metassist(1M) System Administration Commands metassist(1M)NAMEmetassist - automated volume creation utility to support Solaris Volume
Manager
SYNOPSISmetassist-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 automation, with
common Solaris Volume Manager tasks.
SUBCOMMANDS
The following subcommands are supported:
create The create subcommand creates one or more Solaris Volume Man‐
ager 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 spec‐
ify the characteristics of the volume in terms of the desired
quality of service it will provide - its size, the number of
redundant copies of the data it contains, the number of data
paths by which it is accessible, and whether faulty compo‐
nents 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, as on the command line.
Alternatively, the file can specify the types and component
parts of the volume, (for example, mirrors, stripes, concate‐
nations, and their component slices). The file may also spec‐
ify volumes partly in terms of their types and partly in
terms of their component parts, and may specify the charac‐
teristics 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 a Bourne shell command script
(-c option) or a volume configuration (-d option). The com‐
mand script, when run, creates the specified volume or vol‐
umes. The volume configuration specifies the volume or vol‐
umes 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 a request for a
volume with explicit attributes 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 file to 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 con‐
figuration file.
The following options are mandatory if you specify a volume request on
the command line:
-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 argu‐
ment consists of a numeric value (a decimal can be speci‐
fied) followed by KB, MB, GB, or TB, indicating kilobytes,
megabytes, gigabytes, 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 imple‐
ment the specified or generated volume con‐
figuration. The command script is not run,
and processing stops at this stage.
-d Output the volume configuration that satis‐
fies the specified or generated volume
request. No command script is generated or
executed, 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.
-n name Specify the name of the new volume. See
metainit(1M) for naming 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 speci‐
fying a volume on the command line. If redun‐
dancy is 0, a stripe is created. If redun‐
dancy is 1 or greater, a mirror with this
number of submirrors is created. In this
case, the volume can suffer a disk failure on
n-1 copies without data loss. With the use of
hot spares (see the -f option), a volume can
suffer a disk failure on n+hsps-1 volumes
without data loss, assuming non-concurrent
failures.
-u device1,device2,... Explicitly specify devices to exclude in the
creation of this volume. Named devices can be
controllers or disks. You can use this option
alone, or to exclude some of the devices
listed as available 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 spec‐
ifying more verbose output when the command
is run. -v 0 indicates silent output, except
for errors or other critical messages. The
default level is 1.
-V Display program version information.
-? Display help information. This option can
follow a subcommand for subcommand-specific
help.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Creating a Mirror
The 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 Tolerance
The 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 Configuration
The following example determines and implements a configuration satis‐
fying the request specified in a request file:
# metassist create -F request.xml
Example 5 Determining a Configuration and Saving It in a volume-config
File
The following example determines a configuration which satisfies the
given request. It saves the configuration in a volume-config file with‐
out 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 Script
The following example converts the given volume-config to a shell
script that you can run later:
# 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 attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │storage/svm │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │Committed │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOmdmonitord(1M), metaclear(1M), metadb(1M), metadetach(1M), metahs(1M),
metainit(1M), metaoffline(1M), metaonline(1M), metaparam(1M), metare‐
cover(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)NOTES
The quality of service arguments are mutually exclusive with the -F
inputfile argument.
When specifying a request file or quality of service arguments 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 the DTD, in
/usr/share/lib/xml/dtd/volume-request.dtd.
Characteristics of the XML configuration file are specified in 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 22 Feb 2005 metassist(1M)
