VGimport disks without mapfile.

[Andrew Hoffman]

I have a D230 system with HASS 8x4.3Gb disks, the boot disk died with a physical hardware fault. I have replaced the boot disk and re-installed HP-UX 11. How can I import the data on the other 7x4.3Gb disks. Do I use VGScan then VGimport, (but don't have mapfile). Suggestions required. Thanks @ndy

[A. Clay Stephenson]

I would do a vgscan -p -v. This will show you which disks comprise which of the old VG's. Next manually vgimport the disks. You really don't need a mapfile unless you need non-standard LVOL names and even then you can rename the lvol and rlvol nodes after the vgimport.

[Helen French]

Yes, you can use vgscan to check which disks are part of which VG. With the output of vgscan, determine how many VGs you need to create and then:
1) Create vg directories:
# mkdir /dev/vg_name
2) Create group file:
# mknod /dev/vg_name/group c 64 0x0?0000

The last number is the minor number and it's normally 0x01000 for vg01, 0x020000 for vg02 etc. It should be unique.
3) Now do the vgimport:
# vgimport /dev/vg_name physical_disk_paths

Specify all disks reported to be part of the same VG. eg: /dev/dsk/c0t6d1
4) Activate VG:
# vgchange -a y /dev/vg_name
5) check vgdisplay and lvdisplay outputs
6) Create mount points and mount each file system.
7) Update /etc/fstab with mount options.
8) For any file system error or details, check fsck outputs.

[Patrick Wallek]

If all 7 other disks were part of the same VG then you can do:

First create a file with your list of 7 disks:

# cat /tmp/list_disk
/dev/dsk/c1t0d0
/dev/dsk/c1t1d0
/dev/dsk/c1t2d0
/dev/dsk/c1t3d0
/dev/dsk/c1t4d0
/dev/dsk/c1t5d0
/dev/dsk/c1t6d0

Now make your VG dir and group file:

# mkdir /dev/vg01
# mknod /dev/vg01/group c 64 0x010000

Now import your VG:

# vgimport -f /tmp/list_disk -v vg01

That should do it.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

There is no need to do a 'vgscan'. The absence of an LVM mapfile is not an impediment to a successful 'vgimport'. A mapfile merely equates logical volume numbers (as represented by the minor number of their device files) to names. A mapfile can be built after-the-fact, before a 'vgimport' if desired. It would look like:

1 lvol1
2 lvol2
3 mylvol

In the absence of a mapfile, default names are used for the logical volumes (lvol1, lvol2, etc.).

To "import" your non-vg00 volume groups use 'vgimport':

# vgimport -v -m /tmp/vg01.mapfile /dev/vg01 /dev/dsk/c0t5d0 /dev/dsk/c0t7d0

Again, if you don't have, or want to make a mapfile, drop the '-m mapfile' argument from the above. Do a 'man vgimport' for more information.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Andrew Hoffman]

When I do a vgscan -p -v I get the following information giving the physical_disk_path but not the OLD VG information. Any Help

# vgscan -p -v | more
vgscan: The physical volume "/dev/dsk/c0t6d0" is already recorded in the "/etc/lvmtab" file.
Physical Volume "/dev/dsk/c2t2d0" contains no LVM information

Following Physical Volumes belong to one Volume Group.
Unable to match these Physical Volumes to a Volume Group.
Use the vgimport command to complete the process.
/dev/dsk/c0t3d0

Following Physical Volumes belong to one Volume Group.
Unable to match these Physical Volumes to a Volume Group.
Use the vgimport command to complete the process.
/dev/dsk/c0t4d0

/dev/vg00
/dev/dsk/c0t6d0

Following Physical Volumes belong to one Volume Group.
Unable to match these Physical Volumes to a Volume Group.
Use the vgimport command to complete the process.
/dev/dsk/c1t3d0

Following Physical Volumes belong to one Volume Group.
Unable to match these Physical Volumes to a Volume Group.
Use the vgimport command to complete the process.
# ev/dsk/c1t4d0

Following Physical Volumes belong to one Volume Group.
Unable to match these Physical Volumes to a Volume Group.
Use the vgimport command to complete the process.
/dev/dsk/c1t5d0

Following Physical Volumes belong to one Volume Group.
Unable to match these Physical Volumes to a Volume Group.
Use the vgimport command to complete the process.
/dev/dsk/c1t6d0

[Sridhar Bhaskarla · Accepted solution]

Hi,

You will need to know which disks belonged to which volume group before.

Your "vgscan -p -v" shows that each disk was on a seperate volume group. If it is true, then use 'vgimport' as mentioned before. If you are sure that was not the configuration, then there is a work around. For each disk do the following -

echo 0x2010?2X|adb /dev/dsk/cxtydz|awk '{print $3}'

Prepare a file mapping the disks and the corresponding above values.

For all the disks in a volume group, the above value should match. So, pick out the disks having the same value and put them in a volume group using 'vgimport'.

Once it is done, do a vgchange -a y. Mount each logical volume under the volume group and find the contents. Based on the contents, you should be able to figure out the corresponding mount point.

-Sri

[A. Clay Stephenson]

The vgscan -p -v can only reveal which PV's share a common VGID (Volume Group ID); it can't tell you that dev/dsk/c1t5d0 once belonged to to vg04, for example.

It should be able to tell you which disks sharre a common GVID and thuis should be imported as multiple PV's into a common VG. In your case, it looks like each disk was a VG.

You have just learned a valuable lesson about documenting your systems. It's always a good idea run bdf's, vgdisplay's, strings /etc/lvmtab, or the Ignite tool print_manifest and print these and store them in a safe place. It's a better idea to mirror so that this would have been absolutely trivial.

[Andrew Hoffman]

Thanks Problem resolved... I will forward your comments to the Lab Manager when get gets back from sick leave.

Many Thanks

@ndy