Veritas™ Volume Manager Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (5.1 SP1)
Platform: HP-UX
  1. Understanding Veritas Volume Manager
    1.  
      About Veritas Volume Manager
    2. VxVM and the operating system
      1.  
        How data is stored
    3. How VxVM handles storage management
      1. Physical objects
        1.  
          Disk arrays
        2.  
          Multiple paths to disk arrays
        3.  
          Device discovery
        4.  
          About enclosure-based naming
      2. Virtual objects
        1.  
          Combining virtual objects in VxVM
        2.  
          Disk groups
        3.  
          VM disks
        4.  
          Subdisks
        5.  
          Plexes
        6.  
          Volumes
    4. Volume layouts in VxVM
      1.  
        Non-layered volumes
      2.  
        Layered volumes
      3.  
        Layout methods
      4.  
        Concatenation, spanning, and carving
      5.  
        Striping (RAID-0)
      6.  
        Mirroring (RAID-1)
      7.  
        Striping plus mirroring (mirrored-stripe or RAID-0+1)
      8.  
        Mirroring plus striping (striped-mirror, RAID-1+0 or RAID-10)
      9. RAID-5 (striping with parity)
        1.  
          Traditional RAID-5 arrays
        2.  
          Veritas Volume Manager RAID-5 arrays
        3.  
          Left-symmetric layout
        4.  
          RAID-5 logging
        5.  
          Layered volumes
    5. Online relayout
      1.  
        How online relayout works
      2.  
        Limitations of online relayout
      3.  
        Transformation characteristics
      4.  
        Transformations and volume length
    6. Volume resynchronization
      1.  
        Dirty flags
      2.  
        Resynchronization process
    7. Dirty region logging
      1.  
        Log subdisks and plexes
      2.  
        Sequential DRL
    8. Volume snapshots
      1.  
        Comparison of snapshot features
    9. FastResync
      1.  
        FastResync enhancements
      2. Non-persistent FastResync
        1.  
          How non-persistent FastResync works with snapshots
      3.  
        Persistent FastResync
      4. DCO volume versioning
        1.  
          Version 0 DCO volume layout
        2.  
          Version 20 DCO volume layout
        3.  
          How persistent FastResync works with snapshots
        4.  
          Effect of growing a volume on the FastResync map
      5.  
        FastResync limitations
    10.  
      Hot-relocation
    11.  
      Volume sets
  2. Provisioning new usable storage
    1.  
      Provisioning new usable storage
    2.  
      Growing the existing storage by adding a new LUN
    3.  
      Growing the existing storage by growing the LUN
  3. Administering disks
    1.  
      About disk management
    2. Disk devices
      1. Disk device naming in VxVM
        1.  
          Operating system-based naming
        2.  
          Enclosure-based naming
      2.  
        Private and public disk regions
    3. Discovering and configuring newly added disk devices
      1.  
        Partial device discovery
      2. Discovering disks and dynamically adding disk arrays
        1.  
          How DMP claims devices
        2.  
          Disk categories
        3.  
          Adding support for a new disk array
        4.  
          Enabling discovery of new disk arrays
      3.  
        Third-party driver coexistence
      4. How to administer the Device Discovery Layer
        1.  
          Listing all the devices including iSCSI
        2.  
          Listing all the Host Bus Adapters including iSCSI
        3.  
          Listing the ports configured on a Host Bus Adapter
        4.  
          Listing the targets configured from a Host Bus Adapter or a port
        5.  
          Listing the devices configured from a Host Bus Adapter and target
        6.  
          Getting or setting the iSCSI operational parameters
        7.  
          Listing all supported disk arrays
        8.  
          Excluding support for a disk array library
        9.  
          Re-including support for an excluded disk array library
        10.  
          Listing excluded disk arrays
        11.  
          Listing supported disks in the DISKS category
        12.  
          Displaying details about a supported array library
        13.  
          Adding unsupported disk arrays to the DISKS category
        14.  
          Removing disks from the DISKS category
        15.  
          Foreign devices
    4.  
      Disks under VxVM control
    5. Changing the disk-naming scheme
      1.  
        Examples of using vxddladm to change the naming scheme
      2.  
        Displaying the disk-naming scheme
      3.  
        Regenerating persistent device names
      4.  
        Changing device naming for TPD-controlled enclosures
      5. Persistent simple or nopriv disks with enclosure-based naming
        1.  
          Removing the error state for persistent simple or nopriv disks in the boot disk group
        2.  
          Removing the error state for persistent simple or nopriv disks in non-boot disk groups
    6.  
      About the Array Volume Identifier (AVID) attribute
    7.  
      Discovering the association between enclosure-based disk names and OS-based disk names
    8.  
      About disk installation and formatting
    9.  
      Displaying or changing default disk layout attributes
    10. Adding a disk to VxVM
      1.  
        Disk reinitialization
      2.  
        Using vxdiskadd to put a disk under VxVM control
    11.  
      RAM disk support in VxVM
    12.  
      Veritas Volume Manager co-existence with Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) disks
    13. Rootability
      1.  
        VxVM root disk volume restrictions
      2.  
        Root disk mirrors
      3.  
        Booting root volumes
      4.  
        Setting up a VxVM root disk and mirror
      5.  
        Creating an LVM root disk from a VxVM root disk
      6.  
        Adding swap volumes to a VxVM rootable system
      7.  
        Adding persistent dump volumes to a VxVM rootable system
      8.  
        Removing a persistent dump volume
    14. Displaying disk information
      1.  
        Displaying disk information with vxdiskadm
    15.  
      Controlling Powerfail Timeout
    16. Removing disks
      1.  
        Removing a disk with subdisks
      2.  
        Removing a disk with no subdisks
    17.  
      Removing a disk from VxVM control
    18. Removing and replacing disks
      1.  
        Replacing a failed or removed disk
    19.  
      Enabling a disk
    20.  
      Taking a disk offline
    21.  
      Renaming a disk
    22.  
      Reserving disks
  4. Administering Dynamic Multi-Pathing
    1. How DMP works
      1. How DMP monitors I/O on paths
        1.  
          Path failover mechanism
        2.  
          Subpaths Failover Group (SFG)
        3.  
          Low Impact Path Probing (LIPP)
        4.  
          I/O throttling
      2.  
        Load balancing
      3. DMP coexistence with HP-UX native multi-pathing
        1.  
          Migrating between DMP and HP-UX native multi-pathing
      4. DMP in a clustered environment
        1.  
          About enabling or disabling controllers with shared disk groups
    2.  
      Disabling multi-pathing and making devices invisible to VxVM
    3.  
      Enabling multi-pathing and making devices visible to VxVM
    4.  
      About enabling and disabling I/O for controllers and storage processors
    5.  
      About displaying DMP database information
    6.  
      Displaying the paths to a disk
    7.  
      Setting customized names for DMP nodes
    8. Administering DMP using vxdmpadm
      1.  
        Retrieving information about a DMP node
      2.  
        Displaying consolidated information about the DMP nodes
      3.  
        Displaying the members of a LUN group
      4.  
        Displaying paths controlled by a DMP node, controller, enclosure, or array port
      5.  
        Displaying information about controllers
      6.  
        Displaying information about enclosures
      7.  
        Displaying information about array ports
      8.  
        Displaying extended device attributes
      9.  
        Suppressing or including devices for VxVM or DMP control
      10. Gathering and displaying I/O statistics
        1.  
          Examples of using the vxdmpadm iostat command
        2.  
          Displaying statistics for queued or erroneous I/Os
        3.  
          Displaying cumulative I/O statistics
      11.  
        Setting the attributes of the paths to an enclosure
      12.  
        Displaying the redundancy level of a device or enclosure
      13.  
        Specifying the minimum number of active paths
      14.  
        Displaying the I/O policy
      15. Specifying the I/O policy
        1.  
          Scheduling I/O on the paths of an Asymmetric Active/Active array
        2.  
          Example of applying load balancing in a SAN
      16.  
        Disabling I/O for paths, controllers or array ports
      17.  
        Enabling I/O for paths, controllers or array ports
      18.  
        Renaming an enclosure
      19.  
        Configuring the response to I/O failures
      20.  
        Configuring the I/O throttling mechanism
      21.  
        Configuring Subpaths Failover Groups (SFG)
      22.  
        Configuring Low Impact Path Probing
      23.  
        Displaying recovery option values
      24.  
        Configuring DMP path restoration policies
      25.  
        Stopping the DMP path restoration thread
      26.  
        Displaying the status of the DMP path restoration thread
      27.  
        Displaying information about the DMP error-handling thread
      28.  
        Configuring array policy modules
  5. Online dynamic reconfiguration
    1.  
      About online dynamic reconfiguration
    2. Reconfiguring a LUN online that is under DMP control
      1.  
        Removing LUNs dynamically from an existing target ID
      2.  
        Adding new LUNs dynamically to a new target ID
      3.  
        About detecting target ID reuse if the operating system device tree is not cleaned up
      4.  
        Scanning an operating system device tree after adding or removing LUNs
      5.  
        Cleaning up the operating system device tree after removing LUNs
    3.  
      Upgrading the array controller firmware online
    4.  
      Replacing a host bus adapter
  6. Creating and administering disk groups
    1. About disk groups
      1.  
        Specification of disk groups to commands
      2.  
        System-wide reserved disk groups
      3. Rules for determining the default disk group
        1.  
          Displaying the system-wide boot disk group
        2.  
          Displaying and specifying the system-wide default disk group
      4.  
        Disk group versions
    2. Displaying disk group information
      1.  
        Displaying free space in a disk group
    3. Creating a disk group
      1.  
        Creating a disk group with an earlier disk group version
    4.  
      Adding a disk to a disk group
    5.  
      Removing a disk from a disk group
    6.  
      Moving disks between disk groups
    7.  
      Deporting a disk group
    8. Importing a disk group
      1.  
        Setting the automatic recovery of volumes
    9.  
      Handling of minor number conflicts
    10. Moving disk groups between systems
      1.  
        Handling errors when importing disks
      2.  
        Reserving minor numbers for disk groups
      3.  
        Compatibility of disk groups between platforms
    11. Handling cloned disks with duplicated identifiers
      1.  
        Writing a new UDID to a disk
      2.  
        Importing a disk group containing cloned disks
      3. Sample cases of operations on cloned disks
        1.  
          Enabling configuration database copies on tagged disks
        2.  
          Importing cloned disks without tags
        3.  
          Importing cloned disks with tags
      4.  
        Considerations when using EMC CLARiiON SNAPSHOT LUNs
    12.  
      Renaming a disk group
    13. Handling conflicting configuration copies
      1.  
        Example of a serial split brain condition in a cluster
      2.  
        Correcting conflicting configuration information
    14. Reorganizing the contents of disk groups
      1.  
        Limitations of disk group split and join
      2. Listing objects potentially affected by a move
        1.  
          Moving DCO volumes between disk groups
      3.  
        Moving objects between disk groups
      4.  
        Splitting disk groups
      5.  
        Joining disk groups
    15.  
      Disabling a disk group
    16. Destroying a disk group
      1.  
        Recovering a destroyed disk group
    17.  
      Upgrading the disk group version
    18.  
      About the configuration daemon in VxVM
    19.  
      Backing up and restoring disk group configuration data
    20.  
      Using vxnotify to monitor configuration changes
    21.  
      Working with existing ISP disk groups
  7. Creating and administering subdisks and plexes
    1.  
      About subdisks
    2.  
      Creating subdisks
    3.  
      Displaying subdisk information
    4.  
      Moving subdisks
    5.  
      Splitting subdisks
    6.  
      Joining subdisks
    7.  
      Associating subdisks with plexes
    8.  
      Associating log subdisks
    9.  
      Dissociating subdisks from plexes
    10.  
      Removing subdisks
    11.  
      Changing subdisk attributes
    12.  
      About plexes
    13.  
      Creating plexes
    14.  
      Creating a striped plex
    15. Displaying plex information
      1.  
        Plex states
      2.  
        Plex condition flags
      3.  
        Plex kernel states
    16.  
      Attaching and associating plexes
    17.  
      Taking plexes offline
    18.  
      Detaching plexes
    19. Reattaching plexes
      1.  
        Automatic plex reattachment
    20.  
      Moving plexes
    21.  
      Copying volumes to plexes
    22.  
      Dissociating and removing plexes
    23.  
      Changing plex attributes
  8. Creating volumes
    1.  
      About volume creation
    2. Types of volume layouts
      1.  
        Supported volume logs and maps
    3. Creating a volume
      1.  
        Advanced approach
      2.  
        Assisted approach
    4. Using vxassist
      1.  
        Setting default values for vxassist
      2.  
        Using the SmartMove™ feature while attaching a plex
    5.  
      Discovering the maximum size of a volume
    6.  
      Disk group alignment constraints on volumes
    7.  
      Creating a volume on any disk
    8. Creating a volume on specific disks
      1.  
        Creating a volume on SSD devices
      2.  
        Specifying ordered allocation of storage to volumes
    9. Creating a mirrored volume
      1.  
        Creating a mirrored-concatenated volume
      2.  
        Creating a concatenated-mirror volume
    10.  
      Creating a volume with a version 0 DCO volume
    11.  
      Creating a volume with a version 20 DCO volume
    12.  
      Creating a volume with dirty region logging enabled
    13. Creating a striped volume
      1.  
        Creating a mirrored-stripe volume
      2.  
        Creating a striped-mirror volume
    14.  
      Mirroring across targets, controllers or enclosures
    15.  
      Mirroring across media types (SSD and HDD)
    16.  
      Creating a RAID-5 volume
    17.  
      Creating tagged volumes
    18. Creating a volume using vxmake
      1.  
        Creating a volume using a vxmake description file
    19. Initializing and starting a volume
      1.  
        Initializing and starting a volume created using vxmake
    20.  
      Accessing a volume
    21. Using rules and persistent attributes to make volume allocation more efficient
      1.  
        Understanding persistent attributes
      2.  
        Rule file format
      3.  
        Using rules to create a volume
      4.  
        Using persistent attributes
  9. Administering volumes
    1.  
      About volume administration
    2. Displaying volume information
      1.  
        Volume states
      2.  
        Volume kernel states
    3. Monitoring and controlling tasks
      1.  
        Specifying task tags
      2. Managing tasks with vxtask
        1.  
          vxtask operations
        2.  
          Using the vxtask command
    4.  
      About SF Thin Reclamation feature
    5. Reclamation of storage on thin reclamation arrays
      1.  
        Identifying thin and thin reclamation LUNs
      2.  
        How reclamation on a deleted volume works
      3.  
        Thin Reclamation of a disk, a disk group, or an enclosure
      4.  
        Thin Reclamation of a file system
      5.  
        Triggering space reclamation
    6.  
      Monitoring Thin Reclamation using the vxtask command
    7.  
      Using SmartMove with Thin Provisioning
    8.  
      Admin operations on an unmounted VxFS thin volume
    9. Stopping a volume
      1.  
        Putting a volume in maintenance mode
    10.  
      Starting a volume
    11. Resizing a volume
      1.  
        Resizing volumes with vxresize
      2. Resizing volumes with vxassist
        1.  
          Extending to a given length
        2.  
          Extending by a given length
        3.  
          Shrinking to a given length
        4.  
          Shrinking by a given length
      3.  
        Resizing volumes with vxvol
    12. Adding a mirror to a volume
      1.  
        Mirroring all volumes
      2.  
        Mirroring volumes on a VM disk
    13.  
      Removing a mirror
    14.  
      Adding logs and maps to volumes
    15. Preparing a volume for DRL and instant snapshots
      1.  
        Specifying storage for version 20 DCO plexes
      2.  
        Using a DCO and DCO volume with a RAID-5 volume
      3.  
        Determining the DCO version number
      4.  
        Determining if DRL is enabled on a volume
      5.  
        Determining if DRL logging is active on a volume
      6.  
        Disabling and re-enabling DRL
      7.  
        Removing support for DRL and instant snapshots from a volume
    16. Adding traditional DRL logging to a mirrored volume
      1.  
        Removing a traditional DRL log
    17.  
      Upgrading existing volumes to use version 20 DCOs
    18.  
      Setting tags on volumes
    19.  
      Changing the read policy for mirrored volumes
    20.  
      Removing a volume
    21.  
      Moving volumes from a VM disk
    22. Enabling FastResync on a volume
      1.  
        Checking whether FastResync is enabled on a volume
      2.  
        Disabling FastResync
    23. Performing online relayout
      1.  
        Permitted relayout transformations
      2.  
        Specifying a non-default layout
      3.  
        Specifying a plex for relayout
      4.  
        Tagging a relayout operation
      5.  
        Viewing the status of a relayout
      6.  
        Controlling the progress of a relayout
    24.  
      Converting between layered and non-layered volumes
    25. Adding a RAID-5 log
      1.  
        Adding a RAID-5 log using vxplex
      2.  
        Removing a RAID-5 log
  10. Creating and administering volume sets
    1.  
      About volume sets
    2.  
      Creating a volume set
    3.  
      Adding a volume to a volume set
    4.  
      Removing a volume from a volume set
    5.  
      Listing details of volume sets
    6.  
      Stopping and starting volume sets
    7. Raw device node access to component volumes
      1.  
        Enabling raw device access when creating a volume set
      2.  
        Displaying the raw device access settings for a volume set
      3.  
        Controlling raw device access for an existing volume set
  11. Configuring off-host processing
    1.  
      About off-host processing solutions
    2. Implemention of off-host processing solutions
      1.  
        Implementing off-host online backup
      2.  
        Implementing decision support
  12. Administering hot-relocation
    1.  
      About hot-relocation
    2. How hot-relocation works
      1.  
        Partial disk failure mail messages
      2.  
        Complete disk failure mail messages
      3.  
        How space is chosen for relocation
    3.  
      Configuring a system for hot-relocation
    4.  
      Displaying spare disk information
    5.  
      Marking a disk as a hot-relocation spare
    6.  
      Removing a disk from use as a hot-relocation spare
    7.  
      Excluding a disk from hot-relocation use
    8.  
      Making a disk available for hot-relocation use
    9.  
      Configuring hot-relocation to use only spare disks
    10. Moving relocated subdisks
      1.  
        Moving relocated subdisks using vxdiskadm
      2.  
        Moving relocated subdisks using vxassist
      3. Moving relocated subdisks using vxunreloc
        1.  
          Moving hot-relocated subdisks back to their original disk
        2.  
          Moving hot-relocated subdisks back to a different disk
        3.  
          Forcing hot-relocated subdisks to accept different offsets
        4.  
          Examining which subdisks were hot-relocated from a disk
      4.  
        Restarting vxunreloc after errors
    11.  
      Modifying the behavior of hot-relocation
  13. Administering cluster functionality (CVM)
    1. Overview of clustering
      1.  
        Overview of cluster volume management
      2.  
        Private and shared disk groups
      3.  
        Activation modes of shared disk groups
      4. Connectivity policy of shared disk groups
        1.  
          Global detach policy
        2.  
          Local detach policy
        3.  
          Guidelines for choosing detach policies
        4.  
          Disk group failure policy
        5.  
          Guidelines for failure policies
      5.  
        Effect of disk connectivity on cluster reconfiguration
      6.  
        Limitations of shared disk groups
    2. Multiple host failover configurations
      1.  
        Import lock
      2.  
        Failover
      3.  
        Corruption of disk group configuration
    3.  
      About the cluster functionality of VxVM
    4. CVM initialization and configuration
      1. Cluster reconfiguration
        1.  
          vxclustadm utility
      2. Volume reconfiguration
        1.  
          vxconfigd daemon
        2.  
          vxconfigd daemon recovery
      3.  
        Node shutdown
      4.  
        Cluster shutdown
    5. Dirty region logging in cluster environments
      1.  
        How DRL works in a cluster environment
    6. Administering VxVM in cluster environments
      1.  
        Requesting node status and discovering the master node
      2. Changing the CVM master manually
        1.  
          Errors during CVM master switching
      3.  
        Determining if a LUN is in a shareable disk group
      4.  
        Listing shared disk groups
      5.  
        Creating a shared disk group
      6. Importing disk groups as shared
        1.  
          Forcibly importing a disk group
      7.  
        Handling cloned disks in a shared disk group
      8.  
        Converting a disk group from shared to private
      9.  
        Moving objects between shared disk groups
      10.  
        Splitting shared disk groups
      11.  
        Joining shared disk groups
      12.  
        Changing the activation mode on a shared disk group
      13.  
        Setting the disk detach policy on a shared disk group
      14.  
        Setting the disk group failure policy on a shared disk group
      15.  
        Creating volumes with exclusive open access by a node
      16.  
        Setting exclusive open access to a volume by a node
      17.  
        Displaying the cluster protocol version
      18.  
        Displaying the supported cluster protocol version range
      19.  
        Recovering volumes in shared disk groups
      20.  
        Obtaining cluster performance statistics
      21.  
        Administering CVM from the slave node
  14. Administering sites and remote mirrors
    1. About sites and remote mirrors
      1.  
        About site-based allocation
      2.  
        About site consistency
      3.  
        About site tags
      4.  
        About the site read policy
    2.  
      Making an existing disk group site consistent
    3.  
      Configuring a new disk group as a Remote Mirror configuration
    4. Fire drill - testing the configuration
      1.  
        Simulating site failure
      2.  
        Verifying the secondary site
      3.  
        Recovery from simulated site failure
    5. Changing the site name
      1.  
        Resetting the site name for a host
    6. Administering the Remote Mirror configuration
      1.  
        Configuring site tagging for disks or enclosures
      2.  
        Configuring automatic site tagging for a disk group
      3.  
        Configuring site consistency on a volume
    7.  
      Examples of storage allocation by specifying sites
    8.  
      Displaying site information
    9. Failure and recovery scenarios
      1.  
        Recovering from a loss of site connectivity
      2.  
        Recovering from host failure
      3.  
        Recovering from storage failure
      4.  
        Recovering from site failure
      5.  
        Automatic site reattachment
  15. Performance monitoring and tuning
    1. Performance guidelines
      1.  
        Data assignment
      2.  
        Striping
      3.  
        Mirroring
      4.  
        Combining mirroring and striping
    2. RAID-5
      1.  
        Volume read policies
    3. Performance monitoring
      1.  
        Setting performance priorities
      2. Obtaining performance data
        1.  
          Tracing volume operations
        2.  
          Printing volume statistics
      3. Using performance data
        1.  
          Using I/O statistics
        2.  
          Using I/O tracing
    4. Tuning VxVM
      1.  
        General tuning guidelines
      2. Tuning guidelines for large systems
        1.  
          Number of configuration copies for a disk group
      3.  
        Changing the values of VxVM tunables
      4.  
        Tunable parameters for VxVM
      5.  
        DMP tunable parameters
      6.  
        Disabling I/O statistics collection
      7.  
        Enabling I/O statistics collection
  16. Appendix A. Using Veritas Volume Manager commands
    1.  
      About Veritas Volume Manager commands
    2.  
      CVM commands supported for executing on the slave node
    3. Online manual pages
      1.  
        Section 1M - administrative commands
      2.  
        Section 4 - file formats
      3.  
        Section 7 - device driver interfaces
  17. Appendix B. Configuring Veritas Volume Manager
    1.  
      Setup tasks after installation
    2.  
      Unsupported disk arrays
    3.  
      Foreign devices
    4.  
      Initialization of disks and creation of disk groups
    5. Guidelines for configuring storage
      1.  
        Mirroring guidelines
      2.  
        Dirty region logging guidelines
      3.  
        Striping guidelines
      4.  
        RAID-5 guidelines
      5.  
        Hot-relocation guidelines
      6.  
        Accessing volume devices
    6.  
      VxVM's view of multipathed devices
    7. Cluster support
      1.  
        Configuring shared disk groups
      2.  
        Converting existing VxVM disk groups to shared disk groups
  18.  
    Glossary

About Veritas Volume Manager commands

Most Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM) commands (excepting daemons, library commands and supporting scripts) are linked to the /usr/sbin directory from the /opt/VRTS/bin directory. It is recommended that you add the following directories to your PATH environment variable:

  • If you are using the Bourne or Korn shell (sh or ksh), use the commands:

    $ PATH=$PATH:/usr/sbin:/opt/VRTS/bin:/opt/VRTSvxfs/sbin:\
      /opt/VRTSdbed/bin:/opt/VRTSob/bin
    $ MANPATH=/usr/share/man:/opt/VRTS/man:$MANPATH
    $ export PATH MANPATH
  • If you are using a C shell (csh or tcsh), use the commands:

    % set path = ( $path /usr/sbin /opt/VRTSvxfs/sbin \
      /opt/VRTSdbed/bin /opt/VRTSob/bin /opt/VRTS/bin )
    % setenv MANPATH /usr/share/man:/opt/VRTS/man:$MANPATH

VxVM library commands and supporting scripts are located under the /usr/lib/vxvm directory hierarchy. You can include these directories in your path if you need to use them on a regular basis.

For detailed information about an individual command, refer to the appropriate manual page in the 1M section.

Commands and scripts that are provided to support other commands and scripts, and which are not intended for general use, are not located in /opt/VRTS/bin and do not have manual pages.

Commonly-used commands are summarized in the following tables:

Table: Obtaining information about objects in VxVM

Command

Description

vxdctl license [init]

List licensed features of VxVM.

The init parameter is required when a license has been added or removed from the host for the new license to take effect.

vxdisk [-g diskgroup] list [diskname]

Lists disks under control of VxVM.

Example:

# vxdisk -g mydg list

vxdg list [diskgroup]

Lists information about disk groups.

Example:

# vxdg list mydg

vxdg -s list

Lists information about shared disk groups.

Example:

# vxdg -s list

vxdisk -o alldgs list

Lists all diskgroups on the disks. The imported diskgroups are shown as standard, and additionally all other diskgroups are listed in single quotes.

vxinfo [-g diskgroup] [volume ...]

Displays information about the accessibility and usability of volumes.

See the Veritas Volume Manager Troubleshooting Guide.

Example:

# vxinfo -g mydg myvol1 \
  myvol2

vxprint -hrt [-g diskgroup] [object ...]

Prints single-line information about objects in VxVM.

Example:

# vxprint -g mydg myvol1 \
  myvol2

vxprint -st [-g diskgroup] [subdisk ...]

Displays information about subdisks.

Example:

# vxprint -st -g mydg

vxprint -pt [-g diskgroup] [plex ...]

Displays information about plexes.

Example:

# vxprint -pt -g mydg

Table: Administering disks

Command

Description

vxdiskadm

Administers disks in VxVM using a menu-based interface.

vxdiskadd [devicename ...]

Adds a disk specified by device name.

Example:

# vxdiskadd c0t1d0
vxedit [-g diskgroup] rename \
olddisk newdisk

Renames a disk under control of VxVM.

Example:

# vxedit -g mydg rename \
  mydg03 mydg02
vxedit [-g diskgroup] set \
reserve=on|off diskname

Sets aside/does not set aside a disk from use in a disk group.

Examples:

# vxedit -g mydg set \
  reserve=on mydg02
# vxedit -g mydg set \
  reserve=off mydg02
vxedit [-g diskgroup] set \
nohotuse=on|off diskname

Does not/does allow free space on a disk to be used for hot-relocation.

Examples:

# vxedit -g mydg set \ 
  nohotuse=on mydg03
# vxedit -g mydg set \ 
  nohotuse=off mydg03
vxedit [-g diskgroup] set \
spare=on|off diskname

Adds/removes a disk from the pool of hot-relocation spares.

Examples:

# vxedit -g mydg set \
  spare=on mydg04
# vxedit -g mydg set \
  spare=off mydg04

vxdisk offline devicename

Takes a disk offline.

Example:

# vxdisk offline c0t1d0

vxdisk -g diskgroup [-o full] reclaim disk|enclosure|diskgroup

Performs thin reclamation on a disk, enclosure, or disk group.

Example:

# vxdisk reclaim disk1

vxdg -g diskgroup rmdisk diskname

Removes a disk from its disk group.

Example:

# vxdg -g mydg rmdisk mydg02

vxdiskunsetup devicename

Removes a disk from control of VxVM.

Example:

# vxdiskunsetup c0t3d0

Table: Creating and administering disk groups

Command

Description

vxdg [-s] init diskgroup \
[diskname=]devicename

Creates a disk group using a pre-initialized disk.

Example:

# vxdg init mydg \
  mydg01=c0t1d0
vxdg -g diskgroup listssbinfo

Reports conflicting configuration information.

Example:

# vxdg -g mydg listssbinfo

vxdg [-n newname] deport diskgroup

Deports a disk group and optionally renames it.

Example:

# vxdg -n newdg deport mydg

vxdg [-n newname] import diskgroup

Imports a disk group and optionally renames it.

Example:

# vxdg -n newdg import mydg

vxdg [-n newname] -s import diskgroup

Imports a disk group as shared by a cluster, and optionally renames it.

Example:

# vxdg -n newsdg -s import \
  mysdg
vxdg [-o expand] listmove sourcedg \ 
targetdg object ...

Lists the objects potentially affected by moving a disk group.

Example:

# vxdg -o expand listmove \
  mydg newdg myvol1
vxdg [-o expand] move sourcedg \
targetdg object ...

Moves objects between disk groups.

Example:

# vxdg -o expand move mydg \
  newdg myvol1
vxdg [-o expand] split sourcedg \
targetdg object ...

Splits a disk group and moves the specified objects into the target disk group.

Example:

# vxdg -o expand split mydg \
  newdg myvol2 myvol3

vxdg join sourcedg targetdg

Joins two disk groups.

Example:

# vxdg join newdg mydg
vxdg -g diskgroup set \
activation=ew|ro|sr|sw|off

Sets the activation mode of a shared disk group in a cluster.

Example:

# vxdg -g mysdg set \
 activation=sw

vxrecover -g diskgroup -sb

Starts all volumes in an imported disk group.

Example:

# vxrecover -g mydg -sb

vxdg destroy diskgroup

Destroys a disk group and releases its disks.

Example:

# vxdg destroy mydg

Table: Creating and administering subdisks

Command

Description

vxmake [-g diskgroup] sd subdisk \
diskname,offset,length

Creates a subdisk.

Example:

# vxmake -g mydg sd \
 mydg02-01 mydg02,0,8000
vxsd [-g diskgroup] assoc plex \
subdisk...

Associates subdisks with an existing plex.

Example:

# vxsd -g mydg assoc home-1 \
  mydg02-01 mydg02-00 \
  mydg02-01
vxsd [-g diskgroup] assoc plex \
subdisk1:0 ... subdiskM:N-1

Adds subdisks to the ends of the columns in a striped or RAID-5 volume.

Example:

# vxsd -g mydg assoc \
  vol01-01 mydg10-01:0 \
  mydg11-01:1 mydg12-01:2
vxsd [-g diskgroup] mv oldsubdisk \
newsubdisk ...

Replaces a subdisk.

Example:

# vxsd -g mydg mv mydg01-01 \
  mydg02-01
vxsd [-g diskgroup] -s size split \
subdisk sd1 sd2

Splits a subdisk in two.

Example:

# vxsd -g mydg -s 1000m \
  split mydg03-02 mydg03-02 \
  mydg03-03
vxsd [-g diskgroup] join \ 
sd1 sd2 ... subdisk

Joins two or more subdisks.

Example:

# vxsd -g mydg join \
  mydg03-02 mydg03-03 \
  mydg03-02
vxassist [-g diskgroup] move \
volume \!olddisk newdisk

Relocates subdisks in a volume between disks.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg move \
  myvol \!mydg02 mydg05

Note:

The ! character is a special character in some shells. This example shows how to escape it in a bash shell.

vxunreloc [-g diskgroup] original_disk

Relocates subdisks to their original disks.

Example:

# vxunreloc -g mydg mydg01

vxsd [-g diskgroup] dis subdisk

Dissociates a subdisk from a plex.

Example:

# vxsd -g mydg dis mydg02-01

vxedit [-g diskgroup] rm subdisk

Removes a subdisk.

Example:

# vxedit -g mydg rm mydg02-01

vxsd [-g diskgroup] -o rm dis subdisk

Dissociates and removes a subdisk from a plex.

Example:

# vxsd -g mydg -o rm dis \
  mydg02-01

Table: Creating and administering plexes

Command

Description

vxmake [-g diskgroup] plex plex \
sd=subdisk1[,subdisk2,...]

Creates a concatenated plex.

Example:

# vxmake -g mydg plex \
  vol01-02 \
  sd=mydg02-01,mydg02-02
vxmake [-g diskgroup] plex plex \
layout=stripe|raid5 stwidth=W \
ncolumn=N \
sd=subdisk1[,subdisk2,...]

Creates a striped or RAID-5 plex.

Example:

# vxmake -g mydg plex pl-01 \
  layout=stripe stwidth=32 \
  ncolumn=2 \
  sd=mydg01-01,mydg02-01

vxplex [-g diskgroup] att volume plex

Attaches a plex to an existing volume.

Example:

# vxplex -g mydg att vol01 \
  vol01-02

vxplex [-g diskgroup] det plex

Detaches a plex.

Example:

# vxplex -g mydg det vol01-02

vxmend [-g diskgroup] off plex

Takes a plex offline for maintenance.

Example:

# vxmend -g mydg off vol02-02

vxmend [-g diskgroup] on plex

Re-enables a plex for use.

Example:

# vxmend -g mydg on vol02-02
vxplex [-g diskgroup] mv oldplex \
newplex

Replaces a plex.

Example:

# vxplex -g mydg mv \
  vol02-02 vol02-03
vxplex [-g diskgroup] cp volume \
newplex

Copies a volume onto a plex.

Example:

# vxplex -g mydg cp vol02 \
  vol03-01

vxmend [-g diskgroup] fix clean plex

Sets the state of a plex in an unstartable volume to CLEAN.

Example:

# vxmend -g mydg fix clean \
  vol02-02

vxplex [-g diskgroup] -o rm dis plex

Dissociates and removes a plex from a volume.

Example:

# vxplex -g mydg -o rm dis \
  vol03-01

Table: Creating volumes

Command

Description

vxassist [-g diskgroup] maxsize \
layout=layout [attributes]

Displays the maximum size of volume that can be created.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg maxsize \
  layout=raid5 nlog=2
vxassist -b [-g diskgroup] make \
volume length [layout=layout] \
[attributes]

Creates a volume.

Example:

# vxassist -b -g mydg make \
  myvol 20g layout=concat \
  mydg01 mydg02
vxassist -b [-g diskgroup] make \
volume length layout=mirror \
[nmirror=N][attributes]

Creates a mirrored volume.

Example:

# vxassist -b -g mydg make \
  mymvol 20g layout=mirror \
  nmirror=2
vxassist -b [-g diskgroup] make \
volume length layout=layout \ 
exclusive=on [attributes]

Creates a volume that may be opened exclusively by a single node in a cluster.

Example:

# vxassist -b -g mysdg make \
  mysmvol 20g layout=mirror \
  exclusive=on
vxassist -b [-g diskgroup] make \
volume length layout={stripe|raid5} \
[stripeunit=W] [ncol=N] \
[attributes]

Creates a striped or RAID-5 volume.

Example:

# vxassist -b -g mydg make \
  mysvol 20g layout=stripe \
  stripeunit=32 ncol=4
vxassist -b [-g diskgroup] make \
volume length layout=mirror \
mirror=ctlr [attributes]

Creates a volume with mirrored data plexes on separate controllers.

Example:

# vxassist -b -g mydg make \
  mymcvol 20g layout=mirror \
  mirror=ctlr
vxmake -b [-g diskgroup] \
-Uusage_type vol volume \
[len=length] plex=plex,...

Creates a volume from existing plexes.

Example:

# vxmake -g mydg -Uraid5 \
  vol r5vol \
  plex=raidplex,raidlog1,\
  raidlog2
vxvol [-g diskgroup] start volume

Initializes and starts a volume for use.

Example:

# vxvol -g mydg start r5vol
vxvol [-g 
diskgroup] init zero \
volume

Initializes and zeros out a volume for use.

Example:

# vxvol -g mydg init zero \
  myvol

Table: Administering volumes

Command

Description

vxassist [-g diskgroup] mirror \
volume [attributes]

Adds a mirror to a volume.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg mirror \
  myvol mydg10
vxassist [-g diskgroup] remove \
mirror volume [attributes]

Removes a mirror from a volume.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg remove \
  mirror myvol \!mydg11

Note:

The ! character is a special character in some shells. This example shows how to escape it in a bash shell.

vxassist [-g diskgroup] \
{growto|growby} volume length

Grows a volume to a specified size or by a specified amount.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg growby \
  myvol 10g
vxassist [-g diskgroup] \
{shrinkto|shrinkby} volume length

Shrinks a volume to a specified size or by a specified amount.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg shrinkto \
  myvol 20g
vxresize -b -F vxfs [-g diskgroup] \
volume length diskname ...

Resizes a volume and the underlying Veritas File System.

Example:

# vxresize -b -F vxfs \
  -g mydg myvol 20g mydg10 \
  mydg11
vxsnap [-g diskgroup] prepare volume \
[drl=on|sequential|off]

Prepares a volume for instant snapshots and for DRL logging.

Example:

# vxsnap -g mydg prepare \
  myvol drl=on
vxsnap [-g diskgroup] make \
source=volume\
/newvol=snapvol\
[/nmirror=number]

Takes a full-sized instant snapshot of a volume by breaking off plexes of the original volume.

For information about creating snapshots, see the Veritas Storage Foundation Advanced Features Administrator's Guide.

Example:

# vxsnap -g mydg make \
  source=myvol/\
  newvol=mysnpvol/\
  nmirror=2
vxsnap [-g diskgroup] make \
source=volume/snapvol=snapvol

Takes a full-sized instant snapshot of a volume using a prepared empty volume.

For information about snapshots, see the Veritas Storage Foundation Advanced Features Administrator's Guide.

Example:

# vxsnap -g mydg make \
  source=myvol/snapvol=snpvol
vxmake [-g diskgroup] cache \
cache_object cachevolname=volume \
[regionsize=size]

Creates a cache object for use by space-optimized instant snapshots.

For information about snapshots, see the Veritas Storage Foundation Advanced Features Administrator's Guide.

A cache volume must have already been created. After creating the cache object, enable the cache object with the vxcache start command.

For example:

# vxassist -g mydg make \
  cvol 1g layout=mirror \
  init=active mydg16 mydg17
# vxmake -g mydg cache cobj \
  cachevolname=cvol
# vxcache -g mydg start cobj
vxsnap [-g diskgroup] make \
source=volume/newvol=snapvol\
/cache=cache_object

Takes a space-optimized instant snapshot of a volume.

For information about creating snapshots, see the Veritas Storage Foundation Advanced Features Administrator's Guide.

Example:

# vxsnap -g mydg make \
  source=myvol/\
  newvol=mysosvol/\
  cache=cobj
vxsnap [-g diskgroup] refresh snapshot

Refreshes a snapshot from its original volume.

For information about snapshots, see the Veritas Storage Foundation Advanced Features Administrator's Guide.

Example:

# vxsnap -g mydg refresh \
  mysnpvol
vxsnap [-g diskgroup] dis snapshot

Turns a snapshot into an independent volume.

For information about snapshots, see the Veritas Storage Foundation Advanced Features Administrator's Guide.

Example:

# vxsnap -g mydg dis mysnpvol
vxsnap [-g diskgroup] unprepare \
volume

Removes support for instant snapshots and DRL logging from a volume.

For information about snapshots, see the Veritas Storage Foundation Advanced Features Administrator's Guide.

Example:

# vxsnap -g mydg unprepare \
  myvol
vxassist [-g diskgroup] relayout \
volume [layout=layout] \
[relayout_options]

Performs online relayout of a volume.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg relayout \
  vol2 layout=stripe
vxassist [-g diskgroup] relayout \
volume layout=raid5 \
stripeunit=W \
ncol=N

Relays out a volume as a RAID-5 volume with stripe width W and N columns.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg relayout \
  vol3 layout=raid5 \
  stripeunit=16 ncol=4
vxrelayout [-g diskgroup] -o bg \
reverse volume

Reverses the direction of a paused volume relayout.

Example:

# vxrelayout -g mydg -o bg \
  reverse vol3
vxassist [-g diskgroup] convert \
volume [layout=layout] \
[convert_options]

Converts between a layered volume and a non-layered volume layout.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg convert \
  vol3 layout=stripe-mirror
vxassist [-g diskgroup] remove \
volume volume

Removes a volume.

Example:

# vxassist -g mydg remove \
  myvol

Table: Monitoring and controlling tasks

Command

Description

command [-g diskgroup] -t tasktag \
[options] [arguments]

Specifies a task tag to a VxVM command.

Example:

# vxrecover -g mydg \
  -t mytask -b mydg05
vxtask [-h] [-g diskgroup] list

Lists tasks running on a system.

Example:

# vxtask -h -g mydg list
vxtask monitor task

Monitors the progress of a task.

Example:

# vxtask monitor mytask
vxtask pause task

Suspends operation of a task.

Example:

# vxtask pause mytask
vxtask -p [-g diskgroup] list

Lists all paused tasks.

Example:

# vxtask -p -g mydg list
vxtask resume task

Resumes a paused task.

Example:

# vxtask resume mytask
vxtask abort task

Cancels a task and attempts to reverse its effects.

Example:

# vxtask abort mytask

More Information

Online manual pages

Displaying disk information

Displaying disk group information

Listing shared disk groups

Displaying volume information

Displaying subdisk information

Displaying plex information

Using vxdiskadd to put a disk under VxVM control

Renaming a disk

Reserving disks

Excluding a disk from hot-relocation use

Making a disk available for hot-relocation use

Marking a disk as a hot-relocation spare

Removing a disk from use as a hot-relocation spare

Taking a disk offline

Thin Reclamation of a disk, a disk group, or an enclosure

Removing a disk from a disk group

Removing a disk from a disk group

Creating a disk group

Creating a shared disk group

Handling conflicting configuration copies

Deporting a disk group

Importing a disk group

Importing disk groups as shared

Listing objects potentially affected by a move

Moving objects between disk groups

Splitting disk groups

Joining disk groups

Changing the activation mode on a shared disk group

Moving disk groups between systems

Destroying a disk group

Creating subdisks

Associating subdisks with plexes

Associating subdisks with plexes

Moving subdisks

Splitting subdisks

Joining subdisks

Moving relocated subdisks using vxassist

Moving relocated subdisks using vxunreloc

Dissociating subdisks from plexes

Removing subdisks

Dissociating subdisks from plexes

Creating plexes

Creating a striped plex

Attaching and associating plexes

Reattaching plexes

Detaching plexes

Taking plexes offline

Reattaching plexes

Moving plexes

Copying volumes to plexes

Reattaching plexes

Dissociating and removing plexes

Discovering the maximum size of a volume

Creating a volume on any disk

Creating a volume on specific disks

Creating a mirrored volume

Creating volumes with exclusive open access by a node

Creating a striped volume

Creating a RAID-5 volume

Mirroring across targets, controllers or enclosures

Creating a volume using vxmake

Initializing and starting a volume

Starting a volume

Initializing and starting a volume

Adding a mirror to a volume

Removing a mirror

Resizing volumes with vxassist

Resizing volumes with vxassist

Resizing volumes with vxresize

Preparing a volume for DRL and instant snapshots

Removing support for DRL and instant snapshots from a volume

Performing online relayout

Performing online relayout

Volume sets

Converting between layered and non-layered volumes

Removing a volume

Specifying task tags

Using the vxtask command

Using the vxtask command

Using the vxtask command

Using the vxtask command

Using the vxtask command

Using the vxtask command