< Previous  | TOC | Index | Next  >

Incorrect entries in /etc/vfstab

When the root disk is encapsulated and put under Veritas Volume Manager control, as part of the normal encapsulation process, volumes are created for all of the partitions on the disk. VxVM modifies the /etc/vfstab to use the corresponding volumes instead of the disk partitions. Care should be taken while editing the /etc/vfstab file manually, and you should always make a backup copy before committing any changes to it. The most important entries are those corresponding to / and /usr. The vfstab that existed prior to Veritas Volume Manager installation is saved in /etc/vfstab.prevm.

Damaged root (/) entry in /etc/vfstab

If the entry in /etc/vfstab for the root file system (/) is lost or is incorrect, the system boots in single-user mode. Messages similar to the following are displayed on booting the system:

INIT: Cannot create /var/adm/utmp or /var/adm/utmpx

INIT: failed write of utmpx entry:" "

It is recommended that you first run fsck on the root partition as shown in this example:

# fsck -F ufs /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s0

At this point in the boot process, / is mounted read-only, not read/write. Since the entry in /etc/vfstab was either incorrect or deleted, mount / as read/write manually, using this command:

# mount -o remount /dev/vx/dsk/rootvol /

After mounting / as read/write, exit the shell. The system prompts for a new run level. For multi-user mode, enter run level 3:

ENTER RUN LEVEL (0-6,s or S): 3

Restore the entry in /etc/vfstab for / after the system boots.

Damaged /usr entry in /etc/vfstab

The /etc/vfstab file has an entry for /usr only if /usr is located on a separate disk partition. After encapsulation of the disk containing the /usr partition, VxVM changes the entry in /etc/vfstab to use the corresponding volume.

In the event of loss of the entry for /usr from /etc/vfstab, the system cannot be booted (even if you have mirrors of the /usr volume). In this case, boot the system from the CD-ROM and restore /etc/vfstab.

 To repair a damaged /usr entry in /etc/vfstab

1. Boot the operating system into single-user mode from its installation CD-ROM using the following command at the boot prompt:

   ok boot cdrom -s

2. Mount/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 on a suitable mount point such as /a or /mnt:

   # mount /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 /a

3. Edit /a/etc/vfstab, and ensure that there is an entry for the /usr file system, such as the following:

   /dev/vx/dsk/usr /dev/vx/rdsk/usr /usr ufs 1 yes -

4. Shut down and reboot the system from the same root partition on which the vfstab file was restored.