vgscan error : Unable to scan "Physical volumes" on system

[Manas Ranjan Patra]

Hi,
I'm using hp-ux ia64 , which is connected to 2 storage arrays. I'm trying to create /etc/lvmtab file using command "vgscan" . Following is the error i'm getting..
# vgscan -v
vgscan: Couldn't access the list of physical volumes for volume group "/dev/vg00".
vgscan: Couldn't access the list of physical volumes for volume group "/dev/VGpkg01".
...
..
Unable to scan "Physical volumes" on system

I checked all the physical connections its all ok. follwoing is the output from ioscan
# ioscan -nfC disk
Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
==========================================================================
disk 0 0/0/2/0.0.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HP 73.4GST373453LC
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0 /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s2 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s2
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s1 /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s1 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s3
disk 1 0/0/2/0.2.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HP 73.4GST373453LC
/dev/dsk/c0t2d0 /dev/dsk/c0t2d0s2 /dev/rdsk/c0t2d0 /dev/rdsk/c0t2d0s2
/dev/dsk/c0t2d0s1 /dev/dsk/c0t2d0s3 /dev/rdsk/c0t2d0s1 /dev/rdsk/c0t2d0s3
disk 2 0/0/2/1.3.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE HP DVD-ROM 305
/dev/dsk/c1t3d0 /dev/rdsk/c1t3d0
disk 145 0/4/2/0.1.1.0.0.0.1 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE COMPAQ HSV111 (C)COMPAQ
/dev/dsk/c50t0d1 /dev/rdsk/c50t0d1
disk 146 0/4/2/0.1.1.0.0.0.2 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE COMPAQ HSV111 (C)COMPAQ
.....
...
Any idea , why vgscan is failing ?

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

Perhaps because the two disks are compaq disks and this is not supported by the OS. Not sure, never seen a compaq disk on ioscan, maybe these are new.

strings /etc/lvmtab

perhaps:

mv /etc/lvmtab /etc/lvmtab.save

vgscan -a

SEP

[Torsten.]

The compaq hsv device is a EVA5k.

What gives vgscan -v -p ?

[Manas Ranjan Patra]

# vgscan -v -p
vgscan: Couldn't access the list of physical volumes for volume group "/dev/vg00".
vgscan: Couldn't access the list of physical volumes for volume group "/dev/VGpkg01".
vgscan: Couldn't access the list of physical volumes for volume group "/dev/VGpkg02".
vgscan: Couldn't access the list of physical volumes for volume group "/dev/VGpkg03".
....
...
..
vgscan: Couldn't access the list of physical volumes for volume group "/dev/VGpkg19".
vgscan: Couldn't access the list of physical volumes for volume group "/dev/VGpkg20".
Unable to scan "Physical volumes" on system

[Torsten.]

Did you remove /etc/lvmtab?

The "Couldn't access the list ..." message is normal if there is no lvmtab file.

How does this file look after vgscan?

strings /etc/lvmtab

[Manas Ranjan Patra]

Hi Torsten,
Yeah!! the file /etc/lvmtab got deleted accidently. Thats why i'm trying to create a new /etc/lvmtab file using vgscan.

after a vgscan , file /etc/lvmtab is having following info only..
--------------------
# cat /etc/lvmtab
⠥Φ#
--------------------
# strings /etc/lvmtab is showing nothing.

Any pointer how to populate the /etc/lvmtab file with vg informations ?

Or, any work-arround to recreate the correct /etc/lvmtab file ?

[Sandman!]

What is the output of vgdisplay on any one of those VGs and post it here:

# vgdisplay -v VGpkg20

[tkc]

hi,

just restore your /etc/lvmtab file from the backup. the vgscan -v command is suppose to help you restore the file /etc/lvmtab. another thing to check is whether your system is patched with the latest lvm patch.

[Sameer_Nirmal]

What LVM commands patch is installed on this server?

Take a look at the latest LVM commands patch at
http://www1.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/patchDocDisplay.do?patchId=pdb_na-PHCO_35524-1

where there are 2 bugs/issues mentioned/reported related to the error " Unable to scan "Physical volumes" on system " and their fix.

1. SR:8606450128 CR:JAGag07221 )
On Itanium(R)-based systems installed with LVM commands
patch PHCO_34421, vgscan and vgimport commands fail with
the below error message whenever the first disk in the
system contains no HPUX partition.
"Unable to scan Physical volumes on system"

2. ( SR:8606397516 CR:JAGaf57498 )
On systems with more than 8160 physical volumes,
vgimport(1M) and vgscan(1M) fail with the following error
message:
"Unable to scan Physical Volumes on system"

Verify which one is applicable to this system. You may need to install this latest patch PHCO_35524.

[Manas Ranjan Patra]

Thanks Nirmal for the input.
Just curious to know if the LVM patch is sensitive to the SAN zone configuration ? As i was working with this server before, without any issue and after getting this server into another zone , its giving this kind of issue.