vgextend error while attempting to mirror boot disk

[Jeff Thayer]

I am attempting to mirror the boot disk on a BL60p blade server, runing 11.31, using HP MirrorDisk/UX for mirroring. The blade has 2 identical disks. I already did this successfully on an identical blade, and it works fine. I am following the same cheat sheet I made while I mirrored the 1st blade.

I get the following error when I run:

bash-3.2# vgextend vg00 /dev/disk/disk2_p2
Couldn't open physical volume "/dev/rdisk/disk5_p2":
Verification of unique LVM disk id on each disk in the volume group
vg00 failed.

Researching this error I have only found this reference:

vgimport(1M)
Message Text:
Verification of unique LVM disk id on each disk in the volume group /dev/vgname failed.

Cause:
There are two possible causes for this message:

1.The vgimport command used the –s option, and two or more disks on the system have the same LVM identifier; this can happen when disks are created with BC copy or cloned with dd.
2.LVM was unable to read the disk header; this can happen when you create new logical units on a SAN array.

Recommended Action:
1.Do not use the –s option to vgimport. Alternatively, use vgchgid to change the LVM identifiers on copied or cloned disks.
2.Retry the vgimport command.
--------------------------------------
I have never run the vgimport command on this box. It was simply built from the HP-UX DVD using one of 2 disks. I built the other blade identically, and it mirrored ok.

I think this is the source of the problem:

bash-3.2# vgscan -pv
Physical Volume "/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s2" is not part of a Volume Group

/dev/vg00
/dev/disk/disk5_p2

bash-3.2# strings /etc/lvmconf/vg00.conf
CONFIG01
/dev/vg00
/dev/rdisk/disk5_p2
LVMREC01",
HPLVMBDRG
VGDA0001
VGSA0001G

bash-3.2# diskinfo /dev/rdisk/disk5
io_search failed: I/O tree node does not exist.

bash-3.2# diskinfo /dev/rdisk/disk3
SCSI describe of /dev/rdisk/disk3:
vendor: COMPAQ
product id: BF0728A4BA
type: direct access
size: 71132000 Kbytes
bytes per sector: 512

bash-3.2# diskinfo /dev/rdisk/disk2
SCSI describe of /dev/rdisk/disk2:
vendor: COMPAQ
product id: BF0728A4BA
type: direct access
size: 71132000 Kbytes
bytes per sector: 512

It appears that vg00 thinks it's using disk5, but it is actually using disk3.

How can I fix this error so I can continue the mirroring process?

Thanks in advance!

[Michael Steele_2]

vgreduce -f /dev/vg## will attempt to reduce out any disks without specifying the disk. The -f option is a forced reduction. It's worked well for me in the past and may offer satisfaction to you here.

Regarding what caused this error, did you pvcreate -f -B this mirror before doing anything else? Note the -B option for boot disks is absolutely necessary.

[Sandman!]

Try recreating the /etc/lvmtab file by running vgscan(1M). Save the original lvmtab file just in case its needed again and run vgscan ie:

# cp /etc/lvmtab /etc/lvmtab.orig
# vgscan -a -v

~hope it helps

[Jeff Thayer]

I used pvcreate -B /dev/rdisk/disk2_p2 before the vgextend command.

I just now tried vgreduce -f vg00, but it didn't help.

I had already tried to recreate lvmtab yesterday, but I followed Sandman's advice and tried his commands exactly as he specified:

bash-3.2# mv lvmtab lvmtab.1.30.08

bash-3.2# vgscan -a -v
Creating "/etc/lvmtab".
Physical Volume "/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s2" is not part of a Volume Group

/dev/vg00
/dev/disk/disk5_p2

Scan of Physical Volumes Complete.
*** LVMTAB has been created successfully.
*** Do the following to resync the information on the disk.
*** #1. vgchange -a y
*** #2. lvlnboot -R

I followed up with the vgchange and lvlnboot commands as the system suggested. vgextend still fails with the exact same error:

vgextend vg00 /dev/disk/disk2_p2
Couldn't open physical volume "/dev/rdisk/disk5_p2":
Verification of unique LVM disk id on each disk in the volume group
vg00 failed.

[Michael Steele_2]

Oh, I missed the unique comment. I think you have a problem with your /etc/slvmvg file. Look at this thread:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1197800

[Jeff Thayer]

I looked at that thread. I don't have either /dev/slvmvg or /etc/slvmvg files on this box.

[F Verschuren]

readyin the errors the lvmhadder of your primare root disk is corupted...

can you do a diskinfo /dev/rdisk/disk5_p2
and a vgdisplay -v vg00

to check the vgheader on the disk:

echo '0X2010?2X' | adb /dev/dsk/disk5_p2 | expand | tr -d '' | sed 's/2010:/VGID/'
ps i am not sure this still works on 11.31...

[Jeff Thayer]

bash-3.2# diskinfo /dev/rdisk/disk5_p2
diskinfo: can't open /dev/rdisk/disk5_p2: Permission denied

bash-3.2# vgdisplay -v vg00
--- Volume groups ---
VG Name /dev/vg00
VG Write Access read/write
VG Status available
Max LV 255
Cur LV 9
Open LV 9
Max PV 16
Cur PV 1
Act PV 1
Max PE per PV 4294
VGDA 2
PE Size (Mbytes) 16
Total PE 4285
Alloc PE 4284
Free PE 1
Total PVG 0
Total Spare PVs 0
Total Spare PVs in use 0
VG Version 1.0.0

--- Logical volumes ---
LV Name /dev/vg00/lvol1
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 1792
Current LE 112
Allocated PE 112
Used PV 1

LV Name /dev/vg00/lvol2
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 8192
Current LE 512
Allocated PE 512
Used PV 1

LV Name /dev/vg00/lvol3
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 2048
Current LE 128
Allocated PE 128
Used PV 1

LV Name /dev/vg00/lvol4
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 7792
Current LE 487
Allocated PE 487
Used PV 1

LV Name /dev/vg00/lvol5
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 10992
Current LE 687
Allocated PE 687
Used PV 1

LV Name /dev/vg00/lvol6
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 1024
Current LE 64
Allocated PE 64
Used PV 1

LV Name /dev/vg00/lvol7
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 16000
Current LE 1000
Allocated PE 1000
Used PV 1

LV Name /dev/vg00/lvol8
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 12000
Current LE 750
Allocated PE 750
Used PV 1

LV Name /dev/vg00/lvol9
LV Status available/syncd
LV Size (Mbytes) 8704
Current LE 544
Allocated PE 544
Used PV 1


--- Physical volumes ---
PV Name /dev/disk/disk5_p2
PV Status available
Total PE 4285
Free PE 1
Autoswitch On
Proactive Polling On


I'm completely unfamiliar with the method suggested for checking the vgheader on the disk, and some of the syntax didn't work. I substituted small x for the caps in the echo part cause the cap x failed:

bash-3.2# echo '0x2010?2x'|adb /dev/disk/disk5_p2|expand|tr -d ''|sed 's/2010:/VGID/'
adb: warning: /dev/disk/disk5_p2: Unknown file type.
adb: warning: File '/dev/disk/disk5_p2' is not an object file.
0xVGID
0x222cc0ab 0x470c0fa1

[Sandman!]

Could you post the output of the following commands:

# ioscan -funC disk
# ll /dev/rdisk/disk5_p2

Imho /dev/rdisk/disk5_p2 maynot be a device special file

[Jeff Thayer]

bash-3.2# ioscan -funC disk
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
=====================================================================
disk 1 0/1/1/0.0.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE COMPAQ BF0728A4BA
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0 /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s2
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s1 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s3
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s2 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s1
disk 0 0/1/1/0.1.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE COMPAQ BF0728A4BA
/dev/dsk/c0t1d0 /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s3 /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s2
/dev/dsk/c0t1d0s1 /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s3
/dev/dsk/c0t1d0s2 /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s1

bash-3.2# ll /dev/rdisk/disk5_p2
crw-r----- 1 bin sys 22 0x000003 Oct 9 16:37 /dev/rdisk/disk5_p2