Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide

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June 2006

Abstract

The Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide provides instructions on using Solaris Volume Manager to manage disk storage, including creating, modifying, and using RAID-0 (concatenation and stripe) volumes, RAID-1 (mirror) volumes


Table of Contents

Preface
Who Should Use This Book
How This Book Is Organized
Related Books
Documentation, Support, and Training
Typographic Conventions
Shell Prompts in Command Examples
1. Getting Started With Solaris Volume Manager
Solaris Volume Manager Roadmap—What's New
Solaris Volume Manager Roadmap—Storage Capacity
Solaris Volume Manager Roadmap—Availability
Solaris Volume Manager Roadmap—I/O Performance
Solaris Volume Manager Roadmap—Administration
Solaris Volume Manager Roadmap—Troubleshooting
2. Storage Management Concepts
Introduction to Storage Management
Storage Hardware
RAID Levels
Configuration Planning Guidelines
Choosing Storage
General Performance Guidelines
Random I/O and Sequential I/O Optimization
Random I/O
Sequential Access I/O
3. Solaris Volume Manager Overview
What's New in Solaris Volume Manager
Support for Descriptive Names
Introduction to Solaris Volume Manager
How Solaris Volume Manager Manages Storage
How to Administer Solaris Volume Manager
Solaris Volume Manager Requirements
Overview of Solaris Volume Manager Components
Overview of Volumes
State Database and State Database Replicas
Hot Spare Pools
Disk Sets
Solaris Volume Manager Configuration Guidelines
General Guidelines
File System Guidelines
Overview of Creating Solaris Volume Manager Components
Prerequisites for Creating Solaris Volume Manager Components
Overview of Multi-Terabyte Support in Solaris Volume Manager
Large Volume Support Limitations
Using Large Volumes
Upgrading to Solaris Volume Manager
4. Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster (Overview)
Introduction to Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster
Prerequisite: Required Software Components for Multi-Owner Disk Set Functionality
Multi-Owner Disk Set Concepts
Tasks Associated With Multi-Owner Disk Sets
Solaris Volume Manager for Sun Cluster Configuration
RAID–1 (Mirror) Volumes in Multi-Owner Disk Sets
Mirror Ownership With Multi-Owner Disk Sets
Data Management and Recovery Processes
5. Configuring and Using Solaris Volume Manager (Scenario)
Scenario Background Information
Hardware Configuration
Initial Physical Storage Configuration
Final Solaris Volume Manager Configuration
6. State Database (Overview)
About the Solaris Volume Manager State Database and Replicas
Understanding the Majority Consensus Algorithm
Administering State Database Replicas
Handling State Database Replica Errors
Scenario—State Database Replicas
7. State Database (Tasks)
State Database Replicas (Task Map)
Creating State Database Replicas
Maintaining State Database Replicas
8. RAID-0 (Stripe and Concatenation) Volumes (Overview)
Overview of RAID-0 Volumes
RAID-0 (Stripe) Volume
RAID-0 (Concatenation) Volume
RAID-0 (Concatenated Stripe) Volume
Background Information for Creating RAID-0 Volumes
RAID-0 Volume Requirements
RAID-0 Volume Guidelines
Scenario—RAID-0 Volumes
9. RAID-0 (Stripe and Concatenation) Volumes (Tasks)
RAID-0 Volumes (Task Map)
Creating RAID-0 (Stripe) Volumes
Creating RAID-0 (Concatenation) Volumes
Expanding Storage Capacity
Removing a RAID-0 Volume
10. RAID-1 (Mirror) Volumes (Overview)
Overview of RAID-1 (Mirror) Volumes
Overview of Submirrors
Scenario—RAID-1 (Mirror) Volume
Providing RAID-1+0 and RAID-0+1
RAID-1 Volume (Mirror) Resynchronization
Full Resynchronization
Optimized Resynchronization
Partial Resynchronization
Canceling and Resuming Resynchronization With the metasync Command
Creating and Maintaining RAID-1 Volumes
Configuration Guidelines for RAID-1 Volumes
Performance Guidelines for RAID-1 Volumes
About RAID-1 Volume Options
Understanding Submirror Status to Determine Maintenance Actions
The Affect of Booting Into Single-User Mode on RAID-1 Volumes
Scenario—RAID-1 Volumes (Mirrors)
11. RAID-1 (Mirror) Volumes (Tasks)
RAID-1 Volumes (Task Map)
Creating a RAID-1 Volume
Understanding Boot Time Warnings When Mirroring the root (/) File System
Working With Submirrors
Maintaining RAID-1 Volumes
Responding to RAID-1 Volume Component Failures
Removing RAID-1 Volumes (Unmirroring)
Backing Up Data on a RAID-1 Volume
12. Soft Partitions (Overview)
Overview of Soft Partitions
Configuration Guidelines for Soft Partitions
Scenario—Soft Partitions
13. Soft Partitions (Tasks)
Soft Partitions (Task Map)
Creating Soft Partitions
Maintaining Soft Partitions
14. RAID-5 Volumes (Overview)
Overview of RAID-5 Volumes
Example—RAID-5 Volume
Example—Concatenated (Expanded) RAID-5 Volume
Background Information for Creating RAID-5 Volumes
Requirements for RAID-5 Volumes
Guidelines for RAID-5 Volumes
Overview of Checking Status of RAID-5 Volumes
Overview of Replacing and Enabling Slices in RAID-5 Volumes
Scenario—RAID-5 Volumes
15. RAID-5 Volumes (Tasks)
RAID-5 Volumes (Task Map)
Creating RAID-5 Volumes
Maintaining RAID-5 Volumes
16. Hot Spare Pools (Overview)
Overview of Hot Spares and Hot Spare Pools
Hot Spares
Hot Spare Pools
How Hot Spares Work
Hot Spare Pool States
Example—Hot Spare Pool
Scenario—Hot Spares
17. Hot Spare Pools (Tasks)
Hot Spare Pools (Task Map)
Creating a Hot Spare Pool
Associating a Hot Spare Pool With Volumes
Maintaining Hot Spare Pools
18. Disk Sets (Overview)
What's New in Disk Sets
Enhanced Output With the metaimport Command
Introduction to Disk Sets
Types of Disk Sets
Local Disk Sets
Named Disk Sets
Solaris Volume Manager Disk Set Administration
Reserving a Disk Set
Releasing a Disk Set
Importing a Disk Set
Automatic Disk Partitioning
Disk Set Name Requirements
Example—Two Shared Disk Sets
Guidelines for Working With Disk Sets
Asynchronous Shared Storage in Disk Sets
Scenario—Disk Sets
19. Disk Sets (Tasks)
Disk Sets (Task Map)
Creating Disk Sets
Expanding Disk Sets
Maintaining Disk Sets
Importing Disk Sets
20. Maintaining Solaris Volume Manager (Tasks)
Solaris Volume Manager Maintenance (Task Map)
Viewing the Solaris Volume Manager Configuration
Where To Go From Here
Renaming Volumes
Background Information for Renaming Volumes
Exchanging Volume Names
Working With Configuration Files
Changing Solaris Volume Manager Default Values
Expanding a File System Using the growfs Command
Background Information for Expanding Slices and Volumes
Overview of Replacing and Enabling Components in RAID-1 and RAID-5 Volumes
Enabling a Component
Replacing a Component With Another Available Component
Maintenance and Last Erred States
Background Information for Replacing and Enabling Components in RAID-1 and RAID-5 Volumes
21. Best Practices for Solaris Volume Manager
Deploying Small Servers
Using Solaris Volume Manager With Networked Storage Devices
22. Top-Down Volume Creation (Overview)
Overview of Top-Down Volume Creation
Top-Down Volume Creation Implementation With Disk Sets
Top-Down Volume Creation Processes
Determining Which Disks Are Available for Top-Down Volume Creation
23. Top-Down Volume Creation (Tasks)
Top-Down Volume Creation (Task Map)
Prerequisites for Top-Down Volume Creation
Creating Volumes Automatically
Analyzing Volume Creation by Specifying Output Verbosity
Working With File-Based Data Using the metassist Command
Creating a Command File (Shell Script) Using the metassist Command
Creating a Volume With a Saved Shell Script Created by the metassist Command
Creating a Volume Configuration File With the metassist Command
Changing the Default Behavior of the metassist Command
Changing the Volume Defaults File
24. Monitoring and Error Reporting (Tasks)
Solaris Volume Manager Monitoring and Reporting (Task Map)
Configuring the mdmonitord Command for Periodic Error Checking
Solaris Volume Manager SNMP Agents Overview
Configuring the Solaris Volume Manager SNMP Agents
Limitations of the Solaris Volume Manager SNMP Agent
Monitoring Solaris Volume Manager With a cron Job
25. Troubleshooting Solaris Volume Manager (Tasks)
Troubleshooting Solaris Volume Manager (Task Map)
Overview of Troubleshooting the System
Prerequisites for Troubleshooting the System
General Guidelines for Troubleshooting Solaris Volume Manager
General Troubleshooting Approach
Replacing Disks
Recovering From Disk Movement Problems
Disk Movement and Device ID Overview
Resolving Unnamed Devices Error Message
Device ID Discrepancies After Upgrading to the Solaris 10 Release
Recovering From Boot Problems
Background Information for Boot Problems
How to Recover From Improper /etc/vfstab Entries
Recovering From State Database Replica Failures
Recovering From Soft Partition Problems
Recovering Storage From a Different System
Recovering Storage From a Known Disk Set
Recovering From Disk Set Problems
What to Do When You Cannot Take Ownership of A Disk Set
Performing Mounted Filesystem Backups Using the ufsdump Command
Performing System Recovery
A. Important Solaris Volume Manager Files
System Files and Startup Files
Manually Configured Files
Overview of the md.tab File
B. Solaris Volume Manager Quick Reference
Command-Line Reference
C. Solaris Volume Manager CIM/WBEM API
Managing Solaris Volume Manager
Index

List of Figures

3.1. View of the Enhanced Storage Tool (Solaris Volume Manager) in the Solaris Management Console
3.2. Relationship Among a Volume, Physical Disks, and Slices
4.1. Sample Cluster Configuration
5.1. Basic Hardware Diagram Storage Scenario
8.1. RAID-0 (Stripe) Volume Example
8.2. RAID-0 (Concatenation) Volume Example
8.3. RAID-0 (Concatenated Stripe) Volume Example
10.1. RAID-1 (Mirror) Example
10.2. RAID-1+0 Example
14.1. RAID-5 Volume Example
14.2. Expanded RAID-5 Volume Example
16.1. Hot Spare Pool Example
18.1. Disk Sets Example
21.1. Small System Configuration
22.1. Processing Options for Top-Down Volume Creation

List of Tables

1. Typographic Conventions
2. Shell Prompts
2.1. Comparison of Types of Storage
2.2. Optimizing Redundant Storage
3.1. Summary of Solaris Volume Manager Features
3.2. Classes of Volumes
10.1. RAID-1 Volume Read Policies
10.2. RAID-1 Volume Write Policies
10.3. Submirror States
10.4. Submirror Slice States
14.1. RAID-5 Volume States
14.2. RAID-5 Slice States
16.1. Hot Spare Pool States (Command Line)
18.1. Example Volume Names for Disk Sets
25.1. Common Boot Problems With Solaris Volume Manager
B.1. Solaris Volume Manager Commands

List of Examples

7.1. Creating the First State Database Replica
7.2. Adding Two State Database Replicas to the Same Slice
7.3. Adding State Database Replicas of a Specific Size
7.4. Checking the Status of All State Database Replicas
7.5. Deleting State Database Replicas
9.1. Creating a RAID–0 (Stripe) Volume of Three Slices
9.2. Creating a RAID-0 (Stripe) Volume of Two Slices With a 32–Kbyte Interlace Value
9.3. Creating a Concatenation of One Slice
9.4. Creating a Concatenation of Four Slices
9.5. Expanding a File System by Creating a Concatenation
9.6. Creating a Concatenated Stripe by Attaching a Single Slice
9.7. Creating a Concatenated Stripe by Adding Several Slices
9.8. Removing a Concatenation
11.1. Creating a Two-Way Mirror
11.2. Creating a Two-Way Mirror Without Resynchronization
11.3. Creating a Two-Way Mirror From a File System That Can Be Unmounted
11.4. Creating a Two-way Mirror From a File System That Cannot Be Unmounted
11.5. Creating a Mirror From the /swap Space
11.6. SPARC: Creating a Mirror From the root (/) File System
11.7. Attaching a Submirror
11.8. Detaching a Submirror
11.9. Placing a Submirror Offline
11.10. Placing a Submirror Online
11.11. Enabling a Slice in a Submirror
11.12. Checking Status of RAID-1 Volumes
11.13. Changing a RAID-1 Volume's Read Policy
11.14. Changing a RAID-1 Volume's Write Policy
11.15. Changing a RAID-1 Volume's Pass Number
11.16. Expanding a Two-Way Mirror That Contains a Mounted File System
11.17. Canceling a Volume Resynchronization Process
11.18. Resuming a Volume Resynchronization Process
11.19. Replacing a Failed Slice in a Mirror
11.20. Replacing a Submirror in a Mirror
11.21. Unmirroring the /opt File System
11.22. Unmirroring the root (/) File System
11.23. Unmirroring the swap File System
11.24. Performing an Online Backup of a RAID-1 Volume
13.1. Creating a Soft Partition
13.2. Taking a Whole Disk for Soft Partitions
13.3. Checking the Status of a Soft Partition
13.4. Expanding a Soft Partition
13.5. Removing a Soft Partition
15.1. Creating a RAID-5 Volume of Three Slices
15.2. Viewing RAID-5 Volume Status
15.3. Adding a Component to a RAID-5 Volume
15.4. Enabling a Component in a RAID-5 Volume
15.5. Replacing a RAID-5 Component
17.1. Creating a Hot Spare Pool
17.2. Adding a Hot Spare Slice to One Hot Spare Pool
17.3. Adding a Hot Spare Slice to All Hot Spare Pools
17.4. Associating a Hot Spare Pool With Submirrors
17.5. Associating a Hot Spare Pool With a RAID-5 Volume
17.6. Changing the Hot Spare Pool Association
17.7. Removing a Volume's Hot Spare Pool Association
17.8. Viewing the Status of a Hot Spare Pool
17.9. Replacing a Hot Spare in One Hot Spare Pool
17.10. Replacing a Hot Spare in All Associated Hot Spare Pools
17.11. Deleting a Hot Spare from One Hot Spare Pool
17.12. Enabling a Hot Spare
19.1. Creating a Disk Set
19.2. Creating a Multi-Owner Disk Set
19.3. Adding a Disk to a Disk Set
19.4. Adding Another Host to a Disk Set
19.5. Creating Solaris Volume Manager Volumes in a Disk Set
19.6. Checking the Status of a Specified Disk Set
19.7. Deleting a Disk from a Disk Set
19.8. Taking a Disk Set
19.9. Taking a Disk Set Forcibly
19.10. Releasing a Disk Set
19.11. Deleting a Host From a Disk Set
19.12. Deleting the Last Host from a Disk Set
19.13. Reporting on Disk Sets Available for Import
19.14. Importing a Disk Set
20.1. Viewing the Solaris Volume Manager Volume Configuration
20.2. Viewing a Multi-Terabyte Solaris Volume Manager Volume
20.3. Renaming a Volume Used for a File System
20.4. Expanding a File System
23.1. Creating a Two-Way Mirror Using the metassist Command
23.2. Creating a Two-Way Mirror and Hot Spare Using the metassist Command
23.3. Creating a Stripe With a Specific Controller Using the metassist Command
23.4. Specifying Output Verbosity From the metassist Command
23.5. Creating a Volume Using an Input File
23.6. Creating a Command File (Shell Script) Using the metassist Command
23.7. Saving a Command File (Shell Script) Using the metassist Command
23.8. Executing a Saved metassist Command Shell Script
23.9. Creating a Volume Configuration File Using the metassist Command
23.10. Saving a Volume Configuration File Using the metassist Command
23.11. Creating a Volume With Changed Defaults Using the metassist Command
25.1. Recovering From Stale State Database Replicas
25.2. Recovering Soft Partitions from On-Disk Extent Headers
25.3. Reporting on Disk Sets Available for Import
25.4. Importing a Disk Set
25.5. Purging a Disk Set
25.6. Recovering a System Using a Solaris Volume Manager Configuration