How to Replace a Disk Drive Without Oracle Real Application Clusters

You need to replace a disk drive if the disk drive fails or when you want to upgrade to a higher-quality or to a larger disk.

For conceptual information about quorum, quorum devices, global devices, and device IDs, see the Sun Cluster concepts documentation.

Before You Begin

This procedure relies on the following prerequisites and assumptions.

• Your cluster is operational.

• Your system is not running Oracle Real Application Clusters.

  If your system is running Oracle Real Application Clusters, see How to Replace a Disk Drive With Oracle Real Application Clusters.

• (Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager Only) If the disk drive failure prevents Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager from reading the disk label, you have a backup of the disk-partitioning information.

• Your nodes are not configured with dynamic reconfiguration functionality.

  If your nodes are configured for dynamic reconfiguration, see the Sun Cluster system administration documentation, and skip steps that instruct you to shut down the node.

Steps

1. Identify the failed disk drive.

   # scdidadm -o diskid -l cNtXdY

2. Is the disk drive that you want to remove a quorum device?

   # scstat -q

   • If no, proceed to the next step.

   • If yes, add a new quorum device on a different storage device. Remove the old quorum device.

     For procedures about how to add and remove quorum devices, see the Sun Cluster system administration documentation.

3. If possible, back up the metadevice or volume.

   For more information, see your Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager or VERITAS Volume Manager documentation.

4. (Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager Only) Does your disk drive failure prevent Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager from reading the disk label?

   • If yes, use the disk-partitioning information that you saved. You saved this disk-partitioning information when you performed one of the following tasks.

     • Installed your storage array in an initial cluster as outlined in Step 10 of SPARC: How to Install a Storage Array in a New SPARC Based Cluster

     • Added the storage array to an operational cluster.

   • If no, save the disk-partitioning information now if you have not already done so. Use this information when you partition the new disk drive.

   # prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/cNtXdYsZ > filename

   ---

   Caution –

   Do not save disk-partitioning information under /tmp because you will lose this file when you reboot. Instead, save this file under /usr/tmp.

   ---

5. Replace the failed disk.

   1. Determine which node owns the device group.

      # scstat -D

   2. If you are using VERITAS Volume Manager, remove the disk drives from the VERITAS Volume Manager control on a node that does not have ownership of the device group.

      # vxdisk offline cNtXdY # vxdisk rm cNtXdY

   3. On a node that does not have ownership of the device group, suspend activity on the SCSI bus.

      # cfgadm -x replace_device cX::disk/cXtYdZ

      When prompted, type y to suspend activity on the SCSI bus.

   4. After SCSI bus activity stops, replace the disk and type y at the prompt.

      After replacing the disk, warning messages might be displayed. Ignore these messages.

   5. Switch the primary for the device group.

      # scswitch -z -D disk-device-group -h node

   6. If you are using VERITAS Volume Manager, remove the disk drives from the VERITAS Volume Manager control on a node that does not have ownership of the device group.

      # vxdisk offline cNtXdY # vxdisk rm cNtXdY

   7. Suspend activity on the device group's original primary.

      # cfgadm -x replace_device cX::disk/cXtYdZ

      When prompted, type y to suspend activity on the SCSI bus.

   8. When prompted to proceed with the disk replacement, type y to proceed.

      Warning messages might be displayed. Ignore these messages.

6. On all nodes that are attached to the storage device, run the devfsadm(1M) command to probe all devices and to write the new disk drive to the /dev/rdsk directory.

   # devfsadm

   Depending on the number of devices that are connected to the node, the devfsadm command can require at least five minutes to complete.

7. Label the new disk drive by using the format command.

8. (Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager Only) From any node that is connected to the storage device, partition the new disk drive by using the partitioning you saved when you installed or added the storage array.

   # fmthard -s filename /dev/rdsk/cNtXdYsZ

9. From all nodes that are connected to the disk drive, update the DID database and driver.

   # scdidadm -R deviceID

   ---

   Note –

   After running scdidadm —R on the first node, each subsequent node that you run the command on might display a warning. Ignore this warning.

   ---

10. From any node, confirm that the failed disk drive has been replaced by comparing the new physical DID to the physical DID that was identified at the beginning of this procedure.

    If the new physical DID is different, you successfully replaced the failed disk drive with a new disk drive.

    # scdidadm -o diskid -l cNtXdY

11. Perform volume management administration to add the disk drive back to its diskset or disk group.

    For more information, see your Solstice DiskSuite/Solaris Volume Manager or VERITAS Volume Manager documentation.

12. If you want this new disk drive to be a quorum device, add the quorum device.

    For procedures about how to add and remove quorum devices, see the Sun Cluster system administration documentation.