Configuring Newly Added Disk Devices

When you physically connect new disks to a host or when you zone new fibre channel devices to a host, you can use the vxdctl command to rebuild the volume device node directories and to update the DMP internal database to reflect the new state of the system.

To reconfigure the DMP database, first run ioscan followed by insf to make the operating system recognize the new disks, and then invoke the vxdctl enable command. See the vxdctl(1M) manual page for more information.

You can also use the vxdisk scandisks command to scan devices in the operating system device tree and to initiate dynamic reconfiguration of multipathed disks. See the vxdisk(1M) manual page for more information.

Discovering Disks and Dynamically Adding Disk Arrays

You can dynamically add support for a new type of disk array which has been developed by a third-party vendor. The support comes in the form of vendor supplied libraries, and is added to command.

Adding Support for a New Disk Array

The following example illustrates how to add support for a new disk array named vrtsda to system using a vendor-supplied package on a mounted CD-ROM:

# swinstall -s /cdrom vrtsda

The new disk array does not need to be already connected to the system when the package is installed. If any of the disks in the new disk array are subsequently connected, and if vxconfigd is running, vxconfigd immediately invokes the Device Discovery function and includes the new disks in the VxVM device list.

Device Discovery Function

To have VxVM discover a new disk array, use the following command:

# vxdctl enable

This command scans all of the disk devices and their attributes, updates the VxVM device list, and reconfigures DMP with the new device database. There is no need to reboot the host.

Removing Support for a Disk Array

To remove support for the vrtsda disk array, use the following command:

# swremove vrtsda

If the arrays remain physically connected to the host after support has been removed, they are listed in the OTHER_DISKS category, and the volumes remain available.

Administering the Device Discovery Layer

Dynamic addition of disk arrays is possible because of the existence of the Device Discovery Layer (DDL) which is a facility for discovering disks and their attributes that are required for VXVM and DMP operations.

Administering the DDL is the role of the vxddladm utility which is an administrative interface to the DDL. You can use vxddladm to perform the following tasks:

List the types of arrays that are supported.
Add support for an array to DDL.
Remove support for an array from DDL.
List information about excluded disk arrays.
List the supported JBODs.
Add JBOD support for disks from different vendors.
Remove support for a JBOD.

The following sections explain these tasks in more detail. For further information, see the vxddladm(1M) manual page.

Listing Details of Supported Disk Arrays

To list all currently supported disk arrays, use the following command

# vxddladm listsupport




	NOTE: Use this command to obtain values for the vid and pid attributes that are used with other forms of the vxddladm command.

Excluding Support for a Disk Array

To exclude a particular array library from participating in device discovery, use the following command:

# vxddladm excludearray libname=libvxenc.sl

. You can also exclude support for a disk array from a particular vendor, as shown in this example:

# vxddladm excludearray vid=ACME pid=X1

This array is also excluded from device discovery.

For more information about excluding disk array support, see the vxddladm (1M) manual page.

Re-including Support for an Excluded Disk Array

If you have excluded support for a particular disk array, you can use the includearray keyword to remove the entry from the exclude list, as shown in the following example:

# vxddladm includearray libname=libvxenc.sl

This command adds the array library to the database so that the library can once again be used in device discovery. If vxconfigd is running, you can use the vxdisk scandisks command to discover the array and add its details to the database.

Listing Excluded Disk Arrays

To list all disk arrays that are currently excluded from use by VxVM, use the following command:

# vxddladm listexclude

Listing Supported Disks in the JBOD Category

To list supported disks in the JBOD category, use the following command:

# vxddladm listjbod

Adding Support for Disks in the JBOD Category

To add support for disks that are in the JBOD category, use the vxddladm command with the addjbod keyword. The following example illustrates the command for adding disks from the vendor, Seagate:

# vxddladm addjbod vid=SEAGATE

To add support for X1 disks from ACME, use the following command:

# vxddladm addjbod vid=ACME pid=X1

Removing Support for Disks in the JBOD Category

To remove support for disks that are in the JBOD category, use the vxddladm command with the rmjbod keyword. The following example illustrates the command for removing disks supplied by the vendor, Seagate:

# vxddladm rmjbod vid=SEAGATE

To remove support for X1 disks from ACME, use the following command:

# vxddladm rmjbod vid=ACME pid=X1