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Marking a disk as a hot-relocation spare

Hot-relocation allows the system to react automatically to I/O failure by relocating redundant subdisks to other disks. Hot-relocation then restores the affected VxVM objects and data. If a disk has already been designated as a spare in the disk group, the subdisks from the failed disk are relocated to the spare disk. Otherwise, any suitable free space in the disk group is used.

To designate a disk as a hot-relocation spare, enter the following command:

# vxedit [-g diskgroup] set spare=on diskname

where diskname is the disk media name.

For example, to designate mydg01 as a spare in the disk group, mydg, enter the following command:

# vxedit -g mydg set spare=on mydg01

You can use the vxdisk list command to confirm that this disk is now a spare; mydg01 should be listed with a spare flag.

Any VM disk in this disk group can now use this disk as a spare in the event of a failure. If a disk fails, hot-relocation automatically occurs (if possible). You are notified of the failure and relocation through electronic mail. After successful relocation, you may want to replace the failed disk.

 To use vxdiskadm to designate a disk as a hot-relocation spare

1. Select menu item 11 (Mark a disk as a spare for a disk group) from the vxdiskadm main menu.
2. At the following prompt, enter a disk media name (such as mydg01):

   Menu: VolumeManager/Disk/MarkSpareDisk

   Use this operation to mark a disk as a spare for a disk group.

   This operation takes, as input, a disk name. This is the same

   name that you gave to the disk when you added the disk to the

   disk group.

   Enter disk name [<disk>,list,q,?] mydg01

   The following notice is displayed when the disk has been marked as spare:

   VxVM NOTICE V-5-2-219 Marking of mydg01 in mydg as a spare disk

   is complete.

3. At the following prompt, indicate whether you want to add more disks as spares (y) or return to the vxdiskadm main menu (n):

   Mark another disk as a spare? [y,n,q,?] (default: n)

Any VM disk in this disk group can now use this disk as a spare in the event of a failure. If a disk fails, hot-relocation should automatically occur (if possible). You should be notified of the failure and relocation through electronic mail. After successful relocation, you may want to replace the failed disk.