This section describes using volume managers in an Oracle VM Server for SPARC environment.
Any ZFS, Solaris Volume Manager, or Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM) volume can be exported from a service domain to a guest domain as a virtual disk. A volume can be exported either as a single-slice disk (if the slice option is specified with the ldm add-vdsdev command) or as a full disk.
The following examples show how to export a volume as a single-slice disk.
The virtual disk in the guest domain (for example, /dev/dsk/c0d2s0) is directly mapped to the associated volume (for example, /dev/md/dsk/d0), and data stored onto the virtual disk from the guest domain are directly stored onto the associated volume with no extra metadata. Data stored on the virtual disk from the guest domain can therefore also be directly accessed from the service domain through the associated volume.
Examples
If the Solaris Volume Manager volume d0 is exported from the primary domain to domain1, then the configuration of domain1 requires some extra steps.
primary# metainit d0 3 1 c2t70d0s6 1 c2t80d0s6 1 c2t90d0s6 primary# ldm add-vdsdev options=slice /dev/md/dsk/d0 vol3@primary-vds0 primary# ldm add-vdisk vdisk3 vol3@primary-vds0 domain1
After domain1 has been bound and started, the exported volume appears as /dev/dsk/c0d2s0, for example, and you can use it.
domain1# newfs /dev/rdsk/c0d2s0 domain1# mount /dev/dsk/c0d2s0 /mnt domain1# echo test-domain1 > /mnt/file
After domain1 has been stopped and unbound, data stored on the virtual disk from domain1 can be directly accessed from the primary domain through Solaris Volume Manager volume d0.
primary# mount /dev/md/dsk/d0 /mnt primary# cat /mnt/file test-domain1
When a RAID or mirror Solaris Volume Manager volume is used as a virtual disk by another domain, then it has to be exported without setting the exclusive (excl) option. Otherwise, if there is a failure on one of the components of the Solaris Volume Manager volume, then the recovery of the Solaris Volume Manager volume using the metareplace command or using a hot spare does not start. The metastat command sees the volume as resynchronizing, but the resynchronization does not progress.
For example, /dev/md/dsk/d0 is a RAID Solaris Volume Manager volume exported as a virtual disk with the excl option to another domain, and d0 is configured with some hot-spare devices. If a component of d0 fails, Solaris Volume Manager replaces the failing component with a hot spare and resynchronizes the Solaris Volume Manager volume. However, the resynchronization does not start. The volume is reported as resynchronizing, but the resynchronization does not progress.
primary# metastat d0 d0: RAID State: Resyncing Hot spare pool: hsp000 Interlace: 32 blocks Size: 20097600 blocks (9.6 GB) Original device: Size: 20100992 blocks (9.6 GB) Device Start Block Dbase State Reloc c2t2d0s1 330 No Okay Yes c4t12d0s1 330 No Okay Yes /dev/dsk/c10t600C0FF0000000000015153295A4B100d0s1 330 No Resyncing Yes
In such a situation, the domain using the Solaris Volume Manager volume as a virtual disk has to be stopped and unbound to complete the resynchronization. Then the Solaris Volume Manager volume can be resynchronized using the metasync command.
# metasync d0
When the VxVM is installed on your system and Veritas Dynamic Multipathing (DMP) is enabled on a physical disk or partition you want to export as virtual disk, then you have to export that disk or partition without setting the (non-default) excl option. Otherwise, you receive an error in /var/adm/messages while binding a domain that uses such a disk.
vd_setup_vd(): ldi_open_by_name(/dev/dsk/c4t12d0s2) = errno 16 vds_add_vd(): Failed to add vdisk ID 0
You can check whether Veritas DMP is enabled by checking the multipathing information in the vxdisk list output. For example:
# vxdisk list Disk_3 Device: Disk_3 devicetag: Disk_3 type: auto info: format=none flags: online ready private autoconfig invalid pubpaths: block=/dev/vx/dmp/Disk_3s2 char=/dev/vx/rdmp/Disk_3s2 guid: - udid: SEAGATE%5FST336753LSUN36G%5FDISKS%5F3032333948303144304E0000 site: - Multipathing information: numpaths: 1 c4t12d0s2 state=enabled
Alternatively, if Veritas DMP is enabled on a disk or a slice that you want to export as a virtual disk with the excl option set, then you can disable DMP using the vxdmpadm command. For example:
# vxdmpadm -f disable path=/dev/dsk/c4t12d0s2
This section describes using volume managers with virtual disks.
Any virtual disk can be used with ZFS. A ZFS storage pool (zpool) can be imported in any domain that sees all the storage devices that are part of this zpool, regardless of whether the domain sees all these devices as virtual devices or real devices.
Any virtual disk can be used in the Solaris Volume Manager local disk set. For example, a virtual disk can be used for storing the Solaris Volume Manager metadevice state database, metadb, of the local disk set or for creating Solaris Volume Manager volumes in the local disk set.
Any virtual disk whose back end is a SCSI disk can be used in a Solaris Volume Manager shared disk set, metaset. Virtual disks whose back ends are not SCSI disks cannot be added into a Solaris Volume Manager share disk set. Trying to add a virtual disk whose back end is not a SCSI disk into a Solaris Volume Manager shared disk set fails with an error similar to the following.
# metaset -s test -a c2d2 metaset: domain1: test: failed to reserve any drives
For VxVM support in guest domains, refer to the VxVM documentation from Symantec.