VXVM(veritas volume manager training Docs)

Objective:
Learn how to integrate, operate, VERITAS Storage Foundation in a Solaris environment. This training
provides instruction on operational management procedures for VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM) and
you will learn how to install and configure VERITAS Volume Manager and how to manage disks, disk
groups, and volumes by using from the command line.For your kind information In this training , I am
not going to explain the theory in depth.

Instead of spending money on training courses , you can learn vxvm yourself by reading this blog and if
you have any doubt ,please leave a comment. I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Prerequisites:
1.Skills:Knowledge of UNIX system administration
2.Lab: VM Solaris 10 or physical machine with solaris 10,vxvm 5.0 and above version software.

VXVM objects:

There are several Volume Manager objects that must be understood before you can use the Volume
Manager to perform disk management tasks:
Physical objects:
1.Physical disks – Its a physical disk or LUN from storage.

Virtual objects:

VM disks
A VM disk is a contiguous area of disk space from which the Volume Manager allocates storage.Its
nothing but a public region of disk.

Disk groups
A disk group is a collection of VM disks that share a common configuration.

Subdisks
A subdisk is a set of contiguous disk blocks.A VM disk can be divided into one or more subdisks.

Plexes
The Volume Manager uses subdisks to build virtual entities called plexes.A plex consists of one or more
subdisks located on one or more disks
Volumes
A volume is a virtual disk device that appears to applications, databases, and file systems like a
physical disk partition, but does not have the physical limitations of a physical disk partition.

In this tutorial,we are going to cover the below topics.In the end of these tutorials you will
very familiar with veritas volume manager and its operation.Your suggestions are always welcome
to improve these tutorials.

veritas volume manager installation step by step

guide

Download the packages from Symantec and keep the package under /var/tmp.

bash-3.00# ls -lrt

drwxr-xr-x 15 root root 22 Nov 29 2011 dvd2-sol_x64

-rwx------ 1 root root 924151296 Oct 3 23:50

VRTS_SF_HA_Solutions_6.0_Solaris_x64.tar

bash-3.00# cd dvd2-sol_x64

bash-3.00# ls -lrt |grep installer

total 95

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5278 Nov 29 2011 installer

Note:I have removed some unnecessary output in the installation process.

bash-3.00# ./installer

Logs are being written to /var/tmp/installer-201210032354IFr while installer

is in progress.

Storage Foundation and High Availability

Solutions 6.0 Install Program

Use the menu below to continue.

Task Menu:

P) Perform a Pre-Installation Check I) Install a Product

C) Configure an Installed Product G) Upgrade a Product

O) Perform a Post-Installation Check U) Uninstall a Product

L) License a Product S) Start a Product

D) View Product Descriptions X) Stop a Product

R) View Product Requirements ?) Help

Enter a Task: [P,I,C,G,O,U,L,S,D,X,R,?] I

1) Veritas Dynamic Multi-Pathing (DMP)

2) Veritas Cluster Server (VCS)

3) Veritas Storage Foundation (SF)

4) Veritas Storage Foundation and High Availability (SFHA)

5) Veritas Storage Foundation Cluster File System HA

6) Symantec VirtualStore (SVS)

7) Veritas Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC

 b) Back to previous menu

Select a product to install: [1-7,b,q] 3

Do you agree with the terms of the End User License Agreement as specified in
the

storage_foundation_high_availability/EULA/en/EULA_SFHA_Ux_6.0.pdf file
present on media? [y,n,q,?] y

Veritas Storage Foundation 6.0 Install Program

1) Install minimal required packages - XXX MB required

2) Install recommended packages - XXXX MB required

3) Install all packages - XXXX MB required

4) Display packages to be installed for each option

Select the packages to be installed on all systems? [1-4,q,?] (2)

Enter the Solaris x64 system names separated by spaces: [q,?] node1

Veritas Storage Foundation and High

Availability 6.0 Install Program

node1

Logs are being written to /var/tmp/installer-201210032354IFr while installer

is in progress

Verifying systems: 100%

 Estimated time remaining: (mm:ss) 0:00
8 of 8

Checking system communication..........................Done

Checking release compatibility.........................Done

Checking installed product ............................Done

Checking prerequisite patches and packages.............Done

Checking platform version .............................Done

Checking file system free space .......................Done

Checking product licensing ............................Done

Performing product prechecks ..........................Done

System verification checks completed

Press [Enter] to continue:

1) Enter a valid license key

2) Enable keyless licensing and complete system licensing later

How would you like to license the systems? [1-2,q] (2)

Checking system licensing

1) SF Standard HA

2) SF Enterprise HA

b) Back to previous menu

Select product mode to license: [1-2,b,q,?] (1)

Would you like to enable replication? [y,n,q] (n)

That's all about the storage foundation installation.

Just reboot the system to use VXVM.

bash-3.00# /usr/sbin/shutdown -y -i6 -g0

Troubleshooting vxvm initialization issue

After the system reboot,you may get below error messages while executing the commands.
bash-3.00# vxdctl enable

VxVM vxdctl ERROR V-5-1-1589 enable failed: Volboot file not loaded

bash-3.00# vxdisk list

VxVM vxdisk ERROR V-5-1-684 IPC failure: Configuration daemon is not

accessible.

To fix the above errors,

bash-3.00# vxconfigd

bash-3.00# vxdctl init

bash-3.00# vxdctl enable

bash-3.00# vxdisk -e list

DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS OS_NATIVE_NAME ATTR

disk_0 auto:ZFS - - ZFS c1t0d0s2 -

Now you can see that init command created volboot for SF.

bash-3.00# cat /etc/vx/volboot

volboot 3.1 0.1 110

hostid node1

hostguid {b6208f08-0d8c-11e2-8046-000c2985ec00}.

Once the VXVM installation is completed ,you good to start work on the below things.

VxVM presents the disks in a disk array as volumes to the operating system
in below manner.

1.Veritas Naming Scheme

Before bringing the disk in to veritas control you should know about the disk naming convention in
veritas.In VXVM there are two type of disk naming schemes available.
1. Operating system-based naming scheme
2. Enclosure based naming scheme.

To avoid confusion with OS based names(i.e format),please check it,which is set in your system.
bash-3.00# vxddladm get namingscheme
NAMING_SCHEME PERSISTENCE LOWERCASE USE_AVID
======================================================
Enclosure Based Yes Yes Yes
bash-3.00# vxdisk list
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
disk_0 auto:none - - online invalid
disk_1 auto:none - - online invalid
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS

As per the above output,the system was set to use enclosure based naming scheme. Anytime you can
change the naming scheme on the fly.There will be no impact by doing this.

To change the Operating system based naming scheme,

bash-3.00# vxddladm set namingscheme=osn

bash-3.00# vxdisk list
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
c1t0d0s2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
c1t3d0 auto:none - - online invalid
c1t4d0 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
c1t5d0 auto:none - - online invalid

You can set it back to enclosure based using below command.

bash-3.00# vxddladm set namingscheme=ebn

You can match the OS native names(i.e format) with VXVM enclose based names using the below
command.

bash-3.00# vxdisk -e list

DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS OS_NATIVE_NAME ATTR
disk_0 auto:none - - online invalid c1t3d0 -
disk_1 auto:none - - online invalid c1t5d0 -
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS c1t4d0 -
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS c1t0d0s2 -
2.Discover New Disks in veritas:
To Scan a new disk in OS level,

bash-3.00# cfgadm -al

bash-3.00# /usr/sbin/devfsadm -Cvc disk

After scanning the disk in OS,Scan the disks in veritas level by using the below command.

bash-3.00# vxdisk scandisks

Note:In older version we may used “vxdctl enable” or “vxconfigd -k” to scan new disks by restarting it
vxvm daemon.Symantec recommending to use the above command to scan new disks.

Trigger DDL(Device Discovery Layer) to again assign names to

DMP devices
bash-3.00# vxddladm assign names

Now you can see new disks

bash-3.00# vxdisk -e list

DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS OS_NATIVE_NAME ATTR
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk - - online c1t3d0 -
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk - - online c1t5d0 -
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS c1t4d0 -
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS c1t0d0s2 -
disk_4 auto:cdsdisk - - online c1t6d0 -
disk_5 auto:cdsdisk - - online c1t2d0 -
disk_6 auto:cdsdisk - - online c1t1d0 -

3.Bringing the disk in to veritas control

vxdisksetup command brings the disks in to veritas volume manager control.By default this will format
the disk in CDS(Cross Data platform Sharing ) .Other formats are sliced and simple. sliced will be used
for boot disks.
bash-3.00# /etc/vx/bin/vxdisksetup -i disk_0
bash-3.00# /etc/vx/bin/vxdisksetup -i disk_1
bash-3.00# /etc/vx/bin/vxdisksetup -i disk_4
bash-3.00# /etc/vx/bin/vxdisksetup -i disk_5
bash-3.00# /etc/vx/bin/vxdisksetup -i disk_6

If you want to setup the disk in specific format,you can use the below syntax.

#vxdisksetup -i disk_XX format=cds or simple or sliced

By Checking the disk status,you will come to know how its formated and disk
status.

bash-3.00# vxdisk list

DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_4 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_5 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_6 auto:cdsdisk - - online

Diskgroup Operations

The vxdg utility performs various diskgroup operations that includes the creation of disk
groups, addition of disks in to diskgroup,removing disk from diskgroup.This command performs disk
group imports and deports as well.Here we are going to see how create a new diskgroup and adding
disks in existing diskgroup.In the end of the article we will see how to backup the diskgroup
configuration.

In the below output you can see, we have five disks which are in VXVM control. We have brought the
disk in to vxvm control using vxdisksetup.
uarena#vxdisk list
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_4 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_5 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_6 auto:cdsdisk - - online

Task:1-Creating the new disk group:

uarena#vxdg init UXDG UXDISK1=disk_0 UXDISK2=disk_1

uarena#vxdisk list
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK1 UXDG online
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK2 UXDG online
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_4 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_5 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_6 auto:cdsdisk - - online

Now you can see we have created new diskgroup UXDG using disk_0 & disk_1 and we have assigned the
meaning full name to disks.

Task:2-Addition of disk:
If you want to add the new disk in to existing diskgroup, bring the disk in to vxvm control using
vxdisksetup and add it using below command.
uarena#vxdg -g UXDG adddisk UXDISK3=disk_4
uarena#vxdisk list
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK1 UXDG online
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK2 UXDG online
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_4 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK3 UXDG online
disk_5 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_6 auto:cdsdisk - - online
Task:3-Removing the disk:

You can remove the disk any time from DG if it’s not used in any volume.
uarena#vxdg -g UXDG rmdisk UXDISK3
uarena#vxdisk list
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK1 UXDG online
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK2 UXDG online
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_4 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_5 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_6 auto:cdsdisk - - online

Task:4-Maximum size of volume:

If you want to find out how much size volume we can create from the diskgroup, use the below
command.In other word to you can determine the free space of the diskgroup.
uarena#vxassist -g UXDG maxsize
Maximum volume size: 284672 (139Mb)

uarena#vxassist -g UXDG maxsize layout=mirror

Maximum volume size: 10240 (60Mb)

uarena#vxassist -g UXDG maxsize layout=stripe

Maximum volume size: 284672 (139Mb)
uarena#vxdg -g UXDG free
DISK DEVICE TAG OFFSET LENGTH FLAGS
UXDISK1 disk_0 disk_0 0 143056 -
UXDISK2 disk_1 disk_1 0 143056 -

Task:5-Deporting diskgroup:
After un-mounting the volumes , you can deport the diskgroup.To see the imported diskgroup
uarena#vxdg list
NAME STATE ID
UXDG enabled,cds 1364022395.37.sfos
uarena#vxdg deport UXDG
By default vxdisk output will not show the deported diskgroup tag.
uarena#vxdisk list
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_4 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_5 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_6 auto:cdsdisk - - online

To find the deported diskgroup disks,

uarena#vxdisk -o alldgs list

DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk - (UXDG) online
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk - (UXDG) online
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_4 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_5 auto:cdsdisk - - online
disk_6 auto:cdsdisk - - online

Task:6–Importing the deported diskgroup:

uarena#vxdg import UXDG
uarena#vxdg list
NAME STATE ID
UXDG enabled,cds 1364022395.37.sfos
uarena#vxdisk list |grep UXDG
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK1 UXDG online
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK2 UXDG online

Sometimes you may need to use -C flag to import the cluster diskgroup to clear the VCS lock.

# vxdg -C import DG_NAME

Task:7-Re-Naming the Diskgroup:

You can’t the rename the diskgroup while its in imported state.In a order to rename the DG, you need
to re-import with new name.
uarena#vxdg deport UXDG
uarena#vxdg -n NEWDG import UXDG
uarena#vxdg list
NAME STATE ID
NEWDG enabled,cds 1364022395.37.sfos

Task:8-Diskgroup configuration backup/restore:

Whenever there is a configuration change in diskgroup, automatically vxvm backup the new
configuration under /etc/vx/cbr/bk/
bash-3.00# ls -lrt /etc/vx/cbr/bk
total 6
drwxr-xr-x 14 root root 18 Mar 27 19:18 UXDG.1364022395.37.sfos
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 6 Mar 27 21:21 UXDG.1364398489.45.sfos

To take current configuration backup,

# /etc/vx/bin/vxconfigbackup
VxVM vxconfigbackup ERROR V-5-2-3694 Configuration Copy for diskgroup UXDG
has not changed since last backup (Wed Mar 27 21:21:39 IST 2013). Backup is
not necessary.

Since there is no configuration chnages VXVM refuse to take backup.Here i am doing small
changes.
# /etc/vx/bin/vxresize -g UXDG oravol1 +20M

# /etc/vx/bin/vxconfigbackup
Start backing up diskgroup UXDG to
/etc/vx/cbr/bk/UXDG.1364474089.57.sfos ...
VxVM NOTICE V-5-2-3100 Backup complete for diskgroup: UXDG

Note:Default configuration location will be /etc/vx/cbr/bk/

To take the current configuration to specific location,

# /etc/vx/bin/vxconfigbackup -l /var/tmp
Start backing up diskgroup UXDG to /var/tmp/UXDG.1364398489.45.sfos.......
VxVM NOTICE V-5-2-3100 Backup complete for diskgroup: UXDG
# ls -lrt /var/tmp/UXDG.1364398489.45.sfos
total 48473
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root Mar28 17:38 1364398489.45.sfos.diskinfo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root Mar28 17:38 1364398489.45.sfos.cfgrec
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root Mar28 17:39 1364398489.45.sfos.binconfig
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root Mar28 17:39 1364398489.45.sfos.dginfo
Display the configuration file in readable format:
#cd /etc/vx/cbr/bk/UXDG.1364474089.57.sfos
# cat 1364474089.57.sfos.cfgrec |vxprint -D - -htr
Disk group: UXDG
dg UXDG default default 25000 1364474089.57.sfos
dm UXDISK1 disk_0 auto 65536 143056 -
dm UXDISK2 disk_1 auto 65536 143056 -

v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 143360 SELECT - fsgen

pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 143360 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 304 143056 disk_1 ENA

To restore the diskgroup configuration,

To pre-commit the changes run the following
#/etc/vx/bin/vxconfigrestore -p UXDG

To commit the changes after the precommit

#/etc/vx/bin/vxconfigrestore -c UXDG

To abort the pre-commit:

#/etc/vx/bin/vxconfigrestore -d UXDG

To confirm that disk group is ok:

#vxprint -g UXDG

Volume Operations
VxVM builds volume using virtual objects of VM disks, disk groups, subdisks, and plexes.These virtual
objects can organized easily using vxassist command to create new volume.Here we are going to see
about how to create a new volumes with different layout and volume redundancy.In the end of the
article we see how to destroy the volume in details. Here the assumtion is we have configured
diskgroup with the name of UXDG.
bash-3.00# vxdg list
NAME STATE ID
UXDG enabled,cds 1364022395.37.sfos

1.Creating new volume

Syntax:
#vxassist -g diskgroup make vol_name size layout=format disk-name

1.1 Concatenation volume:

Concatenation volume maps the data in a linear manner using one or more subdisks in a single
plex.No redundancy and single drive failure destroys the entire volume.
# vxassist -g UXDG make uxoravol1 50M
Note:If we didn't specify the format,by default VXVM will make the volume as
concatenation.
To display volume details,
# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v uxoravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen
pl uxoravol1-01 uxoravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 uxoravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 102400 0 disk_0 ENA

v - volume - uxoravol1
pl - Plex - uxoravol1-01
sd - Subdisk - UXDISK1-01

As per the above output,subdisk(UXDISK1-01) has been created using UXDISK1 and plex(uxoravol1-01) is
sitting on top of subdisk. On top of the plex virtual layer, volume is placed. These virtual layer provides
more flexible on volume level operation.

If you want to make the volume using the specific disk,

bash-3.00# vxassist -g UXDG make uxoravol1 50M UXDISK1

Once you have created the volume,you can use mkfs to create vxfs filesystem.To create VXFS
filesystem

# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/UXDG/uxoravol1

version 9 layout
102400 sectors, 51200 blocks of size 1024, log size 1024 blocks
rcq size 1024 blocks
largefiles supported

To create a new mountpoint and mount,

# mkdir /uxoravol1
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/uxoravol1 /uxoravol1
# df -h /uxoravol1
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/uxoravol1 50M 3.1M 44M 7% /uxoravol1

1.2 Striped volume:

Striping maps data to two or more physical disks for high performance volumes.In this volume two or
more subdisks which are coming from two or more physical disks forms stripped plex.No redundancy
and single drive failure destroys the entire volume.

#vxassist -g UXDG make urstripe 100M UXDISK1 UXDISK2 UXDISK3 layout=stripe

stripeunit=32k
bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v urstripe - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT urstripe-01 fsgen
pl urstripe-01 urstripe ENABLED ACTIVE 204864 STRIPE 3/64 RW
sd UXDISK1-01 urstripe-01 UXDISK1 0 68288 0/0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 urstripe-01 UXDISK2 0 68288 1/0 disk_1 ENA
sd UXDISK3-01 urstripe-01 UXDISK3 0 68288 2/0 disk_4 ENA

To create a filesystem and mount it

# mkfs -F vxfs /dev/vx/rdsk/UXDG/urstripe

version 9 layout 204800 sectors, 102400 blocks of size 1024, log size 1024
blocks rcq size 1024 blocks largefiles supported

bash-3.00# mkdir /stripeoravol1

# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/urstripe /stripeoravol1

# df -h /stripeoravol1
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/urstripe 100M 3.1M 91M 4% /stripeoravol1

1.3 Mirror volume:

In mirror volume, data is written identically in to two plexs which were formed with two or more
subdisks.

# vxassist -g UXDG make uxvol2 50M layout=mirror

# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v uxvol2 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen
pl uxvol2-01 uxvol2 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-01 uxvol2-01 UXDISK1 0 102400 0 disk_0 ENA
pl uxvol2-02 uxvol2 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-02 uxvol2-02 UXDISK2 0 102400 0 disk_1 ENA

Note:

Question may raise how to determine the mirrored volume in VXVM ?

Its so simple. If the volume constructed in the above manner with two or more plex is mirrored
volume.
volume with two plex – one way mirror
volume with three plex – two way mirror.

1.4 Mirrored-stripe or RAID-0+1(stripping + mirroring)

In this volume,striped plex will be mirrored with another striped plex.
 Thanks to www.symantec.com
# vxassist -g UXDG make msvol 50M layout=mirror-stripe
# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v msvol - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen
pl msvol-01 msvol ENABLED ACTIVE10240 STRIPE2/128 RW
sd UXDISK1-01 msvol-01 UXDISK1 0 51200 0/0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 msvol-01 UXDISK2 0 51200 1/0 disk_1 ENA
pl msvol-02 msvol ENABLED ACTIVE102400 STRIPE2/128 RW
sd UXDISK3-01 msvol-02 UXDISK3 0 51200 0/0 disk_4 ENA
sd UXDISK4-01 msvol-02 UXDISK4 0 51200 1/0 disk_5 ENA

Like other volumes,you can create filesystem and mount it .

1.5 Striped-mirror or RAID- 1+0 (mirroring +stripping)- Layered volume

In this volume,two mirrored volume will form form a two sub-volumes.These sub-volumes will from
striped plex.Its an example of layered volume.
 Thanks to www.symantec.com
# vxassist -g UXDG make smvol 50M layout=stripe-mirror

# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG

v smvol - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT smvol-03 fsgen

pl smvol-03 smvol ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 STRIPE 2/128 RW
sv smvol-S01 smvol-03 smvol-L01 1 51200 0/0 2/2 ENA
sv smvol-S02 smvol-03 smvol-L02 1 51200 1/0 2/2 ENA

v smvol-L01 - ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 SELECT - fsgen

pl smvol-P01 smvol-L01 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-02 smvol-P01 UXDISK1 0 51200 0 disk_0 ENA
pl smvol-P02 smvol-L01 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-02 smvol-P02 UXDISK3 0 51200 0 disk_4 ENA

v smvol-L02 - ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 SELECT - fsgen

pl smvol-P03 smvol-L02 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-02 smvol-P03 UXDISK2 0 51200 0 disk_1 ENA
pl smvol-P04 smvol-L02 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK4-02 smvol-P04 UXDISK4 0 51200 0 disk_5 ENA

1.6 RAID-5 (striping with parity)

It provide traditional RAID-5 functionality. It provides the data redundancy using distributed parity.

bash-3.00# vxassist -g UXDG make smvol 50M layout=raid5

bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v smvol - ENABLED ACTIVE 102432 RAID - raid5
pl smvol-01 smvol ENABLED ACTIVE 102432 RAID 4/32 RW
sd UXDISK1-01 smvol-01 UXDISK1 0 34144 0/0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 smvol-01 UXDISK2 0 34144 1/0 disk_1 ENA
sd UXDISK3-01 smvol-01 UXDISK3 0 34144 2/0 disk_4 ENA
sd UXDISK4-01 smvol-01 UXDISK4 0 34144 3/0 disk_5 ENA
pl smvol-02 smvol ENABLED LOG 3840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK5-01 smvol-02 UXDISK5 0 3840 0 disk_6 ENA

2.Removing volume.

1. Un-mount the volume.

2. Use vxassist to delete the volume.
# df -h /smvol
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/smvol 50M 3.1M 44M 7% /smvol

VXVM protects the accidental of removing the open volume.

bash-3.00# vxassist -g UXDG remove volume smvol
VxVM vxassist ERROR V-5-1-1242 Volume smvol is opened, cannot remove.
bash-3.00# umount /smvol
bash-3.00# vxassist -g UXDG remove volume smvol
bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt
bash-3.00#
Volume resize

Volume Resize:
VXVM is very flexible and reliable volume manager to resize volumes without un-mounting
it. we can re-size the volumes using vxassist and resize filesystem using fsadm.vxresize
command will perform both volume and filesystem re-size operation simultaneously.

Here we are going to see how to re-size the volume smvol in two different ways without un-
mounting it .
# df -h /smvol
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/smvol 50M 3.1M 44M 7% /smvol

Method :1 Increasing the volume size-Using vxassist

Step:1
Determining how much space we can increase the volume.

# vxassist -g UXDG maxsize layout=mirror

Maximum volume size: 92160 (45Mb)

Step:2
Re-size the volume using vxassist.

# vxassist -g UXDG growby smvol 10M

or
# vxassist -g UXDG growto smvol 60M

Step:3

Re-szie the vxfs fielsystem using fsadm.

# /usr/lib/fs/vxfs/fsadm -b 60M /smvol
UX:vxfs fsadm: INFO: V-3-25942: /dev/vx/rdsk/UXDG/smvol size increased from
102400 sectors to 122880 sectors
You can see volume & filesystem increased by 10MB

# df -h /smvol
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/smvol 60M 3.1M 53M 6% /smvol

If the volume is not increased as you will get below error.

# /usr/lib/fs/vxfs/fsadm -b 70M /smvol

UX:vxfs fsadm: ERROR: V-3-25811: cannot expand /dev/vx/rdsk/UXDG/smvol more
than size of the underlying device - 122880 sectors
#

Method:2 – Increasing the volume and filesystem using vxresize

(Recommended one )
Step:1
Determining how much space we can increase the volume.
# vxassist -g UXDG maxsize layout=mirror
Maximum volume size: 71680(35Mb)

Step:2
Resize the volume & filesystem:
You can see the changes
# /etc/vx/bin/vxresize -g UXDG smvol +10M
# df -h /smvol
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/smvol 70M 3.1M 63M 5% /smvol

Method :1 Decreasing the volume size-Using vxassist

Step:1
Reduce the filesystem using fsadm
# /usr/lib/fs/vxfs/fsadm -b 50M /smvol
UX:vxfs fsadm:INFO:V-3-23586:/dev/vx/rdsk/UXDG/smvol is currently 122880
sectors - size will be reduced
# df -h /smvol/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/smvol 50M 3.1M 44M 7% /smvol

Step:2
Reduce the volume using vxassist.You will lose data if you resize the volume less than
filesystem size. So better to shrink the volume with some extra space.Here instead
of shrink to 50M , i am shrinking to 51MB.
# vxassist -g UXDG shrinkto smvol 51M
VxVM vxassist ERROR V-5-1-7236 Shrinking a FSGEN or RAID5 usage type volume
can result in loss of data. It is recommended to use the "vxresize"command or
specify "-f" option to force the operation.

Note:You will above warning messages if you used without -f option.Handle with care.
# vxassist -g UXDG -f shrinkto smvol 51M
or
# vxassist -g UXDG -f shrinkby smvol 10M

Method:2 – Decreasing the volume and filesystem using vxresize

(Recommended one )
# /etc/vx/bin/vxresize -g UXDG smvol -10M
# df -h /smvol/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/smvol 40M 3.1M 35M 9% /smvol

Volume online relayout

VXVM Volume – online Re-layout:
In this post we are going to see how to convert the volume from one layout to another
layout without un-mounting the volume.You can use the vxassist re-layout command to
reconfigure the layout of a volume without taking it offline.
 Supported re-layout for concatenated volumes

1. Converting a concatenation volume to mirror volume.(mirror-concat)

bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt

Disk group: UXDG
v uxoravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen
pl uxoravol1-01 uxoravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 uxoravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 102400 0 disk_0 ENA

Adding the mirror,

# vxassist -g UXDG mirror uxoravol1 &

We can use & or -b option in vxassist to move the task in background

We can see active mirror tasks using below commands.

# vxtask list
TASKID PTID TYPE/STATE PCT PROGRESS
170 - ATCOPY/R 60.00% 0/102400/61440 PLXATT uxoravol1 uxoravol1-02 UXDG auto-
throttled
bash-3.00# vxtask monitor
175 - ATCOPY/R 92.00% 0/102400/94208 PLXATT uxoravol1 uxoravol1-02 UXDG auto-
throttled
175 - ATCOPY/R 96.00% 0/102400/98304 PLXATT uxoravol1 uxoravol1-02 UXDG auto-
throttled
175 - ATCOPY/R 100.00% 0/102400/102400 PLXATT uxoravol1 uxoravol1-02 UXDG
auto-throttled

Now you can see second plex has been created.

# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v uxoravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen
pl uxoravol1-01 uxoravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 uxoravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 102400 0 disk_0 ENA
pl uxoravol1-02 uxoravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-01 uxoravol1-02 UXDISK2 0 102400 0 disk_1 ENA
2.Converting concatenate volume to concat-mirror
Step:1-Adding the mirror
# vxassist -g UXDG mirror concatv1

i.e concatv1 is volume name

Step:2 – Converting the volume

# vxassist -g UXDG convert concatv1 layout=concat-mirror
# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v concatv1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen
pl concatv1-03 concatv1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sv concatv1-S01 concatv1-03 concatv1-L01 1 102400 0 2/2 ENA

v concatv1-L01 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen

pl concatv1-P01 concatv1-L01 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-02 concatv1-P01 UXDISK1 0 102400 0 disk_0 ENA
pl concatv1-P02 concatv1-L01 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-02 concatv1-P02 UXDISK2 0 102400 0 disk_1 ENA

3.Converting concatenate volume to mirror-stripe

Step:1–First Re-layout the concatenate volume to mirror-stripe once.

#vxassist -g UXDG relayout concatv1 layout=mirror-stripe
# vxprint -hvt
v concatv1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT concatv1-01 fsgen
pl concatv1-01 concatv1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 STRIPE 2/128 RW
sv concatv1-Ds01 concatv1-01 concatv1-d01 1 51200 0/0 2/2 ENA
sv concatv1-Ds02 concatv1-01 concatv1-d02 1 51200 1/0 2/2 ENA

v concatv1-d01 - ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 SELECT - fsgen

pl concatv1-dp01 concatv1-d01 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-02 concatv1-dp01 UXDISK1 0 51200 0 disk_0 ENA
pl concatv1-dp02 concatv1-d01 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 concatv1-dp02 UXDISK3 0 51200 0 disk_4 ENA

v concatv1-d02 - ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 SELECT - fsgen

pl concatv1-dp03 concatv1-d02 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-01 concatv1-dp03 UXDISK2 0 51200 0 disk_1 ENA
pl concatv1-dp04 concatv1-d02 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK4-01 concatv1-dp04 UXDISK4 0 51200 0 disk_5 ENA

Step:2– Once the convert has been done,then use vxassist convert to convert the volume
to mirror-stripe.
# vxassist -g UXDG convert concatv1 layout=mirror-stripe
bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v concatv1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen
pl concatv1-02 concatv1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 STRIPE 2/128 RW
sd UXDISK1-01 concatv1-02 UXDISK1 0 51200 0/0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-02 concatv1-02 UXDISK2 0 51200 1/0 disk_1 ENA
pl concatv1-03 concatv1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 STRIPE 2/128 RW
sd UXDISK3-02 concatv1-03 UXDISK3 0 51200 0/0 disk_4 ENA
sd UXDISK4-02 concatv1-03 UXDISK4 0 51200 1/0 disk_5 ENA

4.Converting concatenate volume to raid5

Here using vxassist re-layout command, we are converting existing concatenate volume to
raid5
# vxassist -g UXDG relayout concatv1 layout=raid5

You can check task status ,using the below command.

# vxtask list
TASKID PTID TYPE/STATE PCT PROGRESS
182 - RELAYOUT/R 49.97% 0/204800/102336 RELAYOUT concatv1 UXDG
# vxtask monitor
TASKID PTID TYPE/STATE PCT PROGRESS
182 - RELAYOUT/R 57.97% 0/204800/118720 RELAYOUT concatv1 UXDG
182 - RELAYOUT/R 58.97% 0/204800/120768 RELAYOUT concatv1 UXDG
182 - RELAYOUT/R 59.97% 0/204800/122816 RELAYOUT concatv1 UXDG

You can see volume has been converted to Raid5.

bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt

Disk group: UXDG
v concatv1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 RAID - raid5
pl concatv1-Dp02 concatv1 ENABLED LOG 2880 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-02 concatv1-Dp02 UXDISK2 51200 2880 0 disk_1 ENA
pl concatv1-01 concatv1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 RAID 3/32 RW
sd UXDISK1-03 concatv1-01 UXDISK1 0 51200 0/0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-03 concatv1-01 UXDISK2 0 51200 1/0 disk_1 ENA
sd UXDISK3-02 concatv1-01 UXDISK3 0 51200 2/0 disk_4 ENA

5.Converting concatenate volume to stripe:

Here using vxassist re-layout command, we are converting existing concatenate volume to
stripe.

#vxassist -g UXDG relayout concatv1 layout=stripe

bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v concatv1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT concatv1-01 fsgen
pl concatv1-01 concatv1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 STRIPE 2/128 RW
sd UXDISK0-02 concatv1-01 UXDISK0 0 51200 0/0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK1-01 concatv1-01 UXDISK1 0 51200 1/0 disk_1 ENA

6.Converting concatenate volume to stripe-mirror:

Here using vxassist re-layout command, we are converting existing concatenate volume to
stripe-mirror.
# vxassist -g UXDG relayout concatv1 layout=stripe-mirror
bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v concatv1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT concatv1-01 fsgen
pl concatv1-01 concatv1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 STRIPE 2/128 RW
sv concatv1-Ds01 concatv1-01 concatv1-d01 1 51200 0/0 2/2 ENA
sv concatv1-Ds02 concatv1-01 concatv1-d02 1 51200 1/0 2/2 ENA

v concatv1-d01 - ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 SELECT - fsgen

pl concatv1-dp01 concatv1-d01 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK0-02 concatv1-dp01 UXDISK0 0 51200 0 disk_0 ENA
pl concatv1-dp02 concatv1-d01 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-01 concatv1-dp02 UXDISK2 0 51200 0 disk_4 ENA

v concatv1-d02 - ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 SELECT - fsgen

pl concatv1-dp03 concatv1-d02 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 concatv1-dp03 UXDISK1 0 51200 0 disk_1 ENA
pl concatv1-dp04 concatv1-d02 ENABLED ACTIVE 51200 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 concatv1-dp04 UXDISK3 0 51200 0 disk_5 ENA

Coveting mirrored volume to concatenate volume:

To convert the volume from mirror to concatenation,just remove the mirror.

In otherwords,delete one of the plex from volume.

bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt

Disk group: UXDG
v uxoravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen
pl uxoravol1-01 uxoravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 uxoravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 102400 0 disk_0 ENA
pl uxoravol1-02 uxoravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-01 uxoravol1-02 UXDISK2 0 102400 0 disk_1 ENA

Method:1

Trying to delete the plex uxoravol1-02 ,

bash-3.00# vxedit -g UXDG -rf rm uxvol2-02
VxVM vxedit ERRORV-5-1-818 Plex uxvol2-02 is associated,cannot remove

Since the plex is attached to the volume, you can’t delete it.First disassociate from the
volume using the below command.

# vxplex -g UXDG dis uxvol2-02

Deleting the disassociated plex,

# vxedit -g UXDG -rf rm uxvol2-02

Method:2
In other way you can delete the plex using single command,
# vxplex -g UXDG -o rm dis uxvol2-02
# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v uxoravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 SELECT - fsgen
pl uxoravol1-01 uxoravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 102400 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 uxoravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 102400 0 disk_0 ENA
bash-3.00# df -h /uxvol2
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/uxvol2 50M 3.1M 44M 7% /uxvol2

Command Syntax:

# vxassist [-b] [-g diskgroup] relayout volume [layout=layout] \

[relayout_options]
To monitor the relayout status:

# vxrelayout status volume

In similar way you can covert other existing volume layouts to new volume layout. Refer
storage foundation admin guide to find Permitted relayout transformations.

VXDMP(Dynamic Multi Pathing)

Veritas Dynamic Multi-Pathing provides greater availability, reliability to SAN paths and it
increase the SAN I/O using load balancing .SAN path redundancy ensured by path failover.

What is multi-pathing software ?

Server is connected to SAN using one or more fiber channel(FC) in different controllers.But
without multi-pathing software the UNIX operating system incorrectly interprets the two
path as leading to two storage units(LUN). By using multi pathing software,tow paths as
leading to the same storage unit.(LUN)
 Unix Multi-pathing software importance

How VxDMP works ?

VXDMP Represents multi-paths to a LUN in SAN environments

Thanks to www.symantec.com
 In the above diagram,LUN is created with name of enc0 and depending on the path, LUN
can be accessed by using c1t99d0 or c2t99d0.But vxdmp sees c1t99d0 & c2t99d0 as single
SAN unit. If we loose c1 (controller) still we can access the LUN via c2t99d0.

VX-DMP supports the following support arrays:

 Active/Active (A/A)

 Asymmetric Active/Active (A/A-A)

 Asymmetric Logical Unit Access(ALUA)

 Active/Passive (A/P)

 Active/Passive in explicit failover mode or non-autotrespass mode (A/P-F)

 Active/Passive withLUNgroup failover (A/P-G)

DISPLAYING VXDMP INFORMATION:

To list the controllers,

# vxdmpadm listctlr all
CTLR-NAME ENCLR-TYPE STATE ENCLR-NAME
=====================================================
c2 EMC ENABLED emc0
c4 EMC ENABLED emc0
c0 Disk ENABLED disk
c1 Disk ENABLED disk

As per the above output,we have two controllers for emc0 enclosure.

To list the enclosures,

# vxdmpadm listenclosure all

ENCLR_NAME ENCLR_TYPE ENCLR_SNO STATUS ARRAY_TYPE LUN_COUNT
==============================================================
emc0 EMC 000292704216 CONNECTED A/A 331
disk Disk DISKS CONNECTED Disk 4

Here you can see ,we have two enclosure are available. emc0 (SAN) & disk(local disks)
To find what are Disk are using controller c1,
bash-3.00# vxdmpadm getsubpaths ctlr=c1
NAME STATE[A] PATH-TYPE[M] DMPNODENAME ENCLR-TYPE ENCLR-NAMEATTRS
======================================================
c1t3d0 ENABLED(A) - disk_0 Disk disk -
c1t5d0 ENABLED(A) - disk_1 Disk disk -
c1t4d0 ENABLED(A) - disk_2 Disk disk -

To see specific LUN multi-paths,

# vxdmpadm getsubpaths dmpnodename=emc0_0e790
NAME STATE[A] PATH-TYPE[M] CTLR-NAME ENCLR-TYPE ENCLR-NAMEATTRS
=================================================================
c2t3000034578233D18d57s2 ENABLED(A) - c2 EMC emc0 -
c4t3000034578233D24d57s2 ENABLED(A) - c4 EMC emc0 -

To find who controls the path,i.e to find the enclosure based name.
# vxdmpadm getdmpnode nodename=c2t3000034578233D18d57s2
NAME STATE ENCLR-TYPE PATHS ENBL DSBL ENCLR-NAME
================================================================
emc0_0e790 ENABLED EMC 2 4 0 emc0

To see what are the disks are coming from emc0 enclosure,
# vxdmpadm getdmpnode enclosure=emc0
NAME STATE ENCLR-TYPE PATHS ENBL DSBL ENCLR-NAME
===============================================================
emc0_0e790 ENABLED EMC 2 4 0 emc0

To disable controller,
# vxdmpadm listctlr all
CTLR-NAME ENCLR-TYPE STATE ENCLR-NAME
===========================================================
c1 Disk ENABLED disk
c2 EMC ENABLED emc0
c4 EMC ENABLED emc0
# vxdmpadm disable ctlr=c2

# vxdmpadm listctlr all

CTLR-NAME ENCLR-TYPE STATE ENCLR-NAME
===========================================================
c1 Disk ENABLED disk
c2 EMC DISABLED emc0
c4 EMC ENABLED emc0

To enable controller,

# vxdmpadm enable ctlr=c2

# vxdmpadm listctlr all

CTLR-NAME ENCLR-TYPE STATE ENCLR-NAME
===========================================================
c1 Disk ENABLED disk
c2 EMC ENABLED emc0
c4 EMC ENABLED emc0

VXDMP I/O statistics:

# vxdmpadm iostat show all

VxVM vxdmpadm ERROR V-5-1-14678 DMP IO Statistics collection activity has

been stopped. Use ‘vxdmpadm iostat start’ to restart IO Statistics collection
and try again.

To start the statistics collection,

# vxdmpadm iostat start

To see the statistics,

# vxdmpadm iostat show all
cpu usage = 10883us per cpu memory = 28672b
OPERATIONS BLOCKS AVG TIME(ms)
PATHNAME READS WRITES READS WRITES READS WRITES
c1t0d0s2 13 0 221 0 20.51 0.00
c1t1d0 381 2396 207193 704884 24.01 16.28
c1t2d0 361 2567 207034 766221 15.02 20.96
c1t3d0 46792 9806 1336359 804680 1.10 16.68
 You can reset the statistics to being the monitoring,

# vxdmpadm iostat reset

# vxdmpadm iostat show all
cpu usage = 1us per cpu memory = 28672b
OPERATIONS BLOCKS AVG TIME(ms)
PATHNAME READS WRITES READS WRITES READS WRITES
c1t0d0s2 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00
c1t1d0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00
c1t2d0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00
c1t3d0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00

I/O policy (I/O load balancing):

To get the enclosure names,

bash-3.00# vxdmpadm listenclosure all
ENCLR_NAME ENCLR_TYPE ENCLR_SNO STATUS ARRAY_TYPE LUN_COUNT
=================================================================
disk Disk DISKS CONNECTED Disk 7

To get the current I/O Policy for ensloure,

bash-3.00# vxdmpadm getattr enclosure disk iopolicy
ENCLR_NAME DEFAULT CURRENT
=========================================================
disk MinimumQ MinimumQ

To modify the I/O policy for the enclosure,

bash-3.00# vxdmpadm setattr enclosure disk iopolicy=balanced
bash-3.00# vxdmpadm getattr enclosure disk iopolicy
ENCLR_NAME DEFAULT CURRENT
=========================================================
disk MinimumQ Balanced

FYI: iopolicy can be either:

 adaptive
 adaptiveminq
 balanced
 minimumq
 priority
 round-robin
 singleactive
To stop DMP,
# vxdmpadm stop restore

To start DMP,
# vxdmpadm start restore

If its already running , you will get below warning messages.

# vxdmpadm start restore
VxVM vxdmpadm ERROR V-5-1-3243 The VxVM restore daemon is already running.
You can stop and restart the restore daemon with desired arguments for
changing any of its parameters.

VXVM Instant Snapshots

A snapshot is the state of a volume at a particular point in time. Veritas Volume Manager
snapshot capability for taking an image of a volume at a given point in time.It provides
various snapshot depends on the environments and product cost.

There are three type of snapshot in VXVM

1.Full-sized instant snapshot (using vxsnap)
2.Space-optimized instant snapshot (using vxsnap)
3.Mirror Break-off snapshot (vxassist or vxsnap)
4.Linked Break-off snapshot

Comparison of snapshot.

table.tableizer-table { border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Verdana, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;
} .tableizer-table td { padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc; } .tableizer-table th { background-color:
#104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold; }
 Full-sized Space-optimized Mirror Break-
Snapshot feature
instant instant off

Immediately available for use on creation Yes Yes No

Requires less storage space than original volume No Yes No

Can be reattached to original volume Yes No Yes

Can be used to restore contents of original volume Yes Yes Yes

Can quickly be refreshed without being reattached Yes Yes No

Snapshot hierarchy can be split Yes No No

Can be moved into separate disk group from original

Yes No Yes
volume

Can be turned into an independent volume Yes No Yes

FastResync ability persists across system reboots or

Yes Yes Yes
cluster restarts

Synchronization can be controlled Yes No No

Thanks to www.symantec.com

Full-sized instant snapshot

Full-sized instant snapshot enables you to make a full copy of an existing volume which is
called snap volume.It can be mounted as separate volume and it can synchronized using
refresh command.In large database environment this snapshot will very useful to take
volume backup with impacting the production performance.
Here is the high level procedure:
1.Keep the all production volumes is one diskgroup
2.Refresh the snapshot’s to make sure it’s an up-to-date.
3.Split-off the snap volumes in to new different disk group.
4.Deport the snapshot diskgroup from the production database server.
5.Import snapshot DG to the backup server. (TSM or Netbackup)
6.Start and mount the snap volumes on backup server.
7.Take backup of those snap-volumes. i.e database volume backup.

Once the backups are complete, we need to reverse process.

1. Un-mount the snap volumes on backup server.
2.Deport snapshot diskgroup from the backup server
3.Import snapshot diskgroup back into the production database server
4.Join the snashot diskgroup and dataase volumes diskgroup.
5.Refresh the snapshot on the snap volumes to update the latest changes on production DB
volumes.

Full-sized instant snapshot-Process

Thanks to www.symantec.som

Disk are used for this setup:

# vxdisk list
DEVICE TYPE DISK GROUP STATUS
disk_0 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK1 UXDG online
disk_1 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK2 UXDG online
disk_2 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_3 auto:ZFS - - ZFS
disk_4 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK3 UXDG online
disk_5 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK4 UXDG online
disk_6 auto:cdsdisk UXDISK5 UXDG online

Volume is used for this setup:

v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 184320 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 184320 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 41264 143056 disk_1 ENA
# df -h /apporavol1/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/oravol1 100M 43M 53M 45% /apporavol1

1.Prepare Volume for snapshot:

# vxsnap -g UXDG -b prepare oravol1

bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 184320 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 184320 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 41264 143056 disk_1 ENA
dc oravol1_dco oravol1 oravol1_dcl
v oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT - gen
pl oravol1_dcl-01 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-02 oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK2 41264 67840 0 disk_1 ENA

2.Make the Snap Volume:

# vxassist -g UXDG make oravol1-snap 100M

Note:The snap-volume should be equal to volume size.
v oravol1-snap - ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol1-snap-01 oravol1-snap ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1-snap-01 UXDISK3 0 20480 0 disk_4 ENA

3.Prepare snap-volume:
You will get the below error if you didn’t prepare the snap volume.
VxVM vxassist ERROR V-5-1-7061 Volume oravol1-snap is not instant ready
# vxsnap -g UXDG -b prepare oravol1-snap
v oravol1-snap - ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol1-snap-01 oravol1-snap ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1-snap-01 UXDISK3 0 20480 0 disk_4 ENA
dc oravol1-snap_dco oravol1-snap oravol1-snap_dcl
v oravol1-snap_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT - gen
pl oravol1-snap_dcl-01 oravol1-snap_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-02 oravol1-snap_dcl-01 UXDISK3 20480 67840 0 disk_4 ENA

4.Link the volume to snap-volume:

# vxsnap -g UXDG -o nofreeze make source=oravol1/snapvol=oravol1-snap
# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1 ENA
dc oravol1_dco oravol1 oravol1_dcl
v oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT - gen
pl oravol1_dcl-01 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-02 oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK2 61744 67840 0 disk_1 ENA
sp oravol1-snap_snp oravol1 oravol1_dco

v oravol1-snap - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT - fsgen

pl oravol1-snap-01 oravol1-snap ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1-snap-01 UXDISK3 0 20480 0 disk_4 ENA
sd UXDISK4-01 oravol1-snap-01 UXDISK4 0 143056 20480 disk_5 ENA
sd UXDISK3-03 oravol1-snap-01 UXDISK3 88320 41264 163536 disk_4 ENA
dc oravol1-snap_dco oravol1-snap oravol1-snap_dcl
v oravol1-snap_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT - gen
pl oravol1-snap_dcl-01 oravol1-snap_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-02 oravol1-snap_dcl-01 UXDISK3 20480 67840 0 disk_4 ENA
sp oravol1_snp oravol1-snap oravol1-snap_dco

5.To refresh snapshot:

# vxsnap -g UXDG refresh oravol1-snap source=oravol1
6.To mount the snapshot:
# df -h /snaporavol1/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/oravol1-snap 100M 43M 53M 45% /snaporavol1

7.Testing the snapshot:

# cd /apporavol1/
bash-3.00# ls -lrt
total 81920
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 96 Apr 1 14:04 lost+found
-rw------T 1 root root 10485760 Apr 1 14:05 test1
-rw------T 1 root root 10485760 Apr 1 14:05 run
-rw------T 1 root root 10485760 Apr 1 14:05 unixarena
-rw------T 1 root root 10485760 Apr 1 14:45 snaptest
bash-3.00# mkfile 20M snapshot-test1
bash-3.00# df -h .
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/oravol1 100M 63M 35M 65% /apporavol1

You can see still,snapshot is holding the data with last refresh state.
# df -h /snaporavol1/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/oravol1-snap 100M 43M 53M 45% /snaporavol1

8.Trying to refresh the snapshot:

# vxsnap -g UXDG refresh oravol1-snap source=oravol1
VxVM vxsnap ERROR V-5-1-7066 Volume oravol1-snap is open, cannot refresh
# umount /snaporavol1/
# vxsnap -g UXDG refresh oravol1-snap source=oravol1
# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/oravol1-snap /snaporavol1/

Now you can see snapshot has been updated with last volume update.
# df -h /snaporavol1/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/oravol1-snap 100M 63M 35M 65% /snaporavol1

# ls -lrt /snaporavol1/snapshot-test1
-rw------T 1root root 20971520 Apr1 15:09/snaporavol1/snapshot-test1
In this way you can mount the snap volume and take a backup without impact the volume
performance for database filesystems if you are performing the backup on production
server.

9.SPLIT snap-volume to new diskgroup:

We can spit the snapshot to new diskgroup using the below procedure.Using this method,we
can import the snapshot diskgroup to backup servers for backup the volumes.
# vxdg split UXDG UXDG-SNAP oravol1-snap
VxVM vxdg ERROR V-5-1-4597 vxdg split UXDG UXDG-SNAP failed
oravol1-snap : Volume or plex device is open or attached
bash-3.00# umount /snaporavol1/
bash-3.00# vxdg split UXDG UXDG-SNAP oravol1-snap
bash-3.00# vxdg list
NAME STATE ID
UXDG enabled,cds 1364804784.18.sfos
UXDG-SNAP enabled,cds 1364810218.19.sfos

# vxprint -hvtg UXDG-SNAP

v oravol1-snap - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol1-snap-01 oravol1-snap ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1-snap-01 UXDISK3 0 20480 0 disk_4 ENA
sd UXDISK4-01 oravol1-snap-01 UXDISK4 0 143056 20480 disk_5 ENA
sd UXDISK3-03 oravol1-snap-01 UXDISK3 88320 41264 163536 disk_4 ENA
dc oravol1-snap_dco oravol1-snap oravol1-snap_dcl
v oravol1-snap_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT - gen
pl oravol1-snap_dcl-01 oravol1-snap_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-02 oravol1-snap_dcl-01 UXDISK3 20480 67840 0 disk_4 ENA
sp oravol1_snp oravol1-snap oravol1-snap_dco

If the volume is in disabled state,recover using the below command

# vxrecover -s oravol1-snap
bash-3.00# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/UXDG-SNAP/oravol1-snap /snaporavol1/
bash-3.00# df -h /snaporavol1/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG-SNAP/oravol1-snap 100M 63M 35M 65% /snaporavol1

Once you split the snapshot volume to new diskgroup,you can’t update the snapshot.
# vxsnap -g UXDG refresh oravol1-snap source=oravol1
VxVM vxsnap ERROR V-5-1-7015 Volume oravol1-snap doesn't exist

In a order to refresh the snapshot,

# vxdg join UXDG-SNAP UXDG
# vxprint -hvt
# vxsnap -g UXDG refresh oravol1-snap source=oravol1

10.To get the snapshot details:

# vxsnap -g UXDG print
NAME SNAPOBJECT TYPE PARENT SNAPSHOT %DIRTY %VALID
oravol1 -- volume -- -- -- 100.00
oravol1-snap_snp1 volume -- oravol1-snap 0.00 --
oravol1-snap oravol1_snp volume oravol1 -- 0.00 100.00

To restore data using snapshot:

Here i am deleting the /apporavol1 data

# cd /apporavol1/
# rm *
# ls -lrt
#
Trying to restore snapshot:
# vxsnap -g UXDG restore oravol1 source=oravol1-snap
VxVM vxsnap ERROR V-5-1-7067 Volume oravol1 is open, cannot restore
# umount /apporavol1/
bash-3.00# vxsnap -g UXDG restore oravol1 source=oravol1-snap

Check the restored data:

bash-3.00# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/oravol1 /apporavol1/
bash-3.00# cd /apporavol1/
bash-3.00# ls -lrt
total 122880
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 96 Apr 1 14:04 lost+found
-rw------T 1 root root 10485760 Apr 1 14:05 test1
-rw------T 1 root root 10485760 Apr 1 14:05 run
-rw------T 1 root root 10485760 Apr 1 14:05 unixarena
-rw------T 1 root root 10485760 Apr 1 14:45 snaptest
-rw------T 1 root root 20971520 Apr 1 15:09 snapshot-test1

To Delete the snapshot:

You can’t delete the snap-volume using vxassist command.
# vxassist -g UXDG remove volume oravol1-snap
VxVM vxassist ERROR V-5-1-10127 deleting volume oravol1-snap:
Record is associated

Step:1Disassociate an instant snapshot

# vxsnap -g UXDG dis oravol1-snap

Step:2 Delete the snapshot volume

# vxedit -g UXDG -r rm oravol1-snap
VxVM vxedit ERROR V-5-1-1226 Volume oravol1-snap is not DISABLED, use -f flag
# vxedit -g UXDG -f -r rm oravol1-snap
Verify your action using vxprint
# vxprint -hvt

Space-optimized instant snapshot

optimized instant snapshot.Unlike other snapshots,we no need equal volume space to

generate this snapshot. Using the cache objects,we can create a instant snapshot.Depends
on data changes on volume,cache objects size may varied.

Ex:Volume size is increasing 100M/per hour,then you need minimum 100MB cache object.If
the backJob needs two hours to complete,then you need 100×2=200MB cache volume.

Volume used for this setup:

#vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -
fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK6-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK6 0 204800 0 disk_7
ENA

Space-optimized instant snapshot:

Space optimized instant snapshot

Thanks www.symantec.com

1.Create a shared cache object:

# vxassist -g UXDG make cachevol 10M

Note:Since we have created the cache volume with size of 10M,if the volume changes
become more than 10M,snapshot become invalid and you need to perform the snapshot
again (Step:2)

#vxassist -g UXDG make cachevol 10M

#vxprint -hvt cachevol
Disk group: UXDGv cachevol - ENABLED ACTIVE 20480
SELECT - fsgen
pl cachevol-01 cachevol ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 cachevol-01 UXDISK1 0 20480 0 disk_0
ENA
#vxmake -g UXDG cache cacheobj cachevolname=cachevol autogrow=on
#vxprint -hvt cachevol
Disk group: UXDG
v cachevol cacheobj ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 SELECT -
fsgen
pl cachevol-01 cachevol ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 cachevol-01 UXDISK1 0 20480 0 disk_0
ENA

# vxcache -g UXDG start cacheobj

2. Create the space-optimized instant snapshot:

#vxsnap -g UXDG make source=oravol1/newvol=snap-oravol1/cache=cacheobj

VxVM vxassist ERROR V-5-1-7061 Volume oravol1 is not instant ready
#vxsnap -g UXDG prepare oravol1
#vxsnap -g UXDG make source=oravol1/newvol=snap-oravol1/cache=cacheobj
#vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v cachevol cacheobj ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 SELECT -
fsgen
pl cachevol-01 cachevol ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 cachevol-01 UXDISK1 0 20480 0 disk_0
ENA

v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -

fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK6-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK6 0 204800 0 disk_7
ENA
dc oravol1_dco oravol1 oravol1_dcl
v oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT -
gen
pl oravol1_dcl-01 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK6-02 oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK6 204800 67840 0 disk_7
ENA
sp snap-oravol1_snp oravol1 oravol1_dco
v snap-oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -
fsgen
pl snap-oravol1-P01 snap-oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sc snap-oravol1-S01 snap-oravol1-P01 cacheobj 0 204800 0 -
ENA
dc snap-oravol1_dco snap-oravol1 snap-oravol1_dcl
v snap-oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT -
gen
pl snap-oravol1_dcl-01 snap-oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-02 snap-oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK1 20480 67840 0 disk_0
ENA
sp oravol1_snp snap-oravol1 snap-oravol1_dco

3.Mount the volume and you can take the backup:

# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/snap-oravol1 /snaporavol1/
bash-3.00# df -h /snaporavol1/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/snap-oravol1 100M 63M 35M 65% /snaporavol1

4.To refresh the snapshot:

bash-3.00# vxsnap -g UXDG refresh snap-oravol1 source=oravol1
VxVM vxsnap ERROR V-5-1-7066 Volume snap-oravol1 is open, cannot refresh
bash-3.00# umount /snaporavol1/
bash-3.00# vxsnap -g UXDG refresh snap-oravol1 source=oravol1
bash-3.00# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/snap-oravol1 /snaporavol1/
bash-3.00# df -h /snaporavol1/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/snap-oravol1 100M 74M 24M 76% /snaporavol1

5.Detach/Attach snapshot:
Detach the snapshot from volume:
# vxsnap -g UXDG dis snap-oravol1

Attach the space optimized snapshot to volume.You can not use the reattach command for
space optimized snapshot.
# vxsnap -g UXDG reattach snap-oravol1 source=oravol1
VxVM vxplex ERROR V-5-1-6390 Cannot reattach space optimized snapshot to a
volume

Just refresh snapshot with source to reattach,

# vxsnap -g UXDG refresh snap-oravol1 source=oravol1

6.Restoring a volume from a snapshot:

# vxsnap -g UXDG restore oravol1 source=snap-oravol1

7.To delete the snapshot:

Disassociate the snapshot from volume
# vxsnap -g UXDG dis snap-oravol1

To Remove the snapshot objects,

# vxedit -g UXDG -f -r rm snap-oravol1
# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v cachevol cacheobj ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 SELECT - fsgen
pl cachevol-01 cachevol ENABLED ACTIVE 20480 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK4-01 cachevol-01 UXDISK4 0 20480 0 disk_5 ENA

v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT - fsgen

pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1 ENA
dc oravol1_dco oravol1 oravol1_dcl
v oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT - gen
pl oravol1_dcl-01 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-02 oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK2 61744 67840 0 disk_1 ENA

8.Cache volume administration:

To list the space-optimized snapshots that are created using cache objects:
# vxcache -g UXDG listvol cacheobj
snap-oravol1

To stop the cache object,

# vxcache -g UXDG stop cacheobj
VxVM vxcache ERROR V-5-1-6418 Cannot stop cache cacheobj as it has associated
subdisk(s) VxVM vxcache INFO V-5-1-9488Use vxcache [-g diskgroup] -f stop
cacheobj to force stop the cache object
# vxcache -g UXDG -f stop cacheobj

9.To remove the cache object,

# vxedit -g UXDG -rf rm cacheobj
VxVM vxedit ERROR V-5-1-6321 Cache cacheobj has associated subcaches
Disassociate the snapshot from volume
# vxsnap -g UXDG dis snap-oravol1

If you get the below error ,possible cache object has been stopped,
# vxedit -g UXDG -rf rm snap-oravol1
VxVM vxedit ERROR V-5-1-10128 Cache object meta-data update error
Start the cache object again to remove the snapshot.
# vxcache -g UXDG start cacheobj

Remove the space optimized snapshot,

# vxedit -g UXDG -rf rm snap-oravol1

Now you will be able to clear the cacheobj

# vxedit -g UXDG -rf rm cacheobj
# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0 ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1 ENA
dc oravol1_dco oravol1 oravol1_dcl
v oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT - gen
pl oravol1_dcl-01 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK2-02 oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK2 61744 67840 0 disk_1 ENA
Third-mirror break-off snapshots

we are going to see traditional mirror break-off snapshot.To perform this snapshot ,we need
free space equal to volume size on the diskgroup.It typically perform the volume mirror and
it will make the new plex as snapshot volume for backup operations.

High Level plan for backup of database volume using third-mirror break-off:
1.Prepare the volume for snapshot.
2.Add a mirror using the vxassist or vxsnap
3.Make the snapshot and break it from volume.
4.Mount the volume and perform the backup.

We can perform the third-mirror break-off snapshot in two ways.

1.Using vxassist
2.Using vxsnap

Traditional third-mirror break-off snapshots

Volume used for this setup:

v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -
fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0
ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1
ENA

USING VXASSIST

1.Create the mirror plex

By end of this work, you can see the new plex created and its state in SNAPDONE

#vxassist -g UXDG snapstart oravol1

#vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -
fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0
ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1
ENA
pl oravol1-02 oravol1 ENABLED SNAPDONE 204800 CONCAT - WO
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1-02 UXDISK3 0 143056 0 disk_4
ENA
sd UXDISK4-01 oravol1-02 UXDISK4 0 61744 143056 disk_5
ENA

Note:If you have additional mirror configured with volume,you can use that
plex as snapshot using below command.
# vxplex -g DG_NAME convert state=SNAPDONE plex_name
2.To take the snapshot

This step will break the mirror plex in to separate volume.So that we can mount it in
different mount point and backup can be performed without touching the actual database
volume. (oravol1)

#vxassist -g UXDG snapshot oravol1

#vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v SNAP-oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 ROUND -
fsgen
pl oravol1-02 SNAP-oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1-02 UXDISK3 0 143056 0 disk_4
ENA
sd UXDISK4-01 oravol1-02 UXDISK4 0 61744 143056 disk_5
ENA

v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -

fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0
ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1
ENA

3.Mount the volume and perform backup

# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/SNAP-oravol1 /snaporavol1/
bash-3.00# df -h /snaporavol1/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/SNAP-oravol1 100M 74M 24M 76% /snaporavol1

To break the association with snapshot volume:

By doing this , SNAP-oravol1 will become individual volume.

# vxassist -g UXDG snapclear SNAP-oravol1

To bring it back the snapshot for resync,

This step will bring back you to step:1 where we have created the mirror plex.
#vxassist -g UXDG snapback SNAP-oravol1
#vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -
fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0
ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1
ENA
pl oravol1-02 oravol1 ENABLED SNAPDONE 204800 CONCAT - WO
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1-02 UXDISK3 0 143056 0 disk_4
ENA
sd UXDISK4-01 oravol1-02 UXDISK4 0 61744 143056 disk_5
ENA

To restore data from the snapshot

# vxassist -g UXDG -o resyncfromreplica snapback SNAP-oravol1

This process will overwrite the volume using the snapshot data.

USING VXSNAP:
The above process can be done by using vxsnap command as well.
1.Prepare the volume for snapshot
# vxsnap -g UXDG prepare oravol1 ndcomirs=2 drl=off
bash-3.00# vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -
fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0
ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1
ENA
dc oravol1_dco oravol1 oravol1_dcl
v oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT -
gen
pl oravol1_dcl-01 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK3 0 67840 0 disk_4
ENA
pl oravol1_dcl-02 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK4-01 oravol1_dcl-02 UXDISK4 0 67840 0 disk_5
ENA

2.Add the new snapshot mirror for volume oravol1:

#vxsnap -b -g UXDG addmir oravol1
#vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -
fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0
ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1
ENA
pl oravol1-02 oravol1 ENABLED SNAPATT 204800 CONCAT - WO
sd UXDISK6-01 oravol1-02 UXDISK6 0 204800 0 disk_7
ENA
dc oravol1_dco oravol1 oravol1_dcl
v oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT -
gen
pl oravol1_dcl-01 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK3 0 67840 0 disk_4
ENA
pl oravol1_dcl-02 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK4-01 oravol1_dcl-02 UXDISK4 0 67840 0 disk_5
ENA
pl oravol1_dcl-03 oravol1_dcl DISABLED DCOSNP 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK6-02 oravol1_dcl-03 UXDISK6 204800 67840 0 disk_7
ENA
sp oravol1_cpmap oravol1 oravol1_dco

#vxsnap -g UXDG snapwait oravol1

Snapshot ready on volume oravol1
#vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -
fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0
ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1
ENA
pl oravol1-02 oravol1 ENABLED SNAPDONE 204800 CONCAT - WO
sd UXDISK6-01 oravol1-02 UXDISK6 0 204800 0 disk_7
ENA
dc oravol1_dco oravol1 oravol1_dcl
v oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT -
gen
pl oravol1_dcl-01 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK3 0 67840 0 disk_4
ENA
pl oravol1_dcl-02 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK4-01 oravol1_dcl-02 UXDISK4 0 67840 0 disk_5
ENA
pl oravol1_dcl-03 oravol1_dcl DISABLED DCOSNP 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK6-02 oravol1_dcl-03 UXDISK6 204800 67840 0 disk_7
ENA

3.To create the third-mirror break-off snapshot

#vxsnap -g UXDG make source=oravol1/newvol=snaporavol1/nmirror=1
#vxprint -hvt
Disk group: UXDG
v oravol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 SELECT -
fsgen
pl oravol1-01 oravol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK1-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK1 0 143056 0 disk_0
ENA
sd UXDISK2-01 oravol1-01 UXDISK2 0 61744 143056 disk_1
ENA
dc oravol1_dco oravol1 oravol1_dcl
v oravol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 SELECT -
gen
pl oravol1_dcl-01 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK3-01 oravol1_dcl-01 UXDISK3 0 67840 0 disk_4
ENA
pl oravol1_dcl-02 oravol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK4-01 oravol1_dcl-02 UXDISK4 0 67840 0 disk_5
ENA
sp snaporavol1_snp oravol1 oravol1_dco

v snaporavol1 - ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 ROUND -

fsgen
pl oravol1-02 snaporavol1 ENABLED ACTIVE 204800 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK6-01 oravol1-02 UXDISK6 0 204800 0 disk_7
ENA
dc snaporavol1_dco snaporavol1 snaporavol1_dcl
v snaporavol1_dcl - ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 ROUND -
gen
pl oravol1_dcl-03 snaporavol1_dcl ENABLED ACTIVE 67840 CONCAT - RW
sd UXDISK6-02 oravol1_dcl-03 UXDISK6 204800 67840 0 disk_7
ENA
sp oravol1_snp snaporavol1 snaporavol1_dco

4.Mount the snapshot volume and perform the backup:

# mount -F vxfs /dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/snaporavol1 /snaporavol1/

# df -h /snaporavol1/
Filesystem size used avail capacity Mounted on
/dev/vx/dsk/UXDG/snaporavol1 100M 74M 24M 76% /snaporavol1