How to Create a Volume Configuration File Using the metassist Command

Before You Begin

Check Prerequisites for Top-Down Volume Creation.

Steps

1. Identify the available storage on which to create the volume.

   If you do not explicitly specify storage, Solaris Volume Manager identifies unused storage on the system and uses it, as appropriate. If you choose to specify storage, either broadly (for example, all storage on controller 1) or specifically (for example, use c1t4d2, but do not use c1t4d1), Solaris Volume Manager uses the storage you specify.

2. Use the metassist command and the appropriate options for your task.

   Use the -d option to specify that the volume should not actually be created. Instead, an XML-based volume configuration file is sent to standard output:

   # metassist create -s diskset-name -f -r redundancy -a device1, device2... \ -S size -v verbosity [-d]

   create

   Is the subcommand used to create volumes.

   -s diskset-name

   Specifies the name of the disk set to use for the volume.

   -f

   Specifies that the volume be associated with a hot spare.

   -r redundancy

   Specifies the level of redundancy (number of data copies) to create.

   -a device1, device2...

   Specifies the devices that are available for creating the volume.

   -S size

   Specifies the size of the volume to create in KB, MB, GB, or TB, for kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and terabytes, respectively.

   -v verbosity

   Specifies how verbose the output should be. Allowable values range from 0 (nearly silent output) to 2 (significant output). The default level is 1 (moderate output).

   -d

   Specifies that the volume should not actually be created.

   ---

   Note –

   The XML-based volume configuration file required by the -d argument is sent to standard output. However, the rest of the output from the metassist command goes to standard error. You can redirect the output streams as you choose.

   ---

   See the following examples and the metassist(1M) man page for more information.

Example 23–9 Creating a Volume Configuration File Using the metassist Command

This example shows how to use the metassist command to create a two-way mirror, 10 Mbytes in size, with a hot spare to provide additional fault tolerance. The -f option specifies fault tolerance. The final argument (-d) specifies that the volume should not actually be created. Rather, a volume configuration file that could eventually be used to create the specified configuration should be sent to standard output.

# metassist create -s myset -f -r 2 -S 10mb -d


.(output truncated)
.
.
Volume request completed successfully.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE volume-config SYSTEM "/usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/volume-config.dtd">
 <volume-config>
<diskset name="myset"/>
<disk name="c1t3d0"/>
<disk name="c1t6d0"/>
<disk name="c1t4d0"/>
<slice name="c1t3d0s7" sizeinblocks="0"/>
<slice name="c1t3d0s0" sizeinblocks="17649765" startsector="10773"/>
<slice name="c1t6d0s7" sizeinblocks="0"/>
<slice name="c1t6d0s0" sizeinblocks="17649765" startsector="10773"/>
<slice name="c1t4d0s7" sizeinblocks="0"/>
<slice name="c1t4d0s0" sizeinblocks="17649765" startsector="10773"/>
<hsp name="hsp000">
<slice name="c1t3d0s1" sizeinblocks="21546" startsector="17660538"/>
</hsp>
<mirror name="d0" read="ROUNDROBIN" write="PARALLEL" passnum="1">
<concat name="d2">
<slice name="c1t4d0s1" sizeinblocks="21546" startsector="17660538"/>
<hsp name="hsp000"/>
</concat>
<concat name="d1>
<slice name="c1t6d0s1"sizeinblocks="21546" startsector="17660538"/>
<hsp name="hsp000"/>
</concat>
</mirror>
</volume-config>
# 

Example 23–10 Saving a Volume Configuration File Using the metassist Command

This example shows how to use the metassist command to create a two-way mirror, 10 Mbytes in size, with a hot spare to provide additional fault tolerance. The -f option specifies fault tolerance. The final argument (-d) specifies that the volume should not actually be created. Rather, a volume configuration file that could eventually be used to create the specified configuration should be sent to standard output. The end of the command redirects standard output to create the /tmp/metassist-volume-config.xml volume configuration file that can later be used to create the specified volume.

# metassist create -s myset -f -r 2 -S 10mb -d >  \
/tmp/metassist-volume-config.xml