convert vxfs to raw

[mrmo07]

hi,

i have 14 lvols with vxfs filesystem in the same VG. i need some raw space. can i remove some lvols and use it as a raw space?? i know only lvremove cant help me. how can i use lovls as raw space?
plz help.

Regards/Morshed.

[Ismail Azad]

Hi,

Let me give you a very simple answer. When the lv was created you obvioulsy executed a newfs which creates the inode table, superblocks and allocation units. After unmounting the file systems in the lv that requires space, remove the lv and recreate it as it is newfs that creates the file structures that you don't want. So don't do a newfs. That's your raw space. Else you will have to destroy the superblocks, inodes , intent log and allocation units specific to the filesystem. So, remove and recreate!! If it helps, don't forget to assign points.

[mrmo07]

Hi Ismail,

i think this procedure will not work.file system will remain there.

Regards,
Morshed.

[Ismail Azad]

Morshed,

Anyways...

umount /mohammed
lvremove -f /dev/vg01/lvol1
At this point only the mount point /mohammed will be present and nothing else.


An ls -l /mohammed will not display anything only mount point will remain!.

Remove mount point

Recreate - lvcreate -L 16 -n mohammed vg01
When you do this it will recreate the logical volume. Now, where is the filesystem or any of it's superblocks or inode table for that matter when there are no files here or even a mount point associated with it. This is your raw space. :)

Regards