error message: strict alloction policy

[S. Kaysersberg]

Hello,

I`m in single user mode under hp-ux 11.00. I want to extend my lv by #lvextend -L 704 /dev/vg00/lvol8 /dev/dsk/c0t11d0
-> (2 Gig Harddisk) but it fails with the error message 'Need more PV??s for "4 Stripes". Only have "1" PVs. Failure possibly caused by strict alloction policy'

Any hints?
Thanx in advance
Kayse

[Stefan Farrelly]

Something is contradictory in your message. The error means that /dev/vg00/lvol8 is striped across 4 disks (or 2 mirrored to 2 more) but you say you only have 1 disk in vg00 ?

How many disks does this command return ?

vgdisplay -v vg00 | grep "PV Name"

This is how many disks are in vg00.

[Frederic Sevestre]

Hi,

I guess your lvol is stripped.
Check it using :

# lvdisplay /dev/vg00/lvol8

If it is stripped, you will need as many disks as strippes to extend your LV.

Regards,
Fr??d??ric

[S. Kaysersberg]

Sorry, I forgot, there are 4 disks in it and I want to add another one (the 2 Gig HD).
Fr??d??ric, you??re right, it is stripped (with Allocation strict) So what do I have to do? Do you need more information?

Greetz Kayse

[Stefan Farrelly]

you cant extend it. lvol8 is using 4 disks for striping, the only way you can extend it is to have 4 more disks to extend it onto!

You alternatives are to recreate lvol8 unstriped so that it will fit onto the 4/5 disks you have but this is a big job. You would need to create a new lvol to the size you want (unstriped) and shutdown the server to single user mode (init s) then copy all of the files on lvol8 to the new lvol, then edit /etc/fstab and change lvol8 to the new lvol then reboot. After the reboot you can remove the old lvol8 to free up some space.

The HP recommended command to copy files safely to a new lvol like this (especially if /opt or /var or /usr) is;

eg.
cd /var
find . | cpio -pdumxvl

where new mount point is where you have temporarily mounted the new lvol to (eg. to /tmp_mnt) just so you can do the copy.

Dont forget to remirror your lvol afterwards if its mirrored now (which usually all of vg00 is).

[Erik Windischman]

If you want to follow the last suggestion that would be a lot of work, and your performance would suffer by removing the stripes. You may want to ask yourself what you need the space for. If a spicific file, or application, you can use your disk to build a new volume group & logical volume, or just a new logical volume, and use symbolic links (ln -s) to make the space appear to be in whatever directory it needs to be in. Maybe you need more swap, and then you don't want the disk added to vg00.