both vxfs version 3 and version 4 in one system

[Brian Lee_4]

Is this okay to have both vxfs version 3 and version 4 in one system ?
The story is like this.

I add DMX 2000 disks to HP-UX 11.0 system and set up mirror with SYMMETRIX 8730 disks.
I split them and move mirrored DMX 2000 disks to new HP-UX 11i server.

vxfs version is 3 in HP-UX 11.0 server
vxfs version is 4 in HP-UX 11i server

All file systems are vxfs version 4 except ones resided in DMX disks moved from HP-UX 11.0 server.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Yes, any system that will handle a version 4 vxfs filesystem will handle a version 3 filesystem as well. However, the converse is not true.

[Brian Lee_4]

Is there any way to upgrade them to version 4 ?
I want to use "mincache=direct" mount option but it requires version 4.

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Yes, there is a vxupgrade command that will do this BUT your mount option is fully supported at version 3. It appears that you do not have OnlineJFS functioning. Have you licensed it? Man vxupgrade for details.

By the way, if you are trying to bypass the buffer cache for better Oracle performance, my experiments have yielded no improvement under 11.11 by using mincache=direct,convosync=direct for Oracle. Unlike previous version of HP-UX, fully-cooked files for everything wins --- at least for my Oracle tests. 11.11 also responds well to a buffer cache as large as 800-1200 MB unlike earler versions whicj peaked out at obout 800MB and often much less.

[Brian Lee_4]

I got the following message in /etc/rc.log file when I tried to use "mincache=direct" mount option in HP-UX 11.0 server which has vxfs version 3.

===================================
mountall: cannot mount /dev/vg02/lvol34
mountall: diagnostics from mount
vxfs mount: option not supported on this version of vxfs.

===================================
Mount option that I used in /etc/fstab file
============================================
/dev/vg03/lvol20 /oracle/Q02/sapdata125 vxfs delaylog,datainlog,mincache=direct 0 2

[A. Clay Stephenson]

That means that you do not have OnlineJFS installed or licensed. Do a swlist and see if OnlineJFS is listed.

[Brian Lee_4]

I installed OnlineJFS.

stad01:/etc#swlist
B3929BA B.11.00 HP OnLineJFS (Advanced VxFS)

[Stuart Abramson_2]

I agree with Clay above.

There is no significant performance gain to be achieved from "mincache=.., convosync=..". In addition, in an older system it caused me some problem once upon a time.

If you have problems splitting your BCVs, consider this:

1. JFS has versions.

2. echo "8192 B; p S" | fsdb -F vxfs /dev/05vg89/lvol01 | grep log_version

log_version 9 logstart 0 logend 0

3. If you split a BCV and present it from an old server to a new server,
it will FAIL an:

fsck -F vxfs /dev/vgxx/lvolYY

with $? = 12

You will have to do an:

fsck -y -F vxfs /dev/vgxx/lvolYY

4. If you split from a new system to an old system, you probably don't have
a chance!

o You must install the NEW JFS on the old system:

B3929CA B.03.03 JFS 3.3 Filesystem For 11.00


5. Check the swlists:

# swlist | grep -i jfs
B3929BA B.11.00 HP OnLineJFS (Advanced VxFS)
B3929CA B.03.03 JFS 3.3 Filesystem For 11.00

6. Also, check version with:

# fstyp -v /dev/vgxx/lvoly|grep version

7. Here are some versions:

hpux 11.0, B3929BA: version 3, log_version 6
hpux 11.0, B3929CA: version 3, log_version 9

hpux11.11, LVM: version 4, log_version 9

hpux11.11, VxVM: version 4, log_version 9

Now try BCV-ing those!!