Unix Administration

Guidelines for configuring storage A disk failure can cause loss of data on the failed disk and loss of access to your system. Loss of access is due to the failure of a key disk used for system operations. Veritas Volume Manager can protect your system from these problems. To maintain system availability, data important to running and booting your system must be mirrored. The data must be preserved so it can be used in case of failure. The following are suggestions for protecting your system and data: Perform regular backups to protect your data. Backups are necessary if all copies of a volume are lost or corrupted. Power surges can damage several (or all) disks on your system. Also, typing a command in error can remove critical files or damage a file system directly. Performing regular backups ensures that lost or corrupted data is available to be retrieved. Place the disk containing the root file system (the root or boot disk) under Veritas Volume Manager con...

Migrating to thin provisioning The SmartMove™ feature enables migration from a traditional LUN to a thinly provisioned LUN, removing unused space in the process. To migrate to thin provisioning Turn on the SmartMove feature. Edit the file /etc/default/vxsf so that the variable usefssmartmove=all . Add the new, thin LUN to the existing disk group: # vxdisksetup -i THINARRAY0_02 # vxdg -g datadg adddisk THINARRAY0_02 Add the new, thin LUN as a new plex to the volume. NOTE: The file system must be mounted to get the benefits of the SmartMove feature. The following methods are available to add the LUN: Use the default settings: # vxassist -g datadg mirror datavol THINARRAY0_02 Use the options for fast completion. The following command has more I/O impact. # vxassist -b -oiosize=1m -t thinmig -g datadg mirror \ datavol THINARRAY0_02 # vxtask monitor thinmig Use the options for minimal impact. The following command takes longer to complete: # vx...

Removing a VxVM volume from a non-global zone The following procedure removes a VxVM volume from a non-global zone. To remove a VxVM volume from a non-global zone Remove the volume device vol3 from the non-global zone myzone : global# zonecfg -z myzone zonecfg:myzone> remove device match=/dev/vx/rdsk/pddg/vol3 zonecfg:myzone> end zonecfg:myzone> commit

Exporting VxVM volumes to a non-global zone A volume device node can be exported for use in non-global zone using the zonecfg command. The following procedure makes a volume vol1 available in the non-global zone myzone . Caution: Exporting raw volumes to non-global zones has implicit security risks. It is possible for the zone administrator to create malformed file systems that could later panic the system when a mount is attempted. Directly writing to raw volumes, exported to non-global zones, and using utilities such as dd can lead to data corruption in certain scenarios. To export VxVM volumes to a non-global zone Create a volume vol1 in the global zone: global# ls -l /dev/vx/rdsk/rootdg/vol1 crw------- 1 root root 301, 102000 Jun 3 12:54 /dev/vx/rdsk/rootdg/vol1crw------- 1 root sys 301, 10200 0 Jun 3 12:54 /devices/pseudo/vxio@0:rootdg,vol1,102000,raw Add the volume device vol1 to the non-global zone myzone : ...

Veritas extension for Oracle Disk Manager The Veritas extension for Oracle Disk Manager (ODM) is specifically designed for Oracle9i or later to enhance file management and disk I/O throughput. The features of Oracle Disk Manager are best suited for databases that reside in a file system contained in Veritas File System. Oracle Disk Manager allows Oracle9i or later users to improve database throughput for I/O intensive workloads with special I/O optimization. The Veritas extension for Oracle Disk Manager is supported in non-global zones. To run Oracle 10g on a non-global zone and use Oracle Disk Manager, the Oracle software version must be 10.1.0.3 or higher. The following procedure enables Oracle Disk Manager file access from non-global zones with Veritas File System. To enable Oracle Disk Manager file access from non-global zones with Veritas File System Make global zone licenses visible to the non-global zone by exporting the /etc/vx/licenses/lic directory to ...

Adding VxFS file systems to a non-global zone VxFS file systems that were previously created in the global zone can be made available in the non-global zone using a loopback file system mount. This functionality is especially useful when the sole purpose of making the file system available in the non-global zone is to share access of this file system with one or more non-global zones. For example, if a configuration file is available in a particular file system and this configuration file is required by the non-global zone, then the file system can be shared with the non-global zone using a loopback file system mount. The following commands share access of file system /mnt1 as a loopback file system mount with the non-global zone myzone : global# zonecfg -z myzone zonecfg:myzone> add fs zonecfg:myzone:fs> set dir=/mnt1 zonecfg:myzone:fs> set special=/mnt1 zonecfg:myzone:fs> set type=lofs zonecfg:myzone:fs> end zonecfg:myzone> commit ...

Table: Section 1M manual pages Name Description vxapslice Manage an area of disk for use by an Alternate Pathing database. vxassist Create, relayout, convert, mirror, backup, grow, shrink, delete, and move volumes. vxbootsetup Set up system boot information on a Veritas Volume Manager disk. vxcache Administer the cache object for space-optimized snapshots. vxcached Resize cache volumes when required. vxcdsconvert Make disks and disk groups portable between systems. vxclustadm Start, stop, and reconfigure a cluster. vxcmdlog Administer command logging. vxconfigbackup Back up disk group configuration. vxconfigbackupd Disk group configuration backup daemon. vxconfigd Veritas Volume Manager configuration daemon vxconfigrestore Restore disk group configuration. vxdarestore Restore simple or nopriv disk access records. vxdco Perform operations on version 0 DCO objects and DCO volumes. vxdctl Control the volume configurat...

About Veritas Volume Manager commands Most Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM) commands (excepting daemons, library commands and supporting scripts) are linked to the /usr/sbin directory from the /opt/VRTS/bin directory. It is recommended that you add the following directories to your PATH environment variable: If you are using the Bourne or Korn shell ( sh or ksh ), use the commands: $ PATH=$PATH:/usr/sbin:/opt/VRTS/bin:/opt/VRTSvxfs/sbin:\ /opt/VRTSdbed/bin:/opt/VRTSdb2ed/bin:/opt/VRTSsybed/bin:\ /opt/VRTSob/bin $ MANPATH=/usr/share/man:/opt/VRTS/man:$MANPATH $ export PATH MANPATH If you are using a C shell ( csh or tcsh ), use the commands: % set path = ( $path /usr/sbin /opt/VRTSvxfs/sbin \ /opt/VRTSdbed/bin /opt/VRTSdb2ed/bin /opt/VRTSsybed/bin \ /opt/VRTSob/bin /opt/VRTS/bin ) % setenv MANPATH /usr/share/man:/opt/VRTS/man:$MANPATH Note: If you have not installed database software, you can omit /opt/VRTSdbed/bin , /opt/VRTSdb2ed/bin and /opt/VRTSsy...