Solstice DiskSuite 4.2.1 User's Guide

Working With Disksets

This section provides tips for configuring disksets.

Note -

Currently, DiskSuite only supports disksets on SPARCstorage Array disks.

How to Configure Disk Drive Device Names for a Diskset (Command Line)

Configuring the hardware for use in diskset configuration can be problematic. The disk drives must be symmetric; that is, the shared drives must have the same device number, which implies the same device name and number (controller/target/drive). This task explains how to configure this setup.

Note -

On a set of new machines, where the hardware was pre-configured, the desired symmetry occurs by default. You do not need to perform this task.

You must configure device names done before creating any metadevices in the diskset. Any other drives that are on non built-in controllers will also be affected.

Make sure that the disk controllers are located in slots that will be found in the same order.

This is best achieved by having the controllers for a given SPARCstorage Array in the same slots on identical processor models. If this is not possible, then you must make sure that the order of the slots will probe out identically on both processors. Because the probing of the Sbus is conducted in an orderly fashion, this can be achieved, but not easily. It is also recommended that slots be used in order from lowest to highest numbered slot leaving all the unused slots at the high end.

Note -
The configuration system numbers controllers of the same type in sequence. In this case, "disk drive" is the type, so all controllers for disk drives will affect the order that devices are found. To this end, all the devices that are to be shared should probably be placed before any other disk controllers in the system to make sure that they will be found and accounted for in the correct order.

Once this has been done, you can do one of two things: a complete install on both host machines, or continue with this task. The latter is considerably faster.

One at a time, become root on each host and perform the following:

# rm /etc/path_to_inst*
# reboot -- '-rav'
reboot: rebooted by root
syncing file systems... [1] done
rebooting...
Resetting ...
 
Rebooting with command: -rav
Boot device: /iommu/sbus/espdma@f,400000/esp@f,800000/sd@3,0  
File and args: -rav
Enter filename [kernel/unix]:
Size: 253976+126566+39566 Bytes
Enter default directory for modules [/kernel /usr/kernel]:
SunOS Release 5.4 Generic [UNIX(R) System V Release 4.0]
Copyright (c) 1983-1995, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Name of system file [etc/system]:
The /etc/path_to_inst on your system does not exist or is empty.
Do you want to rebuild this file [n]? y
Using default device instance data
root filesystem type [ufs]:
Enter physical name of root device
[/iommu@f,e0000000/sbus@f,e0001000/espdma@f,400000/esp@f,800000
/sd@3,0:a]:
...
The system is ready.
 
console login: root
Password:<root-password>
 
# /usr/bin/rm -r /dev/*dsk/*
# /usr/sbin/disks
# ^D

Given that the hardware is set up correctly, this will ensure that the software reflects that setup. Because the /etc/path_to_inst file is used to keep things from sliding, which will occur generally when controllers are moved around, it is removed to make sure that controllers slide to the correct location. The '-rav' option with reboot makes sure that the kernel will interact with the user during boot and do a reconfigure reboot. The removal of /dev/*dsk/* is used to make sure that the sym-links get created correctly when the /usr/sbin/disks program is run.

Note -

Because the SPARCstorage Array controller contains a unique World Wide Name, which identifies it to Solaris, special procedures apply for SPARCstorage Array controller replacement. Contact your service provider for assistance.

How to Change State Database Replica Size in a Diskset (Command Line)

If you want to change the size of your state database replicas in a diskset, the basic steps are adding two disks to the diskset, deleting one of the new disk's state database replicas, then deleting the other disk from the diskset. You then add the deleted disk back to the diskset, along with any other disks you want added to the diskset. The state database replicas will automatically resize themselves to the new size.

Example -- Changing State Database Replica Size in a Diskset

# metadb -s rimtic -d c1t0d0s7
# metadb -s rimtic -a -l 2068 c1t0d0s7
# metaset -s rimtic -d c1t1d0
# metaset -s rimtic -a c1t1d0
# metadb -s rimtic

This example assumes you have already added two disks to the diskset, rimtic, and that there is no data on the rest of the disk to which the replica will be added. The new size of the state database replica is 2068 blocks, as specified by the -l 2068 option. The metadb command confirms the new size of the state database replicas.