How to Decide Which Method to Use for Creating Initial State Database Replicas

Use one of the following three methods to create your initial state database replicas. The methods depend on how the slices on your system are configured. If your system has no available slices, or if you cannot repartition existing slices, you will not be able to use DiskSuite software.

1. Starting from scratch: If you have a new system, the easiest way to create state database replicas is to put them on slices that will become part of a simple metadevice (stripe/concatenation), RAID5 metadevice, or trans metadevice. A state database replica cannot be part of root (/), swap, /usr, an existing file system, or a slice containing data.

   If you have a new system, refer to "How to Create Initial State Database Replicas From Scratch (DiskSuite Tool)".

   ---

   Note -

   When you combine state database replicas and metadevices on the same slice, DiskSuite detects the state database replica and adjusts the starting address and size of the metadevice accordingly. The advantage to this method is that you don't have to do anything extra, such as repartitioning a slice, and you don't have to worry about wasting space on a slice by having to dedicate it to just the state database replica.

   ---

2. Starting with existing unused slices: If your existing configuration has unused dedicated slices, put the state database replicas on those slices.

   You may find, however, that the state database replicas are relatively small (517 Kbytes, or 1034 sectors), so you don`t want to dedicate a large slice just to hold the small state database replica. You may have to make some slices smaller than they currently are.

   If you have existing, unused slices, refer to "How to Create Initial State Database Replicas on Existing Unused Slices (DiskSuite Tool)".

3. Starting with no unused slices: If your existing configuration has no available slices, you need to "steal" space from another slice, such as swap, for the state database replicas. If this is the case, refer to "How to Create State Database Replicas by Allocating Space From the swap Partition".

   ---

   Caution -

   Never try to put a state database replica on a slice that is in use by a file system or database; this will destroy any existing data on that slice.

   ---