Creating RAID-5 Volumes

Caution

Do not create volumes larger than 1 Tbyte if you expect to run the Solaris software with a 32-bit kernel or 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-5 Volume

Check Prerequisites for Creating Solaris Volume Manager Components and Background Information for Creating RAID-5 Volumes.

  • To create a RAID-5 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 steps in the wizard. For more information, see the online help.

    • Use the following form of the metainit command:

      # metainit wolume-name -r component component component -i interlace-value
      
      
      volume-name

      Specifies the name of the volume to create.

      r

      Specifies to create a RAID-5 volume.

      component

      Specifies a slice or soft partition to include in the RAID-5 volume. At least 3 components are required.

      i

      Specifies an interlace value.

      For more information, see the metainit ( 1M ) man page.

Example 15.1. Creating a RAID-5 Volume of Three Slices

In this example, the RAID-5 volume d45 is created with the r option from 3 slices. Because no interlace value is specified, d45 uses the default of 512 Kbytes. The system verifies that the RAID-5 volume has been set up and begins initializing the volume.

You must wait for the initialization to finish before you can use the RAID-5 volume.

# metainit d45 -r c2t3d0s2 c3t0d0s2 c4t0d0s2
d45: RAID is setup

To prepare the newly created RAID-5 volume 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 volume. The application must have its own way of recognizing the volume.

To associate a hot spare pool with a RAID-5 volume, see How to Associate a Hot Spare Pool With a Volume.