How to Create and Register a Shared Disk Group

Use this procedure to create your VxVM disk groups and volumes.

Run this procedure from a node that is physically connected to the disks that make up the disk group being added.

After the disk group has been registered with the cluster as a disk device group, you should never import or deport VxVM disk groups by using VxVM commands. The Sun Cluster software can handle all cases where disk groups need to be imported or deported. Refer to Sun Cluster 3.0 System Administration Guide for procedures on managing Sun Cluster disk device groups.

1. Have available the following information.

   • Mappings of your storage disk drives. Refer to the Sun Cluster 3.0 Hardware Guide chapter on performing an initial installation for your storage device.

   • The following completed configuration planning worksheets from Sun Cluster 3.0 Release Notes.

     • "Local File System Layout Worksheet"

     • "Disk Device Group Configurations Worksheet"

     • "Volume Manager Configurations Worksheet"

     See Chapter 1, Planning the Sun Cluster Configuration for planning guidelines.

2. Become superuser on the node that will have ownership of the disk group.

3. Create the VxVM disk group and volume.

   Use your preferred method to create the disk group and volume.

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   Note -

   You can use Dirty Region Logging (DRL) to decrease volume recovery time in the event of a node failure. However, using DRL might decrease I/O throughput.

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   See the VERITAS Volume Manager documentation for the procedures to complete this step.

4. Register the disk group as a Sun Cluster disk device group.

   1. Start the scsetup(1M) utility.

      # scsetup

   2. To work with disk device groups, type 3 (Device groups).

   3. To register a disk device group, type 1 (Register a VxVM disk group).

      Follow the instructions and type the VxVM disk device group to be registered as a Sun Cluster disk device group.

      If you encounter the following error while attempting to register the disk device group, use the procedure "How to Assign a New Minor Number to a Disk Device Group". This procedure enables you to assign a new minor number that does not conflict with a minor number used by existing disk device groups.

      scconf: Failed to add device group - in use

   4. When finished, type q (Quit) to leave the scsetup utility.

5. Verify that the disk device group has been registered.

   Look for the disk device information for the new disk displayed by the following command.

   # scconf -pv | egrep disk-device-group

If you change any configuration information for a VxVM disk group or volume, re-register the Sun Cluster disk device group. Re-registering the disk device group ensures that the global namespace is in the correct state. Refer to Sun Cluster 3.0 System Administration Guide for procedures for re-registering a disk device group.

Where to Go From Here

To verify your VxVM disk groups and volumes, go to "How to Verify the Disk Groups".