minor number lock

[Arunkumar_3]

Hi,
Created a VG and running load on that (lv was mounted).
After some time I tried to log in the lv, it failed.
vgdisplay shows that the pv status as "unavailable". But I can see that disk in securepath/autopath. Ran ioscan -fn, insf -e. No use. removed /etc/lvmtab and ran a vgscan. Now the vg was vanished from lvmtab. But still the folder was in /dev. I removed the folder and tried to create a vg with the same name. I used the same minor#. Vgcreate failed. It's complainging that the minor no is used by another vg, but actually no other VG is using the minor number. I think somewhere it was locked.
Any idea where it got locked and how to resolve this?

thanks
-Arun

[RAC_1]

Remove old vg with vgexport command.
ll /dev/vg*/group. Check all minor numbers and user next one.

[Kent Ostby]

It could still be in memory.

This kind of thing can be tricky.

I would put the old lvmtab back and vgchange -a n -q n /dev/vgWhatever.

OR

You may want to try a reboot if you can do that on this box to clear the info out of memory.

[Arunkumar_3]

Kent,

We can reboot the system, but I guess that's not a right solution we can provide to customers.
Until we reboot we can't use that minor number. This also a problem.

Any idea how to break this lock and re-use the old minor number????


thanks
-Arun

[Kent Ostby]

Arun --

We're not dealing with a "normal" situation so I don't think that its a problem to ask for the reboot.

This is an "exception" where the VG has disappeared. I would agree that it should not be a "normal" thing to do.

The only other approach would be to vgchange -a y /dev/WHATEVER then vgchange -a n /dev/WHATEVER.

[Arunkumar_3]

thanks