vxdctl(1M)

Synopsis

Description

A key part of the state of vxconfigd and of bootstrapping the rootdg disk group is the volboot file. This file contains a host ID that is used by the Volume Manager to establish ownership of physical disks. This host ID is used to ensure that two or more hosts that can access disks on a shared SCSI bus will not interfere with each other in their use of those disks. This host ID is also important in the generation of some unique ID strings that are used internally by the Volume Manager for stamping disks and disk groups.

The volboot file also contains a list of disks to scan in search of the rootdg disk group. At least one disk in this list must be both readable and a part of the rootdg disk group, or the Volume Manager will not be able to start up correctly.

vxconfigd operates in one of three modes: enabled, disabled, or booted. The enabled state is the normal operating state. Most configuration operations are allowed in the enabled state. Entering the enabled state imports all disk groups, and begins the management of device nodes stored in the /dev/vx/dsk and /dev/vx/rdsk directories.

In the disabled state, vxconfigd does not retain configuration information for the imported disk groups, and does not maintain the volume and plex device directories. Most operations are disallowed in the disabled state. Certain failures, most commonly the loss of all disks or configuration copies in the rootdg disk group, will cause vxconfigd to enter the disabled state automatically.

The booted state is entered as part of normal system startup, prior to checking the root file system [see fsck(1M)]. Entering the booted mode imports the rootdg disk group, and then waits for a request to enter the enabled mode. The volume and plex device node directories are not maintained in booted mode, because it may not be possible to write to the root file system.

The action performed by vxdctl depends upon the keyword specified as the first operand. Supported operations are:

vxdctl init

Reinitialize the volboot file with a new host ID, and with an empty list of disks. If a hostid operand is specified, then this string is used; otherwise, a default host ID is used. The default host ID is normally taken as the network node name for the host (see uname(1M)). On systems with a hardware-defined system ID, the default host ID might be derived from this hardware ID.

vxdctl hostid

Change the host ID in the volboot file and on all disks in disk groups currently imported on this machine. It may be desirable to change the Volume Manager host ID for your machine if you are also changing the network node name of your machine.

If some disks are inaccessible at the time of a hostid operation, it may be necessary to use the vxdiskclearimport operation to clear out the old host ID on those disks when they become reaccessible. Otherwise, you may not be able to re-add those disks to their disk groups.

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NOTE: Some care should be taken when using this command. If the system crashes before the hostid operation completes, some disk groups may not reimport automatically.

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vxdctl add disk

Add to the list of disks in the volboot file. Disks are specified based on their disk access name. This name identifies the physical address of the disk. For example, to add disk 0 at SCSI target 1 on SCSI controller 0, you might use the command:

	vxdctl add disk c0b0t1d0 

This will add the disk c0b0t1d0s0. The s0 part is assumed. If a disk with another slice is to be added, the slice will have to be specified as in:

	vxdctl add disk c0b0t1d0s3

If there is a disk access record in the rootdg configuration for the named disk, then configuration parameters are taken from that record. Otherwise, it may be necessary to specify some attributes to vxdctl add disk.

vxdctl rm disk

Remove one or more disks from the volboot file. Disks are specified based on the name used in the corresponding vxdctladddisk operation.

vxdctl list

List the contents of the volboot file. This list includes the host ID, some sequence numbers, and the list of disks and disk attributes stored in the volboot file.

vxdctl enable

Request that vxconfigd enter enabled mode, import all disk groups, and rebuild the volume and plex device node directories. This operation can be used even if vxconfigd is already in enabled mode. The primary purpose for using this operation when in enabled mode is to rebuild the volume and plex device nodes. This operation will also cause vxconfigd to scan for any disks that were newly added since vxconfigd was last started. In this manner, disks can be dynamically configured to the system and then recognized by the Volume Manager.

vxdctl disable

Request that vxconfigd enter disabled mode. This may be necessary to perform some maintenance operations. This does not disable any configuration state loaded into the kernel. It only prevents further configuration changes to loaded disk groups until vxconfigd is re-enabled.

vxdctl stop

Request that vxconfigd exit. This may be necessary to reset the Volume Manager, such as using the -r reset option to vxconfigd. This does not disable any configuration state loaded into the kernel. It only affects the ability to make configuration changes until vxconfigd is restarted. If the -k option is used vxconfigd will be stopped by sending it a SIGKILL signal. The command will delay for up to 1 second to verify that vxconfigd has exited. After 1 second if vxconfigd has not exited an error will be returned.

vxdctl mode

Print the current operating mode of vxconfigd. The output format is:

	mode: operating_mode 

where operating_mode is either enabled, disabled, booted, or not-running.

vxdctl license [init]

With an argument of init, request that vxconfigd re-read any persistently stored license information. If licenses have expired, then this may cause some features to become unavailable. If new licenses have been added, this will make the features defined in those licenses available.

With no arguments, vxdctl license prints the list of features which are currently available based on known licensing information.

References