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Using vxinstall to configure Veritas Volume Manager

  Note   If you used the Veritas Installation Menu or the installvm script, you do not need to carry out the instructions in this section. Licensing, configuration of enclosure based naming and creation of a default disk group are managed by the menu installer and the installvm script.

Because you are no longer required to configure VxVM disks immediately, the vxinstall command no longer invokes the vxdiskadm program, making it much simpler than in previous releases. The utility provides the following three functions:

• Licensing VxVM
• Enabling Enclosure-based naming
• Setting up a system-wide default disk group

To run the command, enter:

# vxinstall

which will prompt you to enter a license key:

Are you prepared to enter a license key [y,n,q,?] (default: y) y

• If you don't have a license key, see Symantec product licensing.

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    Note   The presence of certain hardware arrays (for example, A5000) automatically generates a key.

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The vxinstall program then asks if you want to use enclosure-based naming:

Do you want to use enclosure based names for all disks ?

[y,n,q,?] (default: n)

After installation, disks use the traditional naming format, usually c#t#d#s#. Enclosure based naming provides an alternative that allows disk devices to be named for enclosures rather than for the controllers through which they are accessed. In a Storage Area Network (SAN) that uses Fibre Channel hubs or fabric switches, information about disk location provided by the operating system may not correctly indicate the physical location of the disks. Enclosure-based naming allows Volume Manager to access enclosures as separate physical entities. By configuring redundant copies of your data on separate enclosures, you can safeguard against failure of one or more enclosures. If you want to use enclosure-based naming, enter 'y' and vxinstall asks you whether you want to set up a systemwide default disk group:

Do you want to setup a system wide default disk group ?

[y,n,q,?] (default: y)

VxVM will continue with the question:

Which disk group [<group>,list,q,?] ?

If you know the name of the disk group that you want to use as the default disk group, enter it at the prompt, or use the list option and make a selection.

In releases prior to Volume Manager 4.0, the default disk group was rootdg (the root disk group). For Volume Manager to function, the rootdg disk group had to exist and it had to contain at least one disk. This requirement no longer exists, however you may find it convenient to create a system-wide default disk group. For operations that require a disk group, the system-wide default disk group will be used if the VxVM command is not specified with the -g option. The main benefit of creating a default disk group is that VxVM commands default to the default disk group and you will not need to use the -g option. To verify the default disk group after it has been created, enter the command:

# vxdg defaultdg

  Note   VxVM does not allow you use the following names for the default disk group because they are reserved words: bootdg, defaultdg and nodg.

At this stage, the installation of VxVM is complete. To carry out further tasks such as disk encapsulation or initialization, please see the Veritas Volume Manager System Administrator's Guide.