moving to new disk array

[bassey essien_1]

I want to move my entire filesystems on my existing disk array to new one.
Iam considering many options:
1. backup and restore to new disk array, i know
this is a very slow process.
2. Vgextend the existing VG to new PV.
Iam want to initialize the new disk with pvcreate command.
My question is, do i need to re-create
volume groups on the new disk array or only vgextend the current VG to new disk array.
Iam also considering exporting the entire VG and importing it back on new disk array.We intend to discontinue using our old disk array.
Any suggestions will be appreciated, i intend to minimize downtime for users.
thanks.

[Brian Markus]

Have you considered doing a dd ? You could mount the new one, and do a dd of the intire filesystem to the new drive. kind of like Ghost. Have you considered useing ignite? There is a switch in ignite to do non root volumes to tape. the dd from one disk to the other would probabily be faster though.

Hope this helps,
Brian

[Tom Danzig]

I've recently done this using cpio. Simply create new volume groups and lvols for the new array, mount them using some logical name (such as /bk_u01), cpio the data from the current mount to the new mount (/u01 -> /bk_u01), then switch the mount point names around.

[Mark Mitchell]

Tom is on the right track, doing a disk to dik copy with cpio is also the fastest way to move the information. Plus if you have more than one volume you can break up the work to keep the system online longer than taking it down to do the whole thing at one sitting. Just create the new location. CD to the old location and do a
find . -depth -print|cpio -pdm /newlocation
Then mount the new volume to the old mount point.

[Steven Sim Kok Leong]

Hi,

What are the disk arrays that you are using? Do they support ESCON links. If they do, you can perform Remote Copy from the old disk array to the new disk array.

Hope this helps. Regards.

Steven Sim Kok Leong
Brainbench MVP for Unix Admin
http://www.brainbench.com

[Steven Sim Kok Leong]

Hi,

It is 2:32 am in the morning and I actually forgot to mention my rationale for suggesting ESCON links for the data migration.

With ESCON links, you can synchronize the data between the two disk arrays (eg. between Hitachi and HP disk arrays). When you are ready to cut-over, the downtime incurred would be minimal because data is already in-sync.

Hope this helps. Regards.

Steven Sim Kok Leong
Brainbench MVP for Unix Admin
http://www.brainbench.com