server config

[Jennifer Young_1]

say i have 2 servers, their hardware is not identical but close. i want to build a new disk system for the production server without bringing it down. can i connect the disk systems to the development server, do all my configurations and when im done, just conncect it to the production server? if this works, then i can leave the production server running while i am building a new disk system for it. thanks for any replies.

[Ron Irving]

Jennifer,
As near as I can figure, as long as you're running 'online jfs', you should be good to go, but don't let this be "your final answer". I'm sure some of the other genius's will be able to confirm/deny this for you.

Good luck!!

ron

[Edward Alfert_2 · Accepted solution]

only if both are similar enough.

for example.. I have 3 similar systems but on 2 are similar enough

D210
D350
D390

Even though all three are D class, the hardware paths are different between the 200 and 300 series.

I originally had the D210 but had to install the os from scratch when i got the D390... I then bought a D350 (as a backup/test system) and i am able to simply move the harddrives from the D390 to the D350 and turn it on. It boot successfully. All the internal cards are the same and they are plugged into the same slots.

What two systems do you have?

[Alan Riggs]

Not sure what you mean by new disk systems, but I think what you want is vgexport/vgimport.

Connect disks to DEV.
Build VG/lvol/fs on disks.
vgexport -m mapfile each VG
copy mapfile to PROD
connect disks to PROD
ioscan to identify disks.
insf (if necessary) to build device files for disks.
vgimport -m mapfile

[Jennifer Young_1]

thanks for the replies.
i have 2 k460's, im mainly worried about the hardware having different addresses, for example, the DLT having different device files on the development system, and then screwing up omniback on the production server if it assigns the DLT a different address. stuff like that. i am not sure that if i have the hardware connected to the same scsi ports on both machines, then the os will always assign the same device files and hardware addresses. i guess thats what im mostly confused about.

[Jennifer Young_1]

alan, sorry i was not clear about that, but i am currently using HAAS units and i am moving to HVD10's and i do not want to keep the configuration of the old vg's, just some of the data. i want to build a new os and filesystems on the hvd10's on a different machine than they are destined for and wondering if its possible

[Edward Alfert_2]

it will assign the same if it is connected to the same scsi port and the device (tape backup unit) has the same scsi id.. you can manually set that on the device. look for that number (usually dip switches) and see if they are the same on both units.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Jennifer:

I'm not totally clear as to why you want to build your disk (filesystem?) on one server and then move it to another. This can be done dynamically with the system "up". If populating a filesystem is particularly long and resource intensive, then yes, I can understand your rationale.

In this case, as Alan has noted, 'vgexport' and 'vgimport' are designed to pass disks between servers. You do not have to worry about different device files. Specifying the pv_path(s) and using the mapfile option to maintain logical volume naming is all part of the 'vgexport'/vgimport' process.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Jennifer Young_1]

thanks again for all your replies. basically what i have is 4 HAAS units with 10.20. i want to install 11i onto the new hvd10's i just got. but i cant really take down the system as i please. so i wanted to do all this on a development server, and move it to the production server when finished, by unplugging the haas units and replacing them with the hvd10s having the new os and filesystems.
james, please explain how i can do this with the system up. i dont believe i could in the first place because i don't have enough free scsi ports. again, i have no use for vgimport or vgexport because i am building new vgs.