System Administration Commands metassist(1M)
NAME
metassist - automated volume creation utility to support
Solaris Volume ManagerSYNOPSIS
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 automa-
tion, 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 willprovide - its size, the number of redundant copies
of the data it contains, the number of data pathsby which it is accessible, and whether faulty com-
ponents 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,SunOS 5.11 Last change: 22 Feb 2005 1
System Administration Commands metassist(1M)
as on the command line. Alternatively, the file can specify the types and component parts of thevolume, (for example, mirrors, stripes, concatena-
tions, 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 aBourne 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: o a volume request, which specifies arequest for a volume with explicit attri-
butes and components, or matching a given quality of service o 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 fileto 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:SunOS 5.11 Last change: 22 Feb 2005 2
System Administration Commands metassist(1M)
-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, giga-
bytes, 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 orgenerated volume request. No com-
mand script is generated or exe-
cuted, 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.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 22 Feb 2005 3
System Administration Commands metassist(1M)
-n name Specify the name of the new
volume. See metainit(1M) for nam-
ing 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. Ifredundancy is 1 or greater, a mir-
ror with this number of submirrors is created. In this case, the volume can suffer a disk failureon n-1 copies without data loss.
With the use of hot spares (seethe -f option), a volume can
suffer a disk failure on n+hsps-1
volumes without data loss, assum-
ing non-concurrent failures.
-u device1,device2,... Explicitly specify devices to
exclude in the creation of thisvolume. Named devices can be con-
trollers or disks. You can use this option alone, or to exclude some of the devices listed asavailable 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 specifyingmore verbose output when the com-
mand is run. -v 0 indicates silent
output, except for errors or other critical messages. The default level is 1.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 22 Feb 2005 4
System Administration Commands metassist(1M)
-V Display program version informa-
tion.-? Display help information. This
option can follow a subcommand forsubcommand-specific help.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Creating a MirrorThe 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 ToleranceThe 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 ConfigurationSunOS 5.11 Last change: 22 Feb 2005 5
System Administration Commands metassist(1M)
The following example determines and implements a configura-
tion satisfying the request specified in a request file:# metassist create -F request.xml
Example 5 Determining a Configuration and Saving It in avolume-config File
The following example determines a configuration which satisfies the given request. It saves the configuration in avolume-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
ScriptThe following example converts the given volume-config to a
shell script that you can run later:SunOS 5.11 Last change: 22 Feb 2005 6
System Administration Commands metassist(1M)
# 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 attri-
butes:____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | storage/svm ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Committed ||_____________________________|_____________________________|
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), metaroot(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)SunOS 5.11 Last change: 22 Feb 2005 7
System Administration Commands metassist(1M)
NOTES The quality of service arguments are mutually exclusive withthe -F inputfile argument.
When specifying a request file or quality of service argu-
ments 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 theDTD, in /usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/volume-request.dtd.
Characteristics of the XML configuration file are specifiedin 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.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 22 Feb 2005 8