Help with Veritas Volume manager

[Michael Tully]

Hi,

I am having a very frustrating problem in trying
to get VERITAS Volume Manager 3.1 working correctly.
We have already loaded the latest patch, but to
no avail.

When this system boots:

N4000/4 4gb RAM HP-UX 11 patch bundle March 2001,
the system take an average of over an hour to
boot. I was wondering if there are other users
out there who may have experienced a similar
problem.

Message that is on the console where the bulk of
the time takes.

VxVm:vxconfigd: NOTICE: Setting high water mark to 60


Disks connected:
N4000 --> EMC Switch --> 2 x EMC Clariion 4700
1 TB in each split up into 10Gb LUNS...

Any helpful comments would be appreciated
Maybe this not the right place for this question,
but up to now we have had little help from our
vendor and Veritas.
Thanks
Michael

[eran maor]

Hi Michael

first i will like to say that i dont realy know a lot of info about Veritas Volume manager

but i found a doc that is talking about the message that you are reciving : vxconfigd

its talk about debuging option - mybe the option of debuging is enable in the system and it perevent from a faster reboot of the system

here is the doc - hope that it help you .
How can I use the vxconfigd(1M) volume configuration daemon to troubleshoot and
debug VERITAS Volume Manager 3.1 (VxVM)?

Answer
VxVM provides the option of logging console output to a file. This logging is
useful because any messages output just before a system crash are available in
the log file unless the crash causes file system corruption. The vxconfigd
program controls whether such logging is turned on or off.

If logging is enabled, the default log file is: /var/vxvm/vxconfigd.log

The vxconfigd program also supports the use of the syslog() call to log all
of its regular console messages. When this is enabled, all console output is
directed through the syslog() interface.

The syslog() call and log file logging can be used together to provide
reliable data in a private log file, along with distributed logging through
the syslogd(1M) daemon.

Both syslog() and log file logging are disabled by default. To enable logging
of console output to a file, you can either invoke vxconfigd or edit VxVM
startup scripts.

Use the following command to invoke logging with vxconfigd:

# vxconfigd -x log

Use the following command to enable syslog()logging of console output:

# vxconfigd -x syslog

For more information, refer to the VERITAS Volume Manager 3.1 Reference
Guide. The manual is available on the HP-UX 11i Instant Information CD and
at the following web location:

http://www.docs.hp.com

Search using the keywords "VERITAS Volume Manager 3.1 Reference Guide".

[Bill McNAMARA_1]

Use the vxdg print command to gather as much info as possible about the vxvm configuration.
I have noticed that patches do exist but I'm waiting before installing vxvm just to give it time to mature.

One hour seems realllly long.. is there any activity in the N classes GSP chassis logs at the same time?

When the system comes up is there anything in the syslog that could be related?

Later,
Bill

[melvyn burnard]

first thing to say is that if this system is on HP-UX 11.0, HP do not support VVM on 11.0
The version supported is on HP-UX11i only, so you still need to have Veritas looking at this if the system is indeed on 11.00
Second thing is that it looks like the two issues are separate.
There is a new patch out thatat fixes a known problem with slow boot and FC cards with large raid arrays out here.
Is PHKL_21607 installed on the system?
If so, this is the culprit

[Bill McNAMARA_1]

I'm suprised it actually installed on 11.00,
he must have 11i? It is supported on the Ns.

I believe MCSG has officially supported VxVM clusters, I recon that's going to be one nightmare for support....

Bill

[melvyn burnard]

If this IS HP-UX 11.00, then may I suggest you install PHKL_24187 and I quote:
Symptoms:
PHKL_24187:
( SR: 8606156549 CR: JAGad25884 )
Code changes to support sparse lun probing created
unnecessary target nodes for Fiber Channel array devices.

( SR: 8606170162 CR: JAGad39426 )
The system boot time as well as ioscan command
(without -k option) time is long, especially in a large
Fibre Channel Array configuration.

Also, from PHKL_21607 and superseding patches,
a fix to detect non-sequential LUNs in an array increased
the boot and ioscan command (without -k option) time
considerably.

[Michael Tully]

Thanks for the info so far, I will check
this out and get back to you with the results.

[Michael Tully]

Hi,
I've gone through this information supplied
and some additional things I also checked
on in regards to the installation. These
results are:

(a) There is no logging out to /var/vxvm or
to syslog. There is only one message and that
relates to vmsa/tcp: unknown service. vmsa is
part of the GUI program for Veritas.
(b) I don't really wish to start any additional
logging right now, but.... I have a meeting
with Veritas and our vendor in one hour.
(c) The patch that was mentioned by Melvyn is
not installed. There were a number of
pre-requisite patches to be installed, these
are as follows. Note that some of these were
not really needed: (These are not in the release
notes but current patches recommended)

PHCO_23499 we have PHCO_23791
PHCO_22614 we have PHCO_20141
PHCO_21242 installed
PHCO_23118 installed
PHCO_20531 installed
PHKL_22759 installed
PHCO_22923 we have PHCO_23770
PHCO_23499 we have PHCO_23791
PHSS_22946 we have PHCO_20142
PHSS_22341 we have PHCO_20140

Have made a note in regards to PHKL_24187,
I will download and install, this may help.

The interesting comment made by Melvyn/Bill
about being supported on HP-UX 11
I have a copy of the release notes here where
it states and I quote....

Software Requirements

Veritas Volume Manager
The Veritas Volume Manager requires (as a
minimum) the following:
* HP-UX 11.0
* HP-UX XSWGR1100 (B.11.00.45) extension Pack
(May 1999) or higher
blah blah yada yada

One other intesting note to add, is that the
Veritas product was installed prior to
installing the OnLine JFS 3.3 product. As you
may recall it has about 20 patches needed for
this alone. I've attached my swlist output.
Veritas have been unable up to now to tell me
the reasons why the system takes a long time
to boot and also about having these two
products being perhaps installed in the wrong
order. After this meeting I have shortly I give
further feedback where I can.

Thanks so much for the assistance so far....
Michael

[Michael Tully]

For some reason the list didn't attach.
Let's try again.....

[Vincent Stedema]

Hi,

Did you install Patch 01 for VxVM 3.1?

http://seer.support.veritas.com/docs/236257.htm

Regards,

Vincent

[Michael Tully]

Hi Vincent,

In my original post I did mention about the
veritas patch although it may not have been
clear. Thanks anyway....

Michael