lvcreate does not recognise -m option

[geovas]

Hi,

    I need to create lvolumes that need to be mirrored. As I saw in the man pages for the mirror tools to be used, some optional HP MirrorDisk/UX software should be installed, although I do not have any licence key to install them from the original dvd. I am using the command lvcreate -n fsa -m 1 -L 4096 -s g vg00. Is there any other way to do it (including mirroring) without the -m option?

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

You need a MirrorDisk/UX license for the '-m' option of 'lvcreate' to function.  Period.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Karol_84]

Hi,

you're trying to set a PVG-strict allocation. Do you have PVG's defined for vg00? Are all your LVOL's within vg00 set to PVG allocation policy?

Also you can check if you have MirrorDisk/UX installed:

# swlist -l product | grep LVM-MirrorDisk

You also can try to create non-mirrored LVOL and mirror it afterwards.

Regards.

[geovas]

Hi,

    I've checked and I do not have the MirrorDisk tools installed. How could I mirror it afterwards?

Also another question I have is that I've read that the itanium rx2660 server supports hardware mirroring? Is that correct? If so, could I just create the lvols and be sure that they are mirrored?

[Karol_84]

Hi,

I just meant you can create an usual non-mirrored LVOL and mirror it afterwords (lvextend -m 1 lvname).

In case you have no MirrorDisk/UX installed, I think you're not able to use "-m" option at all. What about the rest of LVOLs in vg00. Could you attach output of "vgdisplay -v vg00" ?

If you haven't HW mirror configured yet (you should see IR - Integrated Raid, in ioscan output), you can set it up in EFI.

Probably following document could help you:

http://www.filibeto.org/unix/hp-ux/lib/os/sas/J6369-90071.pdf

Regards

[geovas]

Hi Karol,

       The only problem I have following your suggestion is the fact that in order to configure the IR I have to delete my OS from the one disk, since the M(igration) option is not supported any more when creating a new IM volume. So, I'll have to configure the integrated raid first and then install my OS again.That is an option. Although, if I use lvextend, am I going to have some kind of "software" mirroring? I mean that now on my vg00 volyme group I have two disks. Should I remove one of them (which is not being used) from vg00 and then add it again with vgextend -m option? Is this going to be some sort of RAID 1 configuration?

Thanks in advance

[Karol_84]

Hi,

You have OS installed on both disks in vg00? Does all your LVOL's in vg00 have PVG-Strict allocation policy?

Please provide "vgdisplay -v vg00" output.

In case you have 2 disks in vg00, but one of them has all PE's free: Use "vgreduce" to take it out from VG and then you should be able to configure HW RAID. Afterwards you can check the status of RAID using "sasmgr" command.

If you don't have Mirror/UX product installed, you cannot mirror the LVOL's on LVM layer.

I haven't heard about -m option for "vgextend".

Regards,

[Torsten.]

Creating such a HW RAID based on the default LSI chip needs 2 free disks - so you probably need a third disk to create it.

If you have a smart array P400, you can create a RAID 0, then extend to RAID 1.

[geovas]

sorry my mistake, I meant -g mirror

[Torsten.]

vgextend -g is for use with physical volume groups, but without mirrordisk/ux it will not help you.

You need the mirroring software in order to use LVM mirorring. Maybe vxvm is an alternative...

But I would definetely go for hardware mirroring!