fsadm error 16 when trying to reduce a filesystem

[JCI IT Unix]

We get an error 16 when trying to REDUCE a 55 Gig filesystem to 40 Gig. We have defragged the filesystem and have unmounted and remounted to make sure nothing had a hold on it.
The command we are using is:
fsadm -F vxfs -b 40960M /d07

Operating system is HPUX 11.0
VxFS version on filesystem is version 3
Server Model is N4000-55

Any Clues ??

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Buck:

This is a known problem. Since you have attempted to defragment the filesystem before attempting to shrink it, and still met with failure, you have only two choices:

(1) backup the filesystem; 'lvreduce' the logical vlume in which it resides; 'newfs' the filesystem and reload its data.

:or:

(2) upgrade the filesystem to Online JFS 3.3; use 'vxupgrade' to convert the filesystem to a version-4 layout; and then shrink the filesystem.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Michael Steele_2]

A) Is the file system busy?

fuser /filesystem
lsof -p pid

B) Unmount and try:

umount /filesystem

C) Related thread:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x6422543254bfd611abdb0090277a778c,00.html

D) New data will never be fragmented.

So make a temp filesystem - copy into temp - remove original data - copy back.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Buck:

You can download JFS 3.3 from the link below. Installation instructions are included.

http://www.software.hp.com/cgi-bin/swdepot_parser.cgi/cgi/displayProductInfo.pl?productNumber=B8861E

However, to activate the online component you will need to license key for its activation.

Regards!

...JRF...

[JCI IT Unix]

Thanks James.
So we run the vxupgrade -n 4 /d02 and get the following error.

vxupgrade: new_version must be 3
usage: vxupgrade [-n new_version] [-r rawdev] mount_point

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi Buck:

You must first install JFS 3.3 to be able to convert to a JFS version-4 disk layout. The "rub", however, if you read the notes in the link offering the download, above, is that you *still* need to obtain a license for the Online component! If you can afford to wait the time to obtain this, then you could take this route and perform the procedure online (i.e. without a 40+GB backup and restore).

Regards!

...JRF...

[JCI IT Unix]

Thanks again.
Yep - we confirmed it with HP and they said all of the same things - CRAP !! We already have Online JFS 3.1 - so we are going to go to 3.3 - but for now we are going to do it the old fashioned way.

Thanks a bunch for the quick responses.

[Bill Hassell]

As many sysadmins will attest, reducing the size of a filesystem should be viewed as experimental. ALWAYS perform a full backup (and perhaps a second) before reducing a filesystem, even with version 4 filesystem layouts (JFS 3.3--isn't that confusing?). And if you treat the lvreduce command as 100% destructive, you won't have to worry about data loss.