HPUX :How to mirror the root disk

How to mirror the root disk

The following procedure shows how to mirror the root disk. Let c10t1d0  be the existing primary disk and c2t10d0  the new mirror boot disk:

For LVM

Use idisk(1M) command to partition the disk according to this file:

# idisk -wf /tmp/partitionfile /dev/rdsk/c2t10d0  

idisk version: 1.2

********************** WARNING ***********************

If you continue you may destroy all data on this disk.

Do you wish to continue(yes/no)? yes

...

              1) Setup the disk partitions

At a cold-installed UX 11.23 system the partition sizes are different compared to UX 11.22. Use diskinfo(1M) to check the partition sizes. E.g. for a UX 11.23 system you would get:

# diskinfo /dev/rdsk/c10t1d0s1 | grep size

size: 512000 Kbytes

# diskinfo /dev/rdsk/c10t1d0s3 | grep size

size: 409600 Kbytes

Create a partition description file:

              2) Create the new device files for the new partitions (c2t10d0s1,s2, (s3))

# insf -e -Cdisk

3) Use efi_fsinit(1M) to initialize the FAT filesystem on the EFI partition:

# efi_fsinit -d /dev/rdsk/c2t10d0s1

NOTE: This step is not neccessary if it can be guaranteed that the mirror disk does not contain a valid EFI filesystem. In this case efi_fsinit(1M) will be done automatically by the subsequent mkboot(1M) command. But if you take e.g. an old UX 11.22 boot disk as mirror disk, mkboot will not automatically run efi_fsinit. As a result only 100MB of the 500MB EFI partition (s1) can be used.

4) Use mkboot(1M) to format the EFI partition (s1) and populate it with the EFI files below /usr/lib/efi/ and to format the LIF volume (part ofs2) and populate it with the LIF files (ISL, AUTO, HPUX, LABEL) below /usr/lib/uxbootlf:

# mkboot -e -l /dev/rdsk/c2t10d0  

# efi_ls -d /dev/rdsk/c2t10d0s1 (to check EFI)

UX 11.22	UX 11.23 (cold-installed)
# vi /tmp/partitionfile 2 EFI 100MB HPUX 100%	# vi /tmp/partitionfile 3 EFI 500MB HPUX 100% HPSP 400MB

FileName Last Modified Size

EFI/ 11/ 5/2003 0

STARTUP.NSH 11/ 5/2003 296

total space 523251712 bytes, free space 520073216 bytes

# lifls -l /dev/rdsk/c2t10d0s2 (to check LIF)

5) Check the content of AUTO file on EFI partition:

# efi_cp -d /dev/rdsk/c2t10d0s1 -u /EFI/HPUX/AUTO /tmp/x; cat /tmp/x

NOTE: Specify the -lq option if prefer that your system boots up without interruption in case of a disk failure:

# mkboot -a "boot vmunix -lq" /dev/rdsk/c2t10d0  

# mkboot -a "boot vmunix -lq" /dev/rdsk/c10t1d0  

6) Copy the HP service partition (UX 11.23 only): (skip this, if you don’t have a service partition)

# dd if=/dev/rdsk/c10t1d0s3 of=/dev/rdsk/c2t10d0s3 bs=1024k

7) Initialize the LVM partition (s2) and add it to vg00:

# pvcreate [-f] –B /dev/rdsk/c2t10d0s2 (take care to uses2)

# vgextend vg00 /dev/dsk/c2t10d0s2

8) Mirror the LVs to thes2 partition:

# for i in lvol1 lvol2 ... lvol8 (specify each LV)

> do lvextend -m 1 /dev/vg00/$i /dev/dsk/c2t10d0s2

> done

9) Check if content of LABEL file (i.e. root, boot, swap and dump device definition) has been initialized (done by lvextend) on the mirror disk:

# lvlnboot -v Boot Definitions for Volume Group /dev/vg00:

Physical Volumes belonging in Root Volume Group:

/dev/dsk/c10t1d0s2 (0/1/1/1.2.0) -- Boot Disk

/dev/dsk/c2t10d0s2 (0/1/1/0.1.0) -- Boot Disk

Boot: lvol1 on: /dev/dsk/c10t1d0s2

/dev/dsk/c2t10d0s2

Root: lvol3 on: /dev/dsk/c10t1d0s2

/dev/dsk/c2t10d0s2

Swap: lvol2 on: /dev/dsk/c10t1d0s2

/dev/dsk/c2t10d0s2

Dump: lvol2 on: /dev/dsk/c10t1d0s2, 0

If not, then set it:

# lvlnboot -r /dev/vg00/lvol3

# lvlnboot -b /dev/vg00/lvol1

# lvlnboot -s /dev/vg00/lvol2

# lvlnboot -d /dev/vg00/lvol2

8) Add a line to /stand/bootconf for the new boot disk (the letter l is for LVM)

# vi /stand/bootconf l /dev/dsk/c2t10d0s2

l /dev/dsk/c10t1d0s2

NOTE: This is not neccessary to be able to boot from the mirror in the first place. But if you omit it then you will run into trouble when installing an EFI boot loader patch (e.g. PHKL_34088). This patch updates the hpux.efi boot loader on all disks listed in the bootconf file.

9) Specify the mirrored disk as alternate bootpath

# setboot –a <HW path of mirror> # setboot –h <HW path of mirror> (for UX 11.23 use the HA alternate) # setboot (to check it)