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Custom Reports Using Data Collectors

VxVM Volume Manager Snapshot/SmartMove corruption

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks for the use of instant snapshots and SmartMove. Data corruption can occur with Storage Foundation 5.1 when you use instant snapshots and SmartMove with certain combinations of I/O and administrative operations.


Check procedure:

  • Checks if VRTSvxvm package version is 5.1.
  • Checks if SmartMove is enabled.
  • Detects whether any full-sized or space-optimized instant snapshots exists in any of the disk groups.
  • Checks whether the volumes which have instant snapshots discovered have File System (VxFS) on them, either mounted or unmounted.


Check recommendation: If you plan to use instant snapshots (either full-sized or space-optimized), turn off SmartMove. Enter:

# vxdefault set usefssmartmove none

Do one of the following:

  • Verify if SmartMove is disabled. Enter:

    # vxdefault list usefssmartmove

  • Upgrade to Storage Foundation 5.1SP1 or higher, which fixes the issue.


Learn More...

About SmartMove

VxVM configuration backup daemon state

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks whether the vxconfigbackupd daemon is running on the system.


Check procedure:

  • Checks whether the vxconfigbackupd daemon is running on the system.


Check recommendation: It is recommended that you start the vxconfigbackupd daemon. The vxconfigbackupd daemon monitors changes to the disk group configuration in Volume Manager (VxVM), and stores any output in the configuration directory. This assists in recovering lost or corrupt disk groups/volumes when there are no backup copies of their configuration. Restart the vxconfigbackupd by running the following command: # /etc/vx/bin/vxconfigbackupd &


Learn More...

About vxconfigbackupd daemon
vxconfigbackupd: manual page

VCS disks

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks whether all the disks in the VxVM disk group are visible on the cluster node.


Check procedure:

  • Fetches all the disk groups configured on the target cluster nodes
  • Discovers all the disks in the disk group.


Check recommendation: Make sure that all VxVM disks have been discovered. Do the following:
1. Run an operating system-specific disk discovery command such as lsdev (AIX), ioscan (HP-UX), fdisk (Linux), or format or devfsadm (Solaris).
2. Run vxdctl enable.
# vxdctl enable.



VCS VxVM license

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks for valid Volume Manager (VxVM) licenses on the cluster systems.


Check procedure:

  • Uses the vxlicrep command to verify whether a valid Volume Manager (VxVM) license exists on the target cluster system.


Check recommendation: Use the /opt/VRTS/bin/vxlicinst utility to install a valid VxVM license key.



VCS disk UDID comparison

Check category: Availability


Check description: On the local system where the DiskGroup resource is offline, it checks whether the unique disk identifiers (UDIDs) for the disks match those on the online systems.


Check procedure:

  • Determines the UDID of the disks in the disk group on the local cluster system and system where the disk group is online.
  • Checks whether the discovered UDIDs of the disks match.


Check recommendation: Make sure that the UDIDs for the disks on the cluster nodes match. To find the UDID for a disk, enter the following command:
# vxdisk -s list disk_name.
Note: The check does not handle SRDF replication. In case of SRDF replication, user should make use of 'clearclone=1' attribute (SFHA 6.0.5 onwards) which will clear the clone flag and update the disk UDID.



VCS VxVM components

Check category: Availability


Check description: Verifies that all the disks in the disk group in a campus cluster have site names. Also verifies that all volumes on the disk group have the same number of plexes on each site in the campus cluster.


Check procedure:

  • Verifies whether the disk group has the proper campus cluster configuration.
  • Verifies whether the disk group is online anywhere in the cluster.
  • Fetches the plex and volume information of all the disk group resources that are configured on target cluster systems.
  • Verify that the plexes and volumes are the same on all sites of the campus cluster.


Check recommendation: Make sure that the site name is added to each disk in a disk group. To verify the site name, enter the following command:
# vxdisk -s list disk_name
On each site in the campus cluster, make sure that all volumes on the disk group have the same number of plexes. To verify the plex and subdisk information of a volume created on a disk group, enter the following command:
# vxprint -g disk_group.



VCS disk connectivity

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks whether all the disks are visible to all the nodes in a cluster.


Check procedure:

  • Fetches the shared disks configured for the cluster systems.
  • Validates that the shared storage is visible for all the cluster systems.


Check recommendation: Make sure that all the disks are connected to all the nodes in a cluster. Run operating system-specific disk discovery commands such as lsdev (AIX), ioscan (HP-UX), fdisk (Linux) or devfsadm (Solaris).

If the disks are not visible, connect the disks to the nodes.



VCS duplicate disk group name

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks whether duplicate disk groups are configured on the specified nodes.


Check procedure:

  • Fetches the disk group names configured for the cluster systems.
  • Verifies that the disk groups on a particular target cluster system are unique and no duplicate disk group names are configured.


Check recommendation: To facilitate successful failover, make sure that there is only one disk group name configured for the specified node. To list the disk groups on a system, enter the following command:

# vxdg list



Missing Array Support Library (ASL)

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks for a missing Array Support Library (ASL) for the disk array connected to the system.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the connected disk array on the system.
  • Checks whether the required ASL for the disk array is installed on the system.


Check recommendation: It is recommended that you install the missing ASL for the connected disk array on the system.



Boot volumes completion

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks the completeness of boot volumes, and verifies that the plex size is at least equal to the volume size.


Check procedure:

  • Determines the boot disk group that is present on the system.
  • Obtains the list of volumes residing in the boot disk group.
  • Checks whether the plex size of the volumes in the boot disk group is equal to the volume size.


Check recommendation: Fix the boot configuration for the boot volumes that are present on the system boot disk group; the volume size should not be greater than the plex size.



CDS disk data corruption

Check category: Availability


Check description: Data corruption may occur on Cross-platform Data Sharing(CDS) disks in SFHA versions prior to 5.1SP1 when backup labels get written to the user data block location on the disk.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the CDS disks attached to the system.
  • For each CDS disk get the backup label information.
  • Checks whether the CDS disk is susceptible to data corruption.


Check recommendation: Please refer to the technote in the documents section for the set of recommendations.


Learn More...

Refer to technote for more information:

Concat volumes with multiple disks

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks for non-mirrored concatenated volumes consisting of multiple disks.


Check procedure:

  • Generates a list of the non-mirrored concatenated volumes on the system.
  • Checks whether the concatenated volumes consist of multiple disks.


Check recommendation: It is recommended that you mirror the concatenated volumes. That way, if one of the disks in the volume fails, you will not lose the volume.


Learn More...

Adding a mirror to a volume
Creating a concatenated-mirror volume
Creating a mirrored-concatenated volume

Concat volumes across disk arrays

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks for concat volumes whose LUNs span two or more disk arrays.


Check procedure:

  • Generates a list of the concatenated volumes on the system.
  • Checks whether the subdisks that constitute the concatenated volume are coming from different storage array ports and enclosures.


Check recommendation: Reconfigure the volume(s) so that all LUNs on the volume are exported by a single storage array. When a concat volume's component LUNs span two or more arrays, failure of any one array brings the entire volume offline. Therefore, it is recommended that all LUNs in a concatenated volume be exported from one array.

The high-level procedure is as follows:

1. Decide on which array you want the volume to reside (referred hereafter as Array1).

2. Identify and record the name and size of the LUN(s) to be replaced, that is, those LUN(s) exported by arrays other than Array1.

3. Export new, or unused existing, LUN(s) to the server from Array1. Each LUN will typically be the same size and redundancy as the LUN to be replaced.

4. Initialize those LUNs as VxVM disks, typically with the <font face='courier'>vxdisksetup command.

5. Use the <font face='courier'>vxdg adddisk command to add those VxVM disks to the diskgroup.

6. Use the <font face='courier'>vxconfigbackup command to backup the diskgroup configuration.

7. Use the <font face='courier'>vxsd mv command to move contents of the old LUN onto the new LUN. This command operates online while the volume is active and in-use.

8. Optionally, remove the replaced LUN(s) from the diskgroup.


Learn More...

vxdisksetup: man page
vxdg: man page
vxconfigbackup: man page
vxsd: man page

Encapsulated SAN boot disk

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks whether the disk arrays on which the boot disks reside are listed in the hardware compatibility list (HCL) as supported for storage area network (SAN) bootability. Note: This check is only performed on Linux and Solaris systems.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the boot disk group present in the system.
  • Gets the list of disks in the boot disk group.
  • Identifies the disk array the disks in the boot disk group belong to.
  • Verifies in the HCL whether the disk array supports SAN bootability.


Check recommendation: Disks in the boot disk group do not support SAN bootability. The disk arrays where disks in a disk group reside, should support SAN bootability. The disk arrays should be listed in the HCL as supporting SAN bootability.



Mirrored volumes with a single disk array

Check category: Availability


Check description: Verifies whether mirroring is done with disks coming from a single disk array.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies all the mirrored volumes present on the system.
  • Verifies whether the subdisks that constitute the mirrored volume are coming from different enclosures.
  • In the case of layered volumes (concat-mirror/stripe-mirror), this check verifies the sub-volumes.


Check recommendation: Ensure that the mirror copies are placed across storage enclosures; to do so,move the subdisks in one data plex to subdisks in a different enclosure using the following command:

# vxsd mv <old sub-disk> <new sub-disk>

This arrangement ensures continued availability of the volume if either of the enclosures becomes unavailable.


Learn More...

How to create mirrors across enclosures?
vxassist: manual page

HBA controller state

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks whether the system has any disabled HBA controllers.


Check procedure:

  • Discovers all the HBA controllers that are present on the system.
  • Identifies any disabled HBA controllers.


Check recommendation: Enable all the disabled HBA controllers on the system.


Learn More...

Displaying information about I/O controllers
Enabling I/O controllers

VxVM Volume Manager disk error

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks for VxVM Volume Manager disks in error state.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the disks under the control of the VxVM Volume Manager.
  • Checks whether any of the disks are in an error state.


Check recommendation: Inspect the hardware configuration to confirm that the hardware is functional and configured properly.


Learn More...

Displaying disk information
Taking a disk offline
Removing and replacing disks
Disks under VxVM control
Adding a disk to VxVM
Enabling a disk

Hot relocation daemon state

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks whether the hot-relocation daemon is running on the system and whether any disks in the disk group are marked as spare disks. The check will pass if there are no spare disks irrespective of the vxrelocd daemon state.


Check procedure:

  • Verifies whether the vxrelocd daemon is running on the system.
  • For each disk group on the system, verifies whether at least one disk in the disk group is marked as a spare disk.


Check recommendation: The hot relocation feature increases the overall availability in case of disk failures. You may either keep hot relocation turned on to take advantage of this functionality, or turn it off. Recommendations are:

Case 1: The spare flag is set to ON for at least one disk in the disk group and vxrelocd is not running: it is recommended to switch on the vxrelocd daemon on the system. In case of disk failure, the hot relocation feature can then try to use the disks marked as spare.

Case 2: The spare flag set ON for at least one disk in the disk group and vxrelocd is running: In case of disk failure, hot relocation may occur.

You can start vxrelocd using following command.
#nohup vxrelocd root


Learn More...

What is hot relocation?
How hot relocation works?
Displaying spare disk information

Mirrored volumes with no mirrored DRL

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks for mirrored volumes that do not have a mirrored Dirty Region Log (DRL).


Check procedure:

  • Identifies any mirrored volumes present on the system that are larger than the configurable threshold size on the system.
  • Checks whether the identified volumes have a mirrored DRL.


Check recommendation: Ensure that you mirror the DRL for faster read operation during recovery after a disk failure. A mirrored DRL also ensures availability of the DRL if the disk fails where the DRL resides.


Learn More...

How to create a Volume with DRL enabled
Adding traditional DRL logging to a mirrored volume
Determining if DRL is enabled in a volume
Disabling and re-enabling DRL

Mirrored volumes with single disk controller

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks for mirrored volumes whose plexes (mirrors) are on the same disk controllers.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the mirrored volumes on the system.
  • For each mirrored volume, identifies the present subdisks and the disk controller through which it is visible.
  • Checks whether the volume is mirrored across different disk controllers.


Check recommendation: The mirrored volumes are not mirrored across controllers. A single controller failure compromises the volume. Create a plex (mirror) on a different controller. Attach the new plex to the volume (for a total of three plexes). Detach one of the two original plexes.


Learn More...

How to create mirrors across controllers
vxassist : manual page

Package Consistency

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks that packages installed across all the nodes in a cluster are consistent


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the packages installed on all the nodess in a cluster.
  • Verifies that the package installed and its version are consistent across all the nodes in the cluster.


Check recommendation: Ensure that packages installed on all the nodes in a cluster are consistent and package versions are identical. Inconsistent packages can cause errors in application fail-over.



RAID-5 volumes with unmirrored log

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks for large RAID-5 volumes with size greater than !param!HC_CHK_RAID5_LOG_VOL_SIZE!/param! (set in sortdc.conf), that do not have mirrored RAID-5 logs.


Check procedure:

  • Checks whether Volume Manager is installed on the system.
  • Retrieves all the RAID-5 volumes on the system larger than the threshold size defined in the sortdc configuration file.
  • Verifies whether the large RAID-5 volumes have mirrored logs.


Check recommendation: It is recommended to create a mirrored RAID-5 log for each large RAID-5 volume. A mirror of the RAID-5 log protects against loss of log information due to disk failure.


Learn More...

Creating RAID-5 Volumes
Adding a RAID-5 Log

Root mirror validity

Check category: Availability


Check description: Checks to see that the root mirrors are set up correctly.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the root volumes of the boot disk group present on the system.
  • Checks whether the root volumes are mirrored.
  • Verifies that the root volumes are not spanned across subdisks and are at the same level of redundancy.
  • Verifies whether boot diskgroup has a ghost subdisk present on Solaris platform if atleast one partition spans sector zero.


Check recommendation: The root volumes of the boot disk group are not mirrored properly. It is recommended that you fix the mirroring of the root disk.



Volume Manager system name

Check category: Best practices


Check description: Checks that the value in the hostid field of the /etc/vx/volboot file is the same as the value returned by the hostname command.


Check procedure:

  • Retrieves the value stored in the hostid field of the /etc/vx/volboot file and the output of the hostname command.
  • Compares the values to ensure that they match.


Check recommendation: The hostid value in the /etc/vx/volboot file does not match the output of the hostname command. To change the hostid value:
1.  Make sure the system does not have any deported disk groups. After you update the hostid in the /etc/vx/volboot file to match the hostname, the hostid in the disk headers on the deported disk groups may not match the hostid in the /etc/vx/volboot file. Importing these disk groups would fail.

2.  Run the vxdctl init command. This command does not interrupt any Volume Manager services and is safe to run in a production environment. Enter:
# vxdctl init

Unless you have a strong reason to have two different values, the hostid in the /etc/vx/volboot file should match the hostname. That way, the hostid is unique in a given domain and Storage Area Network.

At boot time, Volume Manager (VxVM) auto imports the disk groups whose hostid value in its disk headers match the hostid value in the /etc/vx/volboot file . Keep the hostid value unique so that no other host in a given domain and SAN can auto import the disk group; otherwise, data may be corrupted.



Detach policy for shared Disk group with A/P arrays

Check category: Best practices


Check description: Checks whether disk group's detach policy is set to global when the shared disk group consists disks from an A/P disk array.


Check procedure:

  • Determines if there are any shared disk groups on the system.
  • Determines if the disk detach policy is set for only shared disk groups on the system.
  • Checks whether the shared disk group has any disks from an A/P disk array.
  • Checks whether the shared disk detach policy for the disk group is set to global.


Check recommendation: When Dynamic Multi-Pathing (DMP) is used to manage multipathing on A/P arrays, set the detach policy to global. This ensures that all nodes correctly coordinate their use of the active path.


Learn More...

Click here for the reference from the VxVM Administrator's Guide
How to set the disk detach policy on a shared diskgroup
About disk array types

Non-CDS disk group

Check category: Best practices


Check description: On systems with VxVM version 4.0 or greater and disk group version 110 or greater, checks whether any disks in a disk group are configured as portable using the Cross-platform Data Sharing (CDS) feature.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the format of the disks in the disk groups present on the system.
  • Checks whether the format of the disks is compatible with CDS.


Check recommendation: Ensure that any disk groups present on the system have disks that are configured as portable and compatible with CDS; this optimizes the portability and migration of data between platforms.



Number of disk group configuration backup copies

Check category: Best practices


Check description: Checks if each disk group have optimum number of configuration backup copies and disk has enough space for it..


Check procedure:

  • Checks if any of CBR copy is corrupt.
  • Checks if CBR copies are less than required count.
  • Checks if enough space is available to store CBR copies.


Check recommendation: The disk groups failure can be summarized in any of the six cases:

Case I : VxVM backup config copy count should be set to atleast 5. Refer technote to increase the configuration backup copies. For details refer the technote.

Case II : The backup directory is missing from host. You should recreate the directory and restart the 'vxconfigdbackupd' daemon. For details refer the technote.

Case III : The binconfig file is empty in the disk group configuration backup copy. i.e. The configuration backup copy is invalid. You should restart 'vxconfigdbackupd' daemon. For details refer the technote.

Case IV : None of the backup config copies have valid binconfig file. All the diskgroup backup config copies needs to be recreated. You should restart 'vxconfigdbackupd' daemon. For details refer the technote.

Case V : Number of backup config copies are less than the default specified. Consider increasing the diskgroup backup config copies. For details refer the technote.

Case VI : Enough free space is not available to store configuration backup copies.



Number of disk group configuration copies

Check category: Best practices


Check description: Checks if each disk group has enough configuration copies. Volume Manager (VxVM) stores metadata in the private region of LUNs (or disks) that comprise a disk group rather than on the server. Therefore, each disk group is independent and portable, which is ideal for performing server migrations, cluster failover, array-based replication, or off-host processing via snapshots. For redundancy, VxVM keeps copies of this metadata on multiple LUNs. Although VxVM actively monitors the number of copies, in some situations the number of copies may drop below VxVM's recommended target. For example, this can happen when you use array-based replication or array-based snapshots. While single LUN disk groups are a valid configuration, they pose an availability risk because VxVM can only keep one copy of the metadata.


Check procedure:

  • Determines the number of disks present in each disk group.
  • Verifies that each disk group has the optimal number of configuration and log copies.


Check recommendation: Increase the number of configuration copies.



Disk group spare space

Check category: Best practices


Check description: Checks whether the disk group has enough spare disk space available for hot-relocation to occur in case of a disk failure.


Check procedure:

  • Verifies whether the vxrelocd daemon is running on the system.
  • Identifies the disk groups on the system.
  • For each disk group, calculates the total space available for hot-relocation.
  • Calculates whether the total space available in the disk group is enough for a hot-relocation to occur.


Check recommendation: The disk group(s) do not have enough spare space available for hot-relocation if a disk fails. Make sure that the disk groups on the system have enough disk space available for hot-relocation. It is recommended that you designate additional disks as hot-relocation spares.
To add a disk in a diskgroup, enter:
# vxdg -g [diskgroup] adddisk disk=diskname
To designate a disk as a hot-relocation spare, enter:
# vxedit [-g diskgroup] set spare=on diskname


Learn More...

About hot-relocation
How hot-relocation works
Configuring a system for hot-relocation

Verify software patch level

Check category: Best practices


Check description: Checks whether the installed Storage Foundation / InfoScale products are at the latest software patch level.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies all the Storage Foundation / InfoScale products installed on the system.
  • Verifies whether the installed products have the latest software versions that are available for download.


Check recommendation: To avoid known risks or issues, it is recommended that you install the latest versions of the Storage Foundation / InfoScale products on the system.



Mirrored-stripe volumes

Check category: Best practices


Check description: Checks for mirrored-stripe volumes and recommends to re-layout them for improved redundancy and enhanced recovery time.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the mirror-striped volumes present on the system.
  • Verifies whether the size of the volumes is greater than the threshold value.


Check recommendation: Ensure that the size of any mirrored-stripe volumes on the system is smaller than the expected default. Reconfigure large mirrored-stripe volumes as striped-mirror volumes to improve redundancy and enhance recovery time after a failure.


Learn More...

Striping plus mirroring
Mirroring plus striping
Creating a striped-mirror volume
Converting between layered and non-layered volumes

SmartIO feature awareness

Check category: Performance


Check description: Checks whether Solid State Drives (SSDs) or flash drives are attached to the server. It also recommends the right version of Storage Foundation and High Availability / InfoScale software that have the SmartIO feature to bring better performance, reduced storage cost and better storage utilization.


Check procedure:

  • Checks whether VxVM is installed.
  • Checks the version of installed VxVM.
  • Verifies whether the platform is other than HP-UX.
  • Checks whether SSDs or Flash drives are attached to the system.
  • Verifies whether the SmartIO feature is in use.


Check recommendation: The recommendation is summarized in below cases:

Case 1 : SSDs or flash drives are detected on the Linux system with the Storage Foundation software version earlier than 6.1 installed. It is recommended to upgrade the Storage Foundation software to 6.1 or higher version which enables you to use the SmartIO feature, which improves performance, reduces storage costs and brings better storage utilization for the applications running on the servers.

Case 2 : SSDs or flash drives are detected on the AIX/Solaris system with the Storage Foundation software version earlier than 6.2 installed. It is recommended to upgrade the Storage Foundation software to 6.2 or higher version which enables you to use the SmartIO feature, which improves performance, reduces storage costs, and brings better storage utilization for the applications running on the servers.

Case 3 : SSDs or flash drives are detected on the Linux system with Storage Foundation software version 6.1 installed, but SmartIO feature is not detected. It is recommended that you use the SmartIO feature which improves performance, reduces storage costs, and brings better storage utilization for the applications running on the servers. Please refer the documentation link(s).

Case 4 : SSD or flash drives are detected on the system with Storage Foundation software version 6.2 or higher installed, but SmartIO feature is not detected. It is recommended that you use the SmartIO feature which improves performance, reduces storage costs, and brings better storage utilization for the applications running on the servers. Please refer the documentation link(s).

Case 5 : Storage Foundation software version 6.2 or higher is found on the AIX/Linux/Solaris system without any SSD or flash drives. SSDs or flash drives are more efficient since they provide faster data access and have a smaller footprint than traditional spinning disks. The data center uses solid-state technologies in many form factors: in-server, all flash arrays, all flash appliances, and mixed with traditional HDD arrays. Each form factor offers a different value proposition. SSDs also have many connectivity types: PCIe, FC, SATA, and SAS. It is recommended that you use the SmartIO feature that offers data efficiency on your SSDs through I/O caching, which improves performance, reduces storage costs, and brings better storage utilization for the applications running on the servers.

Case 6 : Storage Foundation software version 6.1 is found on the Linux system without any SSDs or flash drives. SSDs or flash drives are more efficient since they provide faster data access and have a smaller footprint than traditional spinning disks. The data center uses solid-state technologies in many form factors: in-server, all flash arrays, all flash appliances, and mixed with traditional HDD arrays. Each form factor offers a different value proposition. SSDs also have many connectivity types: PCIe, FC, SATA, and SAS. It is recommended that you use the SmartIO feature that offers data efficiency on your SSDs through I/O caching, which improves performance, reduces storage costs, and brings better storage utilization for the applications running on the servers.

Case 7 : Storage Foundation software version 6.1 is found on the AIX/Solaris system without any SSDs or flash drives. It is recommended to upgrade the Storage Foundation software to 6.2 or higher version and use the SmartIO feature that offers data efficiency on your SSDs through I/O caching which improves performance, reduces storage costs, and brings better storage utilization for the applications running on the servers. SSDs or flash drives are more efficient since they provide faster data access and have a smaller footprint than traditional spinning disks. The data center uses solid-state technologies in many form factors: in-server, all flash arrays, all flash appliances, and mixed with traditional HDD arrays. Each form factor offers a different value proposition. SSDs also have many connectivity types: PCIe, FC, SATA, and SAS.



Input/output access time

Check category: Performance


Check description: Checks a volume's I/O access times and identifies volumes with I/O access times greater than the user-defined parameter !param!HC_CHK_IO_ACCESS_MS!/param! of the sortdc.conf file.


Check procedure:

  • For each disk group, collects the vxstat command output.
  • Calculates the I/O access times for each of the volumes in the disk group.
  • Checks whether the access time is less than the threshold value.


Check recommendation: It is recommended that you work to improve I/O access times. Verify that multiple volumes do not use the same underlying physical storage, consider an online relayout to enhance performance, or check for hardware configuration problems by comparing the iostat output with the vxstat output.


Learn More...

Performing online relayout
vxstat: manual page

Input/output fragment

Check category: Performance


Check description: Checks whether the Volume Manager (VxVM) buffer size set on the system is greater than or equal to the recommended threshold value for the system.


Check procedure:

  • Determines the value of the vol_maxio parameter in the VxVM kernel for the system.
  • Checks whether the value is less than the default threshold value.


Check recommendation: The vol_maxio parameter on the system is less than the default threshold value. It is recommended that you increase the VxVM buffer size using the vol_maxio parameter.


Learn More...

What is the maximum value of vol_maxio and how is it set?
VxVM maximum I/O size

DRL size

Check category: Performance


Check description: Checks whether the Dirty Region Log (DRL) size of any volume deviates from the default DRL size.


Check procedure:

  • Determines the DRL size for each volume on the system.
  • Checks whether the DRL size deviates from the default DRL size.


Check recommendation: The dirty region log (DRL) size of the volume differs from the default DRL size. Make sure this is the intended configuration. A large DRL reduces the performance for random writes because DRL updates increase when the region size is small. A smaller DRL, increases the region size, which increases the recovery time after a crash. In general, the larger the region-size, the better it is for the performance of an online volume for a legacy DRL. It is recommended to set the default size for the DRL log. To remove the existing DRL and add a new one, enter :
# vxassist -g <diskgroup> remove log <volume>
# vxassist -g <diskgroup> addlog <volume>
You can run these commands when the volume is unmounted and does not have any IO activity.


Learn More...

About dirty region logging
More about DRLs

Mirrored volumes without Dirty Region Log (DRL)

Check category: Performance


Check description: Checks for mirrored volumes that do not have a DRL.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies any mirrored volumes present on the system that are larger than the configurable threshold size on the system.
  • Checks whether a DRL is present in the identified volumes.


Check recommendation: Ensure that you create a DRL for any large mirrored volumes. A DRL tracks those regions that have changed, and helps with data recovery after a system crash. The DRL uses the tracking information to recover only those portions of the volume that need to be recovered. Without a DRL, recovery involves copying the full content of the volume between its mirrors; this process is lengthy and I/O intensive.


Learn More...

How to add DRL to a mirrored volume
Enabling FastResync on a volume

Storage Foundation thin provisioning

Check category: Utilization


Check description: Determines whether the storage enclosure on your system is ready to use the Storage Foundation / InfoScale thin provisioning feature.


Check procedure:

  • Checks whether the storage enclosure connected to the system supports thin provisioning and is certified by Storage Foundation / InfoScale.
  • Checks whether there are any VxFS file Systems not on thin provisioned storage that can potentially be migrated.
  • Determines the Storage Foundation / InfoScale version installed on the system.
  • Checks which Storage Foundation / InfoScale features are licensed and configured.


Check recommendation: The recommendations are:
Case I: The VxFS file system resides on thin provisioned storage, but the system does not have a Storage Foundation Enterprise / InfoScale Storage license installed. You need a Storage Foundation Enterprise / InfoScale Storage license to mirror the storage.

Case II: The VxFS file system storage enclosure appears to support thin provisioning but the Storage Foundation / InfoScale software does not detect it as thin provisioned storage. Ensure you have the correct Array Support Libraries (ASLs) installed for this storage.

Case III: Your system appears to be attached to a storage enclosure that supports thin provisioning, and the necessary Storage Foundation / InfoScale product is installed; however, the VxFS file System does not reside on thin provisioned storage. Possible reasons are:
     a) Thin provisioning is not used.
     b) Thin provisioning is not enabled on the storage enclosure.
     c) Your version of the storage enclosure may be an old version that does not support thin provisioning.

For reasons (a) or (b), check the thin provisioning support with your storage vendor.

For reason (c), if you are considering migrating to thin provisioned storage, consider the following:

  • Read the white paper on thin provisioning listed in the Learn More section below.

  • Ensure that your system has the required Storage Foundation Enterprise / InfoScale Storage license installed.

  • Ensure that you have enabled the SmartMove feature in Storage Foundation / InfoScale. To do so, set the variable usefssmartmove=yes in the file /etc/default/vxsf. Ensure that you have the necessary level of Storage Foundation 5.0 MP3 RP installed before you turn on the SmartMove feature.

  • Upgrade to Storage Foundation 5.0 MP3 RP1 for access to the full feature set of thin provisioning supported in Storage Foundation / InfoScale.

Note: If you have 5.0 MP3 with HF1, you may not need RP1.


Case IV: The VxFS file system's disk group version is less than 110. It is recommended that you upgrade to a disk group version greater than 110 before attempting to migrate.

Case V: The Storage Foundation / InfoScale with thin provisioning feature does not support the storage enclosure on which the VxFS file system resides.


Learn More...

White Paper on: Storage Foundation / InfoScale and Thin Provisioning
Abount Stop Buying Storage
Volume Manager Administrator's Guide

Unused volumes

Check category: Utilization


Check description: Checks for unused volumes on hosts with no mounted file systems and no input/output.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the volumes present on the system.
  • Checks whether any file systems are mounted or I/O is running.


Check recommendation: If the volume is not in use, consider removing it to reclaim storage.


Learn More...

How to remove a volume
Accessing a Volume
Creating a Filesystem on a volume
Mounting the Filesystem

Disk group configuration database

Check category: Utilization


Check description: Checks whether the disk group's configuration database free space is reaching a critical low point, less than !param!HC_CHK_CONF_DB_FULL_SIZE_PRCNT!/param!, which is set in sortdc.conf file.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the disk groups on the system.
  • Checks whether the percentage of used space in the configuration database is greater than the threshold value.


Check recommendation: The configuration database of the disk group(s) is too full. When the percentage of used space for the configuration database reaches the threshold value, it is recommended that you split the disk group(s). To split the disk group, enter:
# vxdg split <source-diskgroup> <target-diskgroup> <object>
<object> can be a volume or a disk. For more information, see the Learn More links.


Learn More...

Displaying disk group information
How to split a diskgroup
How to move disk between diskgroups

Underutilized disks

Check category: Utilization


Check description: Checks whether the disk is underutilized. It lists out those disks that have the percentage of usage space lower than the percentage specified in the user-defined parameter !param!HC_CHK_DISK_USAGE_PERCENT!/param!, which is set in sortdc.conf file.


Check procedure:

  • Determines the size of the disks in each of the disk groups (excluding disks that are marked as spare or coordinator).
  • Calculates the used disk space and compares it to the threshold value.


Check recommendation: Underutilized disks were found. It is recommended that you use all the storage disk(s) available to the system.


Learn More...

Removing disks
Removing a disk with subdisks
Removing a disk with no subdisks
Removing a disk from VxVM control

VxFS volume and file system size

Check category: Utilization


Check description: Checks if any of the VxFS file system and underlying VxFS volume size is different and the size difference is greater than the size specified in the user-defined parameter !param!HC_CHK_FS_VOLS_SIZE_DIFF_THRESHOLD!/param!, which is set in the sortdc.conf file.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the mounted VxFS file systems and determines their size.
  • Identifies the volumes or volume set used to mount each of the file systems and determines its size.
  • Compares the size of the file system with the size of the underlying volume or volume set. Checks whether the size difference is greater than the user-defined parameter HC_CHK_FS_VOLS_SIZE_DIFF_THRESHOLD, which is set in the sortdc.conf file.


Check recommendation: To make the best use of volume space, the file system should be the same size as the volume or volume set.
The failure can be summarized in one of the following cases:

Case I: The file system size is less than underlying volume by a threshold parameter of HC_CHK_FS_VOLS_SIZE_DIFF_THRESHOLD.
You should either grow the file system using the fsadm command or shrink the volume using the vxassist command.

Case II: The file system is larger than underlying volume. This can happen due to execution of incorrect command (vxassist) for shrinking the volume after file system creation.

Run the following commands.
To grow the file system:
# fsadm [-F vxfs] [-b <newsize>] [-r rawdev] mount_point
To shrink :
#vxassist -g <mydg> shrinkby <vol> <len>
or
#vxassist -g <mydg> shrinkto <vol> <newlen>



Multi-volume storage tiering

Check category: Utilization


Check description: For multi-volume file systems with storage tiering, checks whether any tier is full or low on space.


Check procedure:

  • Identifies the VxFS File Systems mounted on the system.
  • Checks whether the file system is mounted on a volume set.
  • For each file system, collects the list of volumes, storage tiers, and space utilization per storage tier.
  • Warns when low space is detected in any of the storage tiers.


Check recommendation: The storage tier for the multi-volume file system has little available space on it. It is recommended adding more volumes to this tier using the vxvoladm command.


Learn More...

About Multi Volume Filesystem
About Volume Sets
Creating and Managing Volume Sets
Creating Multi-volume Filesystem
About Dynamic Storage Tiering

Unused volume components

Check category: Utilization


Check description: Checks for unused objects (such as plexes and volumes present in a disk group) and violated objects (such as disabled, detached or failed plexes, stopped or disabled volumes, disabled logs, and volumes needing recovery).


Check procedure:

  • For each of the disk groups on the system, generates a list of volumes along with its state and kernel state.
  • Checks for the stopped volumes, disabled volumes, and the volumes that require recovery.
  • Identifies the volume plexes and checks for disabled or detached plexes, disabled logs, dissociated plexes, and failed plexes.


Check recommendation: The disk groups on the system contain unused or violated objects. It is recommended that you either remove these objects or make them re-usable.


Learn More...

Displaying volume and plex states
Recovering an unstartable mirrored volume
Recovering an unstartable volume with a disabled plex in the RECOVER state
Forcibly restarting a disabled volume