lvm maint mode

[Michael Murphy_2]

Hello- i have an old k580 this failing to boot - i can boot into lvm maint mode and i get the following:
Memory Information:
physical page size = 4096 bytes, logical page size = 4096 bytes
Physical: 3932160 Kbytes, lockable: 3086212 Kbytes, available: 3546808 Kbytes

/sbin/ioinitrc:
fsck: /dev/vg00/lvol1: possible swap device (cannot determine)
fsck SUSPENDED BY USER.
/dev/vg00/lvol1: No such device or address
Unable to mount /stand - please check entries in /etc/fstab


INIT: Overriding default level with level 's'

INIT: SINGLE USER MODE

INIT: Running /sbin/sh

I have no exprerience with lvm maint mode - are the messages above normal? is there commands i can run in this limited env to correct the faults?

[Michael Murphy_2]

a little more info - vg00 lvol1 is for /stand (not swap - not sure why it is trying to use that - lvol2 and lvol3 are swap) I am haveing trouble running commands - is it safe to mount /usr so that files can be viewed in this mode? Thanks

[R.K. #]

Hello Michael,

Usually lvol2 will be swap and lvol3 will be root, but you say in your server both are swap.

Are you sure for that?
Do you have any backup of /etc/fstab so that we can see its contents.
or if old fstab is also present?

Have you made any changes in fstab?
When was the server rebooted successfully last time?

Chances of bad entries in fstab.

Regds,
R.K.

[R.K. #]

Hi Again,

Another possibility can be bad 'lvlnboot' entries.

Just a guess..

-R.K.

[Pete Randall]

> I am haveing trouble running commands

I normally just run "mount -a" and get everything mounted up. You may well have to run fsck first.

Any more information you can offer as to why it isn't booting up initially?


Pete

[Mel Burslan]

What are you doing to boot into lvm maintenance mode ?

ISL> hpux -lm

??

or something else ? It looks like it is booting into single user mode instead but why, I can not tell from the information you provided. If you are running a remote console over your windows workstation, try capturing your boot sequence into a log file and attach it to a message for more and accurate help.

[Shailendran V Naidu]

In LVM maintenance mode, you will never get to the /sbin/ioinitrc and the bcheckrc where the file system is FSCK'd.

Besides, if it is in maintenance mode, it will indicate that the kernel is booting to maintainance mode.

Perhaps you may want to reboot the box and use
ISL > hpux /stand/vmunix -lm



Looks like there could be some file system corruption and you can go to the maintainance mode and do the following :

1) vgchange -a y vg00
2) fsck /dev/vg00/rlvol1 (all the basic file systems)
-- to --
fsck /dev/vg00/rlvol8
3) reboot if there is no problems with FSCK and boot to multiuser mode.

[Mel Burslan]

Please keep in mind that, LVM maintenance mode, is there to assist you recovering the lost/damaged LVM headers on your vg00. Once in LVM maintenance mode, the only commands you really should run, are mkboot, vgcfgrestore, and lvlnboot (give or take few other benign commands) Anything that does a disk access, doing a sync, will give you a higher chance of corrupting your entire vg00.

I am not sure if you mentioned the LVM maintenance mode due to a confusion in terminology or you really did mean it but, if you are in LVM maintenance mode, you are at a very delicate place for the health of your vg00. So, proceed with caution. Please refrain from, fsck'ing or mounting other filesystems while in this mode. Just repair your LVM data in the LIF area and get the hell out by rebooting your machine using nothing other than

reboot -n

which will skip syncing the disks. Or you can just power it down and up.

All I can say is, be careful and good luck.