memfs mount error

[Vidir Thrainsson]

Hi

When I try to mount a MemFS file system I get
a "mount: memfs : Invalid argument" error.

#/usr/sbin/mount -F memfs -o size=1MB /memfs
mount: memfs : Invalid argument
...

Output of swlist | grep -i memfs is
MemFS B.11.23.02 Memory File System PHCO_34820 1.0 mountall(1m) support for MemFS
PHCO_36804 1.0 MemFS v2
PHKL_34816 1.0 HFS access(2) patch; MemFS Support

# uname -srvm
HP-UX B.11.23 U ia64

All help appreciated.

Vidir

[TTr]

The mount command does not recognize the "-F memfs" option. You are probably missing patches related to this. Go to the ITRC patch site and search for "memFS", many patches will come up. Check which ones you are missing from your server.

[Anka]

http://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=MemFS

>> Modified mount and umount wrappers command

The mount (/sbin/mount) and umount (/sbin/umount) wrapper commands have been modified to support MemFS v2. These are delivered as the following EP patches: PHCO_36802 and PHCO_36803

[Vidir Thrainsson]

Hi

Thanks for the suggestions.

PHCO_36802 and PHCO_36803 where already installed.

I tried the ITRC patch site and installed all the patched the search returned. The search now returns â There are no patches available that match the search criteriaâ .

The error message is still the same â mount: memfs : Invalid argumentâ .

Do you have more suggestions?

Vidir

[TTr]

Does the "enableVxFS" apply in your case? See at bottom of
http://h20392.www2.hp.com/catalog_content/product/install_page/MemFS.html

[Anka]

can you try with /sbin/mount instead of /usr/sbin/mount and give a feedback whether the problem is the same

[Deepak Kr]

syntax is correct here!!

The syntax for mounting a MemFS instance using the mount(1) command is:
# /usr/sbin/mount -F memfs [-eQV] [-o size=] directory

e.g.

# /usr/sbin/mount -F memfs -o size=100MB /memfs

[Deepak Kr]

Have a look into this:

http://h20293.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=MemFS

try mount_memfs instead

[Vidir Thrainsson]

Hi

I tried /sbin/mount and then result are the same which is not surprising since usr/sbin/mount is a link to /sbin/mount.

There is no mount_memfs command installed on the system.

I am going to install EnableVxFS and patches later today. I will post the results.
Vidir

[Vidir Thrainsson]

Hi

Installed EnableVxFS.

# /usr/sbin/mount -F memfs -o size=100MB /memfs
mount: memfs : Invalid argument
usage: mount [-l][-v|-p]
mount [-F FStype][-eQ] -a
mount [-F FStype][-eQrV][-o specific_options]
{ special | directory }
mount [-F FStype][-eQrV][-o specific_options]
special directory

Tried
# /sbin/fs/memfs/mount -F memfs -o size=1MB /memfs
mount: Cannot get memfs_bufcache_swappct

Any suggestions ?

Vidir

[TTr]

A more specific error. There are two kernel parameters that need to be setup for memfs usage. One is memfs_bufcache_swappct and the other is memfs_bufcache_metapct. Supposedly they are set to some default values. See page 17 of
http://www.docs.hp.com/en/5992-2360/5992-2360.pdf
Verify the settings and adjust the values if needed depending on your system memory and buffer cache settings.

[TTr]

The memfs kernel parameters should be already set to default values when MemFS was installed. They are based on buffer cache settings which leads to: Do you have buffer cache enabled on this server and is buffer cache more than 100MB (maybe 200MB minimum) so that the 100MB that you are trying to allocate to memfs is available?

Also try leaving out the "-o size" option to see what happens.

[Vidir Thrainsson]

Hi

# kctune | grep memfs
memfs_bufcache_metapct 10 Default
memfs_bufcache_swappct 50 50
memfs_instances 64 Default

# kctune bufpages
Tunable Value Expression
bufpages 0 Default

# kctune dbc_min_pct
Tunable Value Expression Changes
dbc_min_pct 2 2 Immed

# kctune dbc_max_pct
Tunable Value Expression Changes
dbc_max_pct 3 3 Immed

# kctune nbuf
Tunable Value Expression
nbuf 0 Default


Same error message when mounting with or without â o size=1MB .

You should know that I have little HP-UX experience. So you may want to use specific commands/settings/suggestions suitable for someone with little HP-UX knowledge.


Vidir

[TTr]

You are using dynamic buffer cache. The min is set to 2 and the max to 3. So buffer cache is 2-3% of your physical memory. How much physical memory do you have? Maybe be 2-3% of your physical memory does not amount to enough for memfs. There is no mention of any limits in memfs but it is possible you may be hitting a low limit on the memory size that is being allocated to memfs. You may want to increase the dbc_max_pct. For example if you have 1GB of memory, buffer cache is 20-30MB. So memfs has to play in the 30MB range and maybe that's below the minimum allowable value for memfs.

Other than that you have followed all the steps correctly, maybe something went wrong on the way. Check if all patches are installed correctly.
"swlist -a state -l fileset" All must show as "configured".
Go througheach step in http://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=MemFS
and qualify each step specially the "modified buffer cache and ufs" section.

[Vidir Thrainsson]

Hi

Memory Information:
physical page size = 4096 bytes,
logical page size = 4096 bytes
Physical: 6285664 Kbytes,
lockable: 4655744 Kbytes,
available: 5380092 Kbytes


PHKL_36999 and PHKL_37000 are not installed but where not recommended on the ITRC patch site when I used MemFS in the keyword search.
Should I try to install them ?


swverify MemFS
...
* Verification succeeded.
...

swlist -a state -l fileset
...
# MemoryFSKern
MemoryFSKern.MEMFS-KRN installed
MemoryFSKern.MEMFS-KRN-MAN configured

What is the best way to change the status of MemoryFSKern.MEMFS-KRN from installed to configured ?

Vidir

[TTr]

Is it only the fileset that shows up as in the installed state?
You should run "swconfig MemoryFSKern.MEMFS-KRN" or "swconfig \*" to do them all. It may reboot your server since it is a kernel fileset.

[TTr]

The two patches did come up in the ITRC patch database search. But they were superceeded by PHKL_38598 and PHKL_38599 respectively. So if you installed the PHKL_38598 and PHKL_38599 ones you don't need to install the other two,they are already accounted for.

[Vidir Thrainsson]

Hi

Only MemoryFSKern.MEMFS-KRN was installed. All other where configured.

PHKL_38598 and PHKL_38599 are installed.

I ran "swconfig MemoryFSKern.MEMFS-KRN" and tried the mount and it failed with the same error message.
I ran "swconfig \*" and tried the mount and it failed with the same error message.
I rebooted and tried the mount and it failed with the same error message.

# /usr/sbin/mount -F memfs -o size=1MB /memfs
mount: memfs : Invalid argument
usage: mount [-l][-v|-p]
...

Vidir

[TTr]

Did the status of MemoryFSKern.MEMFS-KRN change to "configured"? If it did not, there is no point in trying to mount. Something went wrong in the original MemFS installation. You could check the swagent.log, swagentd.log and swinstall.log in /var/adm/sw. You may also consider removing the MemFS product alltogether and reinstalling it.

[Vidir Thrainsson]

Hi

Forgot the mention it.
The status changed to configured.

#swlist -a state -l fileset
...
MemoryFSCmd.MEMFS-CMD configured
MemoryFSCmd.MEMFS-CMD-MAN configured
MemoryFSKern.MEMFS-KRN configured
MemoryFSKern.MEMFS-KRN-MAN configured
...

Should I reinstall MemFS or look at the logs first ?

Vidir