9    Menu Interface (voldiskadm)

This chapter describes the LSM Support Operations designed to help you perform LSM disk and disk group operations in the menu interface. You enable LSM Support Operations using the voldiskadm command, which starts up a menu-driven interface. The menus are easy to use and provide information about each step to help you decide the correct response for each prompt.

The following sections describe how to start up and use the LSM Support Operations menu interface for some of the most common disk management tasks.

9.1    Starting LSM Support Operations

To start LSM Support Operations, enter the following command:

#  voldiskadm

LSM brings up a Support Operations main menu shown in Figure 9-1 that displays the disk operation options available to you.

Figure 9-1: LSM Support Operations Main Menu

Table 9-1 describes the main menu selections.

Table 9-1: Selections on the Main Menu

9.2    Disk Operations

This section describes the disk operations available with the LSM Support Operations.

9.2.1    Initializing a Disk

Disk initialization identifies a disk to LSM and prepares the disk for LSM use. This operation involves installing a disk header and writing an empty configuration on the disk. A disk access record is created for the disk, unless such a record already exists.

To initialize a disk for use with LSM, perform the following steps:

1. At the main menu prompt (shown in Figure 9-1), select menu item 1 to enable the "Add or initialize a disk" operation.

2. At the prompt on the following "Add or initialize a disk" screen, enter the address of the disk to be added.

   

   If you do not know the address of the disk you want to add, enter the letter l or type the word list at the prompt. LSM displays a list of the disks that are available as replacement disks. For example:

   

3. Once you have entered the disk name, LSM displays this screen that asks you to supply the name of the disk group you want the disk to be a part of:

   

   Note that you can press the Return key to accept the default disk group name, rootdg. You can also enter the word none if either of the following conditions are true:

   • The disk group you want the disk to be a part of does not exist yet.

   • You want to keep this disk available as a spare to be used as a replacement disk.

4. Depending on your response to the "Which disk group..." prompt, LSM displays one of the following screens.

   • If you entered none, LSM displays the following screen:

     

   • If you selected rootdg as the disk group, LSM displays the following screen:

     

   Press the Return key to continue.

5. If LSM successfully completes the disk initialization, the following screen appears:

   

   Press the Return key to return to the main menu.

   If the fstype in the disk label of the specified partition or an overlapping partition is set, LSM displays a warning message to inform you that initializing the disk might destroy existing data.

   If you are sure that the disk partition has no valid data and that the partition can be added to LSM, you can ignore the warning message and answer y to the prompt. The voldiskadm utility then proceeds to initialize the disk partition and add it to LSM.

   If the disk cannot be initialized because the specified partition or an overlapping partition on the disk is open (that is, a partition is actively in use by UFS, AdvFS, LSM or swap), the initialization process fails and voldiskadm exits with an error message informing you of the problem.

9.2.2    Displaying Disk Information

The following steps describe how to find information about disks available on the system.

1. From the main menu (see Figure 9-1), enter the letter l or type the word list to display a list of disks available on the system.

   LSM displays a list of devices similar to the following screen, and prompts you to enter the address of the disk for which you want to obtain detailed information.

   

2. The following screen displays information for the disk device rz3:

   

3. Press the Return key to return to the main menu.

9.2.3    Adding a Disk to a Disk Group

You may want to add a new disk to an already established disk group. Perhaps the current disks have insufficient space for the project or work group requirements, especially if these requirements have changed.

You can add a disk to a disk group by performing these steps:

1. Follow the instructions documented in Section 9.2.1.

2. When the add disk operation adds a disk to a disk group, LSM checks to see if the disk is already initialized. If the disk has been initialized, LSM displays the following screen and asks whether or not you want to reinitialize the disk:

   

Use the information in the following table to determine whether or not you should reinitialize the disk.

If...	Then...
The disk is new	Initialize the disk before placing it under the control of LSM.
The disk was previously in use and contains useful data	Do not initialize the disk. Instead, use the LSM encapsulation function to add the disk to the LSM system while still preserving the existing data.
The disk was previously in use but it does not contain useful data	Initialize the disk before placing the disk under LSM control.

9.2.4    Moving Volumes from a Disk

Before you disable or remove a disk, you may want to move the data from that disk to other disks on the system. Use this operation immediately prior to removing a disk, either permanently or for replacement (described in Section 9.2.5).

Note

Simply moving volumes off of a disk without also removing the disk, does not prevent volumes from being moved onto the disk by future operations. For example, two consecutive move operations could move volumes from one disk to another.

Also note that you need to make sure the other disks in the disk group have sufficient space available.

To move volumes from a disk, do the following:

1. Select menu item 7 from the main menu (shown in Figure 9-1).

2. From the "Move volumes from a disk" screen, enter the name of the disk whose volumes you want to move:

   

3. Verify the information that LSM displays on the following screen:

   

   Press Return to move the volumes.

4. As LSM moves the volumes from the disk, it displays the status of the operation:

   

5. When the volumes have all been moved, LSM displays the following success screen:

   

   Press Return to return to the main menu.

9.2.5    Removing a Disk from a Disk Group

This operation involves removing the LSM disk associated with the selected partitions from LSM control by removing the associated disk access records. LSM Support Operations provides two methods (menu items 3 and 4 on the main menu shown in Figure 9-1) for removing disks. These two operations remove a disk as follows:

• Menu item 3, Remove a disk -- Removes a disk completely from LSM control and does not retain the disk name.

• Menu item 4, Remove a disk for replacement -- Removes a failed disk and retains the disk name so it can be replaced with another disk.

See also Section 9.2.4 which describes how to move data from a disk to another disk on the system, and see Section 9.2.6 which describes how to replace a failed or removed disk.

Note

You must disable the disk group before you can remove the last disk in that group. Disabling a disk group, also referred to as deporting a disk group, is described in Section 9.3.2.

9.2.5.1    Removing a Disk Without Replacement

To remove a disk from its disk group, perform the following steps:

1. Select menu item 3 from the main menu (shown in Figure 9-1).

2. LSM displays the following "Remove a disk" screen and prompts you to enter the disk name of the disk to be removed.

   

   This example removes the disk device disk02.

3. LSM displays a verification screen and asks whether or not to continue:

   

   Press the Return key to continue.

4. LSM removes the disk from the disk group and then displays the following screen when the operation has completed:

   

   Press the Return key to return to the main menu.

9.2.5.2    Removing a Disk for Replacement

You may occasionally need to replace a disk in a disk group. This operation involves initializing the disk for LSM use, and replacing the old disk and associated disk media records with the new disk and its information. Perform the following steps to replace a disk while retaining the disk name:

1. Select menu item 4 from the main menu (shown in Figure 9-1). LSM displays the "Remove a disk for replacement" screen.

   

2. Enter the name of the disk to be replaced if you know it. Otherwise, enter the letter l for a list of disks. LSM displays a screen similar to the following:

   

3. If there are any initialized disks available that are not part of a disk group, LSM displays the following screen and gives you the option of using one of these disks as a replacement. Select the replacement disk from the list provided.

   

   Press the Return key if you want to use the default disk.

4. LSM then displays the following verification screen:

   

   Press the Return key to continue.

5. When LSM successfully replaces the disk, LSM displays the following screen:

   

   Press the Return key to return to the main menu.

9.2.6    Replacing a Failed or Removed Disk

Use this menu operation to specify a replacement disk for a disk that you removed with the "Remove a disk for replacement" menu operation (see Section 9.2.5.2), or for a disk that failed during use. To replace a disk, use the following instructions:

1. Select menu item 5 from the main menu (shown in Figure 9-1).

2. The following "Replace a failed or removed disk" screen asks you to enter the name of the disk to be replaced. You can choose an uninitialized disk, or you can choose a disk that you have already initialized (skip to the next step).

   

3. If there are any initialized disks available that are not part of a disk group, LSM displays the following screen to list the disks available to be used as a replacement. Select the replacement disk from the list provided.

   

   Press Return to select the default device or enter the device name of the device of your choice.

4. LSM displays a confirmation screen:

   

   Press Return to replace the disk.

5. LSM displays the following success screen:

   

   Press Return to return to the main menu.

9.2.7    Renaming a Disk

To rename a disk, perform the following steps:

1. Perform the steps to remove the disk as described in Section 9.2.5.

2. Select menu item 1 from the main menu (shown in Figure 9-1) to bring up the "Add or initialize a disk" menu.

3. Select the address of the disk you just removed. This is the disk that you will add with a new name:

   

4. LSM displays a screen that tells you the device is already initialized, and is available as a replacement disk, and asks whether or not you want to reinitialize the disk. Press the Return key to reinitialize the disk. Otherwise, enter n to avoid reinitialization.

5. Enter the name of the disk group in which you want to include the disk. In the following example, assume that the disk group, newdg, has already been created.

   

6. Enter the new disk name. The following example uses disk03:

   

7. LSM then displays the following verification screen:

   

8. Press the Return key if the information is correct and you want LSM to continue.

9. Look for a message screen similar to the following that displays when LSM finishes the renaming operation:

   

   Press the Return key to return to the main menu.

9.2.8    Disabling a Disk

This operation places the disk access record in an offline state. During searches for disk IDs or members of a disk group, offline disks are ignored. To disable a disk, perform the following steps:

1. Select menu item 11 from the main menu (shown in Figure 9-1) to disable (offline) a removable disk.

2. On the next screen, select the disk you want to disable:

   

   This example shows that disk rz3 has been selected.

3. LSM disables disk rz3 and then asks if you want to disable another device:

   

   Press the Return key to return to the main menu.

9.3    Disk Group Operations

This section describes the disk group operations that can be performed with the LSM Support Operations.

9.3.1    Importing (Enabling) a Disk Group

Use this menu operation to enable access by this system to a disk group. This operation can be used to move a disk group from one system to another. If you want to move a disk group from one system to another you must first disable (deport) it on the original system (see Section 9.3.2), then move the disk between systems and enable (import) the disk group.

Note

If two hosts share a SCSI bus, make sure that the other host really failed or deported the disk group. If two hosts import a disk group at the same time, the disk group will be corrupted and become unusable.

To import a disk group, do the following:

1. Select menu item 8 from the main menu (shown in Figure 9-1). From the "Enable access to (import) a disk group" menu, select the name of the disk group to import:

   

2. Once the import is complete, LSM displays the following success screen:

   

   Press Return to return to the main menu

9.3.2    Deporting (Disabling) a Disk Group

Use this operation to disable access to a disk group that is currently enabled (imported) by this system. Deport a disk group if you intend to move the disks in a disk group to another system. Also, deport a disk group if you want to use all of the disks remaining in a disk group for some new purpose.

Note

For removable disk devices on some systems, it is important to disable all access to the disk before removing the disk.

To deport a disk group, perform the following steps:

1. Select menu item 9 from the main menu (shown in Figure 9-1).

2. From the following "Remove access to (deport) a disk group" menu, enter the name of the disk group to be deported:

   

3. Verify that you want LSM to disable the disk group on the displayed confirmation screen:

   

   Press Return to deport the disk group.

4. On the next screen display, verify that you want to continue with the operation:

   

   Press Return to continue.

5. Look for the following screen that displays once the disk group is deported:

   

   Press Return to go to the main menu.

9.4    Volume Operations: Mirroring Volumes on a Disk

Mirroring the volumes on a disk gives you one or more copies of your volumes in another disk location. By creating mirror copies of your volumes, you protect yourself against loss of data in case of a disk failure.

LSM's voldiskadm utility cannot be used to mirror volumes that are already mirrored, or that are comprised of more than one subdisk.

To mirror volumes on a disk, make sure that the target disk has an equal or greater amount of space as the originating disk and then do the following:

1. Select menu item 6 from the main menu (shown in Figure 9-1).

2. On the "Mirror volumes on a disk" menu, enter the name of the disk whose volumes you want to mirror:

   

3. Select the target disk name (this disk must be the same size or larger than the originating disk). Volumes can be mirrored onto another disk or onto any available disk space.

   

4. LSM displays the verification screen:

   

   Press Return to make the mirror.

5. LSM displays the status of the operation as it performs the mirroring:

   

6. Once LSM has completed the mirroring operation, it asks if you want to mirror volumes on another disk. Press Return to go back to the main menu.

9.5    Exiting LSM Support Operations

When you have completed all of your disk administration activities, exit the LSM Support Operations by selecting menu option q from the main menu.