RAID Volume Name Requirements and Guidelines for Custom JumpStart and Solaris Live Upgrade

Observe the following rules when assigning names for volumes.

• Use a naming method that maps the slice number and disk number to volume numbers.

• Volume names must begin with the letter d followed by a number, for example, d0.

• Solaris Volume Manager has 128 default volume names from 0–127. The following list shows some example volume names.

  • Device /dev/md/dsk/d0 – block volume d0

  • Device /dev/md/dsk/d1 – block volume d1

• Use ranges for each particular type of volume. For example, assign numbers 0–20 for RAID-1 volumes, and 21–40 for RAID-0 volumes.

RAID Volume Naming Conventions for Solaris Live Upgrade

When you use the Solaris Live Upgrade to create RAID-1 volumes (mirrors) and RAID-0 volumes (submirrors), you can enable the software to detect and assign volume names, or you can assign the names. If you enable the software to detect the names, the software assigns the first mirror or submirror name that is available. If you assign mirror names, assign names ending in zero so that the installation can use the names ending in 1 and 2 for submirrors. If you assign submirror names, assign names ending in 1 or 2. If you assign numbers incorrectly, the mirror might not be created. For example, if you specify a mirror name with a number that ends in 1 or 2 (d1 or d2), Solaris Live Upgrade fails to create the mirror if the mirror name duplicates a submirror's name.

In previous releases, an abbreviated volume name could be entered. Starting with the Solaris 10 10/08 release, only the full volume name can be entered. For example, only the full volume name, such as /dev/md/dsk/d10, can be used to specify a mirror.

Example 10–1 Solaris Live Upgrade: Enable the Software to Detect and Name the Mirror and Submirror

In this example, Solaris Live Upgrade assigns the volume names. The RAID-1 volumes d0 and d1 are the only volumes in use. For the mirror d10, Solaris Live Upgrade chooses d2 for the submirror for the device c0t0d0s0 and d3 for the submirror for the device c1t0d0s0.

lucreate -n newbe -m /:/dev/md/dsk/d10:mirror,ufs -m /:/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0:attach
-m /:/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0:attach

Example 10–2 Solaris Live Upgrade: Assign Mirror and Submirror Names

In this example, the volume names are assigned in the command. For the mirror d10, d11 is the name for the submirror for the device c0t0d0s0 and d12 is the name for the submirror for the device c1t0d0s0.

lucreate -n newbe -m /:/dev/md/dsk/d10:mirror,ufs -m /:/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0,/dev/md/dsk/d11:attach
-m /:/dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0,/dev/md/dsk/d12:attach

For detailed information about Solaris Volume Manager naming requirements, see Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide.

RAID-Volume Naming Conventions for Custom JumpStart

When you use the custom JumpStart installation method to create RAID-1 volumes (mirrors) and RAID-0 volumes (submirrors), you can enable the software to detect and assign volume names to mirrors, or you can assign the names in the profile.

• If you enable the software to detect the names, the software assigns the first volume number that is available.

• If you assign names in the profile, assign mirror names ending in zero so that the installation can use the names ending in 1 and 2 for submirrors.

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  Note –

  If you assign numbers incorrectly, the mirror might not be created. For example, if you specify a mirror name with a number that ends in 1 or 2 (d1 or d2), JumpStart fails to create the mirror if the mirror name duplicates a submirror's name.

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You can abbreviate the names of physical disk slices and Solaris Volume Manager volumes. The abbreviation is the shortest name that uniquely identifies a device. Examples follow.

• A Solaris Volume Manager volume can be identified by its dnum designation, so that, for example, /dev/md/dsk/d10 becomes simply d10.

• If a system has a single controller and multiple disks, you might use t0d0s0, but with multiple controllers use c0t0d0s0.

Example 10–3 Enable the Software to Detect the Mirror and Submirror Names

In the following profile example, the mirror is assigned the first volume numbers that are available. If the next available mirror ending in zero is d10, then the names d11 and d12 are assigned to the submirrors.

filesys                 mirror c0t0d0s1  / 

Example 10–4 Assigning Mirror and Submirror Names

In the following profile example, the mirror number is assigned in the profile as d30. The submirror names are assigned by the software, based on the mirror number and the first available submirrors. The submirrors are named d31 and d32.

filesys                 mirror:d30 c0t1d0s0 c0t0d0s0  /

For detailed information about Solaris Volume Manager naming requirements, see Solaris Volume Manager Administration Guide.