receive error with pvcreate

[Jerry L. Sims]

Received the following error with pvcreate command:

HP-UX B.11.11 U 9000/800/N4000-75

# pvcreate /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0
pvcreate: writing LVM record: I/O error
it-hp23 [/root]# pvcreate -f /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0
pvcreate: writing LVM record: I/O error

Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
===========================================================================
disk 0 0/0/1/0.1.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HP DVD-ROM 305
/dev/dsk/c0t1d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0
disk 1 0/0/2/0.6.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HP 36.4GST336706LC
/dev/dsk/c1t6d0 /dev/rdsk/c1t6d0
disk 2 0/0/2/1.6.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HP 36.4GST336706LC
/dev/dsk/c2t6d0 /dev/rdsk/c2t6d0
disk 3 1/10/0/0.97.55.19.0.0.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE EMC SYMMETRIX
/dev/dsk/c5t0d0 /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0
disk 4 1/10/0/0.97.55.19.0.3.3 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE EMC SYMMETRIX
/dev/dsk/c5t3d3 /dev/rdsk/c5t3d3
disk 5 1/10/0/0.97.55.19.0.3.4 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE EMC SYMMETRIX
/dev/dsk/c5t3d4 /dev/rdsk/c5t3d4
disk 6 1/10/0/0.97.55.19.0.3.5 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE EMC SYMMETRIX
/dev/dsk/c5t3d5 /dev/rdsk/c5t3d5
disk 7 1/10/0/0.97.55.19.0.3.6 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE EMC SYMMETRIX
/dev/dsk/c5t3d6 /dev/rdsk/c5t3d6
disk 8 1/10/0/0.97.55.19.0.3.7 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE EMC SYMMETRIX
/dev/dsk/c5t3d7 /dev/rdsk/c5t3d7
disk 9 1/10/0/0.97.55.19.0.4.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE EMC SYMMETRIX
/dev/dsk/c5t4d0 /dev/rdsk/c5t4d0
disk 10 1/10/0/0.97.55.19.0.4.3 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE EMC SYMMETRIX
/dev/dsk/c5t4d3 /dev/rdsk/c5t4d3
disk 11 1/10/0/0.97.55.19.0.4.4 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE EMC SYMMETRIX

[Sundar_7 · Accepted solution]

dd if=/dev/rdsk/c5t0d0 of=/dev/null bs=1024k

Try the above command see if you get any error messages. If yes then I would guess the pv has gone bad or something wrong with LUN allocation.

Did you try the pvcreate with any of the other EMC volumes ?

[Jerry L. Sims]

Ok I tried another EMC drive, and it worked.
I will log a service call. Thanks.

[Michael Tully]

Hi Jerry,

You might find that /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0 is a gatekeeper device.

Do a 'diskinfo /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0' to see what the LUN size is as opposed to other devices.

Cheers
Michael

[Jerry L. Sims]

diskinfo /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0
SCSI describe of /dev/rdsk/c5t0d0:
vendor: EMC
product id: SYMMETRIX
type: direct access
size: 7680 Kbytes
bytes per sector: 512

[Michael Tully]

Jerry,

That is definitely a gatekeeper device. You can't pvcreate a gatekeeper device. These are used as a communication device only, so you can talk to your symmetrix.

Cheers
Michael

[Michael Tully]

If you haven't got it, approach EMC and get a copy of 'syminq'. It is part of the 'SYMCLI' package. It is great for managing your symmetrixes.

Here is a snipet from 'syminq' from one of my servers, showing a gatekeeper device and normal devices.

/dev/rdsk/c13t0d0 EMC SYMMETRIX 5568 75002000 7680
/dev/rdsk/c13t11d3 R1 EMC SYMMETRIX 5568 75121000 8838720
/dev/rdsk/c13t11d4 R1 EMC SYMMETRIX 5568 75122000 8838720
/dev/rdsk/c13t11d5 R1 EMC SYMMETRIX 5568 75123000 8838720