HP-UX 11i v1 Code install, need suggestions Mirror disk,

[Gary L]

Hi

I have a rp4440 32G RAM, 8x1G CPU, 2x73.4GB Hard drives, I need colde install OS 11i v1 soon.

Could you please share some good idea, experiences, knowledges to me. As you know the server crashed by one hard drive crash. 3 years ago, someone assign both two drives to root and no mirror. Now, I wanna fresh reinstall it.

in the prompt "Numbers of disks in Root Group" whether I need type "1" (I have two HDs). and no striping. Root group is it vg00? And using some tool Mirror another disk (probably be create to vg01) as a bootable mirror disk of root?

correct me if I am wrong and please give me hand on colde installation.

Thanks a lot, any answers will be very appreciate.

-G

[Gary L]

32GB RAM will install Oracle 10g, how much swap 8G? system default 4G.

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi Gary:

By all means, mirror your vg00 !

A 73GB drive will more than adequately support a standard HP-UX vg00 filesystem layout.

Do not use vg00 for anything other than the standard filesystems and primary swap. To do otherwise makes upgrades (e.g. cold installations) and/or catastrophic recoveries more difficult.

You need a license for MirrorDisk/UX. This is bundled in with the EOE operating environment if you purchased that.

Mirroring is done at the logical volume level and thus mirrored logical volumes cannot span volume groups. Use this guide as your guide:

http://docs.hp.com/en/5991-1236/When_Good_Disks_Go_Bad.pdf

Regards!

...JRF...

[Gary L]

Hi JRF

Thank you very much for your fast reply and good suggestions.

In my case, if i real wanna do the mirror (I have OE installation DVD). How to choose in ROOT disk number and striping. 2 and yes or 1 or no?

Thanks

-G

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again):

I see you asked about swap. Primary swap must exist on vg00 (its lvol2). I would allocate 50-100% of your physical memory to it; set the kernel parameter 'swapmem_on=1' to enable pseudoswap; and build another secondary swap space to accomodate your needs on a non-vg00 volume group. The idea is to mirror your root logical volumes (all of them!). You want to be able to boot your system in the event of a failure.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Torsten.]

Install the OS to 1 disk only!

The other disk will be used for mirroring later - see appendix for mirroring on pa-risc machines in the doc above.

[Gary L]

Hi JRF

Thanks for the swap thing.

Currently, the important question is, for the future disk mirror. Now at the "Numbers of disks in Root Group" and striping" prompt, what do it do?
If I assign all the two to root group (vg00?) then whether I will have the opportunity to do the disk mirros. whehter I should do 1 and striping yes? on HDs assign vg00, another assign to vg01 and using vg01 mirror vg00 in tht future for the disk back?

-G

[Gary L]

Hi Torsten

Thank you very much for you good suggestion. As you it's very important for me right away, because installation page stop there, I have no idea to deal with.

Ok, 1 disk for root, whether we need stripping?

[Gary L]

HP installation guide say:

On the Root Group screen, specify how many disks you want placed into
the root disk volume group. If you have more than one disk, select Yes to
choose the Striping option.

So, I will type 1 disk for root and yes striping.

-G

[Gary L]

I have to go back to choose "striping" "NO" cause striping need two disk.

Any idea?

Thanks a lot.

-G

[Torsten.]

Install to 1 disk only - no striping possible with one disk.

According to the procedure you will add the second disk later to the vg00.

[Gary L]

Hi

Few more questions:

1. Torsten, you said when the OS intallation done, I need configure the 2nd hard disks to vg00 not vg01? could you please explain. For mirror root disk? If so, 2 HDs 140GB assgin to vg00, then Ignite-UX entire vg00 how big the archive file gonna be?

2. In the OS installation, I chose the default space size for /, /var, /tmp... after OS done, I could not resize them due to could not "umount" those mount points.

3. After OS installation, I wanna install patch bundles GOLDQPK11i from Support Plus CD but system could not detect dvdrom, would you please tell me where is my dvd device, HP install guide just said /cdrom/GOLDPQK111i... but there is no /cdrom mount point.

thanks

-G

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Gary:

> you said when the OS intallation done, I need configure the 2nd hard disks to vg00 not vg01? could you please explain. For mirror root disk? If so, 2 HDs 140GB assgin to vg00, then Ignite-UX entire vg00 how big the archive file gonna be?

Yes, you will 'vgextend' the second physical volume into 'vg00' and then use 'lvextend' for each logical volume to complete the mirroring operation. See the steps in the guide we posted. This in *no* way influences an Ignite recovery image's size. Think of mirror copies as virtual copies.

> In the OS installation, I chose the default space size for /, /var, /tmp... after OS done, I could not resize them due to could not "umount" those mount points.

Not true. If you have OnlineJFS (and I hope you do) then you use 'fsadm' to resize filesystems dynamically. If you don't have OnlineJFS, you boot =*into* single user mode where '/usr', etc. arn't mounted and you use the LVM commands found in '/sbin'. After using '/sbin/extendfs' to extend a filesystem, it is easiest to reboot to mount all filesystems again and launch all startup scripts as normally occurs.

> After OS installation, I wanna install patch bundles GOLDQPK11i from Support Plus CD but system could not detect dvdrom, would you please tell me where is my dvd device, HP install guide just said /cdrom/GOLDPQK111i... but there is no /cdrom mount point.

You need to create the directory. As for the device file on which to mount, do:

# ioscan -kfnC disk

...you should see something like:

disk 5 10/12/5.2.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HP DVD-ROM 304
/dev/dsk/c3t2d0 /dev/rdsk/c3t2d0

Regards!

...JRF...

[Gary L]

Hi JRF

Thanks for your detail reply.

1. I have mounted the /dvdrom, thanks.

2. Does OnlineJFS in support plus CD? but anyway if no i will resize them in single user mode.

3. I still has a little be question on vg00 and two HDs.
If we need configure two HDs to vg00, why we don't do that before OS installation we could choose 2 disks in "Numbers of disks in Root Group" direclty, is that right? what's the different between "ROOT Group" and vg00?

4. If all of the two HDs are assigned to vg00 then the whole system just has one VG, is it correct. you means oracle will be created in vg00 /dev/vg00/lvol09? And other application will located in vg00?

5. after Mirror disk the ">bo alt" will works, right? we must has Mirror_UX for perform this? And if you wanna enable alternate boot device we must create the 2nd PV in Vg00 is that right?

Thanks a lot.!!!

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Gary:

> 2. Does OnlineJFS in support plus CD?

No, this is a separately licensed (purchased) product found on the Application CD/DVD or bundled into the Enterprise OE (EOE) or Mission Critical OE (MOE).

> 3. I still has a little be question on vg00 and two HDs. If we need configure two HDs to vg00, why we don't do that before OS installation we could choose 2 disks in "Numbers of disks in Root Group" direclty, is that right? what's the different between "ROOT Group" and vg00?

No, during the primary installation, more than one disk means "spread-the-wealth', not create LVM mirrors. Strictly speaking, the "root group" contains the first three logical volumes ('/stand', primary swap and '/', respectively) only. By the way, when doing mirrors of vg00 (or the root group), be sure to mirror not only all logical volumes but mirror then *in order*. The first three logical volujmes must be mirrored in that way. It is best practice to follow with the remaining ones in ordinal fashion, too.

> 4. If all of the two HDs are assigned to vg00 then the whole system just has one VG, is it correct. you means oracle will be created in vg00 /dev/vg00/lvol09? And other application will located in vg00?

Don't do that. Make another volume group for applications and databases! Disks are cheap. Keep your operating system and your applications separate. As I said before, confining the OS to vg00 makes cloning and updating so much cleaner and easier.

> 5. after Mirror disk the ">bo alt" will works, right? we must has Mirror_UX for perform this? And if you wanna enable alternate boot device we must create the 2nd PV in Vg00 is that right?

As the last steps of your mirror creation, do the following:

# mkboot -a "hpux -lq" /dev/rdsk/cXtYdZ

...do this on *both* physical volumes of vg00

# setboot -a [alternate_path]

...then to verify the second vg00 disk, do:

# lifcp /dev/rdsk/cXtYdZ:AUTO -

The idea is that you want to set the low quorum on *both* volumes. If you have a failed physical disk you want to be able to reboot, regardless.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Torsten.]

So many questions ...

1) well done

2) you need to purchase it, then install from install or application CD

3) vg00 aka root group; if you choose both while installing, the OS will be installed across both disk - you need another 2 disks to mirror them

4) you can attach more disks/LUNs from SAN to your server and make vg01, vg02 ...

5) mirrordisk/ux is the must have (you also need to purchase it).
> bo alt
will boot from alternative disk

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Gary:

Oops, I forgot to answer:

> 5. after Mirror disk the ">bo alt" will works, right?

In fact, this is the iron-clad way to test a newly setup mirror vg00 --- boot from it!

Regards!

...JRF...

[Gary L]

Hi Torsten and JRF

Thank you very muc for your hands.

Get it. I will present SAN disks to this server create vgxx for oracle DB and other Applications, great suggestion. As you know rp4440 just has two HD rooms, sigh.

Does HP-UX has the RAID-1 function before OS insall, let the two HD mirror and create vg00 on this 73.4GB disk size? Does Mirror_UX has the same function, after mirror the size could be used just left 73.4GB from 140GB?

What i'm going to do will be:
1. add 2nd PV into vg00 via command lines or SAM.

2. purchase mirror_ux license. I have Application software CD with codeword, Do the OnlineJFS and Mirror_UX both are in the App CD?

3. mirror vg00 enable bo alt

are those right? correct me.

Thanks again.

-G

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Gary:

Does HP-UX has the RAID-1 function before OS install, let the two HD mirror and create vg00 on this 73.4GB disk size? Does Mirror_UX has the same function, after mirror the size could be used just left 73.4GB from 140GB?

> Again, LVM mirroring, is performed at the *logical volume* level. In your case you have two physical disk of ~ 72GB each. Disregard one disk for a minute. Now, if you use 40 GB of the 72 GB for all your logical volumes you will need 40 GB of space free on the *second* disk when you add ('vgextend') it and mirror to it ('lvextend -m1'). You never want to place mirrored disk extents on the same disk. By default, because allocation is 'strict' [ see 'lvcreate' ] you can't do this. You wouldn't want to, either! You want fault tolerance, high-availability.

Again, disk is cheap. Do not be concerned if a "large" vg00 disk utilizes only some fraction of its total capacity. Mirror every logical volume on it and ignore all those free physical extents on both physical volumes!

> What i'm going to do will be:
1. add 2nd PV into vg00 via command lines or SAM.

OK, but read the manpages and see how you would use the commands.

> 2. purchase mirror_ux license. I have Application software CD with codeword, Do the OnlineJFS and Mirror_UX both are in the App CD?

Yes, if you have codewords for each you are set.

> 3. mirror vg00 enable bo alt

Yes, follow my previous posts as noted.

Regards!

...JRF...

are those right? correct me.

[Gary L]

Great and detail explanations.

Thanks a lot JRF.

I have add the 2nd PV to vg00.

And I have increase the size of / /var /opt .. execpt /usr as lvextend need /usr, system defualt 1.2GB enough? If not How to increase, OnlineJFS?

I will install the support plus CD and then install OnlineJFS and Mirror disk/UX from Applicatin CDs.

I think for 32G RAM, the 8GB swap too samll, How to increase the size of swap? swapon? could I increase lvol2 directly? if not, whether I need create another lv for extra swap? How about 16G swap for 32G?

Thanks

-Gary

[James R. Ferguson]

HI (again) Gary:

> And I have increase the size of / /var /opt .. execpt /usr as lvextend need /usr, system defualt 1.2GB enough? If not How to increase, OnlineJFS?

Yes, either use OnlineJFS (using 'fsadm') *or* boot into single-user mode and use the LVM commands in '/sbin' (i.e. '/sbin/extendfs'). Then make life easy and reboot to resume normal operations.

> I will install the support plus CD and then install OnlineJFS and Mirror disk/UX from Applicatin CDs.

OK, unless you have EOE or MOE operating environments that will be necessary.

> I think for 32G RAM, the 8GB swap too samll, How to increase the size of swap? swapon? could I increase lvol2 directly? if not, whether I need create another lv for extra swap? How about 16G swap for 32G?

For all purposes, you can't extend primary swap. Swap extents must be contiguous disk extents and the ability to move extents in the logical volume adjacent to primary swap (that is in lvol3) is not going to exist. If you insist, take an Ignite image and recovery your server using that image while resizing your vg00 filesystems during the recovery process.

In reality, there is no need to extend primary swap. Simply add one or more secondary swap devices.

You can build your secondary swap on a non-vg00 volume group, or if necessary on vg00. Make the secondary device swap something *other* than one (1), which is the priority assigned to primary swap. Lower swap priority devices are used in preference to higher priority ones. Do something like:

# lvcreate -C y -r n -L 4096 -n lvol1 /dev/vg01

# swapon -p 0 /dev/vg01/lvol1

# echo "/dev/vg01/lvol1 ... swap pri=0 0 0" >> /etc/fstab

The idea of making the swap device priorities unequal, especially when they reside on the same physical volume, is to avoid mechanical disk head movement should swapping ever occur. Of course, if/when you do actually perform swap I/O your performance is degrading anyway!

Too, as I said originally, enable the kernel's pseudoswap ('swapmem_on'=1). This causes the kernel to count about 75% of physical memory as potential swap. With this setting, and a primary device swap of 8GB and say another 24GB of secondary swap somewhere you should be good-to-go. Your mileage may vary, so try it. You can always add additional device swap. It doesn't matter that you have multiple devices.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Gary L]

/usr 1.2G not enough.

When I wann install GOLDQPK11i failed due to /usr disk space error will be 106%.

How to increate /usr disk space, I should install onlineJFS first and install support plus CD?

Thanks again.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Gary:

> usr 1.2G not enough. When I wann install GOLDQPK11i failed due to /usr disk space error will be 106%. How to increate /usr disk space, I should install onlineJFS first and install support plus CD?

Yes. Be advised that the installation of either product requires a reboot, but that's what I would do rather than boot into single user mode; extend 'usr' with 'extendfs' and then perhaps reboot again.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Gary L]

Hi JRF

Thanks a lot.

Just now I boot system to single user mode via command # shutdown but I could not umount /usr due to /root occupied it. You mentioned the single user mode whehter I need reboot server and interrupt within 10sec and >bo pri >y > hp -is ? and then using:
umount /usr
/sbin/lvextend -L 4096 /dev/vg00/lvol7
/sbin/extendfs -F vxfs /dev/vg00/rlvol7
mount /usr

-G

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Gary:

Yes, interrupt the boot and use 'hpux -is /stand/vmunix' at the ISL prompt. This will place you in single-user mode and '/usr' will *not* be mounted.

Regards!

...JRF...