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InfoScale™ 9.0 Storage Foundation and High Availability Configuration and Upgrade Guide - Solaris

Last Published: 2025-04-18

Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (9.0)

Platform: Solaris

Converting a defined disk to auto:simple

In VxVM 4.0, and particularly in prior releases, EMCpower disks could be defined by a persistent disk access record (darec), and identified as simple disks. If an EMCpower disk is defined with a persistent darec, it must be manually converted to auto:simple format before upgrading to VxVM 9.0.

If the defined disk is defined on a slice other than s2, you must copy the partition entry for that slice to that for s0 and change the tag. If the tag of the original slice is changed, the status of the disk is seen as online:aliased after the upgrade.

The following example is used to illustrate the procedure. The ls command shows the mapping of the EMC disks to persistent disk access records:

# ls -l /dev/vx/dmp/emcdisk1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 36 Sep 24 17:59 /dev/vx/dmp/emcdisk1-> 
/dev/dsk/c6t0d11s5
# ls -l /dev/vx/rdmp/emcdisk1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 40Sep 24 17:59 /dev/vx/rdmp/emcdisk1-> 
/dev/dsk/c6t0d11s5

Here the fifth partition of c6t0d11s5 is defined as the persistent disk access record emcdisk1.

The vxdisk list command can be used to display the EMCpower disks that are known to VxVM:

# vxdisk list
DEVICE        TYPE           DISK   GROUP   STATUS
c6t0d12s2     auto:sliced    -      -       online
emcdisk1      simple         fdisk  fdg     online
...

The vxprint command is used to display information about the disk group, fdg:

# vxprint
Disk group: fdg
TY NAME    ASSOC     KSTATE  LENGTH    PLOFFS  STATE TUTIL0 PUTIL0
dg fdg     fdg       -       -         -       -     -      -
dm fdisk   emcdisk1  -       17673456  -       -     -      -
...

To convert a disk with a persistent disk access record to auto:simple format

Stop all the volumes in the disk group, and then deport it:
```
# vxvol -g fdg stopall
# vxdg deport fdg
```
Use the vxdisk rm command to remove the persistent record definitions:
```
# vxdisk rm emcdisk1
```
If you now run the vxdisk list command, the EMCpower disk is no longer displayed:
```
# vxdisk list
DEVICE       TYPE           DISK  GROUP   STATUS
c6t0d12s2    auto:sliced    -     -       online
...
```
Use the vxprtvtoc command to retrieve the partition table entry for the device:
```
# /etc/vx/bin/vxprtvtoc -f /tmp/hdisk /dev/rdsk/c6t0d11s2
```

Use the vxedvtoc command to modify the partition tag and update the VTOC:

# /etc/vx/bin/vxedvtoc -f /tmp/hdisk /dev/rdsk/c6t0d11s2 

# THE ORIGINAL PARTITIONING IS AS FOLLOWS:
# SLICE     TAG  FLAGS    START   SIZE
  4         0x0  0x200    0       0
  5         0x0  0x200    3591000 2100375
  6         0x0  0x200    0       0

# THE NEW PARTITIONING WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:
# SLICE     TAG  FLAGS    START   SIZE
  4         0x0  0x200    0       0
  5         0xf  0x200    3591000 2100375
  6         0x0  0x200    0       0

DO YOU WANT TO WRITE THIS TO THE DISK ? [Y/N] :Y 
WRITING THE NEW VTOC TO THE DISK #

Upgrade to VxVM 9.0 using the appropriate upgrade procedure.

After upgrading VxVM, use the vxdisk list command to validate the conversion to auto:simple format:

# vxdisk list
DEVICE           TYPE           DISK  GROUP  STATUS
c6t0d12s2        auto:sliced    -     -      online
emcpower10s2     auto:simple    -     -      online:aliased
...

To display the physical device that is associated with the metadevice, emcpower10s2, enter the following command:

# vxdmpadm getsubpaths dmpnodename=emcpower10s2

Import the disk group and start the volumes:
```
# vxdg import fdg
# vxvol -g fdg startall
```
You can use the vxdisk list command to confirm that the disk status is displayed as online:simple:
```
# vxdisk list
DEVICE            TYPE           DISK   GROUP  STATUS
c6t0d12s2         auto:sliced    -      -      online
emcpower10s2      auto:simple    fdisk  fdg    online:aliased
```
To allow DMP to receive correct enquiry data, the common Serial Number (C-bit) Symmetrix Director parameter must be set to enabled.