Using Ignite to reduce pv's in a vg.

[Tim Rotunda]

I want to use ignite to reduce my two-pv vg00 to a one-pv vg00. What I am thinking is to make_recovery and then remove one of the pv?s and then ignite back down to the single disk. The overall size is less than one pv, so I know that the system will fit on one, but I am not sure if this will work. I have done it the other way around, igniting to a bigger pv, but I have never removed a pv from a vg and ignited. The system is a D-210 running 10.20.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
TR.a

[Bill Hassell]

This willl be quite easy. You can make the recovery tape using the latest version if Igite/UX:

make_recovery -Avi -d /dev/rmt/

When you boot the recovery tape, it be in interactive recovery mode. The first window tab shows the basics, specifically, the boot disk. If this needs changing, you can change it in that first window.

Now move to the filesystems tab (use the tab key to navigate, Enter/Return to select the tab. One of the choices will take you to the volume group manu which allows you to add or delete physical volumes to vg00. In that same filesystem menu, you can readjust the size of any/all of the filesystem mountpoints, even change the type (vxfs or hfs). Note that /stand must always be hfs.

[Tim Rotunda]

Thanks for the prompt response Bill. I was under the impression that doing an interactive recovery session I lose some configuration info and thus it becomes just a faster way to cold install. I do not believe I have ever used interactive mode so I a bit unfamiliar with it. Thanks again for the help.
TR.a

[Tim Rotunda]

Well, it looks like I will not be able to get the latest version of Ignite. I am using A.1.3.8, which I do not believe has the ?i option. I am thinking that that is a option for interactive mode, but I am also thinking that I will be able to select that when I boot from tape.
Thanks for any help.
TR.a

[Tim Rotunda]

So here is another thought. Can I manually modify the /var/opt/ignite/recovery/config.recover file to suit my pv requirements and expect a successful non-interactive recovery?
Thanks for any help.
TR.a

[James R. Ferguson]

Tim

You can download the latest Ignite software from the the site below. Current documentation is also there. In about 30-minutes you can download, install and be generating a make_recovery tape:

http://www.software.hp.com/products/IUX/

...JRF...

[Tim Rotunda]

Thanks for the info James, however I am on-site and have only a lousy 26k connection. I am currently making my ignite with the two pv?s and when that is finished I will try to recover, but I worry about issue of getting it to recover the original system onto one pv.
Thanks,
TR.a

[Tim Rotunda]

So can anyone tell me exactly which files are not recovered as a result of having to do an interactive ignite recovery?
Thanks,
TR.a

[Bruce Regittko_1 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

You are correct that your version of Ignite-UX will not have the -i option but you are also correct that you can get to the interactive screens during boot. You will have a 10 second window to press any key to interupt the boot so pay attention. Also, you will probably have another 10 second warning about overwriting filesystems on the disk, which I assume you will ignore.

I have never notice an interactive ignite session not restoring all of my files although I have not tested extensively.

I am somewhat curious why you are using Ignite to reduce vg00. Since you have room on the disk you will be keeping, you could use pvmove to move the data on the second disk to the first one and the use vgreduce to remove the second, now unused disk. No reboot required and definitely much quicker.

--Bruce

[Tim Rotunda]

Thanks for the input Bruce. I don?t know why (except for plain stupidity) but I didn?t even think of using pvmove. I will try it if the ignite doesn?t work, as I am igniting to a different disk.
Thanks again,
TR.a

[Bill Hassell]

Just a note about Ignite/UX versions: I would update to the latest version at least every 6 months, perhaps more often. The latest version just appeared on the software.hp.com website last week.

The early versions of Ignite/UX assumed that an interactive restore meant that the target machine was to be 'Ignited' or have a core install. Thus, all of the files that didn't belong to a core install of HP-UX were dropped. Current versions will restore all but a few files. For example, fstab will reflect only VG00 entries, as will lvmtab. The original fstab will be copied to /var/opt/ignite/recovery. Check the man pages for make_recovery.