metassist

- automated volume creation utility to support Solaris Volume Manager

Synopsis

metassist -V

metassist -?

metassist create [-v n] [-c] -F config_file

metassist create [-v n] [-c | -d] -F request_file

metassist create [-v n] [-c | -d] [-f] [-n name] 
     [-p datapaths] [-r redundancy] 
     [-a available [,available,…]] 
     [-u unavailable [,unavailable,…]] -s setname -S size

metassist create -?

Description

The metassist command provides assistance, through automation, with common Solaris Volume Manager tasks.

SUBCOMMANDS

The following subcommands are supported:

create

The create subcommand creates one or more Solaris Volume Manager volumes. You can specify this request on the command line or in a file specified on the command line.

If you create a volume using the command line, you can specify the characteristics of the volume in terms of the desired quality of service it will provide - its size, the number of redundant copies of the data it contains, the number of data paths by which it is accessible, and whether faulty components are replaced automatically. The diskset in which the volume will reside and the volume's size must be specified on the command line in this form of the command.

If you create a volume using a request in a file, you can specify the characteristics of the volume in terms of the quality of service they provide, as on the command line. Alternatively, the file can specify the types and component parts of the volume, (for example, mirrors, stripes, concatenations, and their component slices). The file may also specify volumes partly in terms of their types and partly in terms of their component parts, and may specify the characteristics of more than one volume. All volumes specified in a file must reside in the same diskset, whose name must be specified in the file.

If you specify the -c or -d option on the command line, the command runs without creating an actual volume or volumes. Instead, it outputs either a a Bourne shell command script (-c option) or a volume configuration (-d option). The command script, when run, creates the specified volume or volumes. The volume configuration specifies the volume or volumes in complete detail, naming all their components.

The input file given on the command line can take one of the following forms:

• a volume request, which specifies a request for a volume with explicit attributes and components, or matching a given quality of service

• a volume configuration, produced by a previous execution of the command

Options

The following option is mandatory if you specify a volume request or volume configuration in a file:

-F config_file | request_file

Specify the volume request or volume configuration file to process. If config_file or request_file is -, it is read from standard input.

The -d option cannot be specified when inputfile is a volume configuration file.

The following options are mandatory if you specify a volume request on the command line:

-s set

Specify the disk set to use when creating volumes. All the volumes and hot spare pools are created in this disk set. If necessary, disks are moved into the diskset for use in the volumes and hot spare pools. If the diskset doesn't exist the command creates it. This option is required. metassist works entirely within a named disk set. Use of the local, or unnamed disk set, is not allowed.

-S size

Specify the size of the volume to be created. The size argument consists of a numeric value (a decimal can be specified) followed by KB, MB, GB, or TB, indicating kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, or terabytes, respectively. Case is ignored when interpreting this option. This option is required.

The following options are optional command line parameters:

-a device1,device2,...

Explicitly specify the devices that can be used in the creation of this volume. Named devices may be controllers or disks. Only used when specifying a volume on the command line.

-c

Output the command script that would implement the specified or generated volume configuration. The command script is not run, and processing stops at this stage.

-d

Output the volume configuration that satisfies the specified or generated volume request. No command script is generated or executed, and processing stops at this stage.

-f

Specify whether the volume should support automatic component replacement after a fault. If this option is specified, a mirror is created and its submirrors are associated with a hot spare.

-n name

Specify the name of the new volume. See metainit(1M) for naming guidelines.

-p n

Specify the number of required paths to the storage volume. The value of n cannot be greater than the number of different physical paths and logical paths to attached storage. Only used when specifying a volume on the command line.

-r n

Specify the redundancy level (0-4) of the data. The default is 0. Only used when specifying a volume on the command line. If redundancy is 0, a stripe is created. If redundancy is 1 or greater, a mirror with this number of submirrors is created. In this case, the volume can suffer a disk failure on n-1 copies without data loss. With the use of hot spares (see the -f option), a volume can suffer a disk failure on n+hsps-1 volumes without data loss, assuming non-concurrent failures.

-u device1,device2,...

Explicitly specify devices to exclude in the creation of this volume. Named devices can be controllers or disks. You can use this option alone, or to exclude some of the devices listed as available with the -a option, Only used when specifying a volume on the command line.

-v value

Specify the level of verbosity. Values from 0 to 2 are available, with higher numbers specifying more verbose output when the command is run. -v 0 indicates silent output, except for errors or other critical messages. The default level is 1.

-V

Display program version information.

-?

Display help information. This option can follow a subcommand for subcommand-specific help.

Examples

Example 1 Creating a Mirror

The following example creates a two-way, 36Gb mirror on available devices from controller 1 and controller 2. It places the volume in diskset mirrorset.

# metassist create -r 2 -a c1,c2 -s mirrorset -S 36GB

Example 2 Creating a Mirror with Additional Fault Tolerance

The following example creates a two-way, 36Gb mirror on available devices from controller 1 and controller 2. It provides additional fault tolerance in the form of a hot spare. It places the volume in diskset mirrorset.

# metassist create -f -r 2 -a c1,c2 -s mirrorset -S 36GB

Example 3 Creating a Three-way Mirror and Excluding Devices

The following example creates a three-way, 180Gb mirror from storage devices on controller 1 or controller 2. It excludes the disks c1t2d0 and c2t2d1 from the volume. It places the volume in diskset mirrorset.

metassist create -r 3 -a c1,c2 -u c1t2d0, c2t2d1 \
    -s mirrorset -S 180GB

Example 4 Determining and Implementing a Configuration

The following example determines and implements a configuration satisfying the request specified in a request file:

# metassist create -F request.xml

Example 5 Determining a Configuration and Saving It in a volume-config File

The following example determines a configuration which satisfies the given request. It saves the configuration in a volume-config file without implementing it:

# metassist create -d -F request.xml > volume-config

Example 6 Determining a Configuration and Saving It in a Shell Script

The following example determines a configuration which satisfies the given request. It saves the configuration in a shell script without implementing it:

# metassist create -c -F request.xml > setupvols.sh

Example 7 Implementing the Given volume-config

The following example implements the given volume-config:

# metassist create -F config.xml

Example 8 Converting the Given volume-config to a Shell Script

The following example converts the given volume-config to a shell script that you can run later:

# metassist create -c -F config.xml > setupvols.sh

Exit Status

The following exit values are returned:

0

Successful completion.

>0

An error occurred.

Files

• /usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/volume-request.dtd

• /usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/volume-defaults.dtd

• /usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/volume-config.dtd

Attributes

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

See Also

mdmonitord(1M), metaclear(1M), metadb(1M), metadetach(1M), metahs(1M), metainit(1M), metaoffline(1M), metaonline(1M), metaparam(1M), metarecover(1M), metarename(1M), metareplace(1M), metaset(1M), metastat(1M), metasync(1M), metattach(1M), md.tab(4), md.cf(4), mddb.cf(4), md.tab(4), volume-config(4), volume-request(4), attributes(5), md(7D)

Notes

The quality of service arguments are mutually exclusive with the -F inputfile argument.

When specifying a request file or quality of service arguments on the command line, the /etc/default/metassist.xml file is read for global and per-disk set defaults.

Characteristics of this file are specified in the DTD, in /usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/volume-defaults.dtd.

Characteristics of the XML request file are specified in the DTD, in /usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/volume-request.dtd.

Characteristics of the XML configuration file are specified in the DTD, in /usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/volume-config.dtd.

This command must be run as root.

This command requires a functional Solaris Volume Manager configuration before it runs.