Recovering the VG on REHL 3 , with missing PV ,

[Shabahang]

I have a REHL 3 server with 2 pv .
The one that have OS logical volumes on it is ok and the other pv is missed.
I want to recover the OS.
how can i activate the vg and boot system?

[TwoProc]

You just need to boot a "Super Grub Disk". I've used it loads of times just for this very thing. You can download it: http://linux.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot/Super-Grub-Disk-8071.shtml

When you boot it, it will scan your disks for linux systems that are on the server, and let you just pick the one you want to run and load from a menu. From there, you can enter the desired Linux system. At that point, from within that linux system you can go about fixing up your missing disk problems however you see fit.

Good Luck!

[Shabahang]

Thnaks John,
I have checked the Super Grub Disk.
Its a nice tool , but I dont have problem with Grub. I want to activate the VG (on of the PV's is corrupted).

[Matti_Kurkela]

Hmm... RHEL 3 = Linux LVM1.

At least in Linux LVM2, the VG activation is essentially just a shortcut for activating all the LVs within the VG. If necessary, you can activate only some of the LVs of a VG by using "lvchange -a y /dev//". It's been a long time since I did anything on LVM1, but I think it worked about the same on it too.

You may have to use the RHEL 3 installation media to boot the system in rescue mode to have all the necessary tools available. Alternatively, Knoppix or any other Live-CD-type Linux distribution should work too.

Use the "lvremove /dev//" command to remove the corrupted/missing LVs. Once the missing PV has no more LVs allocated to it, you can use "vgreduce -a " to remove all empty PVs from the VG (i.e. the missing PV). After that, the VG with the remaining LVs should again activate normally at boot.

MK