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Setting up shared storage

The following sections describe setting up SCSI and Fibre Channel devices that the cluster systems share. For VCS I/O fencing, the data disks must support SCSI-3 persistent reservations. You need to configure a coordinator disk group that supports SCSI-3 PR and verify that it works.

See Setting up I/O fencing.

See also the Veritas Cluster Server User's Guide for a description of I/O fencing.

Setting up shared storage: SCSI disks

When SCSI devices are used for storage shared between nodes, the SCSI address, or SCSI initiator ID, of each node must be unique. Since each node typically has the default SCSI address of "7," the addresses of one or more nodes must be changed to avoid a conflict. In the following example, two nodes share SCSI devices. The SCSI address of one node is changed to "5" by using nvedit commands to edit the nvramrc script.

1. Install the required SCSI host adapters on each node that connects to the storage, and make cable connections to the storage.

   Refer to the documentation shipped with the host adapters, the storage, and the systems.

2. With both nodes powered off, power on the storage devices.
3. Power on one system, but do not allow it to boot. Halt the system, if necessary, so that you can use the ok prompt. (Note that, to avoid address conflicts, it is important that only one system be running at a time.)
4. Find the paths to the host adapters:

   {0} ok show-disks

   ...b) /sbus@6,0/QLGC,isp@2,10000/sd

   The example output shows the path to one host adapter. You must include the path information, excluding the "/sd" directory, in the nvramrc script. The path information varies from system to system.

5. Edit the nvramrc script on to change the scsi-initiator-id to 5. (The Solaris OpenBoot 3.x Command Reference Manual contains a full list of nvedit commands and keystrokes.) For example:

   {0} ok nvedit

   As you edit the script, note the following points:

   • Each line is numbered, 0:, 1:, 2:, and so on, as you enter the nvedit commands.
   • On the line where the scsi-initiator-id is set, insert exactly one space after the first quotation mark and before scsi-initiator-id.

     In this example, edit the nvramrc script as follows:

     0: probe-all

     1: cd /sbus@6,0/QLGC,isp@2,10000

     2: 5 " scsi-initiator-id" integer-property

     3: device-end

     4: install-console

     5: banner

     6: <CTRL-C>

6. Store the changes you make to the nvramrc script. The changes you make are temporary until you store them.

   {0} ok nvstore

   If you are not sure of the changes you made, you can re-edit the script without risk before you store it. You can display the contents of the nvramrc script by entering:

   {0} ok printenv nvramrc

   You can re-edit the file to make corrections:

   {0} ok nvedit

   Or, if necessary, discard the changes by entering:

   {0} ok nvquit

7. Instruct the OpenBoot PROM Monitor to use the nvramrc script on the node.

   {0} ok setenv use-nvramrc? true

8. Reboot the node. Halt the system, if necessary, so that you can use the ok prompt.
9. Verify that the scsi-initiator-id has changed. Go to the ok prompt. Use the output of the show-disks command to find the paths for the host adapters. Then, display the properties for the paths. For example:

   {0} ok show-disks

   ...b) /sbus@6,0/QLGC,isp@2,10000/sd

   {0} ok cd /sbus@6,0/QLGC,isp@2,10000

   {0} ok .properties

   scsi-initiator-id 00000005

   Permit the system to continue booting.

10. Boot the second node, halting the system, if necessary, to use the ok prompt. Verify that the scsi-initiator-id is 7. Use the output of the show-disks command to find the paths for the host adapters. Then, display the properties for that paths. For example:

    {0} ok show-disks

    ...b) /sbus@6,0/QLGC,isp@2,10000/sd

    {0} ok cd /sbus@6,0/QLGC,isp@2,10000

    {0} ok .properties

    scsi-initiator-id 00000007

    Permit the system to continue booting.

If you have more than two systems sharing the SCSI bus, use the same procedure, making sure that the storage devices have power before any of the systems, and that only one node is running at one time until each node's address is set to a unique value.

Setting up shared storage: Fibre channel

1. Install the required FC-AL controllers.
2. Connect the FC-AL controllers and the shared storage devices to the same hub or switch. If a fibre switch is being used, be sure that no zoning is implemented which would prevent all systems from seeing all shared devices required to run the critical application.
3. Boot each system with the reconfigure devices option:

   ok boot -r

4. Once all systems have booted, use the format(1m) command to verify that each system can see all shared devices.
   • If Volume Manager is being used, the same number of external disk devices must appear, but device nodes (c#t#d#s#) may differ.
   • If Volume Manger is not being used, the same number of external disk devices must appear and device nodes must be identical for all devices on all systems.