VERITAS Volume Manager 3.5 Troubleshooting Guide (August 2002)

Recovery by Reinstallation

28 VERITAS Volume Manager Troubleshooting Guide

General Reinstallation Information

This section describes procedures used to reinstall VxVM and preserve as much of the

original conﬁguration as possible after a failure.

Note System reinstallation destroys the contents of any disks that are used for

reinstallation.

All VxVM-related information is removed during reinstallation. Data removed includes

data in private areas on removed disks that contain the disk identiﬁer and copies of the

VxVM conﬁguration. The removal of this information makes the disk unusable as a VM

disk.

The system root disk is always involved in reinstallation. Other disks can also be

involved. If the root disk was placed under VxVM control, either during VERITAS

Volume Manager installation or later, that disk and any volumes or mirrors on it are lost

during reinstallation. Any other disks that are involved in the reinstallation, or that are

removed and replaced, can lose VxVM conﬁguration data (including volumes and

mirrors).

If a disk, including the root disk,is not under VxVM control prior to the failure,no VxVM

conﬁguration data is lost at reinstallation. For information on replacing disks, see

“Removing and Replacing Disks” in the “Administering Disks” chapter of the VERITAS

Volume Manager Administrator’s Guide.

Although it simpliﬁes the recovery process after reinstallation, not having the root disk

under VERITAS VolumeManager controlincreases the possibility of areinstallation being

necessary. By having the root disk under VxVM control and creating mirrors of the root

disk contents, you can eliminate many of the problems that require system reinstallation.

When reinstallation is necessary, the only volumes saved are those that reside on, or have

copies on, disks that are not directly involved with the failure and reinstallation. Any

volumeson theroot disk andother disksinvolved withthe failureor reinstallationarelost

during reinstallation. If backup copies of these volumes are available, the volumes can be

restored after reinstallation. On some systems, the root, stand, and usr ﬁle systems are

exceptions and cannot be restored from backup.