Pre-initialization instructions

Consider these items in preparation for Volume Manager initialization:

• Most of the commands used in the initialization are in the /sbin, /usr/sbin, /usr/bin/X11, or /opt/vxvm-va/bin directory. You should add these directories to your PATH environment variable. For example, using the Bourne or Korn Shell, modify your .profile with:
  
  PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:$PATH:/usr/bin/X11:/opt/vxva/bin export PATH

• Before initializing the Volume Manager, make sure you are aware of the contents of each disk. During the initialization process, you will have to decide the following:

  • Do you wish to place all or just some of the disks on the system and/or controller under Volume Manager control?

  • Do you wish to place the system's root disk under Volume Manager control? (This is necessary in the case of a one-disk system.)

  • When you place disks under Volume Manager control, do you wish to preserve data in any or all existing filesystems and partitions through encapsulation?

  • For each disk, do you want to choose whether to encapsulate, initialize, or leave the disk alone (Custom Installation)? Otherwise, do you want to either encapsulate or initialize all disks on a controller together (Quick Installation)?

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    NOTE: The software initialization may require repeated reboots. You are prompted for permission to reboot when the reboots are needed. If you choose not to reboot, the initialization cannot complete. After the first reboot, the initialization process takes control of the system until the initialization is complete.

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• Any disk to be managed by Volume Manager should have two free partitions and a small amount of free space (1024 sectors). The free space should be at the beginning or end of the disk and should not belong to a partition. This space is used for storing disk group configurations and a disk label that ensures that the Volume Manager can identify the disk, even if it is moved to a different address or controller. It is also used to keep track of disk configuration and to ensure correct recovery. The Volume Manager allocates approximately 1024 sectors (512K) from each disk for the disk group configurations and the disk label. This space is sufficient to handle normal disk group configurations for up to approximately 20 disks.

  The boot (root) disk is a special case; if no other space is available, the Volume Manager will attempt to allocate space usually reserved for swap by shrinking the swap slice. This process is known as swap relocation and, if necessary, will happen automatically during root disk encapsulation.

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  NOTE: Although it is possible to put disks with no free space under Volume Manager control, this should only be used as a migration strategy because many VxVM capabilities based on disk identity are available only for disks with the required free space. See vxdisk(1M) for information about the nopriv disk type.

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• If you plan to encapsulate any disks, make sure that those disks have the required minimum free space (1024 sectors).