Administering the Pseudo-Device Major Number

To avoid "Stale File handle" errors on the client on NFS failovers, the vxio driver must have identical pseudo-device major numbers on all cluster nodes. This number can be found in the /etc/name_to_major file after you complete the installation. Use the following procedures to verify and change the pseudo-device major numbers.

How to Verify the Pseudo-Device Major Number (VxVM)

1. Verify the pseudo-device major number on all nodes.

   For example, enter the following:

   # grep vxio /etc/name_to_major vxio 45

2. If the pseudo-device number is not the same on all nodes, stop all activity on the system and edit the /etc/name_to_major file to make the number identical on all cluster nodes.

   Be sure that the number is unique in the /etc/name_to_major file for each node. A quick way to do this is to find, by visual inspection, the maximum number assigned on each node in the /etc/name_to_major file, compute the maximum of these numbers, add one, then assign the sum to the vxio driver.

3. Reboot the system immediately after the number is changed.

4. (Optional) If the system reports disk group errors and the cluster will not start, you might need to perform these steps.

   1. Use the vxedit(1M) command to change the "failing" field to "off" for affected subdisks. Refer to the vxedit(1M) man page for more information.

   2. Make sure all volumes are enabled and active.

How to Change the Pseudo-Device Major Number (VxVM)

1. Unencapsulate the root disk using the VxVM upgrade_start script.

   Find the script in the /Tools/scripts directory on your VxVM media. Run the script from only one node. In this example, CDROM_path is the path to the scripts on the VxVM media.

   phys-hahost1# CDROM_path/upgrade_start

2. Reboot the node.

3. Edit the /etc/name_to_major file and remove the appropriate entry, for example, /dev/vx/{dsk,rdsk,dmp,rdmp}.

4. Reboot the node.

5. Run the following command:

   phys-hahost1# vxconfigd -k -r reset

6. Re-encapsulate the root disk using the VxVM upgrade_finish script.

   Find the path to the script on your VxVM media. Run the script from only one node.

   phys-hahost1# CDROM_path/upgrade_finish

7. Reboot the node.