group datadg:

# vxse_raid5log1 -g datadg run
vxse:vxse_raid5log1: INFO: vxse_raid5log1 - RESULTS
vxse:vxse_raid5log1: INFO: ---------------------------
vxse_raid5log1 VIOLATION:
Disk group (datadg) RAID5 volume (raid5vol)
does not have a log
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-32
Displaying a Rule Description: Example

To display a description of rule vxse_raid5log1:
# vxse_raid5log1 info
The output displays a brief description of the rule.
Running a Rule: Example

To run the rule vxse_raid5log1 on the disk group datadg:
# vxse_raid5log1 -g datadg run
The output indicates that the RAID-5 volume raid5vol does not have a log,
which violates VxVM best practices. In the event of system failure and disk failure
in a RAID-5 volume, data can be lost or corrupted if the volume does not have a
RAID-5 log.

Running Storage Expert: Examples
• To display attributes of rule vxse_spares:
# vxse_spares list
...
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: max_disk_spare_ratio - max.
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: percentage of spare disks in the
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: disk group.
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: Warn if the number of spare disks
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: is greater than this percent
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: min_disk_spare_ratio - min.
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: percentage of spare disks in the
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: disk group. Warn if the number of
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: spare disks is less than this
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: percent
• To display attribute default values of rule vxse_spares:
# vxse_spares check
...
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: max_disk_spare_ratio - (20) max.
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: percent of spare disks
vxse:vxse_spares: INFO: min_disk_spare_ratio - (10)
vxse:vxse_spares:
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 INFO: min. percent of spare disks 6-33
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-33
Displaying Tunable Attributes of a Rule: Example

Some rules compare VxVM object characteristics against a set of defined attribute
values. For example, rule vxse_spares checks that the number of spare disks in
a disk group is within the VxVM best practices threshold.
To determine what that threshold is, you can display information about the
attributes of the rule by using the list keyword. For example:
# vxse_spares list
Displaying Default Attribute Values of a Rule: Example

To display the default value of the attributes for rule vxse_spares, use the
check keyword:
# vxse_spares check
The output indicates that when you run the rule vxse_spares, you receive a
warning if the number of spare disks in the disk group is less than 10 percent or
greater than 20 percent.

Customizing Rule Defaults
You can run a rule against different attribute values by:
• Specifying an attribute value in the run command:
# vxse_drl1 run mirror_threshold=4g
• Running Storage Expert against a user-created defaults
file:
# vxse_drl1 -d /etc/vxse.myfile run
• Modifying the Storage Expert defaults file:
1. Open the defaults file /etc/default/vxse.
2. Delete the comment symbol (#) from the line that
contains the attribute you want to modify.
3. Type a new default value and save the file.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-34
Customizing Rule Default Values

You can customize the default attribute values used by Storage Expert rules to
meet the needs of your environment by using one of several methods.
• To run a rule with an attribute value other than the default, you can specify the
rule attribute and its new value on the command line when you run the rule.
For example, in the rule vxse_drl1, the mirror_threshold attribute is 1
GB by default. This rule issues a warning if a mirror is larger than 1 GB and
does not have an attached dirty region log. To run the vxse_drl1 rule with a
different mirror_threshold value of 4 GB:
# vxse_drl1 run mirror_threshold=4g
• To run Storage Expert rules against a user-created defaults file, you create a
new defaults file with customized attribute values, then specify the file in the
command line using the -d option.
For example, to run the vxse_drl1 rule against the user-created defaults file
/etc/vxse.myfile:
# vxse_drl1 -d /etc/vxse.myfile run
• To change the default value of an attribute in the Storage Expert defaults file:
a Open the defaults file /etc/default/vxse.
b Delete the comment symbol (#) from the beginning of the line that contains
the attribute that you want to modify. (You can also specify values that are
to be ignored by inserting a # character at the start of a line.)
c Type a new value for the attribute and save the file.
When you run the rule again, the new value is used for that rule by default.

Storage Expert Rules: Complete Listing
This section contains a list of all Storage Expert rules, descriptions, and default
attributes. Some of the concepts described in the rules are discussed later in this
training.
Rule Description Default Attributes

vxse_dc_failures Checks and points out failed This rule has no tunable attributes.
disks and disabled
controllers.
vxse_dg1 Checks for disk group max_disks_per_dg=250
configurations in which the Warn if a disk group has more disks
disk group has become too than 250.
large
vxse_dg2 Checks for disk group This rule has no tunable attributes.
configurations in which the
disk group has too many or
too few disk group
configuration copies, and if
the disk group has too many
or too few disk group log
copies
vxse_dg3 Checks disk group This rule has no tunable attributes.
configurations to verify that
the disk group has the
correct “on disk config” size
vxse_dg4 Checks for disk groups that This rule has no tunable attributes.
do not have a current
version number, and which
may need to be upgraded
vxse_dg5 Checks for disk groups in This rule has no tunable attributes.
which there is only one
configuration copy
vxse_dg6 Checks for disks that are This rule has no tunable attributes.
initialized, but are not part
of any disk group
vxse_disk Checks for disks that are This rule has no tunable attributes.
initialized, but are not part
of any disk group.
vxse_disklog Checks for physical disks This rule has no tunable attributes.
that have more than one
RAID-5 log

vxse_drl1 Checks for large mirror mirror_threshold=1g
volumes that do not have an Warn if a mirror is larger than 1 GB
associated DRL log and does not have an attached DRL
log.
vxse_drl2 Checks for large mirror large_mirror_size=20g
volumes that do not have Warn if a mirror-stripe volume is
DRL log that is mirrored larger than 20 GB.
vxse_host Checks that the system This rule has no tunable attributes.
“hostname” in the /etc/vx/
volbootfile matches the
hostname that was assigned
to the system when it was
booted
vxse_mirstripe Checks for large mirror- large_mirror_size=1g
striped volumes that should Warn if a mirror-stripe volume is
be striped-mirrors larger than 1 GB.
nsd_threshold=8
Warn if a mirror-stripe volume has
more subdisks than 8.
vxse_raid5 Checks for RAID-5 volumes too_narrow_raid5=4
that are too narrow or too Warn if actual number of RAID-5
wide columns is less than 4.
too_wide_raid5=8
Warn if the actual number of RAID-
5 columns is greater than 8.
vxse_raid5log1 Checks for RAID-5 volumes This rule has no tunable attributes.
that do not have an
associated log
vxse_raid5log2 Checks for recommended r5_max_size=1g
minimum and maximum Warn if a RAID-5 log is larger than
RAID-5 log sizes 1 GB.
r5_min_size=64m
Warn if a RAID-5 log is smaller
than 64 MB.
vxse_raid5log3 Checks for large RAID-5 large_vol_size=20g
volumes that do not have a Warn if a RAID-5 volume with a
mirrored RAID-5 log non-mirrored RAID-5 log is larger
than 20 GB.

vxse_redundancy Checks the redundancy of volume_redundancy
volumes The value of 2 performs a mirror
redundancy check. A value of 1
performs a RAID-5 redundancy
check. The default value of 0
performs no redundancy check.
vxse_rootmir Checks that all root mirrors This rule has no tunable attributes.
are set up correctly
vxse_spares Checks that the number of max_disk_spare_ratio=20
spare disks in a disk group is Warn if the percentage of spare
within the VM “Best disks is greater than 20.
Practices” thresholds
min_disk_spare_ratio=10
Warn if the percentage of spare
disks is less than 10.
vxse_stripes1 Checks for stripe volumes default_stripeunit=8k
whose stripe unit is not a Warn if a stripe does not have a
multiple of the default stripe stripe unit which is an integer
unit size multiple of 8K.
vxse_stripes2 Checks for stripe volumes too_narrow_stripe=3
that have too many or too Warn if a striped volume has fewer
few columns. columns than 3.
too_wide_stripe=16
Warn if a striped volume has more
columns than 16.
vxse_volplex Checks for volumes and This rule has no tunable attributes.
plexes that are in various
states, such as:
- Disabled plexes
- Detached plexes
- Stopped volumes
- Disabled volumes
- Disabled logs
- Failed plexes
- Volumes needing recovery

Summary
• Resize a volume, file system, or LUN while the
volume remains online.
• Change the volume layout while the volume remains
online.
• Manage volume maintenance tasks with VEA and
• Analyze volume configurations by using the Storage
Expert utility.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-35
Summary
This lesson described how to perform and monitor volume maintenance tasks
using VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM). This lesson described how to perform
online administration tasks, such as resizing a volume and changing the layout of a
volume, and how to analyze volume configurations with the Storage Expert utility.
Next Steps
The next lesson describes root disk encapsulation and upgrading.
Volume Manager.
Administrator

Lab 6
Lab 6: Reconfiguring Volumes Online
• In this lab, you create and resize volumes and
change volume layouts. You also practice using the
Storage Expert utility to analyze volume
configurations.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 6-36

To Begin This Lab


Lesson 7
Overview
Recovery Essentials
Configuring Volumes
Creating Volumes
Virtual Objects
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-2
Introduction
Overview
This lesson describes the process of placing the boot disk under VxVM control.
Methods for creating an alternate boot disk, removing the boot disk from VxVM
control, and upgrading VxVM are covered.
Importance
Disk encapsulation enables you to preserve data on a disk when you place the disk
under VxVM control. By encapsulating and mirroring your boot disk, you can
ensure that if your boot disk is lost, the system continues to operate on the mirror.
A thorough understanding of the encapsulation process is important for
performing upgrades of VxVM software.

Objectives
• Place the boot disk under VxVM control.
• Create an alternate boot disk by mirroring the boot
disk that is under VxVM control.
• Remove the boot disk from VxVM control.
• Upgrade to a new VxVM version.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-3
Outline of Topics
• Placing the Boot Disk Under VxVM Control
• Creating an Alternate Boot Disk
• Removing the Boot Disk from VxVM Control
• Upgrading to a New VxVM Version
Lesson 7 Encapsulation and Rootability 7–3

What Is Encapsulation?
• Encapsulation is the process of converting partitions into
volumes to bring those partitions under VxVM control.
• Requirements:
– One free partition (for public and private region)
– s2 slice that represents the full disk
– 2048 sectors free at beginning or end of disk for the private
region
Private region
Encapsulated homevol engvol
home
data disk eng
acct
dist
acctvol distvol
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-4
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-4
Placing the Boot Disk Under VxVM Control

What Is Encapsulation?
Encapsulation is a method of placing a disk under VxVM control in which the data
that exists on a disk is preserved. Encapsulation converts existing partitions into
volumes, which provides continued access to the data on the disk after a reboot.
After a disk has been encapsulated, the disk is handled in the same way as an
initialized disk.
For example, suppose that a system has three partitions on the disk drive. When
you encapsulate the disk to bring it under VxVM control, there will be three
volumes in the disk group.
Data Disk Encapsulation Requirements

Disk encapsulation cannot occur unless these requirements are met:
• Partition table entries must be available on the disk for the public and private
regions. During encapsulation, you are prompted to select the disk layout. If
you choose a CDS disk layout, then only one partition is needed. However,
should encapsulation as a CDS disk fail, you can specify a sliced layout be
used instead, in which case you would need two free partitions.
• The disk must contain an s2 slice that represents the full disk (The s2 slice
cannot contain a file system.)
• 2048 sectors of unpartitioned free space, rounded up to the nearest cylinder
boundary, must be available, either at the beginning or at the end of the disk.

What Is Rootability?
• Rootability is the process of encapsulating the root file system,
swap device, and other file systems on the boot disk.
• Requirements are the same as for data disk encapsulation, but
the private region can be created from swap space.
Partitions are mapped to subdisks

Encapsulated that are used to create the volumes
boot disk that replace the original partitions.
Private region
rootvol usr
/
/usr
/var
swap
var swapvol
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-5
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-5
What Is Rootability?
Rootability, or root encapsulation, is the process of placing the root file system,
swap device, and other file systems on the boot disk under VxVM control. VxVM
converts existing partitions of the boot disk into VxVM volumes. The system can
then mount the standard boot disk file systems (that is, /, /usr, and so on) from
volumes instead of disk partitions.
Boot Disk Encapsulation Requirements

Boot disk encapsulation has the same requirements as data disk encapsulation, but
requires two free partitions (for the public and private regions). When
encapsulating the boot disk, the private region can be created from the swap area,
which reduces the swap area by the size of the private region. The private region is
created at the beginning of the swap area, and the swap partition begins one
cylinder from its original location.
When creating new boot disks, you should start the partitions on the new boot
disks on the next cylinder beyond the 2048 default used for the private region.

Why Encapsulate the Boot Disk?
• You should encapsulate the boot disk only if you plan
to mirror the boot disk.
• Benefits of mirroring the boot disk:
– Enables high availability
– Fixes bad blocks automatically (for reads)
– Improves performance
• There is no benefit to boot disk encapsulation for its
own sake. You should not encapsulate the boot disk if
you do not plan to mirror the boot disk.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-6
Why Encapsulate Root?

It is highly recommended that you encapsulate and mirror the boot disk. Some of
the benefits of encapsulating and mirroring root include:
• High availability
Encapsulating and mirroring root sets up a high availability environment for
the boot disk. If the boot disk is lost, the system continues to operate on the
mirror disk.
• Bad block revectoring
If the boot disk has bad blocks, then VxVM reads the block from the other disk
and copies it back to the bad block to fix it. SCSI drives automatically fix bad
blocks on writes, which is called bad block revectoring.
• Improved performance
By adding additional mirrors with different volume layouts, you can achieve
better performance. Mirroring alone can also improve performance if the root
volumes are performing more reads than writes, which is the case on many
systems.
When Not to Encapsulate Root

If you do not plan to mirror root, then you should not encapsulate it. Encapsulation
adds a level of complexity to system administration, which increases the
complexity of upgrading the operating system.

Limitations of Boot Disk
Encapsulation
• Encapsulating the boot disk adds steps to OS
upgrades.
• A system cannot boot from a boot disk that spans
multiple devices.
• You should never grow or change the layout of boot
disk volumes. These volumes map to a physical
underlying partition on disk and must be
contiguous.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-7
Limitations of Boot Disk Encapsulation

A system cannot boot from a boot disk that spans multiple devices.
You should never expand or change the layout of boot volumes. No volume
associated with an encapsulated boot disk (rootvol, usr, var, opt, swapvol,
and so on) should be expanded or shrunk, because these volumes map to a physical
underlying partition on the disk and must be contiguous.
If you attempt to expand these volumes, the system can become unbootable if it
becomes necessary to revert back to slices in order to boot the system. Expanding
these volumes can also prevent a successful Solaris upgrade, and a fresh install can
be required. Additionally, the upgrade_start script (used in upgrading VxVM
to a new version) might fail.
Note: You can add a mirror of a different layout, but the mirror is not bootable.

File System Requirements
For root, usr, var, and opt volumes:
• Use UFS file systems. (VxFS is not available until later in the
boot process.)
• Use contiguous disk space. (Volumes cannot use striped,
RAID-5, concatenated mirrored, or striped mirrored layouts.)
• Do not use dirty region logging on the system volumes. (You
can use DRL for the opt and var volumes.)
For swap volumes:
• The first swap volume must be contiguous, and, therefore,
cannot use striped or layered layouts.
• Other swap volumes can be noncontiguous and can use any
layout. However, there is an implied 2-GB limit of usable swap
space per device for 32-bit operating systems.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-8
File System Requirements for Root Volumes

To boot from volumes, you should follow these requirements and
recommendations for the file systems on root volumes:
Solaris
For the root, usr, var, and opt volumes:
• Use UFS file systems: You must use UFS file systems for these volumes,
because the VERITAS File System (VxFS) package is not available until later
in the boot process when the scripts in /etc/rc2.d (multiuser mode) are
executed.
• Use contiguous disk space: These volumes must be located in a contiguous
area on disk, as required by the operating system. For this reason, these
volumes cannot use striped, RAID-5, concatenated mirrored, or striped
mirrored layouts.
• Do not use dirty region logging for root or usr: You cannot use dirty region
logging (DRL) on the root and usr volumes. If you attempt to add a dirty
region log to the root and usr volumes, you receive an error.
Note: The opt and var volumes can use dirty region logging.
• Swap Space Considerations: If you have swap defined then it needs to be
contiguous disk space. The first swap volume (as listed in the /etc/vfstab
file) must be contiguous and, therefore, cannot use striped or layered layouts.
Additional swap volumes can be noncontiguous and can use any layout.

Note: You can add noncontiguous swap space through Volume Manager.
However, Solaris automatically uses swap devices in a round-robin method,
which may reduce expected performance benefits of adding striped swap
volumes.
For 32-bit operating systems, usable space per swap device is limited to 2 GB.
For 64-bit operating systems, this limit is much higher (up to 263 - 1 bytes).

Before Encapsulating the Boot Disk
• Plan your rootability configuration:
bootdg: sysdg
Encapsulated Boot disk Spare disks

boot disk mirror
• Enable boot disk aliases:

eeprom “use-nvramrc?=true”
• Record the layout of the partitions on the
unencapsulated boot disk to save for future use.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-9
Before Encapsulating the Boot Disk

Plan your rootability configuration. bootdg is a system-wide reserved disk
group name that is an alias for the disk group that contains the volumes that are
used to boot the system. When you place the boot disk under VxVM control,
VxVM sets bootdg to the appropriate disk group. You should never attempt to
change the assigned value of bootdg; doing so may render your system
unbootable. An example configuration would be to place the boot disk into a disk
group named sysdg, and add at least two more disks to the disk group: one for a
boot disk mirror and one as a spare disk. VxVM will set bootdg to sysdg.
Enable boot disk aliases. Before encapsulating your boot disk, set the EEPROM
variable use-nvramrc? to true. This enables VxVM to take advantage of
boot disk aliases to identify the mirror of the boot disk if a replacement is needed.
If this variable is set to false, you must determine which disks are bootable
yourself.
Set this variable to true as follows:
eeprom “use-nvramrc?=true”
Save the layout of partitions before you encapsulate the boot disk. For
example, on Solaris, you can use the prtvtoc command to record the layout of
the partitions on the unencapsulated boot disk (/dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s2 in this
example):
# prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s2
Record the output from this command for future reference.

Encapsulating the Boot Disk
vxdiskadm:
“Encapsulate one or more disks”
Follow the prompts by specifying:

• Name of the device to add
• Name of the disk group to which the disk will be added
• Sliced disk format (The boot disk cannot be a CDS
disk.)
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-10
Encapsulating the Boot Disk: vxdiskadm

You can use vxdiskadm for encapsulating data disks as well as the boot disk. To
encapsulate the boot disk:
1 From the vxdiskadm main menu, select the “Encapsulate one or more disks”
option.
2 When prompted, specify the disk device name of the boot disk. If you do not
know the device name of the disk to be encapsulated, type list at the prompt
for a complete listing of available disks.
3 When prompted, specify the name of the disk group to which the boot disk will
be added. The disk group does not need to already exist.
4 When prompted, accept the default disk name and confirm that you want to
encapsulate the disk.
5 If you are prompted to choose whether the disk is to be formatted as a CDS
disk that is portable between different operating systems, or as a nonportable
sliced disk, then you must select sliced. Only the sliced format is suitable for
use with root, boot, or swap disks.
6 When prompted, select the default private region size. vxdiskadm then
proceeds to encapsulate the disk.
7 A message confirms that the disk is encapsulated and states that you should
reboot your system at the earliest possible opportunity.

After Boot Disk Encapsulation
After boot disk encapsulation, you can view operating
system-specific files to better understand the
encapsulation process.
Solaris:
• VTOC
• /etc/system
• /etc/vfstab
Note: Other platform-specific information will be added

when VxVM 4.0 is released on those platforms.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-11
Solaris
Viewing Encapsulated Disks

To better understand encapsulation of the boot disk, you can examine operating
system files for the changes made by the VxVM root encapsulation process.
Solaris
After encapsulating the boot disk, if you view the VTOC, you notice that Tag 14 is
used for the public region, and Tag 15 is used for the private region. The partitions
for the root, swap, usr, and var partitions are still on the disk, unlike on data
disks where all partitions are removed. The boot disk is a special case, and the
partitions are kept to make upgrading easier.
As part of the root encapsulation process, the /etc/system file is updated to

include information that tells VxVM to boot up on the encapsulated volumes:
rootdev:/pseudo/vxio@0:0
set vxio:vol_rootdev_is_volume=1

VxVM also updates the /etc/vfstab file to mount volumes instead of
partitions.

Alternate Boot Disk: Requirements
• An alternate boot disk is a mirror of the entire boot
disk. An alternate boot disk preserves the boot
block in case the initial boot disk fails.
• Creating an alternate boot disk requires:
– The boot disk must be encapsulated by VxVM.
– Another disk must be available with enough space to
contain all of the boot disk partitions.
– All disks must be in the boot disk group.
• The root mirror places the private region at the
beginning of the disk. The remaining partitions are
placed after the private region.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-12
Creating an Alternate Boot Disk

Mirroring the Boot Disk
To protect against boot disk failure, you can create an alternate boot disk. An
alternate boot disk is a mirror of the entire boot disk. You can use the alternate boot
disk to boot the system if the primary boot disk fails.
Requirements for Mirroring the Boot Disk

• The boot disk must be encapsulated by VxVM in order to be mirrored.
• To mirror the boot disk, you must provide another disk with enough space to
contain all of the root partitions.
• You can only use disks in the boot disk group for the boot disk and alternate
boot disks.
The root mirror places the private region at the beginning of the disk, and the
remaining partitions are placed after the private region. Each disk contains all of
the data, but data is not necessarily placed at the exact same location on each disk.
Note: Whenever you create an alternate boot disk, you should always verify that
the root mirror is bootable.
Why Create an Alternate Boot Disk?

Creating a mirror of a system boot disk makes the system less vulnerable to failure.
If one disk fails, the system can function with the mirror. An alternate boot disk is
used if the boot disk becomes unbootable due to a stale root volume, errors in
VxVM header information, or hardware failure on the boot disk.

Creating an Alternate Boot Disk
VEA:
• Highlight the boot disk, and select Actions—>Mirror Disk.
• Specify the target disk to use as the alternate boot disk.
vxdiskadm:
“Mirror volumes on a disk”
CLI:
To mirror the root volume only:
# vxrootmir alternate_disk
To mirror all other unmirrored, concatenated volumes on the
boot disk to the alternate disk:
# vxmirror boot_disk alternate_disk
To mirror other volumes to the boot disk or other disks:
# vxassist mirror homevol alternate_disk
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-13
Creating an Alternate Boot Disk: VEA

1 Select a disk that is at least as large as the boot disk, and add the disk to the
boot disk group.
2 In the main window, highlight the boot disk, then select Actions—>Mirror
Disk.
3 In the Mirror Disk dialog box, verify the name of the boot disk, and specify the
target disk to use as the alternate boot disk.
4 Click Yes in the Mirror Disk dialog box to complete the mirroring process.
5 After the root mirror is created, verify that the root mirror is bootable.
Creating an Alternate Boot Disk: vxdiskadm

boot disk group.
2 In the vxdiskadm main menu, select the “Mirror volumes on a disk” option.
3 When prompted, specify the name of the disk containing the volumes to be
mirrored (that is, the name of the boot disk).
4 When prompted, specify the name of the disk to which the boot disk will be
mirrored.
5 A summary of the action is displayed, and you are prompted to confirm the
operation.

Creating an Alternate Boot Disk: CLI
boot disk group.
2 To create a mirror for the root volume only, use the vxrootmir command:
# vxrootmir alternate_disk
where alternate_disk is the disk name assigned to the other disk.
vxrootmir invokes vxbootsetup (which invokes installboot), so that
the disk is partitioned and made bootable. (The process is similar to using
vxmirror and vxdiskadm.)
3 To mirror all other concatenated, nonmirrored volumes on the primary boot
disk to your alternate boot disk, you can use the command:
# vxmirror boot_disk alternate_disk
4 Other volumes on the boot disk can be mirrored separately using vxassist.
For example, if you have a /home file system on a volume homevol, you can
mirror it to alternate_disk using the command:
# vxassist mirror homevol alternate_disk
If you do not have space for a copy of some of these file systems on your
alternate boot disk, you can mirror them to other disks. You can also span or
stripe these other volumes across other disks attached to your system.

Boot Disk Error Messages
Stale
Staleroot
rootvolume
volume
vxvm: vxconfigd: Warning: Plex rootvol-01 for
root volume is stale or unusable
Failed
Failedstartup
startup
vxvm: vxconfigd: Error: System startup failed:
Root
Rootplex
plexnot
notvalid
valid
vxvm: vxconfigd: Error: System boot disk does
not have a valid root plex
Please boot from one of the following disks:

Disk: disk01 Device: c0t1d0s0
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-14
Alternate
Alternateboot
bootdisks
disksare
arelisted.
listed.
Possible Boot Disk Errors

• Root plex is stale or unusable
vxvm:vxconfigd: Warning: Plex rootvol-01 for root
volume is stale or unusable
• System startup failed
vxvm:vxconfigd: ERROR: System startup failed
• System boot disk does not have a valid root plex
vxvm:vxconfigd: ERROR: System boot disk does not have a
valid root plex
Please boot from one of the following disks:
Disk: diskname Device: device ...
In the third message, alternate boot disks containing valid root mirrors are listed as
part of the error message. Try to boot from one of the disks named in the error
message.
You may be able to boot using a device alias for one of the named disks. For
example, use this command:
ok> boot vx-diskname

Booting from an Alternate Mirror
To boot the system using an alternate boot disk after
failure of the primary boot disk:
1. Set the eeprom variable use-nvramrc? to true:
ok> setenv use-nvramrc? true
ok> reset
This variable must be set to true to enable the use of
alternate boot disks.
2. Check for available boot disk aliases:
ok> devalias
vx-rootdisk Output displays the name of the
vx-diskname boot disk and available mirrors.
3. Boot from an available boot disk alias:
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-15
Booting from an Alternate Mirror

If the boot disk is encapsulated and mirrored, you can use one of its mirrors to boot
the system if the primary boot disk fails. To boot the system after failure of the
primary boot disk on a SPARC system:
1 Check to ensure that the eeprom variable use-nvramrc? is set to true:
ok> printenv use-nvramrc?
This variable must be set to true to enable the use of alternate boot disks.
To set the value of use-nvramrc? to true:
ok> setenv use-nvramrc? true
ok> reset
2 Check for available boot disk aliases:
ok> devalias
The devalias command displays the names of the boot disk and root
mirrors. For example:
vx-rootdisk
vx-diskname
Mirrors of the boot disk are listed in the form vx-diskname.
3 Boot from an available boot disk alias:

Unencapsulating a Boot Disk
• To unencapsulate a boot disk, use vxunroot.
• Requirements:
– Remove all but one plex of rootvol, swapvol, usr, var,
opt, and home.
– You must have one disk in addition to the boot disk in the
boot disk group.
• Use vxunroot when you need to:
– Boot from physical system partitions.
– Change the size or location of the private region on the
boot disk.
– Upgrade both the OS and VxVM.
• Do not use vxunroot if you are only upgrading VxVM
packages, including the VEA package.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-16
Removing the Boot Disk from VxVM Control

The vxunroot Command
To convert the root file systems back to being accessible directly through disk
partitions instead of through volume devices, you use the vxunroot utility. Other
changes that were made to ensure the booting of the system from the root volume
are also removed so that the system boots with no dependency on VxVM.
For vxunroot to work properly, the following conditions must be met:
• All but one plex of rootvol, swapvol, usr, var, opt, and home must be
removed (using vxedit or vxplex).
• One disk in addition to the boot disk must exist in the boot disk group.
If none of these conditions is met, the vxunroot operation fails, and volumes are
not converted back to disk partitions.
When to Use vxunroot

Use vxunroot when you need to:
• Boot from physical system partitions.
• Change the size or location of the private region on the boot disk.
• Upgrade both your operating system and VxVM.
You do not need to use vxunroot if you are only upgrading VxVM packages,
including the VEA package.

The vxunroot Command
1. Ensure that the boot disk volumes volumes only
have one plex each:
# vxprint -ht rootvol swapvol usr var
2. If boot disk volumes have more than one plex each,
remove the unnecessary plexes:
# vxplex -o rm dis plex_name
3. Run the vxunroot utility:
# vxunroot
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-17
Unencapsulating the Boot Disk

To convert root volumes back to partitions:
1 Ensure that the rootvol, swapvol, usr, and var volumes have only one
associated plex each. The plex must be contiguous, nonstriped, nonspanned,
and nonsparse.
For information about the plex, use the following command:
# vxprint -ht rootvol swapvol usr var
2 If any of these volumes have more than one associated plex, remove the
unnecessary plexes using the command:
# vxplex -o rm dis plex_name
3 Run the vxunroot program using the following command:
# vxunroot
Solaris Note
This command changes the volume entries in /etc/vfstab to the underlying
disk partitions for the rootvol, swapvol, usr, and var volumes. The
command also modifies /etc/system and prompts for a reboot so that disk
partitions are mounted instead of volumes for the root, swap, usr, and var
volumes.

Notes on Upgrading VxVM
• Determine what you are upgrading: VxVM only,
both VxVM and the operating system, or the
operating system only.
• Follow documentation for VxVM and the operating
system.
• Install appropriate patches.
• License is not required to upgrade VxVM only.
• Your existing VxVM configuration is retained.
• Upgrading VxVM does not upgrade existing disk
group versions. You may need to manually upgrade
each of your disk groups after a VxVM upgrade.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-18
Upgrading to a New VxVM Version

General Notes on Upgrades
• Determine what you are upgrading: Before you upgrade, determine whether
you need to upgrade VxVM only, both VxVM and the operating system, or the
operating system only.
• Follow documentation: When upgrading, always follow the operating system
and VxVM release notes and other documentation to determine proper
installation procedures and required patches.
• Install appropriate patches: You should install appropriate patches before
adding new VxVM packages. For the latest patch information, visit the
VERITAS Technical Support Web site.
• License is not required to upgrade VxVM only: If you are already running
an earlier release of VxVM, you do not need a new license key to upgrade to
VxVM release 4.0. However, you must install the new licensing package,
VRTSvlic, which uses your existing licensing information. VRTSvlic
recognizes keys created in the previous format, and the new utilities in the
VRTSvlic package report on, test, and install keys of both formats.
• Your existing VxVM configuration is retained: The upgrade procedures
allow you to retain your existing VxVM configuration. After upgrading, you
can resume using VxVM without running the vxinstall program.
• Upgrading VxVM does not upgrade existing disk group versions:
Importing a pre-4.0 VxVM disk group does not automatically upgrade the disk
group version to the VxVM 4.0 level. You may need to manually upgrade each
of your disk groups after a VxVM upgrade.

Upgrading VxVM Only
Methods:
• VxVM installation script (installvm)
• Manual package upgrade
• VxVM upgrade scripts
– upgrade_start
– upgrade_finish
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-19
Note: Upgrade procedures are documented in the VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0
Installation Guide. Follow all instructions in the installation guide when
performing any upgrade. This training provides guidelines for a successful
upgrade; refer to the installation documentation for detailed steps.
Upgrading Volume Manager Only

If you are already running a version of your operating system that is supported
with the new version of VxVM, then you can upgrade Volume Manager only by
using one of several methods:
• VxVM installation script: Use the installvm to install the new version of
VxVM. The installvm process is the easiest method of upgrading.
• Manual package upgrade: Use the operating system-specific package
installation commands to install the new version of VxVM on top of your
existing software. The advantage of this method is that only one reboot is
required.
• VxVM upgrade scripts: Use the upgrade_start and upgrade_finish
scripts to install the VxVM software. The advantage of this method is that
VxVM configuration data is backed up and the boot disk is unencapsulated
during the upgrade procedure. However, multiple reboots are required.

Upgrading VxVM Only: installvm
• Simply invoke the installvm script and follow
instructions when prompted.
• If you are doing a multihost installation you can avoid
copying packages to each system. For example, to ensure
that packages are not copied remotely when using the
NFS mountable file system $NFS_FS:
# cd /cdrom/CD_NAME
# cp -r * $NFS_FS
# cd volume_manager
# ./installvm -pkgpath $NFS_FS/volume_manager/pkgs
-patchpath $NFS_FS/volume_manager/patches
• This copies the files to an NFS mounted file system that is
connected to all of the systems on which you want to
install the software.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-20
Upgrading VxVM Only: installvm

You can use the installvm script to upgrade VxVM with an encapsulated or
unencapsulated boot disk. You simply invoke the installvm script and follow
instructions when prompted.
If you are doing a multihost installation and you want to avoid the performance
penalty of the installation scripts copying packages from the CDROM to a disk
attached to each system, you can use installvm with the format:
# ./installvm -pkgpath nfs/auto-mounted filesystem

Upgrading VxVM Only: Manual
Package Upgrade
1. Bring the system to single-user mode.
2. Stop the vxconfigd and vxiod daemons:
# vxdctl stop
# vxiod -f set 0
3. Remove the VMSA software package VRTSvmsa
(optional).
4. Add the new VxVM packages using package
installation commands.
5. Perform a reconfiguration reboot.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-21
Upgrading VxVM Only: Manual Package Upgrade

To upgrade Volume Manager only on an encapsulated boot disk by using an
operating system-specific package installation command:
1 Bring the system to single-user mode.
2 Stop the vxconfigd and vxiod daemons.
# vxdctl stop
# vxiod -f set 0
3 Remove the VMSA software package. This step is optional. You should not
remove the VMSA package if you still have clients running an old version of
VxVM. However, remember that VMSA does not run with VxVM 3.5 and
later versions of vxconfigd.
4 Add the new VxVM packages by using the operating system-specific package
installation commands. You must add the new licensing package first on the
command line.
5 Perform a reconfiguration reboot.

Scripts Used in Upgrades
The upgrade_start and upgrade_finish scripts preserve
your VxVM configuration.
upgrade_start upgrade_finish
• Checks system • Corrects mistakes due
to abnormal termination
• Converts volumes to of upgrade_start
partitions
• Checks licenses
• Preserves files
• Converts partitions to
• Updates system files volumes
• Saves upgrade • Reloads drivers
information in
VXVM4.0-UPGRADE • Restores systems and
configuration files
• Verifies VxVM
installation
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-22
To check for potential problems before any upgrade, run:
# upgrade_start -check
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-22
Upgrading VxVM Only: Upgrade Scripts

The upgrade_start and upgrade_finish scripts are available in the
scripts directory on the VERITAS CD-ROM. These scripts preserve your
VxVM configuration information while you upgrade the system. Ensure that you
use the upgrade_start and upgrade_finish scripts included with VxVM
4.0 (not versions of the scripts provided with earlier versions of VxVM) when
upgrading from an earlier release.
Before any upgrade, you should run the upgrade_start -check command to
find any problems that exist which could prevent a successful upgrade:
# upgrade_start -check
This script enables you to determine if any changes are needed to your
configuration before you perform an upgrade. This script reports errors, if any are
found. Otherwise, it reports success and you can proceed with running the
upgrade_start script.
The upgrade_start Script

The upgrade_start script prepares the previous version of VxVM for its
removal:
• Checks your system for problems that may prevent a successful upgrade
• Checks to determine if you have previously run the upgrade scripts
• Verifies that VRTSvxvm is installed
• Preserves files that need to be restored after an upgrade
• Updates operating system files, such as /etc/system and /etc/vfstab

• Saves information in VXVM4.0-UPGRADE
• Converts key file systems from volumes to physical disk partitions and checks
your running Solaris version
• Touches /VXVM4.0-UPGRADE/.start_runed to prevent Volume
Manager from starting after reboot
The upgrade_finish Script

The upgrade_finish script:
• Corrects any mistakes made due to an abnormal termination of
upgrade_start
• Checks for appropriate licenses
• Converts key file systems from physical disk partitions back to volumes
• Reloads vxdmp, vxio, and vxspec drivers
• Restores saved configuration files and VxVM state files
• Restores operating system files, such as /etc/system and /etc/vfstab
• Rebuilds the volboot file
• Starts VxVM daemons
• Verifies a successful installation of VxVM

Upgrading VxVM Only: Upgrade
Scripts
1. Mount the VERITAS CD-ROM.
2. Run upgrade_start -check.
3. Run the upgrade_start script.
4. Reboot the system to single-user mode.
5. When the system comes up, mount the /opt partition
(if it is not part of the root file system).
6. Remove the VxVM package and other related VxVM
packages by using package removal commands.
7. Reboot the system to multiuser mode.
8. Verify that /opt is mounted, and then install the new
VxVM packages by using package installation
commands.
9. Run the upgrade_finish script.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-23
To upgrade Volume Manager only on an encapsulated boot disk by using the

upgrade scripts:
1 Mount the VERITAS CD-ROM and change to the scripts directory.
2 Run the upgrade_start -check command to find any problems that exist
which could prevent a successful upgrade.
3 Run the upgrade_start script:
# ./upgrade_start
4 Reboot the system to single-user mode.
5 When the system comes up, mount the /opt partition (if it is not part of the
root file system).
6 Remove the VxVM package and other related VxVM packages by using an
operating system-specific package removal command. Remove the
VRTSvxvm package after you have removed the optional packages.
Note: Do not remove the VRTSvmsa package if you will still manage other
systems running older versions of VxVM.
7 Reboot the system to multiuser mode.
8 Verify that /opt is mounted, and then install the new VxVM packages by
using an operating system-specific package installation command.
9 Change to the scripts directory, and run the upgrade_finish script:
# ./upgrade_finish

Upgrading the OS Only
To prepare:
1 Detach any boot disk mirrors.
2 Check alignment of boot disk volumes.
3 Ensure that /opt is not a symbolic link.
To upgrade:
1 Bring system to single-user mode.
2 Load VERITAS CD-ROM.
3 Check for upgrade issues.
4 Run upgrade_start.
5 Reboot to single-user mode.
6 Upgrade your operating system.
9 Run upgrade_finish.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-24
10 Reboot to multiuser mode.

VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-24
Upgrading Solaris Only
Prepare for the Upgrade

1 If the boot disk is mirrored, detach the mirror.
2 Check the alignment of volumes on the boot disk to ensure that at least one
plex for each of those volumes is formed from a single subdisk that begins on a
cylinder boundary. The upgrade scripts automatically convert file systems on
volumes back to using regular disk partitions, as necessary. If the upgrade
scripts detect any problems (such as lack of cylinder alignment), an
explanation of the problem is displayed, and the upgrade does not proceed.
3 If you plan to install any documentation or manual pages, ensure that the /opt
directory exists, is writable, and is not a symbolic link. The volumes that are
not converted by the upgrade_start script will not be available during the
upgrade process. If you have a symbolic link from /opt to one of the
unconverted volumes, the symbolic link will not function during the upgrade
and items in /opt will not be installed.
Perform the Upgrade

1 Bring the system down to single-user mode.
2 Load and mount the VERITAS CD-ROM, and locate the scripts directory.
# ./upgrade_start

5 Reboot to single user mode.
6 Upgrade your operating system. Refer to your OS installation documentation
to install the operating system and any required patches.
9 Complete the upgrade by running the upgrade_finish script:
# ./upgrade_finish
10 Reboot to multiuser mode.

Upgrading VxVM and the OS
To prepare:
1 Install license keys if needed.
2 Detach any boot disk mirrors.
3 Check alignment of boot disk volumes.
4 Ensure that /opt is not a symbolic link.
To remove old version:

1 Bring system to single-user mode. 4 Run upgrade_start.
2 Load VERITAS CD-ROM. 5 Reboot to single-user mode.
3 Check for upgrade issues. 6 Remove VxVM packages.
To install new version:

1 Reboot to single-user mode. 5 Add new licensing and
VxVM packages.
2 Upgrade your operating system.
6 Run upgrade_finish.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-25
7 Perform reconfiguration reboot.
8 Add additional packages.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-25
Upgrading VxVM and Your Operating System
Prepare for the Upgrade

1 If you are upgrading VxVM from a version earlier than 3.0.2, you must obtain
and install a VxVM license key.
2 If the boot disk is mirrored, detach the mirror.
3 Check the alignment of volumes on the boot disk.
4 If you plan to install any documentation or manual pages, ensure that the /opt
directory exists, is writable, and is not a symbolic link.
Remove the Old Packages

1 Bring the system down to single-user mode.
# ./upgrade_start
6 Remove the old VxVM package and other related VxVM packages.
Note: Do not remove the VRTSvmsa package if you still have clients running
old versions of VxVM.

Upgrade the Operating System and VxVM
2 Upgrade your operating system. Refer to your OS installation documentation
to install the operating system and any required patches.
4 Load and mount the VERITAS CD-ROM.
5 Locate the directory that contains the VxVM packages and add the new VxVM
licensing and software packages by using an operating system-specific
package installation command.
6 Locate the scripts directory, and complete the upgrade by running the
upgrade_finish script:
# ./upgrade_finish
7 Perform a reconfiguration reboot.
8 Install any additional packages by using by using an operating system-specific
package installation command.

After Upgrading
After completing the upgrade and rebooting:
1. Confirm that key VxVM processes (vxconfigd,
vxnotify, and vxrelocd) are running by using the
command:
# ps -ef | grep vx
2. Verify the existence of the boot disk’s volumes:
# vxprint -ht
Note: To perform an upgrade without using the upgrade scripts,
you can use vxunroot to convert volumes back to partitions.
For more information, see the VERITAS Volume Manager
Installation Guide and visit http://support.veritas.com.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-26
After Upgrading
After completing the upgrade and rebooting, confirm the following:
1 Confirm that key VxVM processes (vxconfigd, vxnotify, and
vxrelocd) are running by using the command:
# ps -ef | grep vx
2 Verify the existence of the boot disk’s volumes by using vxprint:
# vxprint -ht
At this point, your preupgrade configuration is in effect, and any file systems
previously defined on volumes are defined and mounted.
Note: If you prefer to perform an upgrade without using the upgrade_start
and upgrade_finish scripts, you can use the vxunroot command to convert
volumes back to partitions. See the VERITAS Volume Manager Installation Guide
and visit http://support.veritas.com for more information.

Upgrading VxFS
To upgrade VxFS, follow this sequence:
1. Unmount any mounted VERITAS file systems.
2. Remove old VxFS packages.
3. Comment out VxFS file systems in the file system table file,
then reboot to flush VxFS kernel hooks.
4. Upgrade the OS if necessary for VxFS version compatibility.
5. Add the new VxFS packages.
6. Undo any changes made to the file system table file.
7. Reboot.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-27
Upgrading to a New VxFS Version

You must uninstall any previous version of the VRTSvxfs package before
installing a new version. You do not need to remove existing VERITAS file
systems, but all of them must remain unmounted throughout the upgrade process.
Before upgrading, ensure that the new version of VxFS is compatible with the
operating system version you are running.
1 Unmount any mounted VERITAS file system. You cannot remove the
VRTSvxfs package if any VERITAS file system remains mounted.
2 Remove all VxFS packages. Remove the optional packages before the
VRTSvxfs package. If you are upgrading from versions VxFS 3.3.3 or earlier,
then you may also need to remove the VRTSqio and VRTSqlog packages.
3 If you have VxFS file systems specified in the file system table file, comment
them out, and then reboot to flush VxFS kernel hooks still in RAM to avoid
possible system panics.
4 If the new version of VxFS is not compatible with the operating system version
you are running, upgrade the operating system. Refer to your OS installation
documentation for instructions on how to upgrade your OS.
5 Install the new version of VxFS by following standard installation procedures.
Mount the VERITAS CD-ROM and add the VxFS packages of the new version
using the package installation command for your operating system.
6 Undo the changes that you made to the file system table file.
7 Reboot the system to mount any VxFS file systems.

Summary
• Place the boot disk under VxVM control.
• Create an alternate boot disk by mirroring the boot
disk that is under VxVM control.
• Remove the boot disk from VxVM control.
• Upgrade to a new VxVM version.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-28
Summary
This lesson described the disk encapsulation process and how to encapsulate the
boot disk on your system. Methods for creating an alternate boot disk and
unencapsulating a boot disk were covered.
Next Steps
The next lesson introduces basic recovery operations.
Volume Manager.
This guide provides information on installing and initializing VxVM and the
VERITAS Enterprise Administrator graphical user interface.

Lab 7
Lab 7: Encapsulation and Rootability
• In this lab, you place the boot disk under VxVM
control, create a boot disk mirror, disable the boot
disk, and boot up from the mirror.
• Then, you boot up again from the boot disk, break
the mirror, and remove the boot disk from the boot
disk group.
• Finally, you reencapsulate the boot disk and
re-create the mirror.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 7-29

To Begin This Lab


Lesson 8
Recovery Essentials
Overview
Recovery Essentials
Configuring Volumes
Creating Volumes
Virtual Objects
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-2
Introduction
Overview
This lesson introduces basic recovery concepts and techniques. This lesson
describes how data consistency is maintained after a system crash and how hot
relocation restores redundancy to failed VxVM objects. This lesson also describes
how to manage spare disks, replace a failed disk, and recover a volume.
Importance
VxVM protects systems from disk failures and helps you to recover from disk
failures. You can use the techniques discussed in this lesson to recover from a
variety of disk- and volume-related problems that may occur.

Objectives
• Describe mirror resynchronization processes.
• Describe the hot-relocation process.
• Manage spare disks.
• Replace a failed disk.
• Return relocated subdisks back to their original
disk.
• Recover a volume.
• Describe tasks used to protect the VxVM
configuration.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-3
Outline of Topics
• Maintaining Data Consistency
• Hot Relocation
• Managing Spare Disks
• Replacing a Disk
• Unrelocating a Disk
• Recovering a Volume
• Protecting the VxVM Configuration
Lesson 8 Recovery Essentials 8–3

Resynchronization
Resynchronization is the process of ensuring that, after a
system crash:
• All mirrors in a volume contain exactly the same data.
• Data and parity in RAID-5 volumes agree.
Crash
Crash Did
Didall
allwrites
writes
complete?
complete?
Do
Doall
allmirrors
mirrors
Writes
Writes contain
containthe
the Resynchronize
Resynchronize
same
samedata?
data?
Types of mirror resynchronization:

• Atomic-copy resynchronization
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-4
• Read-writeback resynchronization
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-4
Maintaining Data Consistency

What Is Resynchronization?
Resynchronization is the process of ensuring that, after a system crash:
• All mirrors in mirrored volumes contain exactly the same data.
• Data and parity in RAID-5 volumes agree.
Data is written to the mirrors of a volume in parallel. If a system crash occurs
before all the individual writes complete, some writes may complete while other
writes do not. This can cause two reads from the same region of the volume to
return different results if different mirrors are used to satisfy the read request. In
the case of RAID-5 volumes, it can lead to parity corruption and incorrect data
reconstruction. VxVM uses volume resynchronization processes to ensure that all
copies of the data match exactly.
VxVM records when a volume is first written to and marks it as dirty. When a
volume is closed by all processes or stopped cleanly by the administrator, all
writes have been completed, and the Volume Manager removes the dirty flag for
the volume. Only volumes that are marked dirty when the system reboots require
resynchronization.
Not all volumes require resynchronization after a system failure. Volumes that
were never written or that had no active I/O when the system failure occurred do
not require resynchronization.

Atomic-Copy Resynchronization
Atomic-copy resynchronization involves the
sequential writing of all blocks of a volume to a plex.
This type of resynchronization is used in:
• Adding a new plex (mirror)
• Reattaching a detached plex (mirror) to a volume
• Online reconfiguration operations:
– Moving a plex
– Copying a plex
– Creating a snapshot
– Moving a subdisk
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-5
Atomic-Copy Resynchronization
Atomic-copy resynchronization refers to the sequential writing of all blocks of the
volume to a plex. This operation is used anytime a new mirror is added to a
volume, or an existing mirror is in stale mode and has to be resynchronized.
Atomic-Copy Resynchronization Process

1 The plex being copied to is set to a write-only state.
2 A read thread is started on the whole volume. (Every block is read internally.)
3 Blocks are written from the “good” plex to the stale or new plex.

Read-Writeback Resynchronization
Read-writeback resynchronization is used for
volumes that were fully mirrored prior to a system
failure.
This type of resynchronization involves:
• Mirrors marked ACTIVE remain ACTIVE, and volume
is placed in the SYNC state.
• An internal read thread is started. Blocks are read
from the plex specified in the read policy, and the
data is written to the other plexes.
• Upon completion, the SYNC flag is turned off.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-6
Read-Writeback Resynchronization
Read-writeback resynchronization is a process where two or more plexes have the
same data, but there may have been outstanding writes to the volume when the
system crashed.
Because the application must ensure that all writes are completed, the application
must fix any writes that are not completed. The responsibility of VxVM is to
guarantee that the mirrors have the same data.
• A database (as an application) usually does this by writing the original data
back to the disk.
• A file system checks to ensure that all of its structures are intact. The
applications using the file system must do their own checking.
Read-Writeback Resynchronization Process

1 All plexes that were ACTIVE at the time of the crash have the volume’s data,
and each plex is set to the ACTIVE state again, but the volume is placed in the
SYNC state (or NEEDSYNC).
2 An internal read thread is started to read the entire volume, and blocks are read
from whatever plex is in the read policy and are written back to the other
plexes.
3 When the resynchronization process is complete, the SYNC flag is turned off
(set to ACTIVE).
User-initiated reads are also written to the other plexes in the volume but otherwise
have no effect on the internal read thread.

Impact of Resynchronization
Resynchronization takes time and impacts
performance.
To minimize this performance impact, VxVM has
the following solutions:
• Dirty region logging for mirrored volumes
• RAID-5 logging for RAID-5 volumes
• FastResync for mirrored and snapshot volumes
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-7
Minimizing the Impact of Resynchronization

The process of resynchronization can impact system performance and can take
time. To minimize the performance impact of resynchronization, VxVM provides:
• Dirty region logging for mirrored volumes
• RAID-5 logging for RAID-5 volumes
• FastResync for mirrored and snapshot volumes

• For mirrored volumes with logging enabled, DRL speeds plex
resynchronization. Only regions that are dirty need to be
resynchronized after a crash.
• VxVM selects an appropriate log size based on volume size.
The log is relatively small compared to the size of the volume:
Volume Size Default Log Size
Less than 1 GB 16K
1 GB to 4 GB 33K
4 GB to 6 GB 49K
6 GB to 9 GB 82K
9 GB to 12 GB 99K
... ...
• If you resize a volume, the log size does not change. To resize
the log, you must delete the log and add it back after resizing
the volume.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-8

You were introduced to dirty region logging (DRL) when you created a volume
with a log. This section describes how dirty region logging works.
How Does DRL Work?

DRL logically divides a volume into a set of consecutive regions and keeps track
of the regions to which writes occur. A log is maintained that contains a status bit
representing each region of the volume. For any write operation to the volume, the
regions being written are marked dirty in the log before the data is written.
If a write causes a log region to become dirty when it was previously clean, the log
is synchronously written to disk before the write operation can occur. On system
restart, VxVM recovers only those regions of the volume that are marked as dirty
in the dirty region log.
Log subdisks store the dirty region log of a volume that has DRL enabled.
• Only one log subdisk can exist per plex.
• Multiple log subdisks can be used to mirror the dirty region log.
• If a plex contains a log subdisk and no data subdisks, it is called a log plex.
Only a limited number of bits can be marked dirty in the log at any time. The dirty
bit for a region is not cleared immediately after writing the data to the region.
Instead, it remains marked as dirty until the corresponding volume region becomes
the least recently used.

Volume
DRL Before a Crash
0
Region 1 0 1 2 3 ...
Active
2 0010000… 00100…000…000010 Bitmap
3
… 0 1 2 3 ...
Recovery
0000000… 00000…000…000000 Bitmap
DRL After a Crash

0
1 0 1 2 3 ...
Active
2 0000000… 00000…000…000000
3 Bitmap
… 0 1 2 3 ...
0010000… 00100…000…000010 Recovery
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 Bitmap 8-9
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-9
Dirty Region Log Size

VxVM selects an appropriate dirty region log size based on the volume size.
In the dirty region log:
• A small number of bytes of the DRL is reserved for internal use. The
remaining bytes are used for the DRL bitmap.
– The bytes are divided into two bitmaps: an active bitmap and a recovery
bitmap.
– Each bit in the active bitmap maps to a single region of the volume.
• A maximum of 2048 dirty regions per system is allowed by default.
How the Bitmaps Are Used in Dirty Region Logging

Both bitmaps are zeroed when the volume is started initially, after a clean
shutdown. As regions transition to dirty, the log is flushed before the writes to the
volume occur.
If the system crashes, the active map is OR’d with the recovery map.
• Mirror resynchronization is now limited to the dirty bits in the recovery map.
• The active map is simultaneously reset, and normal volume I/O is permitted.
Utilization of two bitmaps in this fashion allows VxVM to handle multiple system
crashes.

RAID-5 Logging
• For RAID-5 volumes, logging helps to prevent data
corruption during recovery.
• RAID-5 logging records changes to data and parity
on a persistent device (log disk) before committing
the changes to the RAID-5 volume.
• Logs are associated with a RAID-5 volume by being
attached as log plexes.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-10
RAID-5 Logging
Dirty region logging is used for mirrored volumes only. RAID-5 volumes use
RAID-5 logs to keep a copy of the data and parity currently being written. You
were introduced to RAID-5 logging when you created a volume with a log.
Without logging, data not involved in any active writes can be lost or silently
corrupted if both a disk in a RAID-5 volume and the system fail. If this double-
failure occurs, there is no way of knowing if the data being written to the data
portions of the disks or the parity being written to the parity portions have actually
been written.
RAID-5 logging is used to prevent corruption of data during recovery by
immediately recording changes to data and parity to a log area on a persistent
device (such as a disk-resident volume or nonvolatile RAM). The new data and
parity are then written to disk.
Logs are associated with a RAID-5 volume by being attached as log plexes. More
than one log plex can exist for each RAID-5 volume, in which case the log areas
are mirrored.

What Is Hot Relocation?
Hot Relocation: System automatically reacts to I/O
failures on redundant VxVM objects and restores
redundancy to those objects by relocating affected
subdisks.
Spare Disks
VM Disks
Subdisks are relocated to disks designated as

spare disks or to free space in the disk group.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-11
Hot Relocation
What Is Hot Relocation?
Hot relocation is a feature of VxVM that enables a system to automatically react to
I/O failures on redundant (mirrored or RAID-5) VxVM objects and restore
redundancy and access to those objects. VxVM detects I/O failures on objects and
relocates the affected subdisks. The subdisks are relocated to disks designated as
spare disks or to free space within the disk group. VxVM then reconstructs the
objects that existed before the failure and makes them redundant and accessible
again.
Partial Disk Failure

When a partial disk failure occurs (that is, a failure affecting only some subdisks
on a disk), redundant data on the failed portion of the disk is relocated. Existing
volumes on the unaffected portions of the disk remain accessible. With partial disk
failure, the disk is not removed from VxVM control and is labeled as FAILING,
rather than as FAILED. Before removing a FAILING disk for replacement, you
must evacuate any remaining volumes on the disk.
Note: Hot relocation is only performed for redundant (mirrored or RAID-5)
subdisks on a failed disk. Nonredundant subdisks on a failed disk are not relocated,
but the system administrator is notified of the failure.

Hot-Relocation Process
Volumes
Spare Disks
1
VM Disks
3
1. vxrelocddetects
1.vxrelocd detectsdisk
diskfailure.
failure.
2.
2.Administrator
Administratoris
isnotified
notifiedbybye-mail.
e-mail.
3.
3.Subdisks
Subdisksare
arerelocated
relocatedtotoaaspare.
spare. 2
4.
4.Volume
Volumerecovery
recoveryisisattempted.
attempted.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115
Administrator 8-12
How Does Hot Relocation Work?

The hot-relocation feature is enabled by default. No system administrator action is
needed to start hot relocation when a failure occurs.
The vxrelocd daemon starts during system startup and monitors VxVM for
failures involving disks, plexes, or RAID-5 subdisks. When a failure occurs,
vxrelocd triggers a hot-relocation attempt and notifies the system administrator,
through e-mail, of failures and any relocation and recovery actions.
The vxrelocd daemon is started from the S95vxvm-recover file. The
argument to vxrelocd is the list of people to e-mail notice of a relocation
(default is root). To disable vxrelocd, you can place a “#” in front of the line in
the S95vxvm-recover file.
A successful hot-relocation process involves:
• Failure detection: Detecting the failure of a disk, plex, or RAID-5 subdisk
• Notification: Notifying the system administrator and other designated users
and identifying the affected Volume Manager objects
• Relocation: Determining which subdisks can be relocated, finding space for
those subdisks in the disk group, and relocating the subdisks (The system
administrator is notified of the success or failure of these actions. Hot
relocation does not guarantee the same layout of data or the same performance
after relocation.)
• Recovery: Initiating recovery procedures, if necessary, to restore the volumes
and data (Again, the system administrator is notified of the recovery attempt.)
For more information, see the vxrelocd(1m) manual page.

How Is Space Selected?
• Hot relocation attempts to move all subdisks from a
failing drive to a single spare destination disk.
• If there is not enough spare disk space, a
combination of spare disk space and free space is
used.
• If no disks have been designated as spares, VxVM
uses any available free space in the disk group in
which the failure occurs.
• Free space that you exclude from hot relocation is
not used.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-13
How Is Space Selected for Relocation?

When relocating subdisks, VxVM attempts to select a destination disk with the
fewest differences from the failed disk:
1 Attempt to relocate to the same controller, target, and device as the failed drive.
2 Attempt to relocate to the same controller and target, but to a different device.
3 Attempt to relocate to the same controller, but to any target and any device.
4 Attempt to relocate to a different controller.
5 Potentially scatter the subdisks to different disks.
A spare disk must be initialized and placed in a disk group as a spare before it can
be used for replacement purposes.
• Hot relocation attempts to move all subdisks from a failing drive to a single
spare destination disk, if possible.
• If no disks have been designated as spares, VxVM automatically uses any
available free space in the disk group not currently on a disk used by the
volume.
• If there is not enough spare disk space, a combination of spare disk space and
free space is used. Free space that you exclude from hot relocation is not used.
In all cases, hot relocation attempts to relocate subdisks to a spare in the same disk
group, which is physically closest to the failing or failed disk.
When hot relocation occurs, the failed subdisk is removed from the configuration
database. The disk space used by the failed subdisk is not recycled as free space.

Managing Spare Disks
VEA:
Actions—>Set Disk Usage
vxdiskadm:
• “Mark a disk as a spare for a disk group”
• “Turn off the spare flag on a disk”
• “Exclude a disk from hot-relocation use”
• “Make a disk available for hot-relocation use”
CLI:
To designate a disk as a spare:
vxedit -g diskgroup set spare=on|off dm_name
To exclude/include a disk for hot relocation:
vxedit -g diskgroup set nohotuse=on|off dm_name
To force hot relocation to only use spare disks:
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-14
Add spare=only to /etc/default/vxassist
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-14
Managing Spare Disks

When you add a disk to a disk group, you can specify that the disk be added to the
pool of spare disks available to the hot relocation feature of VxVM. Any disk in
the same disk group can use the spare disk. Try to provide at least one hot-
relocation spare disk per disk group. While designated as a spare, a disk is not used
in creating volumes unless you specifically name the disk on the command line.
Managing Spare Disks: VEA
Select: An initialized disk

Navigation path: Actions—>Set Disk Usage
Input: Turn disk usage tags on or off:
Spare: Designates the disk as a hot relocation spare
No hot use: Excludes the disk from hot relocation use
Reserved: Designates the disk as a reserved disk. A reserved disk
is not considered part of the free space pool.
Reserved for Allocator: Designates the disk to be used for the
Intelligent Storage Provisioning (ISP) feature of VxVM
Managing Spare Disks: vxdiskadm

Using vxdiskadm, you can set up the disk as a spare disk when you add a disk to
a disk group. Alternatively, you can select the “Mark a disk as a spare for a disk
group” option in the main menu. When prompted, enter the name of the disk to be
marked as a spare.

To remove the spare designation from a disk, select the “Turn off the spare flag on
a disk” option in the main menu.
To exclude a disk from hot-relocation use, select the “Exclude a disk from hot-
relocation use” option.
If a disk was previously excluded from hot-relocation use, you can undo the
exclusion and add the disk back to the hot-relocation pool by selecting the “Make a
disk available for hot-relocation use” option in the main menu.
Managing Spare Disks: CLI

To set up a disk as a spare:
vxedit -g diskgroup set spare=on disk_media_name
Note: A disk with the spare flag set is used only for hot relocation. Subsequent
vxassist commands do not allocate a subdisk on that disk, unless you explicitly
specify the disk in the argument of a vxassist command.
To remove the spare designation for a disk:
vxedit -g diskgroup set spare=off disk_media_name
To exclude a disk from hot-relocation use:
vxedit -g diskgroup set nohotuse=on disk_media_name
To make a previously excluded disk available for hot relocation:
vxedit -g diskgroup set nohotuse=off disk_media_name
You can force the hot-relocation feature to use only the disks marked as spare by
adding the flag spare=only into the /etc/default/vxassist file.
To display how much free space is on the spare disks in a disk group:
# vxdg spare
A spare disk is not the same as a reserved disk. You can reserve a set of disks for
special purposes, such as to avoid general use of a particularly slow or a
particularly fast disk. To reserve a disk for special purposes, you use the command:
# vxedit set reserve=on diskname
After you type this command, vxassist does not allocate space from the
selected disk unless that disk is specifically mentioned on the vxassist
command line. For example, if disk disk03 is reserved, the command:
# vxassist make vol03 20m disk03
overrides the reservation and creates a 20-MB volume on disk03. However:
# vxassist make vol04 20m
does not use disk03, even if there is no free space on any other disk.
To turn off reservation of a disk, you type:
# vxedit set reserve=off diskname

Disk Replacement Tasks
1 Physical Replacement
Replace corrupt disk with
a new disk.
2 Logical Replacement
• Replace the disk in VxVM. Volume
• Start disabled volumes.

Volume
• Resynchronize mirrors.
• Resynchronize RAID-5 parity.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-15
Replacing a Disk
Disk Replacement Tasks
Replacing a failed or corrupted disk involves both physically replacing the disk
and then logically replacing the disk and recovering volumes in VxVM:
• Disk replacement: When a disk fails, you replace the corrupt disk with a new
disk. The disk used to replace the failed disk must be either an uninitialized
disk or a disk in the free disk pool. The replacement disk cannot already be in a
disk group. If you want to use a disk that exists in another disk group, then you
must remove the disk from the disk group and place it back into the free disk
pool before you can use it as the replacement disk.
• Volume recovery: When a disk fails and is removed for replacement, the plex
on the failed disk is disabled, until the disk is replaced. Volume recovery
involves starting disabled volumes, resynchronizing mirrors, and
resynchronizing RAID-5 parity.
After successful recovery, the volume is available for use again. Redundant
(mirrored or RAID-5) volumes can be recovered by VxVM. Nonredundant
(unmirrored) volumes must be restored from backup.
Note: This lesson only discusses disks that have failed completely. When hot
relocation takes place, VxVM removes the disk from VxVM control and marks the
disk as FAILED. Partial disk failure, that is, disks marked with a status of
FAILING, is covered in another lesson.

Physically Replacing a Disk
1. Connect the new disk.
2. Ensure that the operating system recognizes the disk.
3. Get VxVM to recognize the disk:
# vxdctl enable
4. Verify that VxVM recognizes the disk:
# vxdisk list
Note: In VEA, use Actions—>Rescan to run disk setup

commands appropriate for the OS and ensure that VxVM
recognizes newly attached hardware.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-16
Adding a New Disk

1 Connect the new disk.
2 Get the operating system to recognize the disk:
Platform OS-Specific Commands to Recognize a Disk

Solaris # devfsadm
# prtvtoc /dev/dsk/device_name
HP-UX # ioscan -fC disk
# insf -e
AIX # cfgmgr
# lsdev -C -l device_name
Linux On Linux, a reboot is required to recognize a new disk.
3 Get VxVM to recognize that a failed disk is now working again:

# vxdctl enable
4 Verify that VxVM recognizes the disk:
# vxdisk list
After the operating system and VxVM recognize the new disk, you can then use
the disk as a replacement disk.
Note: In VEA, use the Actions—>Rescan option to run disk setup commands
appropriate for the operating system. This option ensures that VxVM recognizes
newly attached hardware.

Logically Replacing a Disk
VEA:
• Select the disk to be replaced.
• Select Actions—>Replace Disk.
vxdiskadm:
“Replace a failed or removed disk”
CLI:
vxdg -k -g diskgroup adddisk disk_name=device_name
The -k option forces VxVM to take the disk media name of
the failed disk and assign it to the new disk. Use with caution.
Example:
# vxdg -k -g datadg adddisk datadg01=c1t1d0s2
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-17
Replacing a Disk: VEA
Select: The disk to be replaced

Navigation path: Actions—>Replace Disk
Input: Select the disk to be used as the new (replacement) disk.
VxVM replaces the disk and attempts to recover volumes.
Replacing a Failed Disk: vxdiskadm

To replace a disk that has already failed or that has already been removed, you
select the “Replace a failed or removed disk” option. This process creates a public
and private region on the new disk and populates the private region with the disk
media name of the failed disk.
Replacing a Disk: CLI

Assuming that hot relocation has already removed the failed disk, to replace a
failed disk from the command line, you add the new disk in its place:
vxdg -k -g diskgroup adddisk disk_name=device_name
The -k switch forces VxVM to take the disk media name of the failed disk and
assign it to the new disk.
For example, if the failed disk datadg01 in the datadg disk group was
removed, and you want to add the new device c1t1d0s2 as the replacement disk:
# vxdg -k -g datadg adddisk datadg01=c1t1d0s2

Unrelocating a Disk
VEA:
• Select the disk to be unrelocated.
• Select Actions—>Undo Hot Relocation.
vxdiskadm:
“Unrelocate subdisks back to a disk”
CLI:
vxunreloc [-f] [-g diskgroup] [-t tasktag]
[-n disk_name] orig_disk_name
• orig_disk_name Original disk before relocation
• -n disk_name Unrelocates to a disk other
than the original
• -f Forces unrelocation if exact
offsets are not possible
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-18
Unrelocating a Disk
The vxunreloc Utility
The hot-relocation feature detects I/O failures in a subdisk, relocates the subdisk,
and recovers the plex associated with the subdisk.
VxVM also provides a utility that unrelocates a disk—that is, moves relocated
subdisks back to their original disk. After hot relocation moves subdisks from a
failed disk to other disks, you can return the relocated subdisks to their original
disk locations after the original disk is repaired or replaced.
Unrelocation is performed using the vxunreloc utility, which restores the system
to the same configuration that existed before a disk failure caused subdisks to be
relocated.
Unrelocating a Disk: VEA
Select: The original disk that contained the subdisks before hot relocation
Navigation path: Actions—>Undo Hot Relocation
Note: This option is only available after hot relocation or hot
sparing has occurred.
Input: Select the disk that contained the subdisks before relocation
occurred
Note: It is not possible to return relocated subdisks to their original disks if their
disk group’s relocation information has been cleared.

Unrelocating a Disk: vxdiskadm
To unrelocate a disk using the vxdiskadm interface, select the “Unrelocate
subdisks back to a disk” option in the main menu. When prompted, specify the
disk media name of the original disk—that is, where the hot-relocated subdisks
originally resided. Next, if you do not want to unrelocate the subdisks to the
original disk, you can select a new destination disk. If moving subdisks to the
original offsets is not possible, you can also choose the “force option” to
unrelocate the subdisks to the specified disk, but not necessarily to the exact
original offsets.
Unrelocating a Disk: CLI

vxunreloc [-f] [-g diskgroup] [-t tasktag] [-n disk_name]
orig_disk_name
• orig_disk_name is the disk where the relocated subdisks originally resided.
• -n disk_name unrelocates to a disk other than the original disk. Use this
option to specify a new disk media name.
• -f is used if unrelocating to the original disk using the same offsets is not
possible. This option forces unrelocation to different offsets.
Viewing Relocated Subdisks: CLI

When a subdisk is hot-relocated, its original disk media name is stored in the
sd_orig_dmname field of the subdisk record files. You can search this field to
find all the subdisks that originated from a failed disk using the vxprint
command:
vxprint -g diskgroup -se ‘sd_orig_dmname=”disk_name”’
For example, to display all the subdisks that were hot-relocated from datadg01
within the datadg disk group:
# vxprint -g datadg -se ‘sd_orig_dmname=”datadg01”’

Recovering a Volume
VEA:
• Select the volume to be recovered.
• Select Actions—>Recover Volume.
CLI:
vxreattach [-bcr] [device_tag]
• Reattaches disks to a disk group if disk has a transient failure,
such as when a drive is turned off and then turned back on
• -r attempts to recover stale plexes using vxrecover.
vxrecover [-bnpsvV] [-g diskgroup]

[volume_name|disk_name]
# vxrecover -b -g datadg datavol
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-19
Recovering a Volume
Recovering a Volume: VEA
Select: The volume to be recovered

Navigation path: Actions—>Recover Volume
Input: When prompted, confirm that you want to recover the specified
volume.
The vxreattach Command

The vxreattach utility reattaches disks to a disk group and retains the same
media name. This command attempts to find the name of the drive in the private
region and to match it to a disk media record that is missing a disk access record.
This operation may be necessary if a disk has a transient failure—for example, if a
drive is turned off and then back on, or if the Volume Manager starts with some
disk drivers unloaded and unloadable.
vxreattach [-bcr] [device_tag]
• -b performs the reattach operation in the background.
• -c checks to determine if a reattach is possible. No operation is performed, but
the disk group name and the disk media name at which the disk can be
reattached are displayed.
• -r attempts to recover stale plexes of any volumes on the failed disk by
invoking vxrecover.

The vxrecover Command
To perform volume recovery operations from the command line, you use the
vxrecover command. The vxrecover program performs plex attach, RAID-5
subdisk recovery, and resynchronize operations for specified volumes
(volume_name), or for volumes residing on specified disks (disk_name). You
can run vxrecover any time to resynchronize mirrors.
Note: The vxrecover command only works on a started volume. A started
volume displays an ENABLED state in vxprint -ht.
Recovery operations are started in an order that prevents two concurrent
operations from involving the same disk. Operations that involve unrelated disks
run in parallel.
vxrecover [-bnpsvV] -g diskgroup [volume_name|disk_name]
• -b performs recovery operations in the background. If used with -s, then
volumes are started before recovery begins in the background.
• -n does not perform any recovery operations. If used with -s, then volumes
are started, but no other actions are taken. If used with -p, then the only action
of vxrecover is to print a list of startable volumes.
• -p prints the list of selected volumes that are startable
• -s starts disabled volumes that are selected by the operation. With -s and -n,
volumes are started, but no other recovery takes place.
• -v displays information about each task started by vxrecover. For recovery
operations (as opposed to start operations), prints a completion status when
each task completes. The -V option displays more detailed information.
Examples
After replacing the failed disk datadg01 in the datadg disk group, and adding
the new disk c1t1d0s2 in its place, you can attempt to recover the volume
datavol:
# vxrecover -bs -g datadg datavol
To recover, in the background, any detached subdisks or plexes that resulted from
replacement of the disk datadg01 in the datadg disk group:
# vxrecover -b -g datadg datadg01
To monitor the operations during the recovery, you add the -v option:
# vxrecover -v -g datadg datadg01

Configuration Backup and Restore
engdg engdg engdg
vol01 vol01 vol01
Back Up Precommit Commit
vxconfigbackup diskgroup
vxconfigrestore -p diskgroup
vxconfigrestore -c diskgroup
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-20
Disk
Protecting the VxVM Configuration

The disk group configuration backup and restoration feature enables you to back
up and restore all configuration data for disk groups, and for volumes that are
configured within the disk groups. The vxconfigbackupd daemon monitors
changes to the VxVM configuration and automatically records any configuration
changes that occur.
The vxconfigbackup utility is provided for backing up and restoring a VxVM
configuration for a disk group.
The vxconfigrestore utility is provided for restoring the configuration. The
restoration process has two stages: precommit and commit. In the precommit
stage, you can examine the configuration of the disk group that would be restored
from the backup. The actual disk group configuration is not permanently restored
until you choose to commit the changes.
By default, VxVM configuration data is automatically backed up to the files:
• /etc/vx/cbr/bk/diskgroup.dgid/dgid.dginfo
• /etc/vx/cbr/bk/diskgroup.dgid/dgid.diskinfo
• /etc/vx/cbr/bk/diskgroup.dgid/dgid.binconfig
• /etc/vx/cbr/bk/diskgroup.dgid/dgid.cfgrec
Configuration data from a backup enables you to reinstall private region headers of
VxVM disks in a disk group, re-create a corrupted disk group configuration, or re-
create a disk group and the VxVM objects within it. You can also use the

configuration data to re-create the disk group on another system. However,
restoration of a disk group configuration requires that the same physical disks are
used as were configured in the disk group when the backup was taken.
Backing Up a Disk Group Configuration

To manually back up a disk group configuration:
# vxconfigbackup diskgroup
To back up all disk group configurations:
# vxconfigbackup
Restoring a Disk Group Configuration

To perform a precommit analysis of the state of a disk group configuration and
reinstall corrupted disk headers:
# vxconfigrestore -p [-l directory] diskgroup
directory is the location of the backup configuration files, if other than the
default location. The disk group can be specified by either the disk group name or
disk group ID. If disks have been replaced and conflicting backups exist for a disk
group, you should use the disk group ID to identify the disk group in the
command.
To specify that disk headers not be reinstalled at the precommit stage:
# vxconfigrestore -n [-l directory] diskgroup
To abandon restoration at the precommit stage:
# vxconfigrestore -d [-l directory] diskgroup
To commit changes required to restore the disk group configuration:
# vxconfigrestore -c [-l directory] diskgroup

Summary
• Describe mirror resynchronization processes.
• Describe the hot-relocation process.
• Manage spare disks.
• Replace a failed disk.
• Return relocated subdisks back to their original
disk.
• Recover a volume.
• Describe tasks used to protect the VxVM
configuration.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-21
Summary
This lesson introduced basic recovery concepts and techniques. This lesson
described how data consistency is maintained after a system crash and how hot
relocation restores redundancy to failed VxVM objects. This lesson also described
how to manage spare disks, replace a failed disk, and recover a volume.
Volume Manager.
Administrator

Lab 8
Lab 8: Recovery Essentials
• In this lab, you perform a variety of basic recovery
operations.
VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 8-22

To Begin This Lab

Appendix A
Lab Exercises
Lab 1: Introducing the Lab Environment
Introduction
In this lab, you are introduced to the lab environment, the systems, and disks that
you will use throughout this course. You will also record some prerequisite
information that will prepare you for the installation of VxVM and the labs that
follow throughout this course.
Lab Environment Introduction

The instructor will describe the classroom environment, review the configuration
and layout of the systems, and assign disks for you to use. The content of this
activity depends on the type of classroom, hardware, and the operating system(s)
deployed.
Lab Prerequisites
Record the following information to be provided by your instructor:
root password
Host name
My Boot Disk:
My Data Disks:
Location of VERITAS
Volume Manager packages:
Location of VERITAS File

System packages:
Location of Lab Scripts

(if any):
Location of VERITAS
Storage Foundation license
keys:
A–2 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Introduction
In this exercise, you add the VxVM packages, install VERITAS Volume Manager,
and install VERITAS File System. You also explore the VxVM user interfaces,
including the VERITAS Enterprise Administrator interface, the vxdiskadm
menu interface, and the command line interface.
Preinstallation
1 Determine if there are any VRTS packages currently installed on your system.
2 Before installing VxVM, save the following important system files into backup
files named with a “.preVM” extension. Also, save your boot disk
information to a file for later use (do not store the file in /tmp). You may need
the boot disk information when you bring the boot disk under VxVM control in
a later lab.
3 Are any VERITAS license keys installed on your system? Check for installed
licenses.
Installing VERITAS Volume Manager

1 Navigate to the directory containing the VxVM installation script. Ask your
instructor for the location of the script. Using the VERITAS Volume Manager
installation script, run a precheck to determine if your system meets all
preinstallation requirements. If any requirements are not met, follow the
instructions to take any required actions before you continue.
2 Using the VERITAS Volume Manager installation script, install and perform
initial configuration of VxVM. During the installation:
– If you do not have Storage Foundation licenses on your system, install
licenses when prompted. Your instructor will provide licensing
information.
– Install all optional and required packages.
– Do not use enclosure-based naming.
– Do not set a default disk group.
– Start VxVM.
3 Check in /.profile to ensure that the following paths are present.

Note: This may be done in the jumpstart of your system prior to this lab, but
the paths may need to be added after a normal install.
# PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/vxvm/bin:/opt/VRTSob/bin:
/usr/sbin
# MANPATH=$MANPATH:/opt/VRTS/man
# export PATH MANPATH
Appendix A Lab Exercises A–3

Installing VERITAS File System
1 Navigate to the directory containing the VxFS installation script. Ask your
instructor for the location of the script. Using the VERITAS File System
installation script, install the VERITAS File System software and
documentation on your system.
2 Reboot the system.
3 Check in /.profile to ensure that the following paths are present on your
system.
/opt/VRTS/bin
/opt/VRTSvxfs/sbin
Setting Up VERITAS Enterprise Administrator

1 Is the VEA server running? If not, start it.
2 Start the VEA graphical user interface.
Note: On some systems, you may need to configure the system to use the
appropriate display. For example, if the display is pc1:0, before you run
VEA, type:
# DISPLAY=pc1:0
# export DISPLAY
It is also important that the display itself is configured to accept connections
from your client. If you get permission errors when you try to start VEA, in a
terminal window on the display system, type:
xhost system or xhost +
3 Connect to your system as root. Your instructor provides you with the
password.
4 Examine the VEA log file.
5 Access the Help system in VEA.
6 What disks are available to the OS?
7 Execute the Disk Scan command.
8 What commands were executed by the Disk Scan task?

9 Stop the Volume Manager’s graphical interface.
10 Create a root equivalent administrative account named admin1 for use of

VEA.
11 Test the new account. After you have tested the new account, exit VEA.
Exploring vxdiskadm
1 From the command line, invoke the text-based VxVM menu interface.
2 Display information about the menu or about specific commands.
4 Exit the vxdiskadm interface.
Accessing CLI Commands (Optional)

Note: This exercise introduces several commonly used VxVM commands. These
commands and associated concepts are explained in detail throughout this course.
If you have used Volume Manager before, you may already be familiar with these
commands. If you are new to Volume Manager, you should start by reading the
manual pages for these commands.
1 From the command line, invoke the VxVM manual pages and read about the
vxassist command.
2 What vxassist command parameter creates a VxVM volume?
vxdisk command.
4 What disks are available to VxVM?
vxdg command.
6 How do you list locally imported disk groups?
vxprint command.

More Installation Exploration (Optional)
1 When does the VxVM license expire?
2 What is the version and revision number of the installed version of VxVM?
3 What daemons are running after the system boots under VxVM control?

Introduction
In this lab, you create new disk groups, add and remove disks from disk groups,
deport and import disk groups, and destroy disk groups. The first exercise uses the
VEA interface. The second exercise uses the command line interface. If you have
time, you can also try to perform one of these exercises by using the vxdiskadm
interface.
If you use object names other than the ones provided, substitute the names
accordingly in the commands.
Caution: In this lab, do not include the boot disk in any of the tasks.
Managing Disks and Disk Groups: VEA

1 Run and log on to the VEA interface.
2 View all the disk devices on the system.
3 Create a new disk group by adding a disk from the free disk pool, or an
uninitialized disk, to a new disk group. Initialize the disk (if it is uninitialized)
and name the new disk group datadg.
Note: If you are sharing a disk array, each participant should select a different
disk group name, such as data1dg and data2dg.
View all the disk devices on the system.
4 Add one more disk to your disk group. Initialize the disk and view all the disk
devices on the system.
5 Remove all of the disks from your disk group. What happens to your disk
group?
7 Deport your disk group. Do not give it a new owner. View all the disk devices
on the system.
8 Import your datadg disk group and view all the disk devices on the system.

9 Deport datadg and assign your machine name, for example, train5, as the
New Host.
10 Import the disk group and change its name to data3dg. View all the disk
11 Deport the disk group data3dg by assigning the ownership to

anotherhost. View all the disk devices on the system. Why would you do
this?
12 Import data3dg. Were you successful?
13 Now import data3dg and overwrite the disk group lock. What did you have
to do to import it and why?
14 Destroy data3dg. View all the disk devices on the system.
Managing Disks and Disk Groups: CLI

1 View the status of the disks on your system.
2 Add one uninitialized disk to the free disk pool and view the status of the disk
devices to verify your action.
3 Remove the disk from the free disk pool and return the disk to an uninitialized
state. View the status of the disk devices to verify your action.
4 Add four data disks to the free disk pool as sliced disks and view the status of
the disk devices to verify your action.
Note: It is important to create sliced disks and use a non-CDS disk group as
specified in the instructions, so that you can practice upgrading the disk group
version later in this exercise.
5 Create a non-CDS disk group data4dg with at least one drive. Verify your
action.
6 Deport disk group data4dg, then import the disk group back to your machine.
Verify your action.
7 Destroy the disk group data4dg. Verify your action.

8 Create a new non-CDS disk group data4dg with an older disk group version
assigned to it. Verify your action.
9 Upgrade the disk group to version 60.
10 How would you check that you have upgraded the version?
11 Add two more disks to the disk group data4dg. You should now have three
disks in your disk group. Verify your action.
12 Remove a disk from the disk group data4dg. Verify your action.
13 Deport disk group data4dg and assign the host name as the host name of your
machine. Verify your action.
14 View the status of the disks in the deported disk group using vxdisk list
device_tag. What is in the hostid field?
15 Remove a disk from data4dg. Why does this fail?
16 Import the disk group data4dg. Verify your action.
17 Try again to remove a disk from data4dg. Does it work this time?
18 Deport the disk group data4dg and do not assign a host name. Verify your
action.
19 View the status of the disk in the deported disk group using vxdisk list
20 Uninitialize a disk that is in data4dg. Were you successful?
21 Import the disk group data4dg. Were you successful?
22 Destroy the disk group and send any initialized disks back to an uninitialized
state.

Introduction
volumes, and volumes with logs. You also practice creating a RAID-5 volume and
a layered volume.
Attempt to perform the first exercise using command-line interface commands.
Solutions for performing tasks from the command line and using the VERITAS
Enterprise Administrator (VEA) are included in the Lab Solutions appendix.
accordingly in the commands. After each step, use the VEA interface to view the
volume layout in the main window and in the Volume View window.
Setup
A minimum of four disks is required to perform this lab, not including the root
disk.
Creating Volumes
1 Add four initialized disks to a disk group called datadg. Verify your action
using vxdisk -o alldgs list.
2 Create a 50-MB concatenated volume with one drive.
3 Display the volume layout. What names have been assigned to the plex and
subdisks?
4 Remove the volume.
5 Create a 50-MB striped volume on two disks and specify which two disks to
use in creating the volume.
What names have been assigned to the plex and subdisks?
6 Create a 20-MB, two-column striped volume with a mirror. Set the stripe unit
size to 128K.
What do you notice about the plexes?
size to 128K. Select at least one disk you should not use.
Was the volume created?

8 Create a 20-MB striped volume with a mirror that has one less column (3) than
number of drives.
9 Create the same volume specified in step 7, but without the mirror.
10 Create a 100-MB RAID-5 volume. Set the number of columns to the number
of drives in the disk group.
Run the command again, but use one less column.
What is different about the structure?
11 Remove the volumes created in this exercise.

Complete this exercise by using the VEA interface.
Note: In order to perform the tasks in this exercise, you should have at least four
disks in the disk group that you are using.
1 First, remove any volumes that you created in the previous lab.
2 Create a 100-MB Striped Mirrored volume with no logging.
What command was used to create this volume?

Hint: View the task properties.
3 Create a Concatenated Mirrored volume with no logging. The size of the

volume should be greater than the size of the largest disk in the disk group; for
example, if your largest disk is 8 GB, then create a 10-GB volume.
4 View the volumes in VEA and compare the layouts.
5 View the volumes from the command line.
6 Remove all of the volumes.

Creating Volumes with User Defaults (Optional)
This optional guided practice illustrates how to use the
/etc/default/vxassist and /etc/default/alt_vxassist files to
create volumes with defaults specified by the user.
1 Create two files in /etc/default:

# cd /etc/default
a Using the vi editor, create a file called vxassist that includes the
following:
# when mirroring create three mirrors
nmirror=3
b Using the vi editor, create a file called alt_vxassist that includes the
following:
# use 256K as the default stripe unit size for
# regular volumes
stripeunit=256k
2 Use these files when creating the following volumes:

Create a 100-MB volume using layout=mirror:
# vxassist -g datadg make testvol 100m layout=mirror
Create a 100-MB, two-column stripe volume using -d alt_vxassist so

that Volume Manager uses the default file:
# vxassist -g datadg -d alt_vxassist make testvol2 100m
layout=stripe
3 View the layout of these volumes using VEA and by using vxprint. What do
you notice?
4 Remove any vxassist default files that you created in this optional lab
section. The presence of these files can impact subsequent labs where default
behavior is assumed.

Introduction
This lab provides additional practice in configuring volume attributes. In this lab,
you add mirrors, logs, and file systems to existing volumes, change the volume
read policy, and specify ordered allocation of storage to volumes. You also practice
file system administration.
Setup
Before you begin this lab, ensure that any volumes created in previous labs have
been removed. Create a new disk group that contains four disks only.
Configuring Volume Attributes

Complete this exercise by using the command line interface. If you use object
names other than the ones provided, substitute the names accordingly in the
commands. Solutions for performing these tasks from the command line and using
VEA are described in the Lab Solutions appendix.
1 Create a 20-MB, two-column striped volume with a mirror.
2 Display the volume layout. How are the disks allocated in the volume? Which
disk devices are used?
3 Remove the volume you just made, and re-create it by specifying the four disks
in an order different from the original layout.
4 Display the volume layout. How are the disks allocated this time?
5 Add a mirror to the existing volume.
Were you successful? Why or why not?
6 Remove one of the two mirrors, and display the volume layout.
7 Add a mirror to the existing volume, and display the volume layout.
8 Add a dirty region log to the existing volume and specify the disk to use for the
DRL. Display the volume layout.
9 Change the volume read policy to round robin, and display the volume layout.
10 Create a file system for the existing volume.

11 Mount the file system at the mount point /mydirectory and add files. Verify
that the files were added to the new volume.
12 View the mount points using df –k.

Using the VEA interface, open the Volume to Disk Mapping window and
display the subdisk information for each disk.
13 Unmount and remove the volume with the file system.
VERITAS File System Administration

This lab ensures that you are able to use basic VERITAS File System
administrative commands from the command line.
Setting Up a VERITAS File System

Remove any volumes created in previous labs. Ensure that the external disks on
your system are in a disk group named datadg. If you use object names other
than the ones provided, substitute the names accordingly in the commands.
1 Create a 500-MB striped volume named datavol in the disk group datadg
and use the default number of columns and stripe unit size.
2 Create a VERITAS file system on the datavol volume using the default
options.
3 Create a mount point /datamnt on which to mount the file system.
4 Mount the newly created file system on the mount point, and use all default
options.
5 Using the newly created file system, create, modify, and remove files.
6 Display the content of the mount point directory, showing hidden entries, inode
numbers, and block sizes of the files.
7 What is the purpose of the lost+found directory?
8 How many disk blocks are defined within the file system and are used by the
file system?
9 Unmount the file system.
10 Mount and, if necessary, check the file system at boot time.

11 Verify that the mount information has been accepted.
12 Display details of the file system that were set when it was created.
13 Check the structural integrity of the file system using the default log policy.
14 Remove the volume that you created for this lab.
Defragmenting a VERITAS File System

In this exercise, you monitor and defragment a file system by using the fsadm
command.
1 Create a new 2-GB volume with a VxFS file system mounted on /fs_test.
2 Repeatedly copy /opt to the file system using a new target directory name
each time until the file system is approximately 85 percent full.
# for i in 1 2 3
> do
> cp -r /opt /fs_test/opt$i
> done
3 Delete all files over 10 MB in size.
4 Check the level of fragmentation in the file system.
5 Repeat steps two and three using values 4 5 for i in the loop. Fragmentation
of both free space and directories will result.
6 Repeat step two using values 6 7 for i. Then delete all files that are smaller
than 64K to release a reasonable amount of space.
7 Defragment the file system and display the results. Run fragmentation reports
both before and after the defragmentation and display summary statistics after
each pass. Compare the fsadm report from step 4 with the final report from
the last pass in this step.
8 Unmount the file systems and remove the volumes used in this lab.

Introduction
In this lab, you create and resize volumes and change volume layouts. You also
explore the Storage Expert utility.
Setup
To perform this lab, you should have at least four disks in the disk group that you
are using. You can use either the VEA interface or the command line interface,
whichever you prefer. The solutions for both methods are covered in the Lab
Solutions appendix. If you use object names other than the ones provided,
substitute the names accordingly in the commands.
Note: If you are using VEA, view the properties of the related task after each step
to view the underlying command that was issued.
Resizing a Volume
1 If you have not already done so, remove the volumes created in the previous
lab.
2 Create a 20-MB concatenated mirrored volume with a file system /myfs, and
mount the volume.
3 View the layout of the volume.
4 Add data to the volume and verify that the file has been added.
5 Expand the file system and volume to 100 MB.

1 Change the volume layout from its current layout (mirrored) to a nonlayered
mirror-stripe with two columns and a stripe unit size of 128 sectors (64K).
Monitor the progress of the relayout operation, and display the volume layout
after each command that you run.
2 Verify that the file is still accessible.
3 Unmount the file system on the volume and remove the volume.

Resizing a File System Only
1 Create a 50-MB volume named reszvol in the diskgroup datadg by using
the VERITAS Volume Manager utility vxassist.
2 Create a VERITAS file system on the volume by using the mkfs command.
Specify the file system size as 40 MB.
3 Create a mount point /reszmnt on which to the mount the file system.
4 Mount the newly created file system on the mount point /reszmnt.
5 Verify disk space using the df command. Observe that the available space is
smaller than the size of the volume.
6 Expand the file system to the full size of the underlying volume using the
fsadm -b newsize option.
7 Verify disk space using the df command.
8 Make a file on the file system mounted at /reszmnt (using mkfile), so that
the free space is less than 50 percent of the total file system size.
9 Shrink the file system to 50 percent of its current size. What happens?
10 Unmount the file system and remove the volume.
Using the Storage Expert Utility

1 Add the directory containing the Storage Expert rules to your PATH
environment variable in your .profile file.
2 Display a description of Storage Expert rule vxse_drl1. What does this rule
do?
3 Does Storage Expert rule vxse_drl1 have any user-settable parameters?
4 From the command line, create a 100-MB mirrored volume with no log. Create
and mount a file system on the volume.

5 Run Storage Expert rule vxse_drl1 on the disk group containing the volume.
What does Storage Expert report?
6 Expand the volume to a size of 1 GB.
7 Run Storage Expert rule vxse_drl1 again on the disk group containing the
volume. What does Storage Expert report?
8 Add a log to the volume.
10 What are the attributes and parameters that Storage Expert uses in running the
vxse_drl1 rule?
11 Shrink the volume to 100 MB and remove the log.
12 Run Storage Expert rule vxse_drl1 again. When running the rule, specify
that you want Storage Expert to test the mirrored volume against a
mirror_threshold of 100 MB. What does Storage Expert report?
13 Unmount the file system and remove the volume used in this exercise.
Monitoring Tasks (Optional)

Objective: In this advanced section of the lab, you track volume relayout
processes using the vxtask command and recover from a vxrelayout crash by
using VEA or from the command line.
Setup: You should have at least four disks in the disk group that you are using.
1 Create a mirror-stripe volume with a size of 1 GB using the vxassist

command. Assign a task tag to the task and run the vxassist command in
the background.
2 View the progress of the task.
3 Slow down the task progress rate to insert an I/O delay of 100 milliseconds.
View the layout of the volume in the VEA interface.

4 After the volume has been created, use vxassist to relayout the volume to
stripe-mirror. Use a stripe unit size of 256K, use two columns, and assign the
process to the above task tag.
5 In another terminal window, abort the task to simulate a crash during relayout.
6 Reverse the relayout operation.


Introduction
In this practice, you create a boot disk mirror, disable the boot disk, and boot up
from the mirror. Then you boot up again from the boot disk, break the mirror, and
remove the boot disk from the boot disk group. Finally, you reencapsulate the boot
disk and re-create the mirror. These tasks are performed using a combination of the
VEA interface, the vxdiskadm utility, and CLI commands.
Encapsulation and Root Disk Mirroring

1 Use vxdiskadm to encapsulate the boot disk. Use systemdg as the name of
your boot disk group and use rootdisk as the name of your boot disk.
2 After the reboot, use vxdiskadm to add a disk that will be used for the mirror
of rootdisk. If your system has two internal disks, use the second internal
disk on your system for the mirror. (This is required due to the nature of the
classroom configuration.) When setting up the disk, make sure that the disk
layout is sliced. Use altboot as the name of your disk.
3 Next, use vxdiskadm to mirror your system disk, rootdisk, to the disk
that you added, altboot.
4 After the mirroring operation is complete, verify that you now have two disks
in systemdg: rootdisk and altboot, and that all volumes are mirrored.
What order are the volumes mirrored?
Check to determine if rootvol is enabled and active. Hint: Use vxprint
and examine the STATE fields.
5 From the command line, set the eeprom variable to enable VxVM to create a
device alias in the openboot program.
6 To disable the boot disk and make rootvol-01 disabled and offline, use the
vxmend command. This command is used to make changes to configuration
records. Here, you are using the command to place the plex in an offline state.
For more information about this command, see the vxmend (1m) manual
page.
# vxmend -g systemdg off rootvol-01
7 Verify that rootvol-01 is now disabled and offline.
8 To change the plex to a STALE state, run the vxmend on command on

rootvol-01. Verify that rootvol-01 is now in the DISABLED and STALE
state.

# vxmend -g systemdg on rootvol-01
9 Reboot the system using init 6.
10 At the OK prompt, check for available boot disk aliases.

OK> devalias
Use the boot disk alias vx-altboot to boot up from the alternate boot disk.
For example:
OK> boot vx-altboot
11 Verify that rootvol-01 is now in the ENABLED and ACTIVE state.

Note: You may need to wait a few minutes for the state to change from STALE
to ACTIVE.
You have successfully booted up from the mirror.
12 To boot up from the original boot disk, reboot again using init 6.
You have now booted up from the original boot disk.
13 Using VEA, remove all but one plex of rootvol, swapvol, usr, var, opt,
and home (that is, remove the newer plex from each volume in systemdg.)
14 Run the command to convert the root volumes back to disk partitions.
15 Shut down the system when prompted.
16 Verify that the mount points are now slices rather than volumes.
17 At the end of this lab, leave your boot disk unencapsulated and remove any
other disks from systemdg.

Introduction
In this practice, you perform a variety of basic recovery operations. Perform this
lab by using the command line interface. In some of the steps, the commands are
provided for you.
Setup
For this lab, you should have at least four disks (datadg01 through datadg04)
in a disk group called datadg. If you use object names other than the ones
provided, substitute the names accordingly in the commands.
Exploring Logging Behavior

1 Create two mirrored, concatenated volumes, 500 MB in size, called vollog
and volnolog.
2 Add a log to the volume vollog.
3 Create a file system on both volumes.
4 Create mount points for the volumes, /vollog and /volnolog.
5 Copy /etc/vfstab to a file called origvfstab.
6 Edit /etc/vfstab so that vollog and volnolog are mounted

automatically on reboot. (In the /etc/vfstab file, each entry should be
separated by a tab.)
7 Type mountall to mount the vollog and volnolog volumes.
8 In root, start an I/O process on each volume. For example:

# find /usr -print | cpio -pmud /vollog &
# find /usr -print | cpio -pmud /volnolog &
9 Press Stop-A. At the OK prompt, type boot.
10 After the system is running again, check the state of the volumes to ensure that
neither of the volumes is in the sync/needsync mode.
11 Run the vxstat command. This utility displays statistical information about
volumes and other VxVM objects. For more information on this command, see
the vxstat (1m) manual page.
# vxstat -g diskgroup -fab vollog volnolog

The output shows how many I/Os it took to resynchronize the mirrors.
Compare the number of I/Os for each volume. What do you notice?
12 Stop the VxVM configuration daemon.
13 Create a 100-MB mirrored volume. What happens?
14 Start the VxVM configuration daemon.
15 Unmount both file systems and remove the volumes vollog and volnolog.
16 Restore your original vfstab file.
Removing a Disk from VxVM Control

1 Create a 100-MB, mirrored volume named recvol. Create and mount a file
system on the volume.
2 Display the properties of the volume. In the table, record the device and disk
media name of the disks used in this volume.
Device Disk Media Name

Disk 1
Disk 2
3 Remove one of the disks that is being used by the volume.
4 Confirm that the disk was removed.
5 From the command line, check that the state of one the plexes is DISABLED
and REMOVED.
In VEA, the disk is shown as disconnected, because one of the plexes is

unavailable.
6 Replace the disk back into the disk group.
7 Check the status of the disks. What is the status of the disks?

8 Display volume information. What is the state of the plexes?
9 In VEA, what is the status of the disks? What is the status of the volume?
10 From the command line, recover the volume. During and after recovery, check
the status of the plex in another command window and in VEA.
11 At the end of this lab, destroy your disk group and send your data disks back to
an uninitialized state. In the next exercises, you will use sliced disks and non-
CDS disk groups to practice recovery operations.
Replacing Physical Drives (Without Hot Relocation)

1 For this exercise, initialize four disks as sliced disks. Place the disks in a non-
CDS disk group named datadg. Create a 100-MB mirrored volume,
recvol, in the disk group, add a VxFS file system to the volume, and mount
the file system at the mount point /recvol.
2 Stop vxrelocd using ps and kill, in order to stop hot relocation from
taking place. Verify that the vxrelocd processes are killed before you
continue.
Note: There are two vxrelocd processes. You must kill both of them at the
same time.
3 Next, you simulate disk failure by removing the public and private regions of
one of the disks in the volume. In the commands, substitute the appropriate
disk device name for one of the disks in use by recvol, for example
c1t2d0s2.
# fmthard -d 3:0:0:0:0 /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0s2
4 An error will occurs when you start I/O to the volume. You can view the error
on the console or in tail -f /var/adm/messages. A summary of the
mail can be viewed in /var/mail/root.
Start I/O to the volume using the command:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/recvol &
5 When the error occurs, view the status of the disks from the command line.
6 View the status of the volume from the command line.
7 In VEA, what is the status of the disks and volume?

8 Rescan for all attached disks:
9 Recover the disk by replacing the private and public regions on the disk:
Note: This method for recovering the disk is only used because of the method
in which the disk was defaulted (by writing over the private and public
regions). In most real-life situations, you do not need to perform this step.
10 Bring the disk back under VxVM control:
11 Check the status of the disks and the volume.
12 From the command line, recover the volume.
13 Check the status of the disks and the volume to ensure that the disk and volume
are fully recovered.
Exploring Spare Disk Behavior

1 You should have four sliced disks (datadg01 through datadg04) in the non-
CDS disk group datadg. Set all disks to have the spare flag on.
2 Create a 100-MB mirrored volume called sparevol.
Is the volume successfully created? Why or why not?
3 Attempt to create the same volume again, but this time specify two disks to
use. Do not clear any spare flags on the disks.
5 Verify that the relocation daemon (vxrelocd) is running. If not, start it as

follows:
# vxrelocd root &
6 Remove the spare flags from three of the four disks.
7 Create a 100-MB concatenated mirrored volume called spare2vol.
8 Save the output of vxprint -thf to a file.

media name of the disks used in this volume. You are going to simulate disk
failure on one of the disks. Decide which disk you are going to fail. Open a
console screen.
Device Name Disk Media Name

Disk 1
Disk 2
disk device name:
11 An error occurs when you start I/O to the volume. You can view the error on
the console or in tail -f /var/adm/messages. A summary of the mail
can be viewed in /var/mail/root.
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/volume_name &
12 Run vxprint -rth and compare the output to the vxprint output that you
saved earlier. What has occurred?
13 In VEA, view the disks. Notice that the disk is in the disconnected state.
14 Run vxdisk -o alldgs list. What do you notice?
15 Rescan for all attached disks.
16 In VEA, view the status of the disks and the volume.
17 View the status of the disks and the volume from the command line.
18 Recover the disk by replacing the private and public regions on the disk.
19 Bring the disk back under VxVM control and into the disk group.
20 In VEA, undo hot relocation for the disk.

21 Wait until the volume is fully recovered before continuing. Check to ensure
that the disk and the volume are fully recovered.
22 Reboot and then remove the volume.
23 Turn off any spare flags from your disks that you set during this lab.


Appendix B
Lab Solutions
Lab 1 Solutions: Introducing the Lab Environment
Introduction
In this lab, you are introduced to the lab environment, the systems, and disks that
you will use throughout this course. You will also record some prerequisite
information that will prepare you for the installation of VxVM and the labs that
follow throughout this course.
Lab Environment Introduction

The instructor will describe the classroom environment, review the configuration
and layout of the systems, and assign disks for you to use. The content of this
activity depends on the type of classroom, hardware, and the operating system(s)
deployed.
Lab Prerequisites
Record the following information to be provided by your instructor:
root password
Host name
My Boot Disk:
My Data Disks:
Location of VERITAS
Volume Manager packages:
Location of VERITAS File

System packages:
Location of Lab Scripts

(if any):
Location of VERITAS
Storage Foundation license
keys:
B–2 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Lab 2 Solutions: Installation and Interfaces
Introduction
In this exercise, you add the VxVM packages, install VERITAS Volume Manager,
and install VERITAS File System. You also explore the VxVM user interfaces,
including the VERITAS Enterprise Administrator interface, the vxdiskadm
menu interface, and the command line interface.
Preinstallation
1 Determine if there are any VRTS packages currently installed on your system.
Solaris
# pkginfo | grep -i VRTS
HP-UX
# swlist -l product | grep VRTS
AIX
# lslpp -l ‘VRTS*’
2 Before installing VxVM, save the following important system files into backup
files named with a “.preVM” extension. Also, save your boot disk
information to a file for later use (do not store the file in /tmp). You may need
the boot disk information when you bring the boot disk under VxVM control in
a later lab.
Solaris
# cp /etc/system /etc/system.preVM
# cp /etc/vfstab /etc/vfstab.preVM
# prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/device_name > /etc/bootdisk.preVM
AIX
# cp /etc/filesystems /etc/filesystems.preVM
# cp /etc/vfs /etc/vfs.preVM
3 Are any VERITAS license keys installed on your system? Check for installed
licenses.
# vxlicrep
Installing VERITAS Volume Manager

1 Navigate to the directory containing the VxVM installation script. Ask your
instructor for the location of the script. Using the VERITAS Volume Manager
installation script, run a precheck to determine if your system meets all
preinstallation requirements. If any requirements are not met, follow the
instructions to take any required actions before you continue.
# installvm -precheck system
Appendix B Lab Solutions B–3

2 Using the VERITAS Volume Manager installation script, install and perform
initial configuration of VxVM. During the installation:
– If you do not have Storage Foundation licenses on your system, install
licenses when prompted. Your instructor will provide licensing
information.
– Install all optional and required packages.
– Do not use enclosure-based naming.
– Do not set a default disk group.
– Start VxVM.
# installvm
3 Check in /.profile to ensure that the following paths are present.

Note: This may be done in the jumpstart of your system prior to this lab, but
the paths may need to be added after a normal install.
# PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/vxvm/bin:/opt/VRTSob/bin:
/usr/sbin
# MANPATH=$MANPATH:/opt/VRTS/man
# export PATH MANPATH
Installing VERITAS File System

1 Navigate to the directory containing the VxFS installation script. Ask your
instructor for the location of the script. Using the VERITAS File System
installation script, install the VERITAS File System software and
documentation on your system.
# installfs
2 Reboot the system.
# shutdown -y -i6 -g0
3 Check in /.profile to ensure that the following paths are present on your
system.
/opt/VRTS/bin
/opt/VRTSvxfs/sbin
Setting Up VERITAS Enterprise Administrator

1 Is the VEA server running? If not, start it.
# vxsvc -m (to confirm that the server is running)
# vxsvc (if the server is not already running)
2 Start the VEA graphical user interface.

# vea

Note: On some systems, you may need to configure the system to use the
appropriate display. For example, if the display is pc1:0, before you run
VEA, type:
# DISPLAY=pc1:0
# export DISPLAY
It is also important that the display itself is configured to accept connections
from your client. If you get permission errors when you try to start VEA, in a
terminal window on the display system, type:
xhost system or xhost +
3 Connect to your system as root. Your instructor provides you with the
password.
– Hostname: (For example, train13)
– Username: root
– Password: (Your instructor provides the password.)
4 Examine the VEA log file.

# pg /var/vx/isis/vxisis.log
5 Access the Help system in VEA.

In the VEA main window, select Help—>Contents.

In the VEA object tree, expand your host and select the Disks node.
Examine the Device column in the grid.
7 Execute the Disk Scan command.

In the VEA object tree, select your host. Select Actions—>Rescan.
8 What commands were executed by the Disk Scan task?

Click the Task tab at the bottom of the main window. Right-click “Scan
for new disks” and select Properties. The commands executed are
displayed.
9 Stop the Volume Manager’s graphical interface.

In the VEA main window, select File—>Exit.
10 Create a root equivalent administrative account named admin1 for use of

VEA.
Solaris
Create a new administrative account named admin1:

# useradd admin1
# passwd admin1
Type a password for admin1.
Modify the /etc/group file to add the vrtsadm group and specify the
root and admin1 users by using the vi editor:
# vi /etc/group
In the file, move to the location where you want to insert the vrtsadm
entry, change to insert mode by typing i, then add the line:
vrtsadm::99:root,admin1
When you are finished editing, press [Esc] to leave insert mode. Then,
save the file and quit:
:wq
HP-UX
Create a new administrative account named admin1 by using SAM or
command line utilities:
# useradd admin1
# passwd admin1
Type a password for admin1.
Add the vrtsadm group and specify the root and admin1 users as
members. Use SAM or modify the /etc/group file by using the vi
editor:
# vi /etc/group
In the file, move to the location where you want to insert the vrtsadm
entry, change to insert mode by typing i, then add the line:
vrtsadm::99:root,admin1
When you are finished editing, press [Esc] to leave insert mode. Then,
save the file and quit:
:wq
AIX
# mkgroup -A vrtsadm
# useradd -m -G vrtsadm admin1
# passwd admin1
(Type the password.)
11 Test the new account. After you have tested the new account, exit VEA.
# vea
Hostname: (For example, train13)
User: admin1
Password: (Type the password that you created for admin1.)
Select File—>Exit.

Exploring vxdiskadm
1 From the command line, invoke the text-based VxVM menu interface.
# vxdiskadm
2 Display information about the menu or about specific commands.

Type ? at any of the prompts within the interface.

Type list at the main menu, and then type all.
4 Exit the vxdiskadm interface.

Type q at the prompts until you exit vxdiskadm.
Accessing CLI Commands (Optional)

Note: This exercise introduces several commonly used VxVM commands. These
commands and associated concepts are explained in detail throughout this course.
If you have used Volume Manager before, you may already be familiar with these
commands. If you are new to Volume Manager, you should start by reading the
manual pages for these commands.
vxassist command.
# man vxassist
2 What vxassist command parameter creates a VxVM volume?

The make parameter is used in creating a volume.
vxdisk command.
# man vxdisk
4 What disks are available to VxVM?

All the available disks are displayed in the list.
vxdg command.
# man vxdg

6 How do you list locally imported disk groups?
# vxdg list
vxprint command.
# man vxprint
More Installation Exploration (Optional)

1 When does the VxVM license expire?
# vxlicrep | more
2 What is the version and revision number of the installed version of VxVM?
Solaris
In the output, look at the Version field.
HP-UX
# swlist -l product | grep -i vxvm
The version is in the second column of the output.
AIX
# lslpp -l VRTSvxvm
In the output, look under the column named Level.
3 What daemons are running after the system boots under VxVM control?
# ps -ef|grep -i vx
vxconfigd, vxrelocd, vxnotify, vxcached, vxesd,
vxconfigbackupd

Lab 3 Solutions: Managing Disks and Disk Groups
Introduction
In this lab, you create new disk groups, add and remove disks from disk groups,
deport and import disk groups, and destroy disk groups. The first exercise uses the
VEA interface. The second exercise uses the command line interface. If you have
time, you can also try to perform one of these exercises by using the vxdiskadm
interface.
accordingly in the commands.
Caution: In this lab, do not include the boot disk in any of the tasks.
Managing Disks and Disk Groups: VEA

1 Run and log on to the VEA interface.
# vea
2 View all the disk devices on the system.

In the object tree, select the Disks node and view the disks in the grid.
Select the Disk Groups node and select Actions—>New Disk Group.
In the New Disk Group wizard, do not select a disk group organization
principle. Type a name for the disk group, select a disk to be placed in the
disk group, and click Add.
Click Next, confirm your selection, and click Finish.
4 Add one more disk to your disk group. Initialize the disk and view all the disk
Select an unused disk and select Actions—>Add Disk to Disk Group. In
the Add Disk to Disk Group Wizard, select the disk group name, and
verify or change the list of disks under Selected disks.
5 Remove all of the disks from your disk group. What happens to your disk
group?

Select a disk that is in your disk group, and select Actions—>Remove Disk
from Disk Group. In the Remove Disk dialog box, click Add All to select
all disks in the disk group for removal, and click OK.
All disks are returned to an uninitialized state, and the disk group is
destroyed.
Select the Disk Groups node and select Actions—>New Disk Group.
In the New Disk Group Wizard, type a name for the disk group, select a
disk to be placed in the disk group, and click Add.
7 Deport your disk group. Do not give it a new owner. View all the disk devices
on the system.
Select the disk group and select Actions—>Deport Disk Group.
Confirm your request when prompted in the Deport Disk Group dialog
box.
8 Import your datadg disk group and view all the disk devices on the system.
Select the disk group and select Actions—>Import Disk Group. In the
Import Disk Group dialog box, click OK.
9 Deport datadg and assign your machine name, for example, train5, as the
New Host.
Select the disk group and select Actions—>Deport Disk Group. Confirm
your request. In the Deport Disk Group dialog box, type your machine
name in the New Host field and click OK.
10 Import the disk group and change its name to data3dg. View all the disk
Select the disk group and select Actions—>Import Disk Group. Confirm
your request. In the Import Disk Group dialog box, type data3dg in the
New Name field, and click OK.

11 Deport the disk group data3dg by assigning the ownership to
anotherhost. View all the disk devices on the system. Why would you do
this?
Select the disk group and select Actions—>Deport Disk Group. Confirm
your request. In the Deport Disk Group dialog box, type anotherhost in
the New Host field.
In the list of disks, this status of the disk is displayed as Foreign.
You would do this to ensure the disks are not imported accidentally.
12 Import data3dg. Were you successful?

Import Disk Group dialog box, click OK.
This operation should fail, because data3dg belongs to another host.
13 Now import data3dg and overwrite the disk group lock. What did you have
to do to import it and why?
Import Disk Group dialog box, mark the Clear host ID check box, and
click OK.
14 Destroy data3dg. View all the disk devices on the system.

Select the disk group and select Actions—>Destroy Disk Group. Confirm
the operation when prompted.
Managing Disks and Disk Groups: CLI

1 View the status of the disks on your system.
or
# vxdisk -s list
2 Add one uninitialized disk to the free disk pool and view the status of the disk
devices to verify your action.
# vxdisksetup -i device_tag
3 Remove the disk from the free disk pool and return the disk to an uninitialized
state. View the status of the disk devices to verify your action.
# vxdiskunsetup -C device_tag

4 Add four data disks to the free disk pool as sliced disks and view the status of
the disk devices to verify your action.
Note: It is important to create sliced disks and use a non-CDS disk group as
specified in the instructions, so that you can practice upgrading the disk group
version later in this exercise.
5 Create a non-CDS disk group data4dg with at least one drive. Verify your
action.
# vxdg init diskgroup data4dg01=device_tag cds=off
6 Deport disk group data4dg, then import the disk group back to your machine.
Verify your action.
# vxdg deport diskgroup
7 Destroy the disk group data4dg. Verify your action.

# vxdg destroy diskgroup
8 Create a new non-CDS disk group data4dg with an older disk group version
assigned to it. Verify your action.
# vxdg –T 20 init diskgroup data4dg01=device_tag
cds=off
9 Upgrade the disk group to version 60.

# vxdg –T 60 upgrade diskgroup
10 How would you check that you have upgraded the version?
# vxdg list diskgroup
11 Add two more disks to the disk group data4dg. You should now have three
disks in your disk group. Verify your action.
# vxdg –g diskgroup adddisk data4dg02=device_tag
# vxdg -g diskgroup adddisk data4dg03=device_tag

12 Remove a disk from the disk group data4dg. Verify your action.
# vxdg –g diskgroup rmdisk data4dg01
13 Deport disk group data4dg and assign the host name as the host name of your
machine. Verify your action.
# vxdg -h host_name deport diskgroup
14 View the status of the disks in the deported disk group using vxdisk list
# vxdisk list device_tag
The hostid is the name of your machine.
15 Remove a disk from data4dg. Why does this fail?

The operation fails, because you are trying to remove a disk from a
deported disk group.
16 Import the disk group data4dg. Verify your action.

17 Try again to remove a disk from data4dg. Does it work this time?
The operation is successful, because the disk group is imported.
18 Deport the disk group data4dg and do not assign a host name. Verify your
action.
# vxdg deport diskgroup
19 View the status of the disk in the deported disk group using vxdisk list
# vxdisk list device_tag
The host id is now empty.
20 Uninitialize a disk that is in data4dg. Were you successful?

# vxdiskunsetup device_tag
This operation should be successful.

21 Import the disk group data4dg. Were you successful?
This operation fails if there are no disks left in the disk group.
22 Destroy the disk group and send any initialized disks back to an uninitialized
state.
# vxdg destroy diskgroup
# vxdiskunsetup device_tag

Lab 4 Solutions: Creating Volumes
Introduction
volumes, and volumes with logs. You also practice creating a RAID-5 volume and
a layered volume.
Attempt to perform the first exercise using command-line interface commands.
Solutions for performing tasks from the command line and using the VERITAS
Enterprise Administrator (VEA) are included in the Lab Solutions appendix.
accordingly in the commands. After each step, use the VEA interface to view the
volume layout in the main window and in the Volume View window.
Setup
A minimum of four disks is required to perform this lab, not including the root
disk.
Creating Volumes: CLI

1 Add four initialized disks to a disk group called datadg. Verify your action
using vxdisk -o alldgs list.
Create a new disk group and add disks:
# vxdg init diskgroup datadg01=device_tag
datadg02=device_tag
To add each additional disk to the disk group:

# vxdg –g diskgroup adddisk disk_name=device_tag

# vxassist –g diskgroup make vol01 50m
3 Display the volume layout. What names have been assigned to the plex and
subdisks?
To view the assigned names, view the volume using:
# vxprint –g diskgroup –thr | more

# vxedit –g diskgroup –rf rm vol01

5 Create a 50-MB striped volume on two disks and specify which two disks to
# vxassist –g diskgroup make vol02 50m layout=stripe
datadg01 datadg02
vxprint -g diskgroup -thf | more
size to 128K.
layout=mirror-stripe ncol=2 stripeunit=128k
What do you notice about the plexes?

View the volume using vxprint –g diskgroup –thf | more.
Notice that you now have a second plex.
layout=mirror-stripe ncol=2 stripeunit=128k !datadg03

This operation should fail, because there are not enough disks available in
the disk group. A two-column striped mirror requires at least 4 disks.
8 Create a 20-MB striped volume with a mirror that has one less column (3) than
number of drives.
# vxassist –g diskgroup –b make vol04 20m
layout=mirror-stripe ncol=3 datadg01 datadg02 datadg03

Again, this operation should fail, because there are not enough disks
available in the disk group. At least four disks are required for this type of
volume configuration.
# vxassist –g diskgroup –b make vol05 20m layout=stripe
ncol=3 datadg01 datadg02 datadg03
vxprint -g diskgroup -thr | more

# vxassist –g diskgroup make vol06 100m layout=raid5
ncol=4 datadg01 datadg02 datadg03 datadg04

This operation should fail, because when you create a RAID-5 volume, a
RAID-5 log is created by default. Therefore, at least five disks are
required for this volume configuration.

# vxassist –g diskgroup make vol06 100m layout=raid5
ncol=3 datadg01 datadg02 datadg03 datadg04
What is different about the structure?

View the volume using vxprint –g diskgroup –thf | more.
Notice that you now have a log plex.
11 Remove the volumes created in this exercise.

For each volume:
# vxedit -g diskgroup -rf rm volume_name
Creating Volumes: VEA Solutions

1 Add four initialized disks to a disk group called datadg. Verify your action in
the main window.
Create a new disk group and add disks:
Select a disk, and select Actions—>New Disk Group. In the New Disk
Group wizard, specify the disk group name, select the disks you want to
use from the Available disks list, and click Add. Click Next, confirm your
selection, and click Finish.

Select a disk group, and select Actions—>New Volume.
In the New Volume wizard, let VxVM decide which disks to use. Type the
name of the volume, and specify a size of 50 MB. Verify that the
Concatenated layout is selected in the Layout region.
Complete the wizard by accepting all remaining defaults to create the
volume.
3 Display the volume layout. Notice the naming convention of the plex and
subdisk.

Select the volume in the object tree, and select Actions—>Volume View.
In the Volumes window, click the Expand button. Compare the
information in the Volumes window to the information under the Mirrors,
Logs, and Subdisks tabs in the right pane of the main window.

Select the volume, and select Actions—>Delete Volume.
In the Delete Volume dialog box, click Yes.
5 Create a 50-MB striped volume on two disks, and specify which two disks to
In the New Volume wizard, select “Manually select disks for use by this
volume.” Move two disks into the Included box, and then click Next. Type
the name of the volume, and specify a size of 50 MB.
Select the Striped option in the Layout region. Verify that the number of
columns is 2.
volume.
View the volume.

Select the volume, and select Actions—>Volume View. Close the Volumes
window when you are satisfied.
size to 128K.
name of the volume, and specify a size of 20 MB.
columns is 2. Set the Stripe unit size to 256 (sectors), or 128K.
Mark the Mirrored check box in the Mirror Info region.
volume.
View the volume. Notice that you now have a second plex.
Select the volume, and select Actions—>Volume View. Close the Volumes
window when you are satisfied.

In the New Volume wizard, select “Manually select disks for use by this
volume.” Move one disk into the Excluded box, and then click Next. Type
the name of the volume, and specify a size of 20 MB.
columns is 2. Set the Stripe unit size to 256 (sectors), or 128K.
volume.

This operation should fail, because there are not enough disks available in
the disk group. A two-column striped mirror requires at least four disks.
8 Create a 20-MB striped volume with a mirror with one less column than
number of drives.
Select the Striped option in the Layout region. Change the number of
columns to 3.
You receive an error and are not able to complete the wizard.

Again, this operation should fail, because there are not enough disks
available in the disk group. At least six disks are required for this type of
volume configuration.
Select the Striped option in the Layout region. Change the number of
columns to 3.
volume.
Yes, the volume is created this time.

name of the volume, and a size of 100 MB.
Select the RAID-5 option in the Layout region. Change the number of
columns to 4.
You receive an error and are not able to complete the wizard.

This operation should fail, because when you create a RAID-5 volume, a
RAID-5 log is created by default. Therefore, at least five disks are
required for this volume configuration.

name of the volume, and a size of 100 MB.
Select the RAID-5 option in the Layout region. Verify that the number of
columns is 3.
volume.

Yes, the volume is created this time.
11 Delete all volumes from the disk group.

For each volume, select the volume and select Actions—>Delete Volume.
Click Yes to delete the volume.

Complete this exercise by using the VEA interface.
Note: In order to perform the tasks in this exercise, you should have at least four
disks in the disk group that you are using.
1 First, remove any volumes that you created in the previous lab.
To remove a volume, highlight a volume in the main window, and select
Actions—>Remove Volume.
2 Create a 100-MB Striped Mirrored volume with no logging.

Select a disk group in the main window.
Select Actions—>New Volume.
In the New Volume wizard, let VxVM decide which disks to use. Type a
volume name, specify a volume size of 100 MB, and select a Striped
Mirrored layout. Complete the wizard by accepting all remaining defaults
to create the volume.

Hint: View the task properties.
Click the Tasks tab at the bottom of the screen. In the Tasks tab, right-
click the latest Create Volume tasks and select Properties. The command
issued is displayed in the Commands Executed field.
3 Create a Concatenated Mirrored volume with no logging. The size of the

volume should be greater than the size of the largest disk in the disk group; for
example, if your largest disk is 8 GB, then create a 10-GB volume.
In the New Volume wizard, let VxVM decide which disks to use. Type a
volume name, an appropriate volume size, and select a Concatenated
Mirrored layout. Complete the wizard by accepting all remaining defaults
to create the volume.

Click the Tasks tab at the bottom of the screen. In the Tasks tab, right-
click the latest Create Volume tasks and select Properties. The command
issued is displayed in the Commands Executed field.
4 View the volumes in VEA and compare the layouts.

Highlight the disk group and select Actions—>Volume View. Click the
Expand button in the Volumes window.
You can also highlight each volume in the object tree and view
information in the tabs in the right pane. Notice the information on the
Mirrors, Logs, and Subdisks tabs.
5 View the volumes from the command line.

# vxprint -rth volume_name

To remove a volume, use the command:
# vxedit –g diskgroup –rf rm volume_name

Creating Volumes with User Defaults (Optional)
This optional guided practice illustrates how to use the
/etc/default/vxassist and /etc/default/alt_vxassist files to
create volumes with defaults specified by the user.
1 Create two files in /etc/default:

# cd /etc/default
a Using the vi editor, create a file called vxassist that includes the
following:
# when mirroring create three mirrors
nmirror=3
b Using the vi editor, create a file called alt_vxassist that includes the
following:
# use 256K as the default stripe unit size for
# regular volumes
stripeunit=256k
2 Use these files when creating the following volumes:

Create a 100-MB volume using layout=mirror:
# vxassist -g datadg make testvol 100m layout=mirror
Create a 100-MB, two-column stripe volume using -d alt_vxassist so

that Volume Manager uses the default file:
# vxassist -g datadg -d alt_vxassist make testvol2 100m
layout=stripe
3 View the layout of these volumes using VEA and by using vxprint. What do
you notice?
– The first volume should show three plexes rather than the standard
two.
– The second volume should show a stripe size of 256K instead of the
standard 64K.
4 Remove any vxassist default files that you created in this optional lab
section. The presence of these files can impact subsequent labs where default
behavior is assumed.

Lab 5 Solutions: Configuring Volumes
Introduction
This lab provides additional practice in configuring volume attributes. In this lab,
you add mirrors, logs, and file systems to existing volumes, change the volume
read policy, and specify ordered allocation of storage to volumes. You also practice
file system administration.
Setup
Before you begin this lab, ensure that any volumes created in previous labs have
been removed. Create a new disk group that contains four disks only.
Configuring Volume Attributes: CLI

Complete this exercise by using the command line interface. If you use object
names other than the ones provided, substitute the names accordingly in the
commands. Solutions for performing these tasks from the command line and using
VEA are described in the Lab Solutions appendix.

# vxassist -g diskgroup make volume_name 20m
layout=mirror-stripe ncol=2
# vxprint -htr
Notice which two disks are allocated to the first plex and which two disks
are allocated to the second plex and record your observation.
in an order different from the original layout.
# vxassist -g diskgroup remove volume volume_name
# vxassist -g diskgroup -o ordered make volume_name 20m
layout=mirror-stripe ncol=2 datadg04 datadg03 datadg02
datadg01
# vxprint -htr
The plexes are now allocated in the order specified on the command line.
5 Add a mirror to the existing volume.

# vxassist -g diskgroup mirror volume_name
Were you successful? Why or why not?

The original volume already occupied all four disks in the disk group. To
add another mirror requires two extra disks.
6 Remove one of the two mirrors, and display the volume layout.
# vxplex -g diskgroup -o rm dis plex_name
# vxprint -rth
7 Add a mirror to the existing volume, and display the volume layout.
# vxassist -g diskgroup mirror volume_name
# vxprint -rth
8 Add a dirty region log to the existing volume and specify the disk to use for the
DRL. Display the volume layout.
# vxassist -g diskgroup addlog volume_name logtype=drl
disk_name
# vxprint -rth
9 Change the volume read policy to round robin, and display the volume layout.
# vxvol -g diskgroup rdpol round volume_name
# vxprint -rth

To create a VxFS file system:
# mkfs –F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/volume_name
Or, use an OS-specific command to create a different file system type.
11 Mount the file system at the mount point /mydirectory and add files. Verify
that the files were added to the new volume.
Create a mount point:
# mkdir /mydirectory
Mount the file system:
# mount –F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/volume_name
/mydirectory
12 View the mount points using df –k.

Select the disk group, and select Actions—>Disk/Volume Map. In the
Volume to Disk Mapping window, click the triangle to the left of each disk
name to view the subdisks.

Unmount the file system:
# umount /mydirectory
Remove the volume:
# vxassist –g diskgroup remove volume volume_name
Configuring Volume Attributes: VEA Solutions

Highlight a disk group and select Actions—>New Volume. Complete the
New Volume wizard.
Highlight the volume and click each of the tabs in the right pane and
notice the information under the Mirrors, Logs, and Subdisks tabs.
Select Actions—>Volume View, click the Expand button, and compare the
information to the information in the main window.
in order of highest target first (for example, datadg04, datadg03,
datadg02, datadg01, where datadg04=c1t15d0,
datadg03=c1t14d0, and so on).
When you create the volume, select “Manually select disks to use for this
volume.” Move the disks into the Included box in the desired order, mark
the Ordered check box, click Next, and click Finish.
Highlight the volume and click each of the tabs in the right pane. Notice
the information in the Mirrors, Logs, and Subdisks tabs.
Select Actions—>Volume View, click the Expand button, and compare the
information to the information in the main window.
5 Remove a mirror and update the layout display. What happened?

Highlight the volume, and click the Mirrors tab in the right pane. Right-
click a plex, and select Actions—>Remove Mirror. In the Remove Mirror
dialog box, click Yes.
Only the selected plex is removed.
6 Add a mirror to the existing volume and show the layout.

Highlight the volume to be mirrored, and select Actions—>Mirror—>
Add. Complete the Add Mirror dialog box and click OK.

7 Add a dirty region log to the existing volume, specify the target disk for the
log, and then show the layout.
Highlight the volume, and select Actions—>Log—>Add. Complete the
Add Log dialog box, specify a target disk for the log, and click OK.
Highlight the volume and click the Logs tab.
8 Change the volume read policy to round robin.

Highlight the volume, and select Actions—>Set Volume Usage. Select
Round robin and click OK.

Highlight the volume, and select Actions—>File System—>New File
System.
In the New File System dialog box, specify a mount point for the volume,
and click OK.
10 Add files to the new volume. Verify that the files were added to the new
volume.
After adding files to the file system, you can verify that files were added by
displaying file system information. Expand the File Systems node in the
object tree, and right-click the file system in the right pane, and select
Properties.
Highlight the disk group and select Actions—>Disk/Volume Map.

Highlight the volume, and select Actions—>Delete Volume.
In the Unmount File System dialog box, click Yes.
VERITAS File System Administration

This lab ensures that you are able to use basic VERITAS File System
administrative commands from the command line.
Setting Up a VERITAS File System


1 Create a 500-MB striped volume named datavol in the disk group datadg
and use the default number of columns and stripe unit size.
# vxassist -g diskgroup make datavol 500m layout=stripe
2 Create a VERITAS file system on the datavol volume using the default
options.
# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/datavol
3 Create a mount point /datamnt on which to mount the file system.
# mkdir /datamnt
4 Mount the newly created file system on the mount point, and use all default
options.
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/datavol /datamnt
5 Using the newly created file system, create, modify, and remove files.
# cd /datamnt
# cp /etc/r* .
# touch file1 file2
# mkfile 64b file3
# vi newfile (Enter some content into the new file and save the file.)
# rm reboot
6 Display the content of the mount point directory, showing hidden entries, inode
numbers, and block sizes of the files.
# ls -alis
7 What is the purpose of the lost+found directory?

To hold the data blocks salvaged from running fsck.
8 How many disk blocks are defined within the file system and are used by the
file system?
# df
# df -k
# du -s .
9 Unmount the file system.
# cd /
# umount /datamnt
10 Mount and, if necessary, check the file system at boot time.
#vi /etc/vfstab
G
o
In the /etc/vfstab file, add the following information:
device to mount: /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/datavol
device to fsck: /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/datavol
mount point: /datamnt
FS Type: vxfs
fsck pass: 2

mount at boot: yes
mount options: -
[Esc]
:wq
11 Verify that the mount information has been accepted.

# mount -a
12 Display details of the file system that were set when it was created.
# fstyp -v /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/datavol
13 Check the structural integrity of the file system using the default log policy.
# umount /datamnt
# fsck -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/datavol
14 Remove the volume that you created for this lab.
# vxassist -g diskgroup remove volume datavol
Defragmenting a VERITAS File System

In this exercise, you monitor and defragment a file system by using the fsadm
command.
1 Create a new 2-GB volume with a VxFS file system mounted on /fs_test.
# vxassist -g diskgroup make volume 2g layout=stripe
# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/volume
# mkdir /fs_test
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/volume /fs_test
2 Repeatedly copy /opt to the file system using a new target directory name
each time until the file system is approximately 85 percent full.
# for i in 1 2 3
> do
> cp -r /opt /fs_test/opt$i
> done
3 Delete all files over 10 MB in size.

# find /fs_test -size +20480b -exec rm {} \;
4 Check the level of fragmentation in the file system.

# fsadm -D -E /fs_test
5 Repeat steps two and three using values 4 5 for i in the loop. Fragmentation
of both free space and directories will result.

6 Repeat step two using values 6 7 for i. Then delete all files that are smaller
than 64K to release a reasonable amount of space.
# find /fs_test -size -64k -exec rm {} \;
7 Defragment the file system and display the results. Run fragmentation reports
both before and after the defragmentation and display summary statistics after
each pass. Compare the fsadm report from step 4 with the final report from
the last pass in this step.
# fsadm -e -E -d -D -s /fs_test
8 Unmount the file systems and remove the volumes used in this lab.
# umount mount_point
# vxassist -g diskgroup remove volume volume_name

Lab 6 Solutions: Reconfiguring Volumes Online
Introduction
In this lab, you create and resize volumes and change volume layouts. You also
explore the Storage Expert utility.
Setup
To perform this lab, you should have at least four disks in the disk group that you
are using. You can use either the VEA interface or the command line interface,
whichever you prefer. The solutions for both methods are covered in the Lab
Solutions appendix. If you use object names other than the ones provided,
substitute the names accordingly in the commands.
Note: If you are using VEA, view the properties of the related task after each step
to view the underlying command that was issued.
Resizing a Volume
1 If you have not already done so, remove the volumes created in the previous
lab.
VEA:
For each volume in your disk group, highlight the volume, and select
Actions—>Delete Volume.
CLI:
# umount /filesystem
2 Create a 20-MB concatenated mirrored volume with a file system /myfs, and
mount the volume.
VEA:
Highlight the disk group, and select Actions—>New Volume. Specify a
volume name, the size, a concatenated layout, and select mirrored. Ensure
that “Enable logging” is not checked. Add a VxFS file system and set a
mount point.
CLI:
# vxassist -g diskgroup make volume_name 20m layout=mirror
# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/volume_name
# mkdir /myfs
# mount –F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/volume_name /myfs

3 View the layout of the volume.
VEA:
Highlight the volume and click each of the tabs in the right pane to display
information about Mirrors, Logs, and Subdisks. You can also select
Actions—>Volume View, click the Expand button, and compare the
information to the main window.
CLI:
# vxprint -rth
4 Add data to the volume and verify that the file has been added.
# echo “hello myfs” > /myfs/hello
5 Expand the file system and volume to 100 MB.

VEA:
Highlight the volume and select Actions—>Resize Volume. In the Resize
Volume dialog box, specify 100 MB in the “New volume size” field, and
click OK.
CLI:
# vxresize –g diskgroup volume_name 100m

1 Change the volume layout from its current layout (mirrored) to a nonlayered
mirror-stripe with two columns and a stripe unit size of 128 sectors (64K).
Monitor the progress of the relayout operation, and display the volume layout
after each command that you run.
VEA:
Highlight the volume and select Actions—>Change Layout. In the Change
Volume Layout dialog box, select a Striped layout, specify two columns,
and click OK.
To monitor the progress of the relayout, the Relayout status monitor
window is automatically displayed when you start the relayout operation.
When you view the task properties of the relayout operation, notice that
two commands are issued:
# vxassist -t taskid -g diskgroup relayout volume_name
layout=mirror-stripe nmirror=2 ncol=2 stripeunit=128
# vxassist -g diskgroup convert volume_name
layout=mirror-stripe
CLI:

To begin the relayout operation:
# vxassist –g diskgroup relayout volume_name
layout=mirror-stripe ncol=2 stripeunit=128
To monitor the progress of the task, run:
# vxtask monitor
Run vxprint to display the volume layout. Notice that a layered layout is
created:
# vxprint -rth
Recall that when you relayout a volume to a striped layout, a layered
layout is created first, then you must use vxassist convert to complete
the conversion to a nonlayered mirror-stripe:
# vxassist -g diskgroup convert volume_name
layout=mirror-stripe
Run vxprint to confirm the resulting layout. Notice that the volume is
now a nonlayered volume:
# vxprint -rth
2 Verify that the file is still accessible.

# cat /myfs/hello
3 Unmount the file system on the volume and remove the volume.
VEA:
Highlight the volume, and select Actions—>Delete Volume.
In the Unmount File System dialog box, click Yes.
CLI:
# umount /filesystem
Resizing a File System Only

1 Create a 50-MB volume named reszvol in the diskgroup datadg by using
the VERITAS Volume Manager utility vxassist.
# vxassist -g datadg make reszvol 50m
2 Create a VERITAS file system on the volume by using the mkfs command.
Specify the file system size as 40 MB.
# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/reszvol 40m
3 Create a mount point /reszmnt on which to the mount the file system.

# mkdir /reszmnt
4 Mount the newly created file system on the mount point /reszmnt.
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/reszvol /reszmnt
5 Verify disk space using the df command. Observe that the available space is
smaller than the size of the volume.
# df -k
6 Expand the file system to the full size of the underlying volume using the
fsadm -b newsize option.
# fsadm -b 50m -r /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/reszvol /reszmnt
7 Verify disk space using the df command.
# df -k
8 Make a file on the file system mounted at /reszmnt (using mkfile), so that
the free space is less than 50 percent of the total file system size.
# mkfile 25m /reszmnt/myfile
9 Shrink the file system to 50 percent of its current size. What happens?
# fsadm -b 25m -r /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/reszvol /reszmnt
The command fails. You cannot shrink the file system because blocks are
currently in use.
# umount /reszmnt
# vxassist -g datadg remove volume reszvol
Using the Storage Expert Utility

1 Add the directory containing the Storage Expert rules to your PATH
environment variable in your .profile file.
# PATH=$PATH:/opt/VRTS/vxse/vxvm
# export PATH
2 Display a description of Storage Expert rule vxse_drl1. What does this rule
do?
# vxse_drl1 info
This rule checks for large mirrored volumes that do not have an
associated log.
3 Does Storage Expert rule vxse_drl1 have any user-settable parameters?

# vxse_drl1 list
This rule does not have any user-settable parameters.
4 From the command line, create a 100-MB mirrored volume with no log. Create
and mount a file system on the volume.

# vxassist -g diskgroup make volume_name 100m
layout=mirror
# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/volume_name
# mkdir /sefs
# mount –F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/volume_name /sefs
5 Run Storage Expert rule vxse_drl1 on the disk group containing the volume.
What does Storage Expert report?
# vxse_drl1 -g diskgroup run
Storage Expert reports information; the mirrored volume is skipped,
since the volume is less than the size of volumes tested by the rule.
6 Expand the volume to a size of 1 GB.

# vxresize -g diskgroup datavol 1g
Storage Expert reports a violation, since the large mirrored volume does
not have a log.
8 Add a log to the volume.

# vxassist -g diskgroup addlog datavol
Storage Expert reports that the volume passes the test, since the large
mirrored volume now has a log.
10 What are the attributes and parameters that Storage Expert uses in running the
vxse_drl1 rule?
# vxse_drl1 list
The attribute is mirror_threshold. Storage Expert will warn if a mirror is
greater than this size and the volume does not have a log.
# vxse_drl1 check
The mirror_threshold is a 1-GB mirrored volume.
11 Shrink the volume to 100 MB and remove the log.

# vxresize -g diskgroup datavol 100m
# vxassist -g diskgroup remove log datavol

12 Run Storage Expert rule vxse_drl1 again. When running the rule, specify
that you want Storage Expert to test the mirrored volume against a
mirror_threshold of 100 MB. What does Storage Expert report?
# vxse_drl1 -g diskgroup run mirror_threshold=100m
This step demonstrates how to specify different attribute values from the
command line. Because you set the mirror_threshold parameter to 100
MB, Storage Expert reports a violation.
13 Unmount the file system and remove the volume used in this exercise.
# umount /sefs
Monitoring Tasks (Optional)

Objective: In this advanced section of the lab, you track volume relayout
processes using the vxtask command and recover from a vxrelayout crash by
using VEA or from the command line.
Setup: You should have at least four disks in the disk group that you are using.
1 Create a mirror-stripe volume with a size of 1 GB using the vxassist

command. Assign a task tag to the task and run the vxassist command in
the background.
VEA:
Highlight a disk group and select Actions—>New Volume. Specify a
volume name, the size, a striped layout, and select mirrored. Ensure that
“No layered volumes” is checked. Add a VxFS file system and create a
mount point. Note: You cannot assign a task tag when using VEA.
CLI:
# vxassist –g diskgroup -b –t task_name make
volume_name 1g layout=mirror-stripe
2 View the progress of the task.

VEA:
Click the Tasks tab at the bottom of the main window to display the task
and the percent complete.
CLI:
# vxtask list task_name
or
# vxtask monitor

3 Slow down the task progress rate to insert an I/O delay of 100 milliseconds.
VEA:
Right-click the task in the Tasks tab, and select Throttle Task. Specify 100
as the Throttling value, and click OK.
CLI:
# vxtask set slow=100 task_name
4 After the volume has been created, use vxassist to relayout the volume to
stripe-mirror. Use a stripe unit size of 256K, use two columns, and assign the
process to the above task tag.
VEA:
Highlight the volume and select Actions—>Change Layout. In the Change
Volume Layout dialog box, select a Striped Mirrored layout. Change the
stripe unit size value to 512.
CLI:
# vxassist –g diskgroup –t task_name relayout
volume_name layout=stripe-mirror stripeunit=256k ncol=2
5 In another terminal window, abort the task to simulate a crash during relayout.
VEA:
In the Relayout status monitor window, click Abort.
CLI:
# vxtask abort task_name
6 Reverse the relayout operation.

VEA:
In the Relayout status monitor window, click Reverse.
CLI:
# vxrelayout –g diskgroup reverse volume_name

VEA:
Highlight the volume, select Actions—>Delete Volume, and click Yes.

CLI:

Lab 7 Solutions: Encapsulation and Rootability
Introduction
In this practice, you create a boot disk mirror, disable the boot disk, and boot up
from the mirror. Then you boot up again from the boot disk, break the mirror, and
remove the boot disk from the boot disk group. Finally, you reencapsulate the boot
disk and re-create the mirror. These tasks are performed using a combination of the
VEA interface, the vxdiskadm utility, and CLI commands.
Encapsulation and Root Disk Mirroring

1 Use vxdiskadm to encapsulate the boot disk. Use systemdg as the name of
your boot disk group and use rootdisk as the name of your boot disk.
Select the vxdiskadm option, “Encapsulate one or more disks,” and
follow the steps to encapsulate your system disk. Select the system disk as
the disk to encapsulate. Add the system disk to a disk group named
systemdg. Specify the name of the disk as rootdisk. Shutdown and
reboot when prompted.
2 After the reboot, use vxdiskadm to add a disk that will be used for the mirror
of rootdisk. If your system has two internal disks, use the second internal
disk on your system for the mirror. (This is required due to the nature of the
classroom configuration.) When setting up the disk, make sure that the disk
layout is sliced. Use altboot as the name of your disk.
Select the vxdiskadm option, “Add or initialize one or more disks,” and
follow the steps to add a disk to the systemdg disk group. Select the
second internal disk as the device to add. Add the disk to the systemdg
disk group. Specify a sliced format when prompted. Specify the name of
the disk as altboot.
3 Next, use vxdiskadm to mirror your system disk, rootdisk, to the disk
that you added, altboot.
Select the vxdiskadm option, “Mirror volumes on a disk,” and follow the
steps to mirror the volumes. Specify the disk containing the volumes to be
mirrored as rootdisk. Specify the destination disk as altboot.
4 After the mirroring operation is complete, verify that you now have two disks
in systemdg: rootdisk and altboot, and that all volumes are mirrored.
# vxprint -g systemdg -htr
What order are the volumes mirrored?

Alphabetical order
Check to determine if rootvol is enabled and active. Hint: Use vxprint

and examine the STATE fields.

# vxprint -thf
The rootvol should be in the ENABLED and ACTIVE state, and you
should also see two plexes for each of the volumes in systemdg.
5 From the command line, set the eeprom variable to enable VxVM to create a
device alias in the openboot program.
# eeprom use-nvramrc?=true
6 To disable the boot disk and make rootvol-01 disabled and offline, use the
vxmend command. This command is used to make changes to configuration
records. Here, you are using the command to place the plex in an offline state.
For more information about this command, see the vxmend (1m) manual
page.
# vxmend -g systemdg off rootvol-01
7 Verify that rootvol-01 is now disabled and offline.

# vxprint -thf
8 To change the plex to a STALE state, run the vxmend on command on

rootvol-01. Verify that rootvol-01 is now in the DISABLED and STALE
state.
# vxmend -g systemdg on rootvol-01
# vxprint -thf
9 Reboot the system using init 6.

# init 6
10 At the OK prompt, check for available boot disk aliases.

OK> devalias
Use the boot disk alias vx-altboot to boot up from the alternate boot disk.
For example:
OK> boot vx-altboot
11 Verify that rootvol-01 is now in the ENABLED and ACTIVE state.

Note: You may need to wait a few minutes for the state to change from STALE
to ACTIVE.
# vxprint -thf
You have successfully booted up from the mirror.
12 To boot up from the original boot disk, reboot again using init 6.
# init 6

You have now booted up from the original boot disk.
13 Using VEA, remove all but one plex of rootvol, swapvol, usr, var, opt,
and home (that is, remove the newer plex from each volume in systemdg.)
For each volume in systemdg, remove all of the newly created mirrors.
More specifically, for each volume, two plexes are displayed, and you
should remove the newer (-02) plexes from each volume. To remove a
mirror, highlight a volume and select Actions—>Mirror—>Remove.
14 Run the command to convert the root volumes back to disk partitions.
# vxunroot
15 Shut down the system when prompted.
16 Verify that the mount points are now slices rather than volumes.
# df -k
17 At the end of this lab, leave your boot disk unencapsulated and remove any
other disks from systemdg.

Lab 8 Solutions: Recovery Essentials
Introduction
In this practice, you perform a variety of basic recovery operations. Perform this
lab by using the command line interface. In some of the steps, the commands are
provided for you.
Setup
For this lab, you should have at least four disks (datadg01 through datadg04)
in a disk group called datadg. If you use object names other than the ones
provided, substitute the names accordingly in the commands.
Exploring Logging Behavior

1 Create two mirrored, concatenated volumes, 500 MB in size, called vollog
and volnolog.
# vxassist -g diskgroup make vollog 500m layout=mirror
# vxassist -g diskgroup make volnolog 500m
layout=mirror
2 Add a log to the volume vollog.

# vxassist -g diskgroup addlog vollog
3 Create a file system on both volumes.

# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/volnolog
# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/vollog
4 Create mount points for the volumes, /vollog and /volnolog.

# mkdir /vollog
# mkdir /volnolog
5 Copy /etc/vfstab to a file called origvfstab.

# cp /etc/vfstab /origvfstab
6 Edit /etc/vfstab so that vollog and volnolog are mounted

automatically on reboot. (In the /etc/vfstab file, each entry should be
separated by a tab.)
7 Type mountall to mount the vollog and volnolog volumes.

# mountall
8 In root, start an I/O process on each volume. For example:

# find /usr -print | cpio -pmud /vollog &
# find /usr -print | cpio -pmud /volnolog &

9 Press Stop-A. At the OK prompt, type boot.
OK? boot
10 After the system is running again, check the state of the volumes to ensure that
neither of the volumes is in the sync/needsync mode.
# vxprint -thf vollog volnolog
11 Run the vxstat command. This utility displays statistical information about
volumes and other VxVM objects. For more information on this command, see
the vxstat (1m) manual page.
# vxstat -g diskgroup -fab vollog volnolog
The output shows how many I/Os it took to resynchronize the mirrors.
Compare the number of I/Os for each volume. What do you notice?
You should notice that fewer I/O operations were required to
resynchronize vollog. The log keeps track of data that needs to be
resynchronized.
12 Stop the VxVM configuration daemon.

# vxdctl stop
13 Create a 100-MB mirrored volume. What happens?

# vxassist -g diskgroup make testvol 100m layout=mirror
The task fails, because the configuration daemon is not running.
14 Start the VxVM configuration daemon.

# vxconfigd
15 Unmount both file systems and remove the volumes vollog and volnolog.
# umount /vollog
# umount /volnolog
# vxedit -g diskgroup -rf rm vollog volnolog
16 Restore your original vfstab file.

# cp /origvfstab /etc/vfstab
Removing a Disk from VxVM Control

1 Create a 100-MB, mirrored volume named recvol. Create and mount a file
system on the volume.
# vxassist -g datadg make recvol 100m layout=mirror
# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/recvol

# mkdir /recvol
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/recvol /recvol
media name of the disks used in this volume.
# vxprint -thf
For example, the volume recvol uses datadg02 and datadg04:
Device Disk Media Name

Disk 1 c1t2d0s2 datadg02
3 Remove one of the disks that is being used by the volume.

# vxdg -g datadg -k rmdisk datadg02
4 Confirm that the disk was removed.

5 From the command line, check that the state of one the plexes is DISABLED
and REMOVED.
# vxprint -thf
In VEA, the disk is shown as disconnected, because one of the plexes is

unavailable.
6 Replace the disk back into the disk group.

# vxdg -g datadg -k adddisk datadg02=c1t2d0
7 Check the status of the disks. What is the status of the disks?
The status of the disks is ONLINE.
8 Display volume information. What is the state of the plexes?

# vxprint -thf
The plex you removed is marked RECOVER.
9 In VEA, what is the status of the disks? What is the status of the volume?
The disk is reconnected and shows that the disk contains a volume that is
recoverable. Select the volume in the left pane, and click the Mirrors tab
in the right pane. The plex is marked recoverable.

10 From the command line, recover the volume. During and after recovery, check
the status of the plex in another command window and in VEA.
# vxrecover
In VEA, the status of the plex changes to Recovering, and eventually to
Attached.
With vxprint, the status of the plex changes to STALE and eventually to
ACTIVE.
11 At the end of this lab, destroy your disk group and send your data disks back to
an uninitialized state. In the next exercises, you will use sliced disks and non-
CDS disk groups to practice recovery operations.
Replacing Physical Drives (Without Hot Relocation)

1 For this exercise, initialize four disks as sliced disks. Place the disks in a non-
CDS disk group named datadg. Create a 100-MB mirrored volume,
recvol, in the disk group, add a VxFS file system to the volume, and mount
the file system at the mount point /recvol.
For each disk:
Initialize a non-CDS disk group using one of the disks:
# vxdg init diskgroup disk_name=device_tag cds=off
Add the other three sliced disks to the non-CDS disk group:
# vxdg -g diskgroup adddisk disk_name=device_tag
Create a mirrored volume and create and mount a file system:
# vxassist -g diskgroup make recvol 100m layout=mirror
# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/recvol
# mkdir /recvol
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/recvol /recvol
2 Stop vxrelocd using ps and kill, in order to stop hot relocation from
taking place. Verify that the vxrelocd processes are killed before you
continue.
# ps -e | grep vx
# kill -9 pid1 pid2
# ps -e | grep vx
Note: There are two vxrelocd processes. You must kill both of them at the
same time.
disk device name for one of the disks in use by recvol, for example
c1t2d0s2.

4 An error will occurs when you start I/O to the volume. You can view the error
on the console or in tail -f /var/adm/messages. A summary of the
mail can be viewed in /var/mail/root.
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/recvol &
5 When the error occurs, view the status of the disks from the command line.
The physical device is no longer associated with the disk media name and
the disk group.
6 View the status of the volume from the command line.

# vxprint -thf
The plex displays a status of DISABLED NODEVICE.
7 In VEA, what is the status of the disks and volume?

The status is that the disk is disconnected, and the volume has a
disconnected plex.
8 Rescan for all attached disks:

# vxdctl enable
9 Recover the disk by replacing the private and public regions on the disk:
# vxdisksetup -i c1t2d0 format=sliced
Note: This method for recovering the disk is only used because of the method
in which the disk was defaulted (by writing over the private and public
regions). In most real-life situations, you do not need to perform this step.
10 Bring the disk back under VxVM control:

# vxdg -g diskgroup -k adddisk disk_name=device_tag
11 Check the status of the disks and the volume.

# vxprint -thf
12 From the command line, recover the volume.

# vxrecover

13 Check the status of the disks and the volume to ensure that the disk and volume
are fully recovered.
# vxprint -thf

# umount /recvol
# vxassist -g diskgroup remove volume recvol
Exploring Spare Disk Behavior

1 You should have four sliced disks (datadg01 through datadg04) in the non-
CDS disk group datadg. Set all disks to have the spare flag on.
# vxedit -g diskgroup set spare=on datadg01
2 Create a 100-MB mirrored volume called sparevol.

# vxassist -g diskgroup make sparevol 100m
layout=mirror
Is the volume successfully created? Why or why not?

No, the volume is not created, and you receive the error:
cannot allocate space for size block volume
The volume is not created, because all disks are set as spares, and
vxassist and VEA do not find enough free space to create the volume.
3 Attempt to create the same volume again, but this time specify two disks to
use. Do not clear any spare flags on the disks.
# vxassist -g diskgroup make sparevol 100m
layout=mirror datadg03 datadg04
Notice that VxVM overrides its default and applies the two spare disks to
the volume, because the two disks were specified by the administrator.

# vxedit -g diskgroup -rf rm sparevol
5 Verify that the relocation daemon (vxrelocd) is running. If not, start it as

follows:
# vxrelocd root &
6 Remove the spare flags from three of the four disks.

# vxedit -g diskgroup set spare=off datadg01
7 Create a 100-MB concatenated mirrored volume called spare2vol.

# vxassist -g diskgroup make spare2vol 100m
layout=mirror
8 Save the output of vxprint -thf to a file.

# vxprint -thf > savedvxprint
media name of the disks used in this volume. You are going to simulate disk
failure on one of the disks. Decide which disk you are going to fail. Open a
console screen.
For example, the volume spare2vol uses datadg02 and datadg04:
Device Name Disk Media Name

disk device name:
11 An error occurs when you start I/O to the volume. You can view the error on
the console or in tail -f /var/adm/messages. A summary of the mail
can be viewed in /var/mail/root.
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/volume_name &
12 Run vxprint -rth and compare the output to the vxprint output that you
saved earlier. What has occurred?
Hot relocation has taken place. The failed disk has a status of NODEVICE.
VxVM has relocated the mirror of the failed disk onto the designated
spare disk.
13 In VEA, view the disks. Notice that the disk is in the disconnected state.
14 Run vxdisk -o alldgs list. What do you notice?

This disk is displayed as a failed disk.
15 Rescan for all attached disks.

# vxdctl enable
16 In VEA, view the status of the disks and the volume.

Highlight the volume and click each of the tabs in the right pane. You can
also select Actions—>Volume View and Actions—>Disk View to view
status information.
17 View the status of the disks and the volume from the command line.
# vxprint -thf
18 Recover the disk by replacing the private and public regions on the disk.
# vxdisksetup -i c1t2d0 format=sliced
19 Bring the disk back under VxVM control and into the disk group.
# vxdg -g diskgroup -k adddisk datadg02=c1t2d0
20 In VEA, undo hot relocation for the disk.

Right-click the disk group and select Undo Hot Relocation. In the dialog
box, select the disk for which you want to undo hot relocation and click
OK. After the task has completed, the alert on the disk group should be
removed.
Alternatively, from the command line, run:
# vxunreloc -g datadg datadg02
21 Wait until the volume is fully recovered before continuing. Check to ensure
that the disk and the volume are fully recovered.
# vxprint -thf
22 Reboot and then remove the volume.

# vxedit -g diskgroup -rf rm spare2vol
23 Turn off any spare flags from your disks that you set during this lab.

Appendix C
VxVM/VxFS Command Reference
VxVM Command Quick Reference
This section contains some frequently used commands and options described in the
VERITAS Volume Manager training. For more information on specific commands, see the
VERITAS Volume Manager manual pages.
Disk Operations
Task Command
Initialize disk vxdisksetup -i device (CDS disk)
vxdisksetup -i device format=sliced (sliced disk)
or
vxdiskadm option, “Add or initialize one or more disks”
Uninitialize disk vxdiskunsetup device
List disks vxdisk -o alldgs list
List disk header vxdisk -g diskgroup list diskname|device
Evacuate a disk vxevac -g diskgroup from_disk to_disk
Rename a disk vxedit -g diskgroup rename oldname newname
Set a disk as a spare vxedit -g diskgroup set spare=on|off diskname
Unrelocate a disk vxunreloc -g diskgroup original_diskname
Disk Group Operations
Task Command
Create disk group vxdg init diskgroup diskname=device
(CDS disk group)
vxdg init diskgroup diskname=device cds=off
(non-CDS disk group)
Add disk to disk group vxdg -g diskgroup adddisk diskname=device
Deport disk group vxdg deport diskgroup
Import disk group vxdg import diskgroup
Destroy disk group vxdg destroy diskgroup
List disk groups vxdg list
List specific disk group vxdg list diskgroup
details
Remove disk from disk vxdg –g diskgroup rmdisk diskname
group
Upgrade disk group version vxdg [-T version] upgrade diskgroup
Move an object between vxdg move sourcedg targetdg object...
disk groups
Split objects between disk vxdg split sourcedg targetdg object...
groups
Join disk groups vxdg join sourcedg targetdg
C–2 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Task Command
List objects affected by a vxdg listmove sourcedg targetdg object...
disk group move operation
Display bootdg vxdg bootdg
Display defaultdg vxdg defaultdg
Set defaultdg vxdctl defaultdg diskgroup
Manually back up the disk vxconfigbackup diskgroup
group configuration
Perform precommit analysis vxconfigrestore -p diskgroup
of a restore
Restore the disk group vxconfigrestore -c [-l directory] diskgroup
configuration
Subdisk Operations
Task Command
Create a subdisk vxmake -g diskgroup sd subdiskname diskname
offset length
Remove a subdisk vxedit -g diskgroup rm subdisk_name
Display subdisk info vxprint -st
vxprint -l subdisk_name
Associate a subdisk to a plex vxsd assoc plex_name subdisk_name
Dissociate a subdisk vxsd dis subdisk_name
Plex Operations
Task Command
Create a plex vxmake -g diskgroup plex plex_name
sd=subdisk_name,…
Associate a plex (to a vxplex –g diskgroup att vol_name plex_name
volume)
Dissociate a plex vxplex dis plex_name
Remove a plex vxedit –g diskgroup rm plex_name
List all plexes vxprint -lp
Detach a plex vxplex –g diskgroup det plex_name
Attach a plex vxplex –g diskgroup att vol_name plex_name
Appendix C VxVM/VxFS Command Reference C–3

Volume Operations
Task Command
Create a volume vxassist -g diskgroup make vol_name size
layout=format diskname
or
vxmake -g diskgroup -U fsgen vol vol_name
len=size plex plex_name
Remove a volume vxedit -g diskgroup -rf rm vol_name
or
vxassist -g diskgroup remove volume vol_name
Display a volume vxprint -g diskgroup -vt vol_name
vxprint -g diskgroup -l vol_name
Change volume attributes vxedit -g diskgroup set attribute=value
vol_name
vxvol -g diskgroup set attribute=value
vol_name
Resize a volume vxassist -g diskgroup growto vol_name
new_length
vxassist -g diskgroup growby vol_name
length_change
vxassist -g diskgroup shrinkto vol_name
new_length
vxassist -g diskgroup shrinkby vol_name
length_change
vxresize -g diskgroup vol_name [+|-]length
Resize a dynamic LUN vxdisk -g diskgroup resize disk_name
length=attribute
Change volume read vxvol -g diskgroup rdpol round vol_name
policy
vxvol -g diskgroup rdpol prefer vol_name
preferrred_plex_name
vxvol -g diskgroup rdpol select vol_name
Start/Stop volumes vxvol start vol_name
Start all volumes vxvol startall
Start all volumes in a dg vxvol -g diskgroup startall
Stop a volume vxvol stop vol_name
Stop all volumes vxvol stopall
Recover a volume vxrecover -sn vol_name
List unstartable volumes vxinfo [vol_name]

Task Command
Mirror an existing plex vxassist -g diskgroup mirror vol_name
or
vxmake -g diskgroup plex plex_name
sd=subdisk_name
vxplex -g diskgroup att vol_name plex_name
Relayout a volume vxassist -g diskgroup relayout vol_name
layout=new_layout [attributes...]
To or from a layered vxassist -g diskgroup convert vol_name
layout layout=new_layout [attributes...]
Add a log to a volume vxassist –g diskgroup addlog vol_name
Create and mount a VxFS mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/diskgroup/vol_name
file system on a volume
mkdir /mount_point
mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/diskgroup/vol_name
/mount_point
Run a Storage Expert rule rule_name -g diskgroup run
Display rule description rule_name info
Display rule attributes rule_name list
Display default attributes rule_name check
DMP, DDL, and Task Management
Task Command
Manage tasks vxtask list
vxtask monitor
Manage device discovery
layer (DDL)
Discover new devices vxdisk scandisks new
List supported disk arrays vxddladm listsupport
Exclude support for an array vxddladm excludearray libname=library
vxddladm excludearray vid=vid pid=pid
Reinclude support vxddladm includearray libname=library
vxddladm includearray vid=vid pid=pid
List excluded arrays vxddladm listexclude
List supported JBODs vxddladm listjbod
Add/remove JBOD support vxddladm addjbod vid=vid pid=pid
vxddladm rmjbod vid=vid pid=pid
Add a foreign device vxddladm addforeign blockdir=path
chardir=path

Task Command
Manage dynamic
multipathing (DMP)
List controllers on system vxdmpadm listctlr all
Display subpaths vxdmpadm getsubpaths ctlr=ctlr
Display DMP nodes vxdmpadm getdmpnode nodename=nodename
Enable/disable I/O to vxdmpadm enable ctlr=ctlr
controller vxdmpadm disable ctlr=ctlr
Display enclosure attributes vxdmpadm listenclosure all
Rename an enclosure vxdmpadm setattr enclosure orig_name
name=new_name
Enable statistics gathering vxdmpadm iostat start
Reset statistics counters vxdmpadm iostat reset
Display stats for all paths vxdmpadm iostat show all
Change the I/O policy vxdmpadm setattr enclosure enc_name
iopolicy=policy
Set path attributes vxdmpadm setattr path path_name
pathtype=type

Using VxVM Commands: Examples
Initialize disks c1t0d0, c1t1d0, c1t2d0, c2t0d0, c2t1d0, and c2t2d0:
# vxdisksetup -i c1t0d0
Create a disk group named datadg and add the six disks:
# vxdg init datadg datadg01=c1t0d0 datadg02=c1t1d0
datadg03=c1t2d0
# vxdg -g datadg adddisk datadg04=c2t0d0 datadg05=c2t1d0
datadg06=c2t2d0
Using a top-down technique, create a RAID-5 volume named datavol of size

2 GB on the six disks (5 + log). Also, create and mount a UFS file system on
the volume:
# vxassist -g datadg make datavol 2g layout=raid5 datadg01
datadg02 datadg03 datadg04 datadg05 datadg06
# newfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
# mkdir /datamnt
# mount /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /datamnt
Remove the volume datavol:

# umount /datamnt
# vxvol stop datavol
# vxedit -g datadg -r rm datavol
Using a bottom-up technique, create a two-way mirrored volume named

datavol02 of size 1 GB using disks datadg01 and datadg04:
• 1 GB = 2097152 sectors
• Subdisks should be cylinder aligned.
• If disk uses 1520 sectors/cylinder, subdisk size = 2097600 sectors.
# vxmake -g datadg sd sd01 datadg01,0,2097600
# vxmake -g datadg sd sd02 datadg04,0,2097600
# vxmake -g datadg plex plex01 sd=sd01:0/0
# vxmake -g datadg plex plex02 sd=sd02:0/0
# vxmake -g datadg -U fsgen vol datavol02
plex=plex01,plex02

# vxvol start datavol02
Change the permissions of the volume so that dba is the owner and dbgroup
is the group:
# vxedit set user=dba group=dbgroup mode=0744 datavol02
Destroy the volume and remove the disks from the disk group datadg. Also,
remove disks from Volume Manager control:
# vxedit -g datadg -rf rm datavol02
# vxdg -g datadg rmdisk datadg01 datadg02 datadg03
datadg04 datadg05
# vxdg deport datadg
# vxdiskunsetup c1t1d0
# vxdiskunsetup c1t2d0
# vxdiskunsetup c1t3d0...
Advanced vxmake Operation: Create a three-way striped volume:

# vxmake -g acctdg sd sd01 acctdg01,0,1520000
# vxmake -g acctdg plex plex1 layout=stripe ncolumn=3
stwidth=64k sd=sd01:0/0,sd02:1/0,sd03:2/0
# vxmake -g acctdg -U fsgen vol datavol05 plex=plex1
# vxvol -g acctdg start datavol05
Advanced vxmake Operation: Create a RAID 0+1 volume with a DRL Log:
# vxmake -g acctdg sd logsd acctdg01,194560,2
stwidth=64k sd=sd01:0/0,sd02:1/0
stwidth=64k sd=sd03:0/0,sd04:1/0
# vxmake -g acctdg plex logplex log_sd=logsd
# vxmake -g acctdg -U fsgen vol datavol06
plex=plex1,plex2,logplex
# vxvol -g acctdg start datavol06

VxFS Command Quick Reference
This section contains some VxFS commands and examples. For more information on
specific commands, see the VERITAS File System manual pages.
Setting Up a File System
Task Command
Create a VERITAS file system mkfs [fstype] [generic_options] [-o specific_options]
special [size]
Options
-o N Check VxFS structure without writing to device.
-o version=n Create VxFS with different layout version.
-o bsize=size Create VxFS with a specific block size. size is the
block size in bytes.
-o logsize=size Create VxFS with a specific logging area size. size is
the number of file system blocks to be used for the
intent log.
Mount a VERITAS file system mount [fstype] [generic_options] [-r]
[-o specific_options] special mount_point
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /mydata
List mounted file systems mount -v
List mounted file systems in the mount -p
file system table format
Unmount a mounted file system umount special|mount_point
# umount /mnt
Unmount all mounted file systems umount -a
Determine the file system type fstyp [-v] special
# fstyp /dev/dsk/c0t6d0s0
Report free disk blocks and inodes df [-F vxfs] [generic_options] [-o s] [special|mount]
# df -F vxfs /mnt
Check the consistency of and fsck [-F vxfs] [generic_options] [-y|Y] [-n|N] special
repair a file system # fsck -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
Online Administration
Task Command
Resize a VERITAS file system fsadm [-b newsize] [-r rawdev] mount_point
# /usr/lib/fs/vxfs/fsadm -b 1024000
-r /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol /mnt
vxresize [-bsx] [-F vxfs] [-g diskgroup] [-t tasktag]

volume new_length [medianame]
# vxresize -F vxfs -g datadg datavol 5g
Note: The vxresize command automatically resizes the underlying volume.
The fsadm command does not.
Dump a file system vxdump [options] mount_point
Restore a file system vxrestore [options] mount_point
Upgrade the VxFS layout vxupgrade [-n new_version] [-r rawdev] mount_point

Task Command
Display layout version number vxupgrade mount_point
Convert a file system to VxFS vxfsconvert [-s size] [-efnNvyY] special
# vxfsconvert /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
Activate file change log fcladm on mount_point
Benchmarking
Task Command
Create different vxbench -w workload [options] filename . . .
combinations of I/O # vxbench -w write -i iosize=8,iocount=131072
workloads /mnt/testfile01
# vxbench -w rand_write -i iosize=8,iocount=131072,
maxfilesize=1048576 /mnt/testfile01
List vxbench command vxbench -h
options
Workloads Options -i Suboptions
read -h Display help nrep=n Repeat I/O loop n times
write -P Use processes and threads nthreads=n Specify the number of threads
rand_read (default) iosize=n Specify I/O size (in kilobytes)
rand_write -p Use processes fsync Perform an fsync on the file
-t Use threads
rand_mixed remove Remove each file after the test
-m Lock I/O buffers in memory
mmap_read iocount=n Specify the number of I/Os
-s Print summary results
mmap_write reserveonly Only reserve space for the file
-v Print per-thread results
Print throughput in kbytes/sec maxfilesiz=n Max offset for random I/O
-k
Print throughput in mbytes/sec randseed=n Seed value for random number
-M
Specify suboptions generator
-i
rdpct=n Read percentage of the job mix
Managing Extents
Task Command
List file names and inode ff [-F vxfs] [generic_options] [-o s] special
information
Generate path names from ncheck [-F vxfs] [generic_options] [-o options] special
inode numbers for a VxFS
file system
Set extent attributes setext [-e extent_size] [-f flags] [-r reservation] file
Options
-e Specify a fixed extent size.
-r Preallocate, or reserve, space for a file.
-f Set allocation flags.
Flags
align Align extents to the start of allocation units.
chgsize Add the reservation into the file.
contig Allocate the reservation contiguously.
noextend File may not be extended after reservation is used.
noreserve Space reserved is allocated only until the close of the file, and
then is freed.
trim Reservation is reduced to the current file size after the last close.

Task Command
Display extent attributes getext [-f] [-s] file . . .
Options
-f Do not print the filename.
-s Do not print output for files without fixed extent sizes or
reservations.
Use extent-aware versions of -e warn Warns if extent information cannot be preserved (default).
standard commands, such as -e force Causes a copy to fail if extent information cannot be preserved.
mv, cp, and cpio -e ignore Does not try to preserve extent information.
Defragmenting a File System

Task Command
Report on directory fragmentation fsadm -D mount_point
Report on extent fragmentation fsadm -E [-l largesize] mount_point
Defragment, or reorganize, a file fsadm [-d] [-D] [-e] [-E] [-s] [-v] [-l largesize] [-
system a days] [-t time] [-p passes] [-r rawdev] mount_point
# fsadm -edED /mnt1
Options
-d Reorganize directories.
-a Move aged files to the end of the directory. Default is 14 days.
-e Reorganize extents.
-D Report on directory fragmentation.
-E Report on extent fragmentation.
-v Report reorganization activity in verbose mode.
-l Size of a file that is considered large. Default is 64 blocks.
-t Maximum length of time to run, in seconds.
-p Maximum number of passes to run. Default is five passes.
-s Print a summary of activity at the end of each pass.
-r Pathname of the raw device to read to determine file layout and
fragmentation. Used when fsadm cannot determine the raw device.
Reorganize a file system to support # fsadm -o largefiles /mnt1
files > 2 GB
Intent Logging
Task Command
Check the consistency of and fsck [-F vxfs] [generic_options] [-y|Y] [-n|N]
repair a VERITAS file [-o full,nolog] [-o p] special
system. By default the fsck # fsck -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol
utility replays the
Options
intent log instead of doing a
-m Checks, but does not repair, a file system before
full structural file system
-n|N mounting.
check.
-V Assumes a response of no to all prompts by fsck.
-y|Y Echoes the command line, but does not execute.
-o full Assumes a response of yes to all prompts by fsck.
-o nolog Perform a full file system check after log replay.
-o p Do not perform log replay.
Check two file systems in parallel.
Perform a full file system # fsck -F vxfs -o full,nolog special
check without the intent log # fsck -F vxfs -o full,nolog /dev/vx/rdsk/datadg/datavol

Task Command
Resize the intent log # fsadm -F vxfs -o log=size[,logdev=device] mount_point
Alter default logging behavior mount [-F vxfs] [generic_options] [-o specific_options]
special mount_point
mount -F vxfs -o tmplog /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /mnt
Options
-o log All structural changes are logged.
-o delaylog Default option in which some logging is delayed.
-o tmplog Intent logging is almost always delayed.
-o blkclear Guarantees that storage is initialized before allocation.
-o logiosize=size Sets a specific I/O size to be used for logging.
I/O Types and Cache Advisories
Task Command
Alter the way in which mount -F vxfs [generic_options] -o mincache=suboption
VxFS handles buffered I/O special mount_point
operations mount -F vxfs -o mincache=closesync
/dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /mnt
Options
mincache=closesync
mincache=direct
mincache=dsync
mincache=unbuffered
mincache=tmpcache
Alter the way in which VxFS mount -F vxfs [generic_options] -o convosync=suboption
handles I/O requests for files special mount_point
opened with the O_SYNC and mount -F vxfs -o convosync=closesync
O_DSYNC flags /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datavol /mnt
Options
convosync=closesync
convosync=direct
convosync=dsync
convosync=unbuffered
convosync=delay

File System Tuning
Task Command
Set tuning parameters for vxtunefs [-ps] [-f filename] [-o parameter=value]
mounted file systems [{mount_point | block_special}]...
# vxtunefs -o write_pref_io=32768 /mnt
Options
-f filename Specifies a parameters file other than the
default
-p /etc/vx/tunefstab
-s Prints tuning parameters
Sets new tuning parameters
Tuning Parameters
read_ahead Enables enhanced read ahead to detect patterns.
read_pref_io Preferred read request size. Default is 64K.
read_nstream Desired number of parallel read requests to
have outstanding at one time. Default is 1.
write_pref_io Preferred write request size. Default is 64K.
write_nstream Desired number of parallel write requests to
have outstanding at one time. Default is 1.
discovered_direct_iosz I/O requests larger than this value are handled
as discovered direct I/O. Default is 256K.
hsm_write_prealloc Improves performance when using HSM
applications with VxFS
initial_extent_size Default initial extent size, in file system blocks.
max_direct_iosz Maximum size of a direct I/O requests.
max_diskq Maximum disk queue generated by a single file.
Default is 1M.
max_seqio_extent_size Maximum size of an extent. Default is 2048 file
system blocks.
qio_cache_enable
Enables or disables caching on Quick I/O for
Databases files. Default is disabled. To enable
caching, you set qio_cache_enable=1.
write_throttle Limits dirty pages per file that a file system
generates before flushing pages to disk.
Display current tuning vxtunefs mount_point
parameters # vxtunefs /mnt
Set read-ahead size Use vxtunefs to set the tuning parameters read_pref_io and
read_nstream.
Read-ahead size = (read_pref_io x read_nstream)
Set write-behind size Use vxtunefs to set the tuning parameters write_pref_io and
write_nstream.
Write-behind size = (write_pref_io x write_nstream)

Controlling Users
Task Command
Create a quotas files touch /mount_point/quotas
touch /mount_point/quotas.grp
Turn on quotas for a mounted vxquotaon [-u|-g] mount_point
file system # vxquotaon -u /mnt
Mount a file system and turn mount -F vxfs -o quota|usrquota|grpquota special
on quotas at the same time mount_point
# mount -F vxfs -o quota /dev/dsk/c0t5d0s2 /mnt
Invoke the quota editor vxedquota username|UID|groupname|GID
# vxedquota rsmith
Modify the quota time limit vxedquota -t
View quotas for a user vxquota -v username|groupname
# vxquota -v rsmith
Display summary of quotas vxrepquota mount_point
and disk usage # vxrepquota /mnt
Display a summary of vxquot mount_point
ownership and usage # vxquot /mnt
Turn off quotas for a mounted vxquotaoff [-u|-g] mount_point
file system # vxquotaoff /mnt
Set or modify an ACL for a setfacl [-r] -s acl_entries file
file setfacl [-r] -md acl_entries file
setfacl [-r] -f acl_file file
# setfacl -m user:bob:r-- myfile
# setfacl -d user:scott myfile
# setfacl -s user::rwx,group::r--,user:maria:r--,
mask:rw-,other:--- myfile
Options
-s Set an ACL for a file.
-m Add new or modify ACL entries to a file.
-d Remove an ACL entry for a user.
Elements in an ACL Entry
entry_type:[uid|gid]:permissions
entry_type Entry type: user, group, other, or mask.
uid|gid User or group name or identification number.
permissions Read, write, and/or execute indicated by rwx.
Display ACL entries for a file getfacl filename
# getfacl myfile
Copy existing ACL entries getfacl file1 | setfacl -f file2
from one file to another file # getfacl myfile | setfacl -f - newfile

QuickLog
Task Command
Create a volume or format a vxassist -g diskgroup make qlog_volume size [vxvm_disk]
disk partition to contain the # vxassist -g datadg make qvol01 32m
QuickLog device
Build the QuickLog volume qlogmk -g diskgroup vxlog[x] qlog_volume
layout # qlogmk -g datadg vxlog1 qvol01
Enable a QuickLog device # mount -F vxfs -o qlog= special mount_point
# mount -F vxfs -o qlog= /dev/vx/dsk/datadg/datvol
/mnt
Or
qlogenable [qlog_device] mount_point
# qlogenable /mnt
Disable logging by QuickLog qlogdisable mount_point
without unmounting a # qlogdisable /mnt
VERITAS File System
Detach a QuickLog volume qlogrm qlog_volume
from its QuickLog device # qlogrm qvol01
Remove the QuickLog vxedit -g diskgroup -rf rm qlog_volume
volume from the underlying # vxedit -g datadg -rf rm qvol01
VxVM volume
Display status of QuickLog qlogprint
devices, QuickLog volumes,
and VxFS file systems
Print statistical data for qlogstat [-dvf] [-l qlogdev] [-i interval] [-c count]
QuickLog devices, QuickLog Options
volumes, and VxFS file
-d Report statistics for all QuickLog devices only.
systems
-v Report statistics for all QuickLog volumes only.
-f Report statistics for all logged VxFS file systems only.
-l qlogdev Report statistics for a specified QuickLog device only.
-i interval Print the change in statistics after every interval seconds
-c count Default is 10 seconds.
Stop after printing interval statistics count times.
Default is 1.

Quick I/O
Task Command
Enable Quick I/O at mount mount -F vxfs -o qio mount_point
time
Disable Quick I/O mount -F vxfs -o noqio mount_point
Treat a file as a raw character filename::cdev:vxfs:
device mydbfile::cdev:vxfs:
Create a Quick I/O file qiomkfile [-h [headersize]] [-a] [-s size] [-e|-r size]
through a symbolic link file
# qiomkfile -s 100m /database/dbfile
Options
-h For Oracle database files. Creates a file with additional
space allocated for the Oracle header.
-s Preallocates space for a file
-e For Oracle database files. Extends the file by a specified
amount to allow Oracle tablespace resizing.
-r For Oracle database files. Increases the file to a specified
size to allow Oracle tablespace resizing.
-a
Creates a symbolic link with an absolute pathname.
Default behavior creates relative pathnames.
Obtain Quick I/O statistics qiostat [-i interval] [-c count] [-l] [-r] file...
# qiostat -i 5 /database/dbfile
Options
-c count Stop after printing statistics count times.
-i interval Print updated I/O statistics after every interval seconds.
-l Print the statistics in long format. Also prints the caching
statistics when Cached Quick I/O is enabled.
-r Reset statistics instead of printing them.
Enable Cached Quick I/O for vxtunefs -s -o qio_cache_enable=1 mount_point
all files in a file system # vxtunefs -s -o qio_cache_enable=1 /oradata
Disable Cached Quick I/O for qioadmin -S filename=OFF mount_point
a file # qioadmin -S /oradata/sal/hist.dat=OFF /oradata

Appendix D
VxVM/VxFS 3.5 to 4.0 Differences Quick
Reference
VxVM and VxFS 3.5 to 4.0 Differences Quick Reference
This section lists the major differences between VxVM/VxFS 3.5 and VxVM/VxFS 4.0.
Feature Description
New product naming Foundation Suite has been renamed as Storage Foundation; other
related products (DBE, DBEAC, SPFSHA) are also renamed.
New product packaging There are new licensing bundles, including Storage Foundation
and licensing bundles QuickStart, Standard, and Enterprise.
New software packages Several new software packages have been added to support the new
VM and FS features. These include VRTSalloc, VRTSap,
VRTScpi, VRTSddlpr, VRTSfppm, VRTSperl, VRTStep.
New installation scripts New installation scripts have been added to simplify installation of
multiple VERITAS products as well as individual VERITAS
products. The Installer script available in 3.5 is still available and is
the easiest way to install multiple VERITAS products from within
one menu system. New individual product installation scripts have
been added (installvm, installfs, installsf) that
simplify installation of individual products. These scripts include
vxinstall, which has been considerably reduced in scope of what it
sets up.
Simplified upgrade You can now upgrade a product through the installation scripts
procedures (installvm, installfs, installsf).
Display/Change default A new task is available in the vxdiskadm menu interface that
disk layout attributes enables you to change or display default disk layout attributes, such
as default private region size, and the offset of the private and public
regions.
Dynamic LUN You can resize a LUN while preserving the existing data. You do not
expansion have to stop the use of the volume, therefore you can proceed
without disruption to the application. VxVM can keep access open
at all times to all volumes using the device that is being resized.
Removal of rootdg The rootdg disk group is no longer required for VxVM to
requirement function. The vxinstall script no longer prompts you to set up
rootdg.
Reserved disk groups There are three disk group names that are reserved and cannot be
used to name any disk groups that you create: bootdg,
defaultdg, and nodg.
Configuration Backup Using the disk group configuration backup and restoration (CBR)
and Restore functionality, you can backup and restore all configuration data for
VxVM disk groups and VxVM objects such as volumes that are
configured within the disk groups. After the disk group
configuration has been restored, and the volume enabled, the user
data in the public region is available again without the need to
restore this from backup media.
D–2 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

DMP enhancements There are several new DMP commands that support features such as
partial device discovery (the ability to exclude/include specific
devices during a rescan); changing the I/O policy for balancing I/O
across multiple paths; setting enclosure attributes; and adding
foreign devices. These new features are available through the
command line as well as in VEA.
Storage Expert The VERITAS Storage Expert is a new utility designed to help you
monitor volumes and locate poor volume configurations. The utility
provides advice on how to improve volume configurations.
SDS to VxVM A new utility is available that enables you to convert objects under
conversion SDS control to VxVM control. There are many restrictions on this
utility in this release, for example, it is only supported for Solaris 8
environments.
VxFS layout version 6 This new VxFS disk layout is implemented to support the new VxFS
features in this release.
Larger file/file system VxFS 4.0 enables the creation of files and file systems up to 8
support exabytes in size.
File change log VxFS 4.0 includes a new file change log that tracks changes to files
and directories of a file system. This log saves time when used by
applications that typically scan an entire file system searching for
modifications since a prior scan.
Intent log resizing You can dynamically increase or decrease the size of the intent log.
New VEA functionality In 4.0, more VxVM and VxFS functions can be performed through
VEA, including administering storage checkpoints, managing the
file change log, managing QuickLog devices, and new DMP
functions.
DCO volume versioning The internal layout of the DCO volume changed in VxVM 4.0 to
support new features, such as full-sized and space-optimized instant
snapshots.
Instant volume VxVM 4.0 introduces instant snapshots that offer advantages such
snapshots as immediate availability for use, quick refreshment, and easier
configuration and administration. Instant snapshots can be full-
sized, space-optimized, or cascaded.
File system restore from Storage checkpoints can now be used by backup/restore applications
storage checkpoints to restore individual files or an entire file system.
Storage checkpoint Storage checkpoint quotas are a new feature that will aid in
quotas managing space used by checkpoints by setting limits on the number
of blocks used by a primary fileset and all of its related storage
checkpoints.
Appendix D VxVM/VxFS 3.5 to 4.0 Differences Quick Reference D–3

Volume sets The volume set feature is provided to support for the multi-device
enhancement to VERITAS File System. Volume sets allow several
volumes to be represented by a single logical object. A volume set is
a container for multiple different volumes. Each volume can have its
own geometry. This feature allows file systems to make best use of
the different performance and availability characteristics of the
underlying volumes.
Multivolume file Using multivolume support, a single file system can be created over
systems multiple volumes, each volume having its own properties. Benefits
of this include online hierarchical storage management (HSM), raw
volume encapsulation, storage checkpoint separation, and metadata
separation.
Quality of Storage The VxFS Quality of Storage Service (QoSS) feature enables the
Service mapping of more than one device into a single file system. Using
different devices can enhance performance for applications that
access specific types of files by managing where the types of files
are located.
Cross-platform data Cross-platform data sharing (CDS) provides you with the ability to
sharing share data concurrently across heterogeneous systems. With CDS,
all systems have direct access to physical devices holding data to
retrieve and store data or move objects between machines that are
running under different operating systems.
Intelligent storage The intelligent storage provisioning (ISP) Service is an alternative to
provisioning the traditional method of creating and managing volumes. ISP aids
you in managing large sets of storage by providing an allocation
engine that chooses which storage to use based on the capabilities
that you specify for the volumes to be created. ISP creates volumes
from available storage with capabilities that you specify by
consulting the externally defined rule base for creating volumes, and
comparing it to the properties of the storage that is available.
D–4 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Glossary
A allocation unit A basic structural
component of VxFS. The VxFS Version 4
access control list (ACL) A list of
and later file system layout divides the
users or groups who have access privileges
entire file system space into fixed size
to a specified file. A file may have its own
allocation units. The first allocation unit
ACL or may share an ACL with other files.
starts at block zero, and all allocation units
ACLs allow detailed access permissions
are a fixed length of 32K blocks.
for multiple users and groups.
application volume A volume created
active/active disk arrays This type of
by the intelligent storage provisioning
multipathed disk array enables you to
(ISP) feature of VERITAS Volume
access a disk in the disk array through all
Manager (VxVM).
the paths to the disk simultaneously.
associate The process of establishing a
active/passive disk arrays This type
relationship between VxVM objects; for
of multipathed disk array allows one path
example, a subdisk that has been created
to a disk to be designated as primary and
and defined as having a starting point
used to access the disk at any time.
within a plex is referred to as being
agent A process that manages predefined associated with that plex.
VERITAS Cluster Server (VCS) resource
associated plex A plex associated with
types. Agents bring resources online, take
resources offline, and monitor resources to a volume.
report any state changes to VCS. When an associated subdisk A subdisk
agent is started, it obtains configuration associated with a plex.
information from VCS and periodically
monitors the resources and updates VCS asynchronous writes A delayed write
with the resource status. in which the data is written to a page in the
system’s page cache, but is not written to
AIX coexistence label Data on disk disk before the write returns to the caller.
that identifies the disk to the AIX volume This improves performance, but carries the
manager (LVM) as being controlled by risk of data loss if the system crashes
VxVM. The contents have no relation to before the data is flushed to disk.
VxVM ID Blocks.
atomic operation An operation that
alert An indication that an error or failure either succeeds completely or fails and
has occurred on an object on the system. leaves everything as it was before the
When an object fails or experiences an operation was started. If the operation
error, an alert icon appears. succeeds, all aspects of the operation take
effect at once and the intermediate states of
alert icon An icon that indicates that an
change are invisible. If any aspect of the
error or failure has occurred on an object
operation fails, then the operation aborts
on the system. Alert icons usually appear
without leaving partial changes.
in the status area of the VEA main window
and on the affected object’s group icon. attached A state in which a VxVM
object is both associated with another
object and enabled for use.
Glossary-1

attribute Allows the properties of a LUN button A window control that the user
to be defined in an arbitrary conceptual clicks to initiate a task or display another
space, such as a manufacturer or location. object (such as a window or menu).
B C
back-rev disk group A disk group capability A feature that is provided by a
created using a version of VxVM released volume. For example, a volume may
prior to the release of CDS. Adding CDS exhibit capabilities, such as performance
functionality rolls over to the latest disk and reliability to various degrees. Applies
group version number. to the ISP feature of VxVM.
block The minimum unit of data transfer CDS disk A disk whose contents and
to or from a disk or array. attributes are such that the disk can be used
for CDS as part of a CDS disk group. In
Block-Level Incremental Backup (BLI contrast, a non-CDS disk can neither be
Backup) A VERITAS backup capability
used for CDS nor be part of a CDS disk
that does not store and retrieve entire files. group.
Instead, only the data blocks that have
changed since the previous backup are CDS disk group A VxVM disk group
backed up. whose contents and attributes are such that
the disk group can be used to provide for
boot disk A disk used for booting
cross-platform data sharing. In contrast, a
purposes. This disk may be under VxVM non-CDS disk group (that is, a back-rev
control for some operating systems. disk group or a current-rev disk group)
boot disk group A disk group that cannot be used for cross-platform data
contains the disks from which the system sharing. A CDS disk group can only
may be booted. contain CDS disks.
bootdg A reserved disk group name that CFS VERITAS Cluster File System.
is an alias for the name of the boot disk check box A control button used to
group. select optional settings. A check mark
browse dialog box A dialog box that is usually indicates that a check box is
used to view and/or select existing objects selected.
on the system. Most browse dialog boxes children Objects that belong to an object
consist of a tree and grid. group.
buffered I/O During a read or write
clean node shutdown The ability of a
operation, data usually goes through an node to leave the cluster gracefully when
intermediate file system buffer before all access to shared volumes has ceased.
being copied between the user buffer and
disk. If the same data is repeatedly read or clone pool A storage pool that contains
written, this file system buffer acts as a one or more full-sized instant volume
cache, which can improve performance. snapshots of volumes within a data pool.
See direct I/O and unbuffered I/O. Applies to the ISP feature of VxVM.
cluster A set of host machines (nodes)
that share a set of disks.
Glossary-2 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

cluster file system A VxFS file system configuration database A set of
mounted on a selected volume in cluster records containing detailed information on
(shared) mode. existing VxVM objects (such as disk and
volume attributes). A single copy of a
cluster manager An externally- configuration database is called a
provided daemon that runs on each node in configuration copy.
a cluster. The cluster managers on each
node communicate with each other and contiguous file A file in which data
inform VxVM of changes in cluster blocks are physically adjacent on the
membership. underlying media.
cluster mounted file system A shared Cross-platform Data Sharing (CDS)
file system that enables multiple hosts to Sharing data between heterogeneous
mount and perform file operations on the systems (such as SUN and HP), where
same file. A cluster mount requires a each system has direct access to the
shared storage device that can be accessed physical devices used to hold the data and
by other cluster mounts of the same file understands the data on the physical
system. Writes to the shared device can be device.
performed concurrently from any host on
which the cluster file system is mounted. current-rev disk group A disk group
To be a cluster mount, a file system must created using a version of VxVM
be mounted using the mount –o providing CDS functionality; however, the
cluster option. See local mounted file CDS attribute is not set. If the CDS
system. attribute is set for the disk group, the disk
group is called a CDS disk group.
cluster-shareable disk group A disk
group in which the disks are shared by CVM The cluster functionality of
multiple hosts (also referred to as a shared VERITAS VxVM.
disk group).
column A set of one or more subdisks
D
within a striped plex. Striping is achieved data blocks Blocks that contain the
by allocating data alternately and evenly actual data belonging to files and
across the columns within a plex. directories.
command log A log file that contains a data change object (DCO) A VxVM
history of VEA tasks performed in the object that is used to manage information
current session and previous sessions. about the FastResync maps in the DCO log
Each task is listed with the task originator, volume. Both a DCO object and a DCO
the start/finish times, the task status, and log volume must be associated with a
the low-level commands used to perform volume to implement Persistent
the task. FastResync on that volume.
concatenation A layout style data pool The first storage pool that is
characterized by subdisks that are arranged created within a disk group. Applies to the
sequentially and contiguously. ISP feature of VxVM.
configuration copy A single copy of a data stripe This represents the usable
configuration database. data portion of a stripe and is equal to the
stripe minus the parity region.
Glossary-3

data synchronous writes A form of direct I/O An unbuffered form of I/O
synchronous I/O that writes the file data to that bypasses the file system’s buffering of
disk before the write returns, but only data. With direct I/O, the file system
marks the inode for later update. If the file transfers data directly between the disk and
size changes, the inode will be written the user-supplied buffer. See buffered I/O
before the write returns. In this mode, the and unbuffered I/O.
file data is guaranteed to be on the disk
before the write returns, but the inode dirty region logging The procedure by
modification times may be lost if the which the VxVM monitors and logs
system crashes. modifications to a plex. A bitmap of
changed regions is kept in an associated
DCO log volume A special volume that subdisk called a log subdisk.
is used to hold Persistent FastResync
change maps. disabled path A path to a disk that is
not available for I/O. A path can be
defragmentation Reorganizing data on disabled due to real hardware failures or if
disk to keep file data blocks physically the user has used the vxdmpadm
adjacent so as to reduce access times. disable command on that controller.
detached A state in which a VxVM discovered direct I/O Discovered
object is associated with another object, Direct I/O behavior is similar to direct I/O
but not enabled for use. and has the same alignment constraints,
except writes that allocate storage or
Device Discovery Layer (DDL) A extend the file size do not require writing
facility of VxVM for discovering disk the inode changes before returning to the
attributes needed for VxVM DMP application.
operation.
disk A collection of read/write data
device name The device name or blocks that are indexed and can be
address used to access a physical disk, accessed fairly quickly. Each disk has a
such as c0t0d0s2 on Solaris, c0t0d0 universally unique identifier.
on HP-UX, hdisk1 on AIX, and hda on
Linux. In a SAN environment, it is more disk access name The name used to
convenient to use enclosure-based naming, access a physical disk. The c#t#d#s#
which forms the device name by syntax identifies the controller, target
concatenating the name of the enclosure address, disk, and partition. The term
(such as enc0) with the disk’s number device name can also be used to refer to the
within the enclosure, separated by an disk access name.
underscore (for example, enc0_2). The
term disk access name can also be used to disk access records Configuration
refer to a device name. records used to specify the access path to
particular disks. Each disk access record
dialog box A window in which the user contains a name, a type, and possibly some
submits information to VxVM. Dialog type-specific information, which is used by
boxes can contain selectable buttons and the VxVM in deciding how to access and
fields that accept information. manipulate the disk that is defined by the
disk access record.
direct extent An extent that is
referenced directly by an inode.

disk array A collection of disks disk group ID A unique identifier used
logically arranged into an object. Arrays to identify a disk group.
tend to provide benefits, such as
redundancy or improved performance. disk ID A universally unique identifier
that is given to each disk and can be used
disk array serial number This is the to identify the disk, even if it is moved.
serial number of the disk array.; it is
usually printed on the disk array cabinet or disk media name A logical or
can be obtained by issuing a vendor- administrative name chosen for the disk,
specific SCSI command to the disks on the such as disk03. The term disk name is
disk array. This number is used by the also used to refer to the disk media name.
DMP subsystem to uniquely identify a disk disk media record A configuration
array. record that identifies a particular disk, by
disk controller The controller (HBA) disk ID, and gives that disk a logical (or
connected to the host or the disk array that administrative) name.
is represented as the parent node of the disk name A logical or administrative
disk by the operating system; it is called name chosen for a disk that is under the
the disk controller by the multipathing control of VxVM, such as disk03. The
subsystem of VxVM. term disk media name is also used to refer
For example, if a disk is represented by the to a disk name.
device name: dissociate The process by which any
link that exists between two VxVM objects
/devices/sbus@1f,0/
is removed. For example, dissociating a
QLGC,isp@2,10000/sd@8,0:c
subdisk from a plex removes the subdisk
then the disk controller for the disk from the plex and adds the subdisk to the
sd@8,0:c is: free space pool.
QLGC,isp@2,10000 dissociated plex A plex dissociated
from a volume.
This controller (HBA) is connected to the
host. dissociated subdisk A subdisk
dissociated from a plex.
disk enclosure An intelligent disk array
that usually has a backplane with a built-in distributed lock manager A lock
Fibre Channel loop, and which permits manager that runs on different systems and
hot-swapping of disks. ensures consistent access to distributed
resources.
disk group A collection of disks that are
under VxVM control and share a common dock To separate or attach the main
configuration. A disk group configuration window and a subwindow.
is a set of records containing detailed
Dynamic Multipathing (DMP) The
information on existing VxVM objects
method that VxVM uses to manage two or
(such as disk and volume attributes) and
more hardware paths directing I/O to a
their relationships. Each disk group has an
single drive.
administrator-assigned name and an
internally defined unique ID.
Glossary-5

E Fibre Channel A collective name for the
fiber optic technology that is commonly
enabled path A path to a disk that is
used to set up a Storage Area Network
available for I/O.
(SAN).
encapsulation A process that converts
file system A collection of files
existing partitions on a specified disk to
volumes. If any partitions contain file organized together into a structure. The
systems, the file system table entries are UNIX file system is a hierarchical
modified so that the file systems are structure consisting of directories and files.
mounted on volumes instead. file system block The fundamental
Encapsulation is not applicable on some minimum size of allocation in a file
systems. system. This is equivalent to the ufs
fragment size.
enclosure A disk array.
file system snapshot An exact copy
enclosure-based naming An
of a mounted file system at a specific point
alternative disk naming method, beneficial
in time. Used to perform online backups.
in a SAN environment, which forms the
device name by concatenating the name of fileset A collection of files within a file
the enclosure (such as enc0) with the system.
disk’s number within the enclosure,
separated by an underscore (for example, fixed extent size An extent attribute
enc0_2). associated with overriding the default
allocation policy of the file system.
extent A group of contiguous file system
data blocks that are treated as a unit. An fragmentation The ongoing process on
extent is defined by a starting block and a an active file system in which the file
length. system is spread further and further along
the disk, leaving unused gaps or fragments
extent attributes The extent allocation between areas that are in use. This leads to
policies associated with a file. degraded performance because the file
system has fewer options when assigning a
external quotas file A quotas file
file to an extent.
(named quotas) must exist in the root
directory of a file system for quota-related free disk pool Disks that are under
commands to work. See internal quotas VxVM control, but that do not belong to a
file and quotas file. disk group.
free space An area of a disk under
F VxVM control that is not allocated to any
fabric mode disk A disk device that is subdisk or reserved for use by any other
accessible on a Storage Area Network VxVM object.
(SAN) through a Fibre Channel switch.
free subdisk A subdisk that is not
FastResync A fast resynchronization associated with any plex and has an empty
feature that is used to perform quick and putil[0] field.
efficient resynchronization of stale mirrors,
and to increase the efficiency of the
snapshot mechanism.

G hot swap Refers to devices that can be
removed from, or inserted into, a system
gap A disk region that does not contain
without first turning off the power supply
VxVM objects (subdisks).
to the system.
GB Gigabyte (230 bytes or 1024
HP-UX coexistence label Data on disk
megabytes).
that identifies the disk to the HP volume
graphical view A window that displays manager (LVM) as being controlled by
a graphical view of objects. In VEA, the VxVM. The contents of this label are
graphical views include the Object View identical to the contents of the VxVM ID
window and the Volume Layout Details block.
window.
grid A tabular display of objects and I
their properties. The grid lists VxVM I/O clustering The grouping of multiple
objects, disks, controllers, or file systems. I/O operations to achieve better
The grid displays objects that belong to the performance.
group icon that is currently selected in the
object tree. The grid is dynamic and indirect address extent An extent that
constantly updates its contents to reflect contains references to other extents, as
changes to objects. opposed to file data itself. A single indirect
address extent references indirect data
group icon The icon that represents a extents. A double indirect address extent
specific object group. references single indirect address extents.
GUI Graphical User Interface. indirect data extent An extent that
contains file data and is referenced through
H an indirect address extent.
hard limit The hard limit is an absolute initiating node The node on which the
limit on system resources for individual system administrator is running a utility
users for file and data block usage on a file that requests a change to VxVM objects.
system. See quotas. This node initiates a volume
reconfiguration.
host A machine or system.
inode A unique identifier for each file
hostid A string that identifies a within a file system, which also contains
host to the VxVM. The hostid for a host metadata associated with that file.
is stored in its volboot file, and is used
in defining ownership of disks and disk inode allocation unit A group of
groups. consecutive blocks that contain inode
allocation information for a given fileset.
hot relocation A technique of This information is in the form of a
automatically restoring redundancy and resource summary and a free inode map.
access to mirrored and RAID-5 volumes
when a disk fails. This is done by Intelligent Storage Provisioning
relocating the affected subdisks to disks (ISP) ISP enables you to organize and
designated as spares and/or free space in manage your physical storage by creating
the same disk group. application volumes. ISP creates volumes
from available storage with the required
Glossary-7

capabilities that you specify. To achieve local mounted file system A file
this, ISP selects storage by referring to the system mounted on a single host. The
templates for creating volumes. single host mediates all file system writes
to storage from other clients. To be a local
intent The intent of an ISP application mount, a file system cannot be mounted
volume is a conceptualization of its using the mount –o cluster option.
purpose as defined by its characteristics See cluster mounted file system.
and implemented by a template.
log plex A plex used to store a RAID-5
intent logging A logging scheme that log. The term log plex may also be used to
records pending changes to the file system refer to a dirty region logging plex.
structure. These changes are recorded in a
circular intent log file. log subdisk A subdisk that is used to
store a dirty region log.
internal quotas file VxFS maintains an
internal quotas file for its internal usage. LUN Logical Unit Number. Each disk in
The internal quotas file maintains counts of an array has a LUN. Disk partitions may
blocks and inodes used by each user. See also be assigned a LUN.
external quotas file and quotas.
M
J main window The main VEA window.
JBOD The common name for an This window contains a tree and grid that
unintelligent disk array which may, or may display volumes, disks, and other objects
not, support the hot-swapping of disks. The on the system. The main window also has a
name is derived from “just a bunch of menu bar and a toolbar.
disks.”
master node A node that is designated
by the software as the “master” node. Any
K node is capable of being the master node.
K Kilobyte (210 bytes or 1024 bytes). The master node coordinates certain
VxVM operations.
L mastering node The node to which a

disk is attached. This is also known as a
large file A file larger than 2 gigabytes.
disk owner.
VxFS supports files up to two terabytes in
size. MB Megabyte (220 bytes or 1024
kilobytes).
large file system A file system more
than 2 gigabytes in size. VxFS supports menu A list of options or tasks. A menu
file systems up to 32 terabytes in size. item is selected by pointing to the item and
clicking the mouse.
latency For file systems, this typically
refers to the amount of time it takes a given menu bar A bar that contains a set of
file system operation to return to the user. menus for the current window. The menu
bar is typically placed across the top of a
launch To start a task or open a window.
window.
metadata Structural data describing the
attributes of files on a disk.

mirror A duplicate copy of a volume and O
the data therein (in the form of an ordered object An entity that is defined to and
collection of subdisks). Each mirror is one recognized internally by VxVM. The
copy of the volume with which the mirror VxVM objects are: volume, plex, subdisk,
is associated. The terms mirror and plex
disk, and disk group. There are actually
can be used synonymously. two types of disk objects—one type for the
mirroring A layout technique that physical aspect of the disk and the other for
mirrors the contents of a volume onto the logical aspect.
multiple plexes. Each plex duplicates the
object group A group of objects of the
data stored on the volume, but the plexes
same type. Each object group has a group
themselves may have different layouts.
icon and a group name. In VxVM, object
multipathing Where there are multiple groups include disk groups, disks,
physical access paths to a disk connected volumes, controllers, free disk pool disks,
to a system, the disk is called multipathed. uninitialized disks, and file systems.
Any software residing on the host (for object location table (OLT) The
example, the DMP driver) that hides this information needed to locate important file
fact from the user is said to provide system structural elements. The OLT is
multipathing functionality. written to a fixed location on the
multivolume file system A single file underlying media (or disk).
system that has been created over multiple object location table replica A copy
volumes, with each volume having its own
of the OLT in case of data corruption. The
properties. OLT replica is written to a fixed location
on the underlying media (or disk).
N
object tree A dynamic hierarchical
node In an object tree, a node is an display of VxVM objects and other objects
element attached to the tree. In a cluster on the system. Each node in the tree
environment, a node is a host machine in a represents a group of objects of the same
cluster. type.
node abort A situation where a node Object View Window A window that
leaves a cluster (on an emergency basis) displays a graphical view of the volumes,
without attempting to stop ongoing disks, and other objects in a particular disk
operations. group. The objects displayed in this
node join The process through which a window are automatically updated when
node joins a cluster and gains access to object properties change. This window can
shared disks. display detailed or basic information about
volumes and disks.
nonpersistent FastResync A form of
FastResync that cannot preserve its maps
P
across reboots of the system because it
stores its change map in memory. page file A fixed-size block of virtual
address space that can be mapped onto any
of the physical addresses available on a
system.
Glossary-9

parity A calculated value that can be prevents failed mirrors from being selected
used to reconstruct data after a failure. for recovery. This is also known as kernel
While data is being written to a RAID-5 logging.
volume, parity is also calculated by
performing an exclusive OR (XOR) physical disk The underlying storage
procedure on data. The resulting parity is device, which may or may not be under
then written to the volume. If a portion of a VxVM control.
RAID-5 volume fails, the data that was on platform block Data placed in sector 0,
that portion of the failed volume can be re- which contains OS-specific data for a
created from the remaining data and the variety of platforms that require its
parity. presence for proper interaction with each
parity stripe unit A RAID-5 volume of those platforms. The platform block
storage region that contains parity allows a disk to masquerade as if it was
information. The data contained in the initialized by each of the specific
parity stripe unit can be used to help platforms.
reconstruct regions of a RAID-5 volume plex A duplicate copy of a volume and
that are missing because of I/O or disk the data therein (in the form of an ordered
failures. collection of subdisks). Each plex is one
partition The standard division of a copy of the volume with which the plex is
physical disk device, as supported directly associated.
by the operating system and disk drives. preallocation The preallocation of
path When a disk is connected to a host, space for a file so that disk blocks will
the path to the disk consists of the Host physically be part of a file before they are
Bus Adapter (HBA) on the host, the SCSI needed. Enabling an application to
or fiber cable connector and the controller preallocate space for a file guarantees that
on the disk or disk array. These a specified amount of space will be
components constitute a path to a disk. A available for that file, even if the file
failure on any of these results in DMP system is otherwise out of space.
trying to shift all I/Os for that disk onto the primary fileset A fileset that contains
remaining (alternate) paths. the files that are visible and accessible to
pathgroup In case of disks that are not users.
multipathed by vxdmp, VxVM will see primary path In active/passive type disk
each path as a disk. In such cases, all paths arrays, a disk can be bound to one
to the disk can be grouped. This way only particular controller on the disk array or
one of the paths from the group is made owned by a controller. The disk can then
visible to VxVM. be accessed using the path through this
persistent FastResync A form of particular controller.
FastResync that can preserve its maps private disk group A disk group in
across reboots of the system by storing its which the disks are accessed by only one
change map in a DCO log volume on disk. specific host.
persistent state logging A logging
type that ensures that only active mirrors
are used for recovery purposes and

private region A region of a physical quotas file The quotas commands read
disk used to store private, structured and write the external quotas file to get or
VxVM information. The private region change usage limits. When quotas are
contains a disk header, a table of contents, turned on, the quota limits are copied from
and a configuration database. the external quotas file to the internal
quotas file. See external quotas file,
The table of contents maps the contents of internal quotas file, and quotas.
the disk. The disk header contains a disk
ID. All data in the private region is
duplicated for extra reliability. R
radio buttons A set of buttons used to
properties window A window that
select optional settings. Only one radio
displays detailed information about a
button in the set can be selected at any
selected object.
given time. These buttons toggle on or off.
public region A region of a physical
RAID A Redundant Array of Independent
disk managed by VxVM that contains
Disks (RAID) is a disk array set up with
available space and is used for allocating
part of the combined storage capacity used
subdisks.
for storing duplicate information about the
data stored in that array. This makes it
Q possible to regenerate the data if a disk
Quick I/O file A regular VxFS file that is failure occurs.
accessed using the ::cdev:vxfs: read-writeback mode A recovery
extension. mode in which each read operation
Quick I/O for Databases Quick I/O is a recovers plex consistency for the region
VERITAS File System feature that covered by the read. Plex consistency is
improves database performance by recovered by reading data from blocks of
minimizing read/write locking and one plex and writing the data to all other
eliminating double buffering of data. This writable plexes.
allows online transactions to be processed reservation An extent attribute
at speeds equivalent to that of using raw associated with preallocating space for a
disk devices, while keeping the file.
administrative benefits of file systems.
root disk The disk containing the root
QuickLog VERITAS QuickLog is a high file system. This disk may be under VxVM
performance mechanism for receiving and control.
storing intent log information for VxFS file
systems. QuickLog increases performance root disk group In versions of VxVM
by exporting intent log information to a prior to 4.0, a special private disk group
separate physical volume. had to exist on the system. The root disk
group was always named rootdg. This
quotas Quota limits on system resources requirement does not apply to VxVM 4.x
for individual users for file and data block and higher.
usage on a file system. See hard limit and
soft limit. root file system The initial file system
mounted as part of the UNIX kernel startup
sequence.
Glossary-11

root partition The disk region on which shared disk group A disk group in
the root file system resides. which the disks are shared by multiple
hosts (also referred to as a cluster-
root volume The VxVM volume that shareable disk group).
contains the root file system, if such a
volume is designated by the system shared VM disk A VxVM disk that
configuration. belongs to a shared disk group.
rootability The ability to place the root shared volume A volume that belongs
file system and the swap device under to a shared disk group and is open on more
VxVM control. The resulting volumes can than one node at the same time.
then be mirrored to provide redundancy
and allow recovery in the event of disk Shortcut menu A context-sensitive
failure. menu that only appears when you click a
specific object or area.
rule A statement written in the VERITAS
ISP language that specifies how a volume slave node A node that is not
is to be created. designated as a master node.
slice The standard division of a logical
S disk device. The terms partition and slice
are sometimes used synonymously.
scroll bar A sliding control that is used
to display different portions of the contents snapshot A point-in-time copy of a
of a window. volume (volume snapshot) or a file system
(file system snapshot).
Search window The VEA search tool.
The Search window provides a set of snapped file system A file system
search options that can be used to search whose exact image has been used to create
for objects on the system. a snapshot file system.
secondary path In active/passive type snapshot file system An exact copy of
disk arrays, the paths to a disk other than a mounted file system at a specific point in
the primary path are called secondary time. Used to do online backups. See file
paths. A disk is supposed to be accessed system snapshot.
only through the primary path until it fails,
after which ownership of the disk is soft limit The soft limit is lower than a
transferred to one of the secondary paths. hard limit. The soft limit can be exceeded
for a limited time. There are separate time
sector A unit of size, which can vary limits for files and blocks. See hard limit
between systems. A sector is commonly and quota.
512 bytes.
spanning A layout technique that
sector size Sector size is an attribute of permits a volume (and its file system or
a disk drive (or SCSI LUN for an array- database) that is too large to fit on a single
type device) that is set when the drive is disk to span across multiple physical disks.
formatted. Sectors are the smallest
addressable unit of storage on the drive, sparse plex A plex that is not as long as
and are the units in which the device the volume or that has holes (regions of the
performs I/O. plex that do not have a backing subdisk).

splitter A bar that separates two panes of stripe unit Equally sized areas that are
a window (such as the object tree and the allocated alternately on the subdisks
grid). A splitter can be used to adjust the (within columns) of each striped plex. In
sizes of the panes. an array, this is a set of logically
contiguous blocks that exist on each disk
status area An area of the main window before allocations are made from the next
that displays an alert icon when an object disk in the array. A stripe unit may also be
fails or experiences some other error. referred to as a stripe element.
Storage Area Network (SAN) A stripe unit size The size of each stripe
networking paradigm that provides easily unit. The default stripe unit size is 32
reconfigurable connectivity between any sectors (16K). A stripe unit size has also
subset of computers, disk storage and historically been referred to as a stripe
interconnecting hardware such as switches, width.
hubs and bridges.
striping A layout technique that spreads
storage checkpoint A facility that data across several physical disks using
provides a consistent and stable view of a stripes. The data is allocated alternately to
file system or database image and keeps the stripes within the subdisks of each
track of modified data blocks since the last plex.
checkpoint.
structural fileset A special fileset that
storage pool A policy-based container stores the structural elements of a VxFS
within a disk group in VxVM, for use by file system in the form of structural files.
ISP, that contains LUNs and volumes. These files define the structure of the file
storage pool definition A grouping of system and are visible only when using
template sets that defines the utilities such as the file system debugger.
characteristics of a storage pool. Applies to subdisk A consecutive set of contiguous
the ISP feature of VxVM. disk blocks that form a logical disk
storage pool policy Defines how a segment. Subdisks can be associated with
storage pool behaves when more storage is plexes to form volumes.
required, and when you try to create super-block A block containing critical
volumes whose capabilities are not information about the file system such as
permitted by the current templates. Applies the file system type, layout, and size. The
to the ISP feature of VxVM. VxFS super-block is always located 8192
storage pool set A bundled definition bytes from the beginning of the file system
of the capabilities of a data pool and its and is 8192 bytes long.
clone pools. Applies to the ISP feature of swap area A disk region used to hold
VxVM. copies of memory pages swapped out by
stripe A set of stripe units that occupy the system pager process.
the same positions across a series of swap volume A VxVM volume that is
columns. configured for use as a swap area.
stripe size The sum of the stripe unit synchronous writes A form of
sizes that compose a single stripe across all synchronous I/O that writes the file data to
columns being striped. disk, updates the inode times, and writes
Glossary-13

the updated inode to disk. When the write U
returns to the caller, both the data and the ufs The UNIX file system type. Used as
inode have been written to disk. parameter in some commands.
UFS The UNIX file system; derived from
T
the 4.2 Berkeley Fast File System.
task properties window A window
that displays detailed information about a unbuffered I/O I/O that bypasses the file
task listed in the Task Request Monitor system cache to increase I/O performance.
window. This is similar to direct I/O, except when a
file is extended. For direct I/O, the inode is
Task Request Monitor A window that written to disk synchronously; for
displays a history of tasks performed in the unbuffered I/O, the inode update is
current VEA session. Each task is listed delayed. See buffered I/O and direct I/O.
with the task originator, the task status, and
the start/ finish times for the task. uninitialized disks Disks that are not
under VxVM control.
TB Terabyte (240 bytes or 1024
gigabytes). user template Consists of related
capabilities and templates that have been
template A meaningful collection of ISP collected together for convenience for
rules that provide a capability for a creating ISP application volumes.
volume. Also known as a volume template.
template set consists of related V
capabilities and templates that have been VCS VERITAS Cluster Server.
collected together for convenience to
create ISP volumes. VEA VERITAS Enterprise Administrator
graphical user interface.
throughput For file systems, this
typically refers to the number of I/O VM disk A disk that is both under VxVM
operations in a given unit of time. control and assigned to a disk group. VM
disks are sometimes referred to as Volume
toolbar A set of buttons used to access Manager disks or simply disks. In the
VEA windows. These include another graphical user interface, VM disks are
main window, a task request monitor, an represented iconically as cylinders labeled
alert monitor, a search window, and a D.
customize window.
VMSA Volume Manager Storage
transaction A set of configuration Administrator, an earlier version of the
changes that succeed or fail as a group, VxVM GUI used prior to VxVM version
rather than individually. Transactions are 3.5.
used internally to maintain consistent
configurations. volboot file A small file that is used
to store the host ID of the system on which
tree A dynamic hierarchical display of
VxVM is installed and the values of
objects on the system. Each node in the
bootdg and defaultdg.
tree represents a group of objects of the
same type.

volume A virtual disk or entity that is vxconfigd The VxVM
made up of portions of one or more configuration daemon, which is
physical disks. A volume represents an responsible for making changes to the
addressable range of disk blocks used by VxVM configuration. This daemon must
applications such as file systems or be running before VxVM operations can
databases. A volume is a collection of from be performed.
one to 32 plexes.
vxfs The VERITAS File System type.
volume configuration device The Used as a parameter in some commands.
volume configuration device (/dev/vx/
config) is the interface through which all VxFS VERITAS File System.
configuration changes to the volume VxVM VERITAS Volume Manager.
device driver are performed.
VxVM ID block Data on disk that
volume device driver The driver that indicates the disk is under VxVM control.
forms the virtual disk drive between the The VxVM ID Block provides dynamic
application and the physical device driver VxVM private region location, GUID, and
level. The volume device driver is other information.
accessed through a virtual disk device
node whose character device nodes appear
in /dev/vx/rdsk, and whose block
device nodes appear in /dev/vx/dsk.
volume event log The volume event
log device (/dev/vx/event) is the
interface through which volume driver
events are reported to the utilities.
Volume Layout Window A window
that displays a graphical view of a volume
and its components. The objects displayed
in this window are not automatically
updated when the volume’s properties
change.
volume set A volume set allows several
volumes to be treated as a single object
with one logical I/O interface. Applies to
the ISP feature of VxVM.
volume template A meaningful
collection of ISP rules that provide a
capability for a volume. Also known as a
template.
Volume to Disk Mapping Window A
window that displays a tabular view of
volumes and their underlying disks. This
window can also display details such as the
subdisks and gaps on each disk.
Glossary-15


Index
Files and Directories A

/dev/vx/dsk 3-9 aborting online relayout 6-20
/dev/vx/rdsk 3-9 ACTIVE 8-6
/etc/default/fs 5-29 adding a disk to a disk group 3-13
/etc/default/vxassist 4-17 address-length pair 5-36
/etc/default/vxdisk 3-12 AIX
/etc/default/vxencap 3-12 supported versions 2-4
/etc/default/vxse 6-40 AIX disk 1-5
/etc/filesystems 4-15, 5-26, 5-27 AIX physical volume 1-5
/etc/fs/vxfs 5-28 allocation units 5-40
/etc/fstab 4-15, 5-27 alternate boot disk
creating 7-14
/etc/group 2-44
creating in CLI 7-16
/etc/init.d/isisd 2-43 creating in VEA 7-15
/etc/rc2.d/S50isisd 2-41 creating in vxdiskadm 7-15
/etc/system 2-13, 7-20 reasons for creating 7-14
/etc/vfs 5-29 alternate mirror
/etc/vfstab 3-43, 4-15, 5-27, 7-20 booting 7-18
/etc/vx/elm 2-9 array 1-10
/etc/vx/isis/Registry 2-45 atomic-copy resynchronization 8-5
/etc/vx/licenses/lic 2-9 autoconfig 3-25
/lost+found 5-39 autoimport 3-25, 3-37
/opt/VRTS/bin 5-28
/opt/VRTS/install/logs 2-21 B
/opt/VRTS/man 2-37
backing up the VxVM configuration 8-23
/opt/VRTS/vxse/vxvm 6-36
Bad Block Relocation Area 1-5
/opt/VRTSob/bin 2-39
bad block revectoring 7-6
/opt/VRTSob/bin/vxsvc 2-43
BBRA 1-5
/opt/VRTSvxfs/sbin 5-28
blkclear mount option 5-54
/sbin 5-28
block clustering 5-35
/sbin/fs 5-28
block device file 5-25
/sbin/init.d/isisd 2-43
block-based allocation 5-35
/stand/system 2-13
boot block 1-4
/usr/lib/fs/vxfs 5-28
boot disk 1-4, 7-5
/usr/sbin 5-28 creating an alternate 7-14
/var/adm/vx/veacmdlog 2-34, 6-24 creating an alternate in CLI 7-16
/var/vx/isis/command.log 2-34 creating an alternate in VEA 7-15
/var/vx/isis/vxisis.lock 2-43 creating an alternate in vxdiskadm 7-15
encapsulating in vxdiskadm 7-11
/var/vx/isis/vxisis.log 2-43
Index-1

mirroring 7-14 concatenated 4-12
mirroring in vxdiskadm 7-15 Concatenated Mirrored 4-13, 4-39, 4-41
mirroring requirements 7-14
concatenated volume 1-19, 4-4
reasons for creating an alternate 7-14
creating 4-17
unencapsulating 7-19
concatenation 1-19
boot disk encapsulation 7-5
advantages 4-8
effect on /etc/system 7-12
disadvantages 4-8
effect on /etc/vfstab 7-13
file system requirements 7-8 concat-mirror 4-39
planning 7-10 configuration backup and restoration 8-23
using vxdiskadm 7-11 Console/Task History 2-31
viewing 7-12 controller 1-8
boot disk errors 7-17 creating a layered volume 4-32
boot disk failure creating a volume 4-10
protecting against 7-14 CLI 4-16
boot mirror verification 7-18 creating an alternate boot disk 7-14
bootdg 2-18, 3-9, 3-45, 7-10 crfs 5-26
booting from alternate mirror 7-18 cron 5-48
bsize 5-31 cross-platform data sharing 1-13
C D
CDS 1-13 data change object 4-31
CDS disk 1-14 data consistency
CDS disk layout 1-13 maintaining 8-4
cfgmgr 8-17 data redundancy 1-20
CFS 2-15 databases on file systems 2-15
chfs 5-27 default disk group 2-18
CLI 2-29 defaultdg 2-18, 3-9
CLI commands in VEA 2-33 defragmentation
cluster 2-15 scheduling 5-48
cluster environment 3-37 defragmenting a file system 5-46
Cluster File System 2-15, 2-16 defragmenting directories 5-47
cluster functionality 2-15 defragmenting extents 5-46
cluster group 3-15 delaylog mount option 5-54
cluster management 3-6 deporting a disk group
Cluster Volume Manager and renaming 3-33
licensing 2-16 CLI 3-35
to new host 3-33
col_switch 5-21, 5-23
VEA 3-34
column 4-5 vxdiskadm 3-35
command line interface 2-29, 2-36 destroying a disk group 3-45
command log file 2-34, 6-24 CLI 3-45
complete plex 1-16 VEA 3-45
devalias 7-18
Index-2 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

devfsadm 8-17 Solaris 1-4
device file 5-41 uninitializing 3-31
unrelocating 8-19
device naming
unrelocating in CLI 8-20
enclosure-based 3-5
unrelocating in VEA 8-19
traditional 3-4
unrelocating in vxdiskadm 8-20
device naming scheme viewing in CLI 3-23
selecting 3-7 viewing in VEA 3-19, 3-20
device naming schemes 3-4 viewing information about 3-19
device node 4-10 disk access name 3-12
device path 3-24 disk access record 1-16, 3-12
devicetag 3-24 disk array 1-10
df 5-34, 5-44 multipathed 1-10
directories disk device naming 3-4
defragmenting 5-47 disk encapsulation
directory fragmentation 5-42 data disks 7-4
dirty region log bitmaps 8-9 disk enclosure 2-17
dirty region log size 8-9 disk failure
dirty region logging 5-9, 7-8, 8-7, 8-8 partial 8-11
disk disk flags 3-25
adding in CLI 3-17 disk group
adding new 8-17 adding a disk in CLI 3-17
adding to a disk group in VEA 3-16 adding a disk in VEA 3-16
AIX 1-5 adding disks to 3-13
configuring for VxVM 3-11 clearing host locks 3-36
creating sliced 3-27 creating 3-13
displaying summary information 3-24 creating a non-CDS 3-27
evacuating in CLI 3-29 creating in CLI 3-17
evacuating in VEA 3-29 creating in VEA 3-15
evacuating in vxdiskadm 3-29 creating in vxdiskadm 3-17
HP-UX 1-5 definition 1-15
Linux 1-6 deporting 3-33
managing spares in CLI 8-15 deporting in CLI 3-35
managing spares in vxdiskadm 8-14 deporting in VEA 3-34
naming 1-8 deporting in vxdiskadm 3-35
non-CDS 3-27 destroying 3-45
offlining 3-35 destroying in CLI 3-45
recognizing by operating system 8-17 destroying in VEA 3-45
removing 3-28 displaying deported 3-26
removing in VEA 3-30 displaying free space in 3-26
renaming in CLI 3-32 displaying properties for 3-26
renaming in VEA 3-32 displaying reserved 3-9
replacing 8-16 forcing an import 3-37, 3-39
replacing failed in vxdiskadm 8-18 forcing an import in VEA 3-38
replacing in CLI 8-18 high availability 1-15, 3-8
replacing in VEA 8-18 importing 3-36
reserving 8-15 importing and renaming 3-36
setting up as spare in VEA 8-14 importing and renaming in VEA 3-38
VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations Index-3

importing as temporary in CLI 3-39 disk replacement 8-16
importing as temporary in VEA 3-38 disk spanning 1-19
importing in CLI 3-39
disk status
importing in VEA 3-38
Deported 3-20
importing in vxdiskadm 3-39
Disconnected 3-20
moving between systems 3-41
External 3-20
moving in CLI 3-42
Free 3-19
moving in VEA 3-41
Imported 3-19
moving in vxdiskadm 3-42
Not Setup 3-19
non-CDS 3-27
online 3-23
purpose 1-15, 3-8
online invalid 3-23
removing a disk 3-28
renaming 3-43 disk structure 1-4
renaming in CLI 3-44 Disk View window 2-31, 3-20, 4-24
renaming in VEA 3-43 disk-naming scheme
reserved names 3-9 changing 3-7
setting the default 3-10 disks
shared 3-15 adding to a disk group 3-13
temporary import 3-37 displaying detailed information 3-24
upgrading the version 3-48 evacuating data 3-29
upgrading the version in CLI 3-49 removing in CLI 3-31
disk group configuration 1-15 removing in vxdiskadm 3-30
backup and restore 8-24 renaming 3-32
disk group ID 3-24 uninitialized 3-11
disk group import 1-12 DMP 1-12
disk group properties DRL 8-8
viewing 3-22 dynamic LUN
Disk Group Properties window 3-22 resizing 6-13
disk group split and join dynamic multipathing 1-12, 2-17, 3-6
licensing 2-16
disk group versions 3-46
supported features 3-47 E
disk ID 3-24 eeprom 7-10, 7-18
disk initialization 3-11 encapsulating root
disk label 1-4 benefits 7-6
disk layout 1-13 limitations 7-6
changing 3-12 encapsulation 3-11, 7-4
disk media name 1-15, 3-12, 3-13 effect on /etc/system 7-12
default 1-16 requirements for boot disk 7-5
requirements for data disk 7-4
disk name 3-24 root disk 7-5
disk naming 3-13 unencapsulating a boot disk 7-19
AIX 1-9 enclosure 2-17, 3-7
enclosure-based 2-17
HP-UX 1-8 enclosure-based naming 2-17, 3-5
Linux 1-9 benefits 3-6
Solaris 1-8 evacuating a disk 3-29
disk properties 3-21 CLI 3-29

VEA 3-29 log I/O size 5-56
vxdiskadm 3-29 logging and performance 5-55
evaluation license 2-6 logging options 5-53
maximum sizes 5-32
exclusive OR 4-7
mounting at boot 5-27
EXT2 5-28 mounting in VEA 5-24
EXT3 5-28 resizing 6-4, 6-11
Extended File System 5-28 resizing in VEA 6-8
extended partition 1-6 resizing methods 6-6
structural components of 5-40
extent 5-36 structural files 5-40
extent allocation unit state file 5-41 unmounting 5-33
extent allocation unit summary file 5-41 unmounting in VEA 5-24
extent fragmentation 5-43 upgrading the layout 5-38
extent-based allocation 5-35, 5-36 file system free space
benefits 5-37 identifying 5-34
extents file system layout version
defragmenting 5-46 displaying 5-39
file system type 4-14, 5-34
fileset header file 5-41
F flags
fabric mode disks 3-7 disk 3-25
FAILED 8-16 FlashSnap 2-14
FAILING 8-16 format 1-5
FastResync 2-14, 4-13, 8-7 fragmentation 5-42
licensing 2-16 controlling 5-42
directory 5-42
favorite host
extent 5-43
adding 2-42
removing 2-42 free disk pool 3-11
FCL 5-57 free extent map file 5-41
fdisk 1-6 free space pool 3-12
Fibre Channel 2-17, 3-7 fsadm 5-39, 5-42, 5-44, 6-11
file change log 5-57 fsck 5-49, 5-50
compared to intent log 5-57 fsck pass 4-15
file system fstyp 5-34
adding in VEA 5-24
adding to a volume 4-14, 5-24
adding to a volume in CLI 5-25 G
allocation units 5-40
consistency checking 5-50 grid 2-31
defragmenting 5-46 group name 3-24
file change log 5-57
fragmentation 5-42
fragmentation reports 5-44 H
fragmentation types 5-42
help information in VEA 2-35
intent log 5-49
intent log resizing 5-52 HFS 5-28

Hierarchical File System 5-28 installation menu 2-20
high availability 1-12, 2-15, 3-40, 7-6 installation scripts 2-22
host installboot 7-16
removing favorites 2-42 installer 2-19
host ID installfs 2-19, 2-22
clearing at import 3-38
installing VEA 2-39
host locks
installing VxVM 2-19
clearing 3-36
initial configuration 2-28
hostid 2-6, 3-24 manually on AIX 2-25
hot relocation 1-12 manually on HP-UX 2-24
definition 8-11 manually on Linux 2-25
failure detection 8-12 manually on Solaris 2-24
notification 8-12 package space requirements 2-12
process 8-12 verifying on AIX 2-26
recovery 8-12 verifying on HP-UX 2-26
selecting space 8-13 verifying on Linux 2-27
unrelocating a disk 8-19 verifying on Solaris 2-26
HP-UX verifying package installation 2-26
supported versions 2-4 vxinstall 2-28
HP-UX disk 1-5 installp 2-19, 2-25
installsf 2-19, 2-22
installvm 2-19, 2-22
I and upgrades 7-22
I/O rate Intelligent Storage Provisioning 3-15, 4-31
controlling 6-31 intent log
I/O size resizing 5-52
controlling 6-31 intent log replay
imported 3-25 parallel 5-51
importing a disk group 3-36 intent logging 5-49
and clearing host locks 3-36 interfaces 2-29
and renaming 3-36 command line interface 2-29
CLI 3-39 VERITAS Enterprise Administrator 2-29
forcing 3-37 vxdiskadm 2-29
forcing in CLI 3-39 iodelay 6-31
temporarily 3-37
ioscan 8-17
VEA 3-38
vxdiskadm 3-39
initialize zero 4-13 J
inode 5-36
JFS 1-6, 5-28
inode allocation unit file 5-41
JFS2 5-28
inode list file 5-41
Journaled File System 5-28
insf 8-17
journaling 5-49
installation
manually installing VxVM 2-24
installation log file 2-21

K logging 4-13, 5-9, 8-8
and VxFS performance 5-55
kernel issues dirty region logging 8-8
and VxFS 2-13 for mirrored volumes 5-9
RAID-5 5-10, 8-10
logging options
L for a file system 5-53
label file 5-41 logical unit number 1-8
largesize 5-44 Logical Volume Manager 1-5
layered volume 1-19, 1-20, 4-32 logiosize 5-56
advantages 4-35 logsize 5-31
creating 4-32
logtype 4-21, 5-12
creating in CLI 4-41
creating in VEA 4-41 lsdev 8-17
disadvantages 4-36 lsfs 5-27
preventing creation 4-13 lslpp 2-27
viewing in CLI 4-42 LUN 1-8
viewing in VEA 4-42 and resizing VxVM structures 6-13
layered volume layouts 4-37 LVM 1-5
license key 2-6
adding 2-9
viewing 2-9 M
licensing 2-6
man 2-37
for optional features 2-16
for upgrades 7-21 manual pages 2-37
generating a license key 2-8 menu bar 2-31
management utilities 2-10 metadata 5-35
obtaining a license key 2-6
mirror
viewing license keys 2-9
adding 5-4
vLicense 2-8
adding in CLI 5-5
Linux adding in VEA 5-5
supported versions 2-4 booting from alternate 7-18
Linux disk 1-6 removing 5-6
listing installed packages 2-26 removing by disk 5-7
removing by mirror 5-7
load balancing 1-12, 4-8
removing by quantity 5-7
location code 1-9 removing in CLI 5-7
log removing in VEA 5-7
adding in CLI 5-12 mirror=ctlr 5-17
adding in VEA 5-11
mirror=disk 5-17
removing in CLI 5-12
removing in VEA 5-11 mirror=enclr 5-17
log file 5-41 mirror=target 5-17
log mount option 5-54 mirror-concat 4-37
log plex 1-17, 8-8 mirror-concat layout 1-19
log subdisks 8-8 mirrored volume 1-20, 4-6
creating 4-20, 4-21
logdisk 5-21

mirroring 1-20 N
across controllers 5-18
across enclosures 5-19 naming disk devices 3-4
advantages 4-9 naming disks
disadvantages 4-9 defaults 3-13
enhanced 4-32 ncheck 5-41
mirroring a volume 4-13 ncol 4-18
mirroring the boot disk 7-14 NEEDSYNC 8-6
errors 7-17
New Volume wizard 4-11
requirements 7-14
vxdiskadm 7-15 newfs 5-25
mirrors nlog 4-21, 5-12
adding 4-20 nmirror 4-20
mirror-stripe 4-38 node 2-15
mirror-stripe layout 1-19, 4-33 nodg 2-18, 3-9
mkdir 5-25 nolog 5-21
mkfs 5-25 non-CDS disk group 3-27
mkfs options 5-30 noraid5log 5-21
bsize 5-31 nostripe 4-17
largefiles 5-30
logsize 5-31
N 5-30 O
version 5-30
model 2-7 Object Data Manager 1-9
mount 5-25, 5-33, 5-53 object location table 5-40
mount at boot 4-15 object location table file 5-41
CLI 5-27 Object Properties window 2-31
mount options object tree 2-31
blkclear 5-53, 5-54 off-host processing 2-15
delaylog 5-53, 5-54 offlining disks 3-35
log 5-53, 5-54
online invalid status 3-23
tmplog 5-53, 5-54
online ready 3-25
mount point 4-14
online relayout 6-14
mounting a file system
aborting 6-20
VEA 5-24
and log plexes 6-18
mounting all file systems 5-33 and sparse plexes 6-18
moving a disk and volume length 6-18
vxdiskadm 6-13 and volume snapshots 6-18
moving a disk group 3-41 continuing 6-20
CLI 3-42 in CLI 6-21
VEA 3-41 limitations 6-18
vxdiskadm 3-42 monitoring 6-20
multipathed disk array 1-10 pausing 6-20
process 6-16
reversing 6-18, 6-20
supported transformations 6-15

temporary storage space 6-17 preferred plex read policy 5-13
online status 3-23 primary partition 1-6
operating system versions 2-4 private 3-25
opt 7-7, 7-8 private region 1-13, 3-11
optional features for VxVM and VxFS 2-16 private region size 1-13
optional VxFS features 2-15 AIX 1-13
HP-UX 1-13
ordered allocation 5-20
Linux 1-13
concatenating columns 5-23
Solaris 1-13
order of columns 5-22
order of mirrors 5-22 projection 4-24
specifying in CLI 5-21 prtvtoc 7-10, 8-17
specifying in VEA 5-21 PTID 6-26
storage classes 5-23
public region 1-13, 1-15
ordered option 5-21
PVRA 1-5
organization principle 3-15
Q
P
Quick I/O 2-15, 2-16
packages 2-12
QuickLog 2-16, 5-56
listing 2-26
space requirements 2-12 quotas files 5-41
parallel log replay 5-51
parent task 6-26 R
parity 1-20, 4-7
RAID 1-18
partial disk failure 8-11
RAID levels 1-18
partition 1-5, 1-8
RAID-0 1-19
partitions
after encapsulation 7-12 RAID-0+1 1-19
PATH 5-28, A-17, B-33 RAID-1 1-19
pausing online relayout 6-20 RAID-1+0 1-19
physical disk RAID-5 1-19, 4-13
naming 1-8 advantages 4-9
disadvantages 4-9
Physical Volume Reserved Area 1-5 logging 5-10
pkgadd 2-19, 2-24 RAID-5 column 4-7
pkginfo 2-26 default size 4-13
plex 1-16, 4-6 RAID-5 log 8-10
definition 1-16 RAID-5 logging 8-7
log 1-17
naming 1-16 RAID-5 volume 1-20, 4-7
sparse 1-17 creating 4-19
types 1-17 raw device file 5-25
plex name read policy 5-13
default 1-16 changing in CLI 5-14
Preferences window 2-32 changing in VEA 5-14
preferred plex 5-13

round robin 5-13 with vxassist 6-10
selected plex 5-13 with vxresize 6-9
read-writeback resynchronization 8-6 resizing a volume and file system 6-6
recovering a volume 8-21 resizing a volume with a file system 6-4
VEA 8-21 response file 2-21
redundancy 1-20 resynchronization 8-4
registry settings atomic-copy 8-5
modifying 2-45 read-writeback 8-6
relayout 6-14 revectoring 7-6
aborting 6-20 reversing online relayout 6-20
pausing 6-20
rlink 4-31
resuming 6-20
reversing 6-20 rmfs 5-27
Relayout Status Monitor window 6-20, 6-24 root 7-8, 7-12
relocated subdisks root encapsulation 7-5
viewing 8-20 benefits 7-6
limitations 7-7
relocating subdisks 8-13
root plex
errors 7-17
CLI 3-31
VEA 3-30 rootability 7-5
vxdiskadm 3-30 rootdg 2-18
removing a volume 4-43 rootvol 7-7
CLI 4-43 round robin read policy 5-13
VEA 4-43 rpm 2-19, 2-25, 2-27
renaming a disk 3-32
CLI 3-32
VEA 3-32 S
renaming a disk group 3-43
S95vxvm-recover 8-12
CLI 3-44
VEA 3-43 SAN 2-16, 2-17
replacing a disk 8-16 SAN management 3-6
CLI 8-18 SANPoint Control QuickStart 2-16
VEA 8-18 scratch pad 6-16
replacing a failed disk security for VEA 2-44
vxdiskadm 8-18
selected plex read policy 5-13
replicated volume group 4-31
shared 3-25
Rescan option 8-17
size of a volume 4-12
resilience 1-20
slice 1-5, 1-8
resilience level
sliced disk 1-14, 3-27
changing 6-23
slow attribute 6-32
resilient volume 1-20
snap object 4-31
resizing a dynamic LUN 6-13
software packages 2-11
resizing a file system 6-11
Solaris
resizing a volume 6-4
supported versions 2-4
VEA 6-8

Solaris disk 1-4 definition 1-16
space requirements 2-12 subdisk name
spanning 1-12 default 1-16
spare disks subvolume 4-32
managing 8-14 summary file 2-21
managing in CLI 8-15 superblock 5-40
managing in VEA 8-14
support for VxVM 2-5
managing in vxdiskadm 8-14
swap 7-5, 7-12
sparse plex 1-17
swapvol 7-7
starting all volumes
after renaming a disk group 3-44 swinstall 2-19, 2-24
status area 2-31 swlist 2-26
storage SYNC 8-6
allocating for volumes 5-15
storage area network 2-16, 2-17 T
storage attributes
specifying for volumes 5-15 tag 14 7-12
specifying in CLI 5-16 tag 15 7-12
specifying in VEA 5-16 target 1-8
storage cache 4-31 task
Storage Checkpoints controlling 6-29
licensing 2-16 controlling progress rate 6-31
Storage Expert 6-33 displaying information about 6-26
customizing default attributes 6-40 monitoring 6-28
examples 6-38 slowing 6-32
list of rules 6-41 Task History window 2-33, 6-24
prerequisites 6-36 task throttling 6-32
rule output 6-37
TASKID 6-26
rule syntax 6-36
rules 6-33 tasks
rules engine 6-33 aborting 2-33
types of rules 6-34 accessing through VEA 2-32
clearing history 2-33
stripe unit 4-5, 4-7
managing 6-24
default size 4-12
managing in VEA 6-24
striped 4-12 pausing 2-33
Striped Mirrored 4-13, 4-40, 4-41 resuming 2-33
striped volume 1-20, 4-5 throttling 2-33
creating 4-18 technical support for VxVM 2-5
stripe-mirror 4-40 temporary storage area 6-17
stripe-mirror layout 4-34 throttling a task 6-32
stripeunit 4-18 tmplog mount option 5-54
striping 1-19 toolbar 2-31
advantages 4-8 true mirror 4-6
disadvantages 4-9
true mirroring 1-20
subdisk 1-16
type 3-24

U clearing task history 2-33
command log file 2-34, 6-24
UFS 5-28, 7-8 confirming server startup 2-43
allocation 5-35 controlling user access 2-44
uname 2-6 creating a disk group 3-15
uninitialized disks 3-11 creating a layered volume 4-41
creating a volume 4-11
UNIX File System 5-28
creating an alternate boot disk 7-15
unmounting a file system 5-33 deporting a disk group 3-34
VEA 5-24 destroying a disk group 3-45
unrelocating a disk 8-19 disk properties 3-21
CLI 8-20 disk view 2-31
VEA 8-19 Disk View window 4-24
vxdiskadm 8-20 displaying the version 2-43
upgrade_finish 7-25 displaying volumes 4-23
evacuating a disk 3-29
upgrade_start 6-7, 7-7, 7-25
help information 2-35
upgrading importing a disk group 3-38
Solaris operating system 7-28 installing 2-39
VxVM and Solaris 7-30 installing client on Windows 2-40
VxVM software only 7-22 installing the server and client 2-39
upgrading a disk group main window 2-31
CLI 3-49 managing spare disks 8-14
VEA 3-48 menu bar 2-31
upgrading a disk group version 3-46 modifying registry settings 2-45
upgrading the file system layout 5-38 monitoring events and tasks 2-43
mounting a file system 5-24
upgrading VxFS 7-33 moving a disk group 3-41
upgrading VxVM 7-21 multiple host support 2-30
with installvm 7-23 multiple views of objects 2-30
upgrading VxVM manually 7-24 object properties 2-31
upgrading VxVM with scripts 7-25 object tree 2-31
pausing a task 2-33
use-nvramrc? 7-18
recovering a volume 8-21
user interfaces 2-29 remote administration 2-30
usr 7-7, 7-8, 7-12 removing a disk 3-30
removing a mirror 5-7
removing a volume 4-43
V renaming a disk 3-32
renaming a disk group 3-43
var 7-7, 7-8, 7-12 replacing a disk 8-18
VEA 2-29 resizing a volume 6-8
aborting a task 2-33 resuming a task 2-33
accessing tasks 2-32 scanning disks 8-17
adding a disk to a disk group 3-16 security 2-30
adding a file system to a volume 5-24 setting preferences 2-32
adding a log 5-11 specifying ordered allocation 5-21
adding a mirror 5-5 starting 2-41
changing volume layout 6-19 starting the client 2-41
changing volume read policy 5-14 status area 2-31

stopping the server 2-43 adding a file system in VEA 5-24
Task History window 2-33, 6-24 adding a log in CLI 5-12
Task Properties window 2-33 adding a log in VEA 5-11
throttling a task 6-32 adding a mirror 5-4
throttling tasks 2-33 adding a mirror in CLI 5-5
toolbar 2-31 adding a mirror in VEA 5-5
unmounting a file system 5-24 analyzing with Storage Expert 6-33
unrelocating a disk 8-19 Concatenated Mirrored 4-39
upgrading a disk group version 3-48 creating 4-10
viewing a layered volume 4-42 creating a layered volume 4-32
viewing CLI commands 2-33 creating in CLI 4-16
viewing disk group properties 3-22 creating in VEA 4-11
viewing disk information 3-19 creating layered in CLI 4-41
viewing disks 3-20 creating layered in VEA 4-41
Volume Layout window 4-27 creating mirrored and logged 4-21
Volume Properties window 4-28 creating on specific disks 5-18
Volume to Disk Mapping window 4-26 definition 1-11, 1-17
volume to disk mapping window 2-31 disk requirements 4-10
volume view 2-31 estimating expansion 4-22
Volume View window 4-25 estimating size 4-22
VERITAS Cluster File System 2-15 excluding storage from 5-18
expanding the size 6-4
VERITAS Cluster Server 2-15
layered layouts 4-37
VERITAS Enterprise Administrator 2-29, 2-30 logging 4-13
VERITAS FastResync 2-14 managing tasks 6-24
VERITAS File System 5-28 mirroring 4-13
VERITAS FlashSnap 2-14 mirroring across controllers 5-18
mirroring across enclosures 5-19
VERITAS Quick I/O for Databases 2-15 online relayout 6-14
VERITAS QuickLog 2-16 ordered allocation in CLI 5-21
VERITAS SANPoint Control QuickStart 2-16 ordered allocation in VEA 5-21
VERITAS Storage Expert 6-33 recovering 8-21
recovering in VEA 8-21
VERITAS Volume Manager 2-15
reducing the size 6-4
VERITAS Volume Replicator 2-14, 4-13, 4-31 removing 4-43
versioning removing a log in CLI 5-12
and disk groups 3-46 removing a mirror 5-6
VGDA 1-5 removing a mirror in CLI 5-7
removing a mirror in VEA 5-7
VGRA 1-5
removing in CLI 4-43
virtual storage objects 1-11 removing in VEA 4-43
vLicense 2-8 resizing 6-4
VMSA 2-39 resizing in VEA 6-8
vol_subdisk_num 1-16 resizing methods 6-6
resizing with vxassist 6-10
volboot 3-9 resizing with vxresize 6-9
volume 1-11, 3-12 specifying ordered allocation 5-20
accessing 1-11 specifying storage attributes in CLI 5-16
adding a file system 4-14 specifying storage attributes in VEA 5-16
adding a file system in CLI 5-25 starting manually 3-39

Striped Mirrored 4-40 vrtsadm 2-41, 2-44
viewing layered in CLI 4-42 vrtsadm group 2-44
viewing layered in VEA 4-42
VRTSalloc 2-12
volume attributes 4-11
VRTSap 2-13
Volume Group Descriptor Area 1-5
VRTScpi 2-12
Volume Group Reserved Area 1-5
VRTSddlpr 2-12
volume layout 1-19
VRTSfppm 2-13
changing in CLI 6-21
changing in VEA 6-19 VRTSfsdoc 2-13
changing online 6-14 VRTSfspro 2-12
concatenated 1-19 VRTSlic 2-9, 2-10
displaying 4-23 VRTSmuob 2-12
displaying in CLI 4-29
layered 1-20 VRTSob 2-12
mirrored 1-20 VRTSobadmin 2-12
RAID-5 1-20 VRTSobgui 2-12
selecting 4-4 VRTSobgui.msi 2-40
striped 1-20
VRTSperl 2-12
Volume Layout window 4-27
VRTSqio 2-15
Volume Manager control 1-13
VRTSqlog 2-15
Volume Manager disk 1-15
VRTSspc 2-16
naming 1-16
VRTSspcq 2-16
Volume Manager Support Operations 2-29, 2-
38 VRTStep 2-13
volume name VRTSvlic 2-9, 2-10, 2-12
default 1-17 VRTSvmdoc 2-12
Volume Properties window 4-28 VRTSvmman 2-12
volume read policy 5-13 VRTSvmpro 2-12
changing 5-13 VRTSvxfs 2-13
changing in CLI 5-14
VRTSvxvm 2-12, 2-14
changing in VEA 5-14
VTOC 1-4, 7-12
volume recovery 8-16
VVR 2-14
volume replication
licensing 2-16 vxassist 4-16, 6-6, 6-10
Volume Replicator 2-15 vxassist addlog 5-12
volume set 5-56 vxassist convert 6-21, 6-23
volume size 4-12 vxassist growby 6-10
volume table of contents 1-4 vxassist growto 6-10
volume tasks vxassist make 4-16, 4-41, 5-16
managing in VEA 6-24 vxassist maxgrow 4-22
Volume to Disk Mapping window 2-31, 4-26 vxassist maxsize 4-22
Volume View window 2-31, 4-25 vxassist mirror 5-5, 7-16
volumes vxassist relayout 6-21, 6-22
allocating storage for 5-15 vxassist remove log 5-12
starting after disk group renaming 3-44 vxassist remove mirror 5-7

vxassist remove volume 4-43 vxedit set spare 8-15
vxassist shrinkby 6-10 vxevac 3-29
vxassist shrinkto 6-10 VxFS 5-28, 7-8
vxbootsetup 7-16 allocation 5-35, 5-36
allocation units 5-40
vxconfigbackup 8-23
and fragmentation 5-42
vxconfigbackupd 8-23 and logging 5-55
vxconfigd 3-6, 3-7, 7-24, 7-32 command locations 5-28
vxconfigrestore 8-23 command syntax 5-29
vxdctl defaultdg 3-10 comparison to UFS 5-35
defragmenting 5-46
vxdctl enable 3-12, 3-15, 8-17 file change log 5-57
vxdctl stop 7-24 file system layout 5-30
vxdg adddisk 3-18, 8-18 file system switchout mechanisms 5-29
vxdg bootdg 3-9 file system type 5-34
fragmentation reports 5-44
vxdg defaultdg 3-9
fragmentation types 5-42
vxdg deport 3-35, 3-42 identifying free space 5-34
vxdg destroy 3-45 intent log 5-49
vxdg import 3-39, 3-42 intent log resizing 5-52
log I/O size 5-56
vxdg init 3-17, 3-27
logging options 5-53
vxdg list 3-49 maintaining consistency 5-50
vxdg rmdisk 3-31 maximum sizes 5-32
vxdg upgrade 3-49 multivolume support 5-56
vxdisk list 3-17, 3-23, 3-24, 8-17 optional features 2-15
resizing 6-4, 6-11
vxdisk resize 6-13 resizing in VEA 6-8
vxdiskadm 2-29, 2-38, 3-7, 3-12 software packages 2-13
creating a disk group 3-17 space requirements 2-13
creating an alternate boot disk 7-15 structural components 5-40
deporting a disk group 3-35 structural files 5-40
encapsulating the boot disk 7-11 unmounting 5-33
evacuating a disk 3-29 upgrading 7-33
importing a disk group 3-39 upgrading the layout 5-38
managing spare disks 8-14 using by default 5-29
moving a disk group 3-42 VxFS versions 2-4
replacing a failed disk 8-18 vxinstall 2-19, 2-28
starting 2-38 vxiod 7-24
unrelocating a disk 8-20 vxlicinst 2-9
vxdisksetup 3-27 vxlicrep 2-9
vxdiskunsetup 3-31 vxmake 4-35
vxedit 5-8 vxmirror 7-16
vxedit rename 3-32 vxnotify 7-32
vxedit rm 4-43, 5-8 vxplex 5-8, 7-20
vxedit set nohotuse 8-15 vxplex dis 5-8
vxedit set reserve 8-15 vxprint 3-49, 4-29, 4-42, 7-20, 7-32, 8-20

options 4-30 vxtask resume 6-29
vxreattach 8-21 vxunreloc 8-19, 8-20
vxrecover 8-22 vxunroot 7-19, 7-20, 7-32
vxregctl 2-46 vxupgrade 5-39
vxrelayout 6-25, 6-30 VxVM
vxrelayout reverse 6-30 configuration backup 8-23
installation methods 2-19
vxrelayout start 6-30
upgrading 7-21
vxrelayout status 6-30 upgrading manually 7-24
vxrelocd 7-32, 8-12 upgrading with installvm 7-23
vxresize 6-6, 6-9 upgrading with scripts 7-25
vxrootmir 7-16 user interfaces 2-29
versions 2-4
VxSE 6-33
VxVM configuration daemon 3-12
vxse_dc_failures 6-41
VxVM software packages 2-12
vxse_dg1 6-41
vxvol 3-44
vxse_dg2 6-41
vxvol rdpol prefer 5-14
vxse_dg3 6-41
vxvol rdpol round 5-14
vxse_dg4 6-41
vxvol rdpol select 5-14
vxse_dg5 6-41
vxvol startall 3-39
vxse_dg6 6-41
vxvol stopall 3-35
vxse_disk 6-41
vxse_disklog 6-41
vxse_drl1 6-42 X
vxse_drl2 6-42 XOR 1-20, 4-7
vxse_host 6-42
vxse_mirstripe 6-42
vxse_raid5 6-42
vxse_raid5log1 6-42
vxse_raid5log2 6-42
vxse_raid5log3 6-42
vxse_redundancy 6-43
vxse_rootmir 6-43
vxse_spares 6-43
vxse_stripes1 6-43
vxse_stripes2 6-43
vxse_volplex 6-43
vxsvc 2-43
vxtask 6-25, 6-29
vxtask abort 6-29
vxtask list 6-26, 6-27
vxtask monitor 6-28
vxtask pause 6-29

VMMaintenenace (VXVM)

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VERITAS Volume Manager

4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Lesson 1: Virtual Objects

Table of Contents iii

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iv VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

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Lesson 3: Managing Disks and Disk Groups

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Lesson 4: Creating Volumes

vi VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

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Lesson 5: Configuring Volumes

Table of Contents vii

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viii VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

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Lesson 6: Reconfiguring Volumes Online

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Lesson 7: Encapsulation and Rootability

x VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

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Lesson 8: Recovery Essentials

Appendix A: Lab Exercises

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Appendix B: Lab Solutions

Appendix C: VxVM/VxFS Command Reference

Appendix D: VxVM/VxFS 3.5 to 4.0 Differences Quick Reference

xii VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Copyright © 2004 VERITAS Software Corporation. All rights reserved.

10% Full 50% Full 90% Full

What Is Storage Virtualization?

Intro–2 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Copyright © 2004 VERITAS Software Corporation. All rights reserved.

Physical aspects of storage

VM40_Solaris_R1.0_20040115 Physical Storage Resources I-4

Defining Storage Virtualization

Course Introduction Intro–3

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Storage-Based Host-Based Network-Based

Most companies use a combination of these three

How Is Storage Virtualization Used in Your Environment?

Intro–4 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Copyright © 2004 VERITAS Software Corporation. All rights reserved.

Host-Based Storage Virtualization

Network-Based Storage Virtualization

Course Introduction Intro–5

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Company Business Process

Introducing VERITAS Storage Foundation

Intro–6 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Copyright © 2004 VERITAS Software Corporation. All rights reserved.

Physical Storage Resources

Disk Array Disk Array

What Is VERITAS Volume Manager?

What Is VERITAS File System?

Course Introduction Intro–7

Copyright © 2004 VERITAS Software Corporation. All rights reserved.

Intro–8 VERITAS Volume Manager 4.0 for UNIX: Operations

Copyright © 2004 VERITAS Software Corporation. All rights reserved.

Benefits of VERITAS Storage Foundation

Course Introduction Intro–9