Title and Copyright Information
 
About This Guide
Audience
New and Changed Features
Organization
Related Documents
Reader's Comments
Conventions
 
Part 1: Introduction and Setup
 
1    Introduction to the Logical Storage Manager
1.1    LSM Overview
1.2    LSM Fundamentals
1.3    LSM Features
1.4    Hardware and Software Requirements
1.4.1    Hardware Requirements
1.4.2    Software Requirements
1.4.3    Licensing Requirements
1.4.4    Configuration Limitations
1.5    LSM and System Architecture
1.5.1    Volume Device Driver and Volume Daemons
1.5.2    LSM Objects
1.6    LSM Disks
1.6.1    Types of LSM Disks
1.6.2    Naming LSM Disks
1.7    LSM Disk Groups
1.7.1    LSM Configuration Databases
1.7.2    Moving and Replacing LSM Disks in a Disk Group
1.8    LSM Interfaces
1.8.1    Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Storage Management
1.8.1.1    Top-Down Approach
1.8.1.2    Bottom-Up Approach
1.8.2    LSM Command Hierarchy
1.9    Accessing LSM Volumes for I/O
1.10    LSM Encapsulation Tools
1.11    Introduction to Root and Swap Mirroring
 
2    LSM Configurations
2.1    Planning an LSM Configuration
2.2    Disk Concatenation
2.3    Disk Striping
2.4    Mirroring Disks
2.5    Multiple Logical Volumes per Physical Disk
2.6    Making LSM Configuration Changes
 
3    Setting Up LSM
3.1    Preparing for Digital UNIX Installation
3.2    Reenabling LSM after a Reinstallation
3.3    Initializing LSM
3.3.1    Using the volsetup Utility
3.3.2    Initializing LSM with Individual Commands
3.3.2.1    Initializing /etc/vol/volboot, Starting vold, and Initializing the rootdg Disk Group
3.3.2.2    Selecting Private Region Parameters
3.3.2.3    Initialize Disk Label and Add to LSM
3.3.2.4    Adding a Disk to a Disk Group
3.3.2.5    Disks Added to /etc/vol/volboot
3.3.2.6    Starting LSM Manually
3.4    Increasing the Configuration Limits
3.5    Post-Setup Tasks
 
4    Encapsulating Existing User Data to LSM Volumes
4.1    Data Encapsulation
4.2    Encapsulation Requirements
4.3    LVM Volume Encapsulation
4.3.1    Overview of LVM Support in Digital UNIX
4.3.2    Encapsulating LVM Volumes
4.3.3    Preserving Block 0
4.4    UNIX Style Partition Encapsulation
4.4.1    Overview of Digital UNIX Partitions
4.4.2    Encapsulating UNIX Partitions
4.4.3    Preserving Block 0
4.4.4    Encapsulating UNIX Partitions Using Individual Commands
4.5    AdvFS Domain Storage Encapsulation
4.5.1    Overview of AdvFS Support on Digital UNIX
4.5.2    Encapsulating AdvFS Domains
4.5.3    Preserving Block 0
4.5.4    Encapsulating AdvFS Domains using Individual Commands
4.6    Using voldisk for Manual Encapsulations
 
5    LSM Root and Swap Disk Mirroring
5.1    Introduction to Root and Swap Mirroring
5.1.1    Root and Swap Usage Types
5.1.2    Boot Disk Availability
5.2    Encapsulating the Root and Swap Partitions
5.3    Mirroring the Boot Disk
5.3.1    Mirroring rootvol and swapvol
5.3.2    Mirroring Other Volumes on the Root Disk
5.4    Evacuating a Boot Disk
5.5    Removing Root and Swap Volume Mirrors
5.6    Removing rootvol and swapvol
 
Part 2: Disks and Volumes, Command Line Interface
 
6    Disk and Disk Group Operations
6.1    Commands Summary
6.2    Working with Disks
6.2.1    Adding a Disk
6.2.2    Displaying Disk Information
6.2.3    Renaming a Disk
6.2.4    Reserving Disks
6.2.5    Removing a Disk
6.2.6    Disabling a Disk
6.3    Working with Disk Groups
6.3.1    Specifying Disk Groups
6.3.2    Displaying Disk Group Information
6.3.3    Displaying Free Space in a Disk Group
6.3.4    Initializing a New Disk Group
6.3.5    Removing a Disk Group
6.3.6    Moving Disks and Volumes between Disk Groups
6.3.7    Moving Disk Groups Between Systems (Deporting and Importing)
6.3.8    Displaying Free Space in a Configuration Database
6.3.9    Increasing Free Space in a Configuration Database
 
7    Volume and File System Operations
7.1    Commands Summary
7.2    Displaying Volume Information
7.3    Volume Operations Using volassist
7.3.1    Creating a Volume
7.3.1.1    Creating a Concatenated Volume
7.3.1.2    Creating a Spanned Volume
7.3.1.3    Creating a Striped Volume
7.3.1.4    Creating a Volume on a Specific Disk
7.3.2    Mirroring a Volume
7.3.3    Extending a Volume
7.3.4    Shrinking a Volume
7.3.5    Reducing Backup Down Time Using volassist
7.4    Saving an LSM Configuration
7.5    Restoring an LSM configuration
7.6    Volume Operations Using Individual Commands (Bottom-Up Approach)
7.6.1    Creating a Volume with volmake
7.6.2    Initializing Volumes
7.6.3    Changing Volume Attributes
7.6.3.1    Resizing a Volume with the volume Command
7.6.3.2    Changing Volume Read Policy
7.6.4    Starting and Stopping Volumes
7.6.5    Mirroring a Volume with the volplex Command
7.6.6    Removing a Plex (Mirror)
7.6.7    Removing a Volume
7.7    Using LSM Volumes with UFS
7.7.1    Make and Mount a File System
7.7.2    Unmount a File System
7.7.3    Display Mounted File Systems
7.8    Using LSM Volumes with AdvFS
7.8.1    Creating a New AdvFS Domain
7.8.2    Adding an LSM Volume to an Existing Domain
7.9    Using LSM Volumes for Secondary Swap Space
7.10    Using LSM Volumes with Databases
7.11    Unencapsulating LSM Volumes
7.11.1    Unencapsulating UNIX Partitions
7.11.2    Unencapsulating an AdvFS Domain
 
8    Advanced Volume Operations
8.1    Commands Summary
8.2    Subdisk Operations
8.2.1    Using volsd to Perform Subdisk Operations
8.2.2    Creating Subdisks
8.2.3    Removing Subdisks
8.2.4    Displaying Subdisks
8.2.5    Associating Subdisks
8.2.6    Associating Logging Subdisks
8.2.7    Disassociating Subdisks
8.2.8    Changing Subdisk Information
8.2.9    Moving Subdisks
8.2.10    Splitting Subdisks
8.2.11    Joining Subdisks
8.3    Plex Operations
8.3.1    Using volplex to Perform Plex Operations
8.3.2    Creating Plexes
8.3.3    Backup Using a Plex
8.3.4    Associating Plexes
8.3.5    Removing Plexes
8.3.6    Listing All Plexes
8.3.7    Displaying Plexes
8.3.8    Changing Plex Attributes
8.3.9    Changing Plex Status: Detaching and Attaching Plexes
8.3.9.1    Detaching Plexes
8.3.9.2    Attaching Plexes
8.3.10    Moving Plexes
8.3.11    Copying Plexes
8.4    Individual Utility Descriptions
8.4.1    Using the voldctl Command
8.4.2    Using voledit to Remove and Modify LSM Objects
8.4.3    Using volmake to Create LSM Objects
8.4.4    Using the volmend Utility
8.4.5    Defaults File for volassist
 
Part 3: Menu Interface
 
9    Menu Interface (voldiskadm)
9.1    Starting LSM Support Operations
9.2    Disk Operations
9.2.1    Initializing a Disk
9.2.2    Displaying Disk Information
9.2.3    Adding a Disk to a Disk Group
9.2.4    Moving Volumes from a Disk
9.2.5    Removing a Disk from a Disk Group
9.2.5.1    Removing a Disk Without Replacement
9.2.5.2    Removing a Disk for Replacement
9.2.6    Replacing a Failed or Removed Disk
9.2.7    Renaming a Disk
9.2.8    Disabling a Disk
9.3    Disk Group Operations
9.3.1    Importing (Enabling) a Disk Group
9.3.2    Deporting (Disabling) a Disk Group
9.4    Volume Operations: Mirroring Volumes on a Disk
9.5    Exiting LSM Support Operations
 
Part 4: Graphical Interface
 
10    Introduction to the Visual Administrator (dxlsm)
10.1    Mouse Buttons
10.2    Icons
10.2.1    Icon Characteristics
10.2.2    Manipulating Icons
10.2.2.1    Select-Operate Operation
10.2.2.2    Drag and Drop Operations
10.3    Windows and Views
10.3.1    Root Window
10.3.2    Views
10.3.2.1    Default Views
10.3.2.2    User-created Views
10.3.2.3    View of rootdg
10.4    Pull-Down Menus
10.5    Forms
10.5.1    Fields
10.5.2    Buttons
10.5.3    Form Error Messages
10.6    Error and Warning Messages
10.7    Help Windows
 
11    Visual Administrator Menus
11.1    File Menu
11.2    Views Menu
11.3    Basic Operations Menu
11.4    Advanced Operations Menu
11.5    Analyze Menu
11.6    Projection Menu
11.6.1    Projection
11.6.2    Free Subdisks
11.7    Options Menu
11.8    Command Info Window
11.8.1    Command History
11.8.2    Output of the Highlighted Command
11.8.3    Commands Running
11.8.4    Executing Commands
11.9    Icon Menu
 
12    Using the Visual Administrator (dxlsm)
12.1    Starting the Visual Administrator
12.2    Disk Operations
12.2.1    Initializing a Disk
12.2.2    Displaying Disk Information
12.2.3    Adding a Disk to a Disk Group
12.2.4    Renaming a Disk
12.2.5    Initializing a New Disk Group
12.2.6    Deporting a Disk Group
12.2.7    Importing a Disk Group
12.2.8    Displaying Disk Group Information
12.2.9    Displaying Free Space
12.2.10    Removing a Disk
12.2.11    Replacing a Disk in Place
12.3    Volume Operations
12.3.1    Creating a Simple Volume
12.3.2    Creating a Striped Volume
12.3.3    Creating a Volume on a Specific Disk
12.3.4    Displaying Volume Information
12.3.5    Mirroring a Volume
12.3.6    Extending a Volume
12.3.7    Shrinking a Volume
12.3.8    Removing a Volume
12.3.9    Backing Up a Volume
12.4    File System Operations
12.4.1    Creating a File System
12.4.1.1    Simple Volume
12.4.1.2    Striped Volume
12.4.2    Mirroring a File System
12.4.3    Making a File System
12.4.4    Mounting a File System
12.4.5    Unmounting a File System
12.4.6    Displaying a Mounted File System
12.5    Quitting dxlsm
 
Part 5: Performance Tuning and Error Recovery
 
13    Advanced Volume Management Concepts
13.1    Plex States
13.1.1    Plex State Cycle
13.1.2    Plex Kernel State
13.1.3    Plex Layout Policy
13.1.4    Block-Change Logging
13.1.5    Persistent State Logging
13.1.6    Plex Resynchronizing Policy
13.2    Volume States
13.2.1    Volume Kernel State
13.2.2    Volume Usage Types
13.2.3    Volume Read Policy
13.2.4    Managing Available Disk Space
13.3    Implementing LSM Configuration Changes
 
14    Recovering from Errors
14.1    Protecting Your System
14.2    Monitoring LSM Events
14.3    Handling Common Problems
14.3.1    An LSM Command Fails to Execute
14.3.2    The vold Daemon Fails to Restart
14.3.3    LSM Volume I/O or Mirroring Fails to Complete
14.3.4    Creating a Volume or Adding a Disk Fails
14.3.5    Mounting a File System or Opening an LSM Volume Fails
14.4    Ensuring the Volume Configuration Daemon (vold) is Running
14.5    Ensuring the Volume Extended I/O Daemon (voliod) is Running
14.6    Problems Encapsulating the Root and Swap Partitions
14.6.1    Unencapsulating the Root Disk
14.6.2    Performing Root Maintenance
14.7    Recovering from Boot Disk Failure
14.7.1    Re-adding and Replacing Boot Disks
14.7.1.1    Re-adding A Failed Boot Disk
14.7.1.2    Replacing a Failed Boot Disk
14.7.2    Stale or Unusable Plexes on Boot Disk
14.7.3    Crash Dumps
14.8    Recovering from Disk Problems
14.8.1    Detecting Failed Disks
14.8.2    Replacing a Failed Disk
14.8.3    Replacing a Disk that is Beginning to Fail
14.8.4    Modifying the Disk Label to Start at Block 1 Instead of Block 16
14.9    Recovering Volumes
14.9.1    Listing Unstartable Volumes
14.9.2    Recovering a Disabled Volume
14.10    Problems with volrestore
14.10.1    Conflicts While Restoring the Configuration
14.10.2    Failures in Restoring the Configuration
14.11    Reinstallation Recovery
14.11.1    General Recovery Information
14.11.2    Overview of Reinstallation and Reconfiguration Procedures
14.11.3    Preparing the System for Reinstallation
14.11.4    Reinstalling the Operating System
14.11.5    Recovering the LSM Configuration
14.11.6    Configuration Cleanup
14.11.6.1    Rootability Cleanup
14.11.6.2    LSM Volumes for /usr and /var
14.11.6.3    Volume Cleanup
14.11.6.4    Disk Cleanup
14.11.6.5    Rootability Reconfiguration
14.11.6.6    Final Reconfiguration
 
15    LSM Performance Management
15.1    Performance Strategies
15.1.1    Improving Mirrored Disk Performance
15.1.1.1    Configuring Mirrored Disks for Performance
15.1.1.2    Using Mirroring to Improve System Performance
15.1.1.3    Improving Mirrored-Volume Recovery with Block-Change Logging
15.1.2    Improving Striped Disk Performance
15.1.2.1    Configuring Striped Disks for Performance
15.1.2.2    Improving Access Bandwidth with Striped Plexes
15.1.2.3    Striped Plex Configuration Changes
15.1.2.4    Improving Performance Under AdvFS
15.2    Monitoring LSM Performance
15.2.1    Statistics Recorded by LSM
15.2.2    Gathering Performance Data
15.2.2.1    Obtaining I/O Statistics
15.2.2.2    Tracing I/O Operations
15.2.3    Using Performance Data
15.2.3.1    Using I/O Statistics
15.2.3.2    Using I/O Tracing
 
Appendixes: Visual Administrator Reference, Error Messages, and Examples
 
A    Visual Administrator Reference
A.1    Introduction and Setup
A.1.1    Views
A.1.2    Views Forms
A.1.3    Options
A.1.3.1    Options Menu
A.1.3.2    Options Forms
A.1.4    Command Info Window
A.1.5    Icons
A.1.6    Help
A.1.6.1    Help from Menus
A.1.6.2    Help from Forms
A.1.6.3    Navigating Help Windows
A.1.6.4    Help Index
A.1.7    Exiting the Visual Administrator and its Windows
A.2    File System Operations
A.2.1    File System Menus
A.2.2    File System Forms
A.2.2.1    Basic-Ops Forms
A.2.2.2    File Systems Properties Form
A.3    Volume Operations
A.3.1    Volume Menus
A.3.1.1    Basic-Ops Menu
A.3.1.2    Advanced-Ops Menu
A.3.2    Volume Forms
A.3.2.1    Basic-Ops Forms
A.3.2.2    Advanced-Ops Forms
A.3.3    Volume Properties Form
A.4    Plex Operations
A.4.1    Plex Menus
A.4.2    Plex Forms
A.4.3    Plex Properties Forms
A.5    Subdisk Operations
A.5.1    Subdisk Menus
A.5.2    Subdisk Forms
A.5.3    Subdisk Properties Forms
A.6    Disk Operations
A.6.1    Disk Menus
A.6.1.1    Basic-Ops Menu
A.6.1.2    Advanced-Ops Menu
A.6.2    Disk Forms
A.6.3    Basic-Ops Forms
A.6.3.1    Advanced-Ops Forms
A.6.4    Disk Properties Forms
A.7    Disk Group Operations
A.7.1    Disk Group Menus
A.7.2    Disk Group Forms
A.8    Projection Analysis
A.8.1    Projection
A.8.2    Projection Menus
A.8.3    Projection Relationships
A.9    Analysis
A.9.1    Analysis Menus
A.9.2    Analysis Forms
A.9.3    Analysis Table
 
B    Logical Storage Manager Error Messages
B.1    Volume Daemon Error Messages
B.2    Kernel Error Messages
 
C    LSM Command Examples
C.1    Setting Up LSM for the First Time
C.2    Adding New Disks to LSM (Without Existing Data)
C.3    Adding /usr (UFS) Under LSM
C.4    Adding Existing Data Under LSM
C.5    Creating LSM Volumes
C.6    Mirroring LSM Volumes
C.7    Creating Striped LSM Volumes
C.8    Setting Attributes for a Volume
C.9    Moving Subdisks From a Disk
C.10    Replacing a Disk
C.10.1    Replacing a Disk That Has a Different Unit Number
C.10.2    Replacing with a Same Unit Number
C.11    Removing Volumes
C.12    Removing a Disk from LSM
C.13    Moving LSM Disks Between Disk Groups
C.14    Initializing LSM and Encapsulating the Boot Disk
C.15    Encapsulating the Root and Swap Partitions
C.16    Using volencap for a Complex Configuration
C.17    Mirroring the Root Disk
C.18    Deleting Queued Encapsulation Requests
C.19    Unencapsulating the System Boot Disk
C.20    Unencapsulating the /usr and /var File Systems
C.21    Creating a Back Up Copy of an LSM Configuration
C.22    Listing a Saved LSM Configuration
C.23    Restoring an LSM Configuration
C.24    Re-creating a Volume in a Disk Group
C.25    Restoring the rootdg Disk Group Configuration
C.26    Handling volrestore Failures
C.26.1    Overriding a volrestore Failure
C.26.2    Resolving Conflicts that Cause volrestore Failure
C.26.3    Editing an LSM Configuration After volrestore Failure
C.27    Replicating an LSM Configuration
C.28    Deinstalling LSM
C.29    Using ioctl Requests to Determine Volume Size
 
Glossary
 
Examples
5-1    Mirroring the Boot Disk
 
Figures
1-1    Disk Storage Management with LSM
1-2    LSM Software Architecture
1-3    LSM Object Relationships
1-4    Types of LSM Disks
1-5    Top-Down Administration with LSM
1-6    Bottom-Up Administration with LSM
1-7    I/O Activity to LSM Volumes
2-1    Disk Concatenation Using LSM
2-2    Striping Disks with LSM
2-3    Mirroring Using LSM
2-4    Same Physical Disk for Multiple Logical Volumes
2-5    LSM Objects in Combination
3-1    Configuring Disks into an LSM Disk Group
9-1    LSM Support Operations Main Menu
10-1    Icons That Represent LSM Objects
10-2    Visual Administrator Root Window
10-3    Visual Administrator Root Window for RAID Access
10-4    View of rootdg
10-5    Title and Menu Bars
10-6    Volume Properties Form
10-7    Warning Box for dxlsm
10-8    Help Window
11-1    Analysis
11-2    Projection
11-3    Command Info Window
12-1    View of Disks
12-2    Simple Volume/FS Create Form
12-3    Striped Volume/FS Create Form
12-4    Volume Properties Form
12-5    Volume Resize Form
12-6    Volume and Snapshot
12-7    Simple Volume/FS Create Form
12-8    Striped Volume/FS Create Form
15-1    Improving System Performance Using Mirroring and Striping
15-2    Use of Striping for Optimal Data Access
 
Tables
1-1    Disk Storage Management With and Without LSM
1-2    LSM Features and Benefits
1-3    Devices Supported by the Volume Device Driver
1-4    LSM Objects
1-5    LSM Administration Interfaces
1-6    Top-Down LSM Commands
1-7    Bottom-Up LSM Commands
2-1    LSM Configuration Considerations
3-1    Default Values for LSM Configurations
3-2    Settings for nconfig and nlog
3-3    Private Region Sizes
3-4    Configuration Limits
6-1    Disk and Disk Group Commands
7-1    Volume Commands
7-2    Setting Volume Attributes
8-1    Subdisk and Plex Commands
8-2    The putil and util Fields
9-1    Selections on the Main Menu
10-1    Default Mouse Buttons
10-2    Visual Administrator Icon Characteristics
10-3    Drag and Drop Operations
11-1    Projection Behavior
13-1    LSM Plex States
13-2    How LSM Handles Changes in Plex States
13-3    Recovering from Plex Failures
13-4    LSM Volume States
13-5    LSM Volume Read Policies
15-1    Strategies for Improved Performance
15-2    LSM Read Policies
15-3    LSM Performance Priorities
A-1    Projection Table
A-2    Analysis Table
 
Index