VERITAS Volume Manager 3.5 Installation Guide (September 2004)

Setting up the VxVM Environment
Initializing VxVM
Chapter 3
36
Initializing VxVM
After you install the VERITAS Volume Manager, use vxinstall(1M) to initialize it. vxinstall
does the following:
• Sets up the initial VxVM disk group, rootdg, and populates it with disks.
• Starts the configuration, notification, and relocation daemons used by VxVM.
Selecting Disks for VxVM Initialization
The vxinstall command initializes the Volume Manager, as described below. Tasks performed
through vxinstall include initializing disks and bringing them under Volume Manager control. Be
aware of the contents of all disks on your system so that you can determine the disposition of each as
vxinstall is run.
During the initialization process, you must decide whether you wish to place all or just some of the
disks on a controller under Volume Manager control. Two types of installation are available, as
follows:
• Custom Installation, to initialize certain disks and not others
• Quick Installation, to initialize all disks on a controller together
In order to complete a VxVM initialization through vxinstall, select at least one disk to bring under
Volume Manager control. Alternately, use the vxinstall -C option to convert an existing LVM
Volume Group. Even if you use the conversion option for vxinstall, it is recommended that you
survey your attached disks.
When you run vxinstall, disks that you want to initialize for Volume Manager control cannot be
under the control of LVM; vxinstall does not allow initialization of LVM disks for VxVM control.
Excluding Disks from VxVM Control
To exclude specific disks from VxVM control, add the names of those disks to the
/etc/vx/disks.exclude file.
NOTE The files /etc/vx/cntrls.exclude, /etc/vx/disks.exclude, and
/etc/vx/enclr.exclude are used by the vxinstall and vxdiskadm utilities to automatically
exclude controllers, disks or enclosures so that these devices are not configured as Volume Manager
devices. These files do not exclude controllers, disks and enclosures from use by any other VxVM
commands. See the vxinstall(1M) and vxdiskadm(1M) manual pages for more information.
LVM disks are automatically excluded from VxVM control and do not need to be added to the
/etc/vx/disks.exclude file. No Volume Manager utility can be used to initialize an
LVM-controlled disk. You must take specific actions to remove a disk from LVM control before
attempting to place it under VxVM control.
Volume Manager utilities recognize file systems on raw disks (not under LVM control). Raw disks
with file systems cannot be placed under Volume Manager control without administrator confirmation
that the disk file system be destroyed. However, to avoid any possible confusion, enter these disks in
the disks.exclude list.
Raw disks in use by other managing agents, such as databases, are not automatically recognized by
VxVM utilities. These disks are good candidates for inclusion in the disks.exclude file.