RedHat 3.4 with ServiceGuard and EVA3000

[David Spencer_1]

I'm setting up a LUN on my EVA3000 using Linux RedHat3 update 4 with LVM. When I run pvcreate I get an "invalid physical volume" message.

# pvcreate -v -f /dev/sda
pvcreate -- locking logical volume manager
pvcreate -- checking physical volume name "/dev/sda"
pvcreate -- getting physical volume size
pvcreate -- checking maximum physical volume size
pvcreate -- checking partition type
pvcreate -- invalid physical volume "/dev/sda"

What can I do to correct the this message.

[melvyn burnard]

silly question maybe, but have you set up the Lun's correctly, and then used fdisk to set them to the correct type?

[David Spencer_1]

No, I haven't run sdisk. Do I need to run it for Linux RedHat? I'm not familiar with the sdisk command. I've been using lvm with HPUX in the past.
What options would I need to add with sdisk for /dev/sda?

[Uwe Zessin]

David,
did you assign the "SUN" (or is that called "Solaris"? - I don't remember at the moment, sorry) operating system type to the Host entry?

[David Spencer_1]

Yes, I did set the OS type in the EVA CommandView menu to "Solaris". The system can see the LUN, and with mke2fs with /dev/sda it even tries to create a files system but has a problem trying to read block 0.
# mke2fs -v /dev/sda mke2fs 1.32 (09-Nov-2002) /dev/sda is entire device, not just one partition!
Proceed anyway? (y,n) y
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
262144 inodes, 524288 blocks
26214 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user First data block=0
16 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912

Warning: could not read block 0: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read Writing inode tables: done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

Does Linux create raw device files that would be assosciated with /dev/sda? Normally to do pvcreate (in HPUX) you would need to use the character device file. Is there anything like that for Linux RH?

[melvyn burnard]

Well more knowledgable people can correct me if I am wrong here, but to my understanding you need to use fdisk to create your partition(s) and set them to LVM type (8e)
Once that is done then you run vgscan, then do the pvcreate.

what does fdisk -l reveal for these devices?

[melvyn burnard]

Depending on your revision of Serviceguard on Linux, you may wish to refer to the Managing Servicguard for Linux manuals at:
http://docs.hp.com/en/ha#Serviceguard%20for%20Linux

Specifically the section Creating the Logical Volume Infrastructure in Chapter 5

[David Spencer_1]

The fdisk command does not return anything, no errors no message. The man page said it is buggy. So I tired sfdisk and got this back.

# sfdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 261 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
read: Input/output error

sfdisk: read error on /dev/sda - cannot read sector 0
/dev/sda: unrecognized partition

How would I run the sfdisk command to mark the LUN with 8e for the linux type?

[Steven E. Protter]

Something to remember:

lvm is different on Red Hat. You can create multiple volume groups on one disk for example. You can't boot Red Hat off an lvm parition.

Besides that, it would seem you have a problem with the disk /dev/sda

sfdisk -l /dev/sda

Does it show anything?

SEP

[NiCK_76]

I saw message you post:
Disk /dev/sda: 261 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
read: Input/output error

It seems hareware/LUN error . Could you create another LUN to have a try? Or delete this LUN and recreate.

NiCK