Task Roadmap

This section provides a summary of common Volume Manager Storage Administrator tasks. The tasks are grouped into setup tasks, ongoing maintenance tasks, and repair or recovery tasks. The procedures for these and other tasks are included in later chapters.

Setup Tasks

If you are using the Volume Manager and the Storage Administrator for the first time, you need to install both products, place your disks under Volume Manager control, and create volumes.

To install and set up the Storage Administrator

Install the Volume Manager and Storage Administrator.
Initialize the Volume Manager.
Start the Storage Administrator.

These tasks are described in Chapter 2 “Getting Started”

To set up disks

Place uninitialized disks under Volume Manager control.
Create additional disk groups for the new disks (optional).
Designate one or more disks as hot-relocation spares (optional).

These tasks are described in Chapter 3 “Disk Tasks”.

To set up volumes and file systems

Create volumes.
Place file systems on volumes (optional).
Create mirrors for any volumes that need to be redundant.

These tasks are described in Chapter 4 “Volume Tasks”.

To access hosts and clusters

Connect to additional host machine(s).
Create shared disk groups.

These tasks are described in Chapter 5 “Host and Cluster Tasks”.

Maintenance Tasks

After you have set up your disks and volumes, you may need to perform some or all of the following maintenance tasks.

To monitor objects

Use the main window's tree (left pane) and grid (right pane) to view disks, volumes, file systems, and other objects on the system.
Use the Object View window to display a graphical view of disks, volumes, and other objects in a particular disk group.
Use the Volume to Disk Mapping window to view the relationships between volumes and their underlying disks.
Use the Volume Layout Details window to display a graphical view of a particular volume and its components.
Use the object Properties window to view detailed information about a selected object.
Use the Alert Monitor window to view information about errors or failures associated with objects that are marked with alert icons.

These windows are described in Chapter 2 “Getting Started”.

To maintain disks

Place more disks under Volume Manager control.
Create more disk groups.
Upgrade disk groups to the current disk group version.

These tasks are described in Chapter 3 “Disk Tasks”.

To maintain volumes

Increase the size of volumes as users and applications require more space.
Change the layouts of volumes.
Add mirrors to any unmirrored volumes that should be redundant.
Create snapshot copies of volumes and then back up the volumes.
Reorganize the space occupied by volumes (by moving subdisks to other disks).

These tasks are described in Chapter 4 “Volume Tasks”.

To maintain file systems

Place additional file systems on volumes.
Increase the size of file systems as users and applications require more space.
Create snapshot copies of vxfs file systems and then back up the file systems.

These tasks are described in Chapter 4 “Volume Tasks”.

Repair/Recovery Tasks

If disk and/or system failures occur, the Volume Manager may perform any necessary recovery operations automatically. However, depending on the circumstances, you may need to attempt to recover from the situation as follows.

To protect volumes from disk failure

Evacuate a failing disk.
Replace a failed disk.

These tasks are described in Chapter 3 “Disk Tasks”.

To repair/recover volumes

Recover a volume.
Recover all volumes on a failed disk.
Recover all volumes in a disk group.
Start a volume.
If a volume is not recoverable, restore the volume from backup.

These tasks are described in Chapter 3 “Disk Tasks”, Chapter 4 “Volume Tasks”, and Chapter 6 “Troubleshooting”.

To repair/recover file systems

Perform a file system consistency check on any file systems that may be damaged.

These tasks are described in Chapter 4 “Volume Tasks”.

Task Roadmap

Technical documentation

» Table of Contents

» Glossary

» Index

Setup Tasks

To install and set up the Storage Administrator

To set up disks

To set up volumes and file systems

To access hosts and clusters

Maintenance Tasks

To monitor objects

To maintain disks

To maintain volumes

To maintain file systems

Repair/Recovery Tasks

To protect volumes from disk failure

To repair/recover volumes

To repair/recover file systems