Creating RAID-0 (Stripe) Volumes

Creating RAID-0 (Stripe) Volumes
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Caution

Do not create a stripe from an existing file system or data. Doing so destroys data. To create a stripe from existing data, you must back up the data, create the stripe volume, and then restore the data to the volume.

Caution

Do not create volumes larger than 1Tbyte if you expect to run the Solaris software with a 32-bit kernel. Additionally, do not create volumes larger than 1Tbyte if you expect to use a version of the Solaris OS prior to the Solaris 9 4/03 release. See Overview of Multi-Terabyte Support in Solaris Volume Manager for more information about large volume support in Solaris Volume Manager.

How to Create a RAID-0 (Stripe) Volume

Check Prerequisites for Creating Solaris Volume Manager Components and Background Information for Creating RAID-0 Volumes.

To create a stripe volume, use one of the following methods:
- From the Enhanced Storage tool within the Solaris Management Console, open the Volumes node. Choose Action⇒Create Volume, then follow the instructions in the wizard. For more information, see the online help.
- Use the following form of the metainit command:
```
# metainit volume-name number-of-stripes
 components-per-stripe 
component-names
[ -i interlace]
```
  volume-name
  
  Specifies the name of the volume to create. For information on naming volumes, see Volume Names.
  
  number-of-stripes
  
  Specifies the number of stripes to create.
  
  components-per-stripe
  
  Specifies the number of components each stripe should have.
  
  component-names
  
  Specifies the names of the components that are used. If more than one component is used, separate each component with a space.
  
  i interlace
  
  Specifies the interlace width to use for the stripe. The interlace width is a value, followed by either `k' for kilobytes, `m' for megabytes, or `b' for blocks. The interlace specified cannot be less than 16 blocks, or greater than 100 megabytes. The default interlace width is 512 kilobytes.
  
  See the following examples and the metainit ( 1M ) man page for more information.

Example 9.1. Creating a RAID–0 (Stripe) Volume of Three Slices

# metainit d20 1 3 c0t1d0s2 c0t2d0s2 c0t3d0s2
d20: Concat/Stripe is setup

This example shows the stripe, d20, consists of a single stripe (the number 1). The stripe is composed of three slices (the number 3). Because no interlace value is specified, the stripe uses the default of 512 Kbytes. The system confirms that the volume has been set up.

Example 9.2. Creating a RAID-0 (Stripe) Volume of Two Slices With a 32–Kbyte Interlace Value

# metainit d10 1 2 c0t1d0s2 c0t2d0s2 -i 32k
d10: Concat/Stripe is setup

This example shows the stripe, d10, consists of a single stripe (the number 1). The stripe is composed of two slices (the number 2). The i option sets the interlace value to 32 Kbytes. (The interlace value cannot be less than 8 Kbytes, nor greater than 100 Mbytes.) The system verifies that the volume has been set up.

To prepare the newly created stripe for a file system, see Chapter 18, Creating UFS, TMPFS, and LOFS File Systems (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems . Some applications, such as a database, do not use a file system. These applications instead use the raw device. The application must have its own way of accessing the raw device.