Play with soft partitions on Solaris part 4

Grow soft partition on the fly

1. Create random file and calculate checksum

# cd /oradata
# dd if=/dev/urandom of=file bs=1024 count=1024
1024+0 records in
1024+0 records out
# digest -a md5 file
f0252c61cab0d92ae0b91206af72f85d

2. Grow d51 partition by 1 GB and grow the filesystem

# metattach d51 1g
d51: Soft Partition has been grown
# growfs -M /oradata /dev/md/rdsk/d51
/dev/md/rdsk/d51:       8388608 sectors in 2048 cylinders of 128 tracks, 32 sectors
        4096.0MB in 82 cyl groups (25 c/g, 50.00MB/g, 8192 i/g)
super-block backups (for fsck -F ufs -o b=#) at:
 32, 102464, 204896, 307328, 409760, 512192, 614624, 717056, 819488, 921920,
 7375136, 7477568, 7580000, 7682432, 7784864, 7887296, 7989728, 8092160,
 8194592, 8297024


3. See the mounted soft partitions and check if the file is the same

# df -k|grep md
/dev/md/dsk/d51      4109006    5145 4042237     1%    /oradata
/dev/md/dsk/d52      1488991    1521 1427911     1%    /oralogs
# digest -a md5 file
f0252c61cab0d92ae0b91206af72f85d



Conclusion

In few sample steps we create volumes and filesystems, grow it without disrupting normal work of the system and applications. This example show the power of Solaris Volume manager, but of course do not cover many of the options and details you will need in daily work. For more information about the subject is strictly recommended to read official SUN documentation and related papers.

Play with soft partitions on Solaris part 3

Creation of soft partitions

1. Create on soft partition of 3 gigabytes with name d51 and another with size 1.5G and name d52

# metainit d51 -p d5 3g
d51: Soft Partition is setup
# metainit d52 -p d5 1500m
d52: Soft Partition is setup


2. Check the status of d52 for example

# metastat d52
d52: Soft Partition
    Device: d5
    State: Okay
    Size: 3072000 blocks (1.5 GB)
        Extent              Start Block              Block count
             0                  6291520                  3072000

d5: RAID
    State: Okay
    Interlace: 32 blocks
    Size: 33091584 blocks (15 GB)
Original device:
    Size: 33094272 blocks (15 GB)
        Device     Start Block  Dbase        State Reloc  Hot Spare
        c1t0d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes
        c1t1d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes
        c1t2d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes
        c1t3d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes
        c1t4d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes

Device Relocation Information:
Device   Reloc  Device ID
c1t0d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VB302359a4-9d8f686a
c1t1d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VB5a844d32-bae9afe7
c1t2d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VBb0b0a9e8-72b6d075
c1t3d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VBc7fe9534-5a7df964
c1t4d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VB09918bf7-59adb880


3. Create filesystems

# newfs /dev/md/rdsk/d51
Warning: setting rpm to 60
newfs: construct a new file system /dev/md/rdsk/d51: (y/n)? y
/dev/md/rdsk/d51:       6291456 sectors in 1536 cylinders of 128 tracks, 32 sectors
        3072.0MB in 62 cyl groups (25 c/g, 50.00MB/g, 8192 i/g)
super-block backups (for fsck -F ufs -o b=#) at:
 32, 102464, 204896, 307328, 409760, 512192, 614624, 717056, 819488, 921920,
 5326496, 5428928, 5531360, 5633792, 5736224, 5838656, 5941088, 6043520,
 6145952, 6248384
 
# newfs /dev/md/rdsk/d52
Warning: setting rpm to 60
newfs: construct a new file system /dev/md/rdsk/d52: (y/n)? y
/dev/md/rdsk/d52:       3072000 sectors in 750 cylinders of 128 tracks, 32 sectors
        1500.0MB in 33 cyl groups (23 c/g, 46.00MB/g, 11264 i/g)
super-block backups (for fsck -F ufs -o b=#) at:
 32, 94272, 188512, 282752, 376992, 471232, 565472, 659712, 753952, 848192,
 2167552, 2261792, 2356032, 2450272, 2544512, 2638752, 2732992, 2827232,
 2921472, 3015712


4. Then create mountpoints, mount filesystems and check the mount

# mkdir /oradata /oralogs
# mount /dev/md/dsk/d51 /oradata
# mount /dev/md/dsk/d52 /oralogs
# df -k|grep md
/dev/md/dsk/d51      3081231    3089 3016518     1%    /oradata
/dev/md/dsk/d52      1488991    1521 1427911     1%    /oralogs

Play with soft partitions on Solaris part 2

2. Create solaris partition on the disks
# fdisk -W /tmp/partition /dev/rdsk//c1t0d0p0
# fdisk -F /tmp/partition /dev/rdsk//c1t1d0p0
# fdisk -F /tmp/partition /dev/rdsk//c1t2d0p0
# fdisk -F /tmp/partition /dev/rdsk//c1t3d0p0
# fdisk -F /tmp/partition /dev/rdsk//c1t4d0p0


3. We will populate this disk map over the rest of the disks in automatic way to avoid human errors

# prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/c1t0d0s2 > /tmp/c1t0d0s2.toc
# fmthard -s /tmp/c1t0d0s2.toc /dev/rdsk/c1t1d0s2
fmthard:  New volume table of contents now in place
# fmthard -s /tmp/c1t0d0s2.toc /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0s2
fmthard:  New volume table of contents now in place
# fmthard -s /tmp/c1t0d0s2.toc /dev/rdsk/c1t3d0s2
fmthard:  New volume table of contents now in place
# fmthard -s /tmp/c1t0d0s2.toc /dev/rdsk/c1t4d0s2
fmthard:  New volume table of contents now in place

4. And create 2 copies of metadb on each of the 4 disks

# metadb -a -f -c 2 c1t0d0s7 c1t1d0s7 c1t2d0s7 c1t3d0s7 c1t4d0s7


5. Create RAID 5 array

# metainit d5 -r c1t0d0s0 c1t1d0s0 c1t2d0s0 c1t3d0s0 c1t4d0s0
d5: RAID is setup
6. And check the status of array
# metastat d5
d5: RAID
    State: Okay
    Interlace: 32 blocks
    Size: 33091584 blocks (15 GB)
Original device:
    Size: 33094272 blocks (15 GB)
        Device     Start Block  Dbase        State Reloc  Hot Spare
        c1t0d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes
        c1t1d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes
        c1t2d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes
        c1t3d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes
        c1t4d0s0        330        No         Okay   Yes

Device Relocation Information:
Device   Reloc  Device ID
c1t0d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VB302359a4-9d8f686a
c1t1d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VB5a844d32-bae9afe7
c1t2d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VBb0b0a9e8-72b6d075
c1t3d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VBc7fe9534-5a7df964
c1t4d0   Yes    id1,sd@SATA_____VBOX_HARDDISK____VB09918bf7-59adb880

Play with soft partitions on Solaris part 1

Preamble

This manual is directed to show with practical example how to use soft partitions under Solaris. The advantages of soft partitions compared to standard Solaris slices are possibility to create up to 8192 partitions compared to 7 in slices and grow on the fly the partitions without disrupting normal operations. Of course last one is true only in case of use filesystem over the soft partition, but this is usual situation, raw partitions are in use much rare. Example will be based on soft partitions reside over 5 harddisks, each with size of 4 GB, binded in RAID 5 array.

Prerequisites

1. First lets create partitions on the disks using s7 with size of 40 MB for metadb and s0 the rest for RAID 5 volume

bash-3.2# format
Searching for disks...
Inquiry failed for this logical diskdone


AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
       0. c0d0 <ATA    -VBOX HARDDISK  -1.0 cyl 4174 alt 2 hd 255 sec 63>
          /pci@0,0/pci-ide@1,1/ide@0/cmdk@0,0
       1. c1t0d0 <ATA    -VBOX HARDDISK  -1.0  cyl 2045 alt 2 hd 128 sec 32>
          /pci@0,0/pci8086,2829@d/disk@0,0
       2. c1t1d0 <ATA    -VBOX HARDDISK  -1.0  cyl 2045 alt 2 hd 128 sec 32>
          /pci@0,0/pci8086,2829@d/disk@1,0
       3. c1t2d0 <ATA    -VBOX HARDDISK  -1.0  cyl 2045 alt 2 hd 128 sec 32>
          /pci@0,0/pci8086,2829@d/disk@2,0
       4. c1t3d0 <ATA    -VBOX HARDDISK  -1.0  cyl 2045 alt 2 hd 128 sec 32>
          /pci@0,0/pci8086,2829@d/disk@3,0
       5. c1t4d0 <ATA    -VBOX HARDDISK  -1.0  cyl 2045 alt 2 hd 128 sec 32>
          /pci@0,0/pci8086,2829@d/disk@4,0

We select disk 1 allocated on controller 1         
Specify disk (enter its number): 1
selecting c1t0d0
[disk formatted]


FORMAT MENU:
        disk       - select a disk
        type       - select (define) a disk type
        partition  - select (define) a partition table
        current    - describe the current disk
        format     - format and analyze the disk
        fdisk      - run the fdisk program
        repair     - repair a defective sector
        label      - write label to the disk
        analyze    - surface analysis
        defect     - defect list management
        backup     - search for backup labels
        verify     - read and display labels
        save       - save new disk/partition definitions
        inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
        volname    - set 8-character volume name
        !<cmd>     - execute <cmd>, then return
        quit

Next step is to allocate the partition for Solaris on the disk       
format> fdisk
No fdisk table exists. The default partition for the disk is:

  a 100% "SOLARIS System" partition

Type "y" to accept the default partition,  otherwise type "n" to edit the
 partition table.
y
Enter in to the partition menu
format> pa


PARTITION MENU:
        0      - change `0' partition
        1      - change `1' partition
        2      - change `2' partition
        3      - change `3' partition
        4      - change `4' partition
        5      - change `5' partition
        6      - change `6' partition
        7      - change `7' partition
        select - select a predefined table
        modify - modify a predefined partition table
        name   - name the current table
        print  - display the current table
        label  - write partition map and label to the disk
        !<cmd> - execute <cmd>, then return
        quit

Create huge slice with number 0 for the array
partition> 0
Part      Tag    Flag     Cylinders        Size            Blocks
  0 unassigned    wm       0               0         (0/0/0)          0

Enter partition id tag[unassigned]:
Enter partition permission flags[wm]:
Enter new starting cyl[0]:1
Enter partition size[0b, 0c, 0e, 0.00mb, 0.00gb]: 2030

Allocate the rest of the diskspace in slice with number 7 for metadb

partition> 7
Part      Tag    Flag     Cylinders        Size            Blocks
  7 unassigned    wm       0               0         (0/0/0)          0

Enter partition id tag[unassigned]:
Enter partition permission flags[wm]:
Enter new starting cyl[0]:2031
Enter partition size[0b, 0c, 20e, 0.00mb, 0.00gb]: 2043e
Print the partition table

partition> p
Current partition table (unnamed):
Total disk cylinders available: 2044 + 2 (reserved cylinders)

Part      Tag    Flag     Cylinders        Size            Blocks
  0 unassigned    wu       1 - 2030        3.96GB    (2030/0/0) 8314880
  1 unassigned    wu       0               0         (0/0/0)          0
  2     backup    wu       1 - 2044        3.99GB    (2044/0/0) 8372224
  3 unassigned    wu       0               0         (0/0/0)          0
  4 unassigned    wu       0               0         (0/0/0)          0
  5 unassigned    wu       0               0         (0/0/0)          0
  6 unassigned    wu       0               0         (0/0/0)          0
  7 unassigned    wu    2031 - 2043       26.00MB    (13/0/0)     53248
  8       boot    wu       0 -    0        2.00MB    (1/0/0)       4096
  9 unassigned    wu       0               0         (0/0/0)          0

And label and quit from format program 
partition> la
Ready to label disk, continue? y
partition> q


FORMAT MENU:
        disk       - select a disk
        type       - select (define) a disk type
        partition  - select (define) a partition table
        current    - describe the current disk
        format     - format and analyze the disk
        fdisk      - run the fdisk program
        repair     - repair a defective sector
        label      - write label to the disk
        analyze    - surface analysis
        defect     - defect list management
        backup     - search for backup labels
        verify     - read and display labels
        save       - save new disk/partition definitions
        inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
        volname    - set 8-character volume name
        !<cmd>     - execute <cmd>, then return
        quit
format> q