B.2.13 How to Add Drives to a Diskset

When a drive is added to a diskset, Solstice DiskSuite repartitions it as follows so that the metadevice state database for the diskset can be placed on the drive.

• A small portion of each drive is reserved in Slice 7 for use by Solstice DiskSuite. The remainder of the space on each drive is placed into Slice 0.

• Drives are repartitioned when they are added to the diskset only if Slice 7 is not set up correctly.

• Any existing data on the disks is lost by the repartitioning.

• If Slice 7 starts at Cylinder 0, and the disk is large enough to contain a state database replica, the disk is not repartitioned.

After adding a drive to a diskset, you may repartition it as necessary, with the exception that Slice 7 is not altered in any way. Refer to "B.2.15 How to Repartition Drives in a Diskset", and to Chapter 2, Planning the Configuration, for recommendations on how to set up your multihost disk partitions.

If you repartition a disk manually, create a Partition 7 starting at Cylinder 0 that is large enough to hold a state database replica (approximately 2 Mbytes). The -Flag field in Slice 7 must have -V_UNMT (unmountable) set and must not be set to read-only. Slice 7 must not overlap with any other slice on the disk. Do this to prevent the metaset(1M) command from repartitioning the disk.

Use this procedure to add drives to a diskset.

1. Make sure you have prepared the configuration to use the DID driver, and that the disksets have been created.

   If necessary, refer to "B.2.4 How to Prepare the Configuration to Use the DID Driver" and "B.2.12 How to Create a Diskset".

2. As root, use the metaset(1M) command to add the drives to the diskset.

   Use the DID driver name for the disk drives rather than the character device name. For example:

   phys-hahost1# metaset -s hahost1 -a /dev/did/dsk/d1 /dev/did/dsk/d2 phys-hahost1# metaset -s hahost2 -a /dev/did/dsk/d3 /dev/did/dsk/d4

3. Use the metaset(1M) command to verify the status of the disksets and drives.

   phys-hahost1# metaset -s hahost1 phys-hahost1# metaset -s hahost2

4. (Optional) Refer to "B.2.14 Planning and Layout of Disks"," to optimize multihost disk slices.