You can dynamically add support for a new type of disk array which has been developed by a third-party vendor. The support comes in the form of vendor-supplied libraries, and is added to an AIX system by using the installp
command.
Disk arrays that have been certified for use with Veritas Volume Manager are supported by an array support library (ASL), and are categorized by the vendor ID string that is returned by the disks (for example, "HITACHI
").
Disks in JBODs for which DMP can be supported in Active/Active mode, and which are capable of being multipathed, are placed in the DISKS
category.
Disks in unsupported arrays can be placed in this category by following the steps given in Adding unsupported disk arrays to the DISKS category.
Disks in JBODs that do not fall into any supported category, and which are not capable of being multipathed by DMP are placed in the OTHER_DISKS
category.
To add support for a new disk array
vrtsda
to an AIX system using a vendor-supplied package on a mounted CD-ROM:
# installp -d /cdrom/
pkgdir vrtsda
The new disk array does not need to be already connected to the system when the package is installed. If any of the disks in the new disk array are subsequently connected, and if vxconfigd
is running, vxconfigd
immediately invokes the Device Discovery function and includes the new disks in the VxVM device list.
To enable discovery of a new disk array
This command scans all of the disk devices and their attributes, updates the VxVM device list, and reconfigures DMP with the new device database. There is no need to reboot the host.
To remove support for a disk array
vrtsda
ASL is being removed):
If the arrays remain physically connected to the host after support has been removed, they are listed in the OTHER_DISKS
category, and the volumes remain available.