Create FlashCopy Logical Drive Wizard: Additional Instructions for AIX – LVM Logical Volumes

Use this procedure to create on a running the AIX 5.3 or AIX 6.1 operating system using LVM Logical Volumes.


Attention:

Possible risk of data loss – Failure to complete the steps listed might result in an inaccurate point-in-time image of the .

For a process overview of the flashcopy logical drive creation process, refer to the Create FlashCopy Logical Drive Wizard - Process Overview - UNIX with Volume Manager Volumes online help topic.

FlashCopy logical drives might be reused for frequent backups or nightly backups. FlashCopy logical drives might be created for one-time usage, such as speculative change or upgrade testing. For instructions about how to reuse a disabled flashcopy logical drive, refer to the Reusing FlashCopy Logical Drives: Additional Information for AIX – LVM Logical Volumes online help topic.


Important:

If an AIX array has more than one logical drive, create flashcopy logical drives for each of the logical drives in the array.

  1. Either stop all I/O activity to the base logical drive at this point, or suspend data transfer to make sure that an accurate point-in-time image of the base logical drive is captured.
  2. Locate the array on which the flashcopy logical drive is to be based, and unmount its associated file systems.
  3. At the host prompt, type this command, and press Enter:

    umount mount-point
    

    In this command, mount-point is the name of the file system being unmounted.
  4. Start the storage management software.
    The Enterprise Management Window appears.
  5. Launch a Subsystem Management Window by selecting the in either the Tree view or the Table view and selecting Tools >> Manage Storage Subsystem .
    The Subsystem Management Window opens in a separate window.
  6. Select the Logical tab.
  7. Select a .
  8. Create a flashcopy logical drive by using one of these methods:

    create snapshotVolume
    

    For command reference information about creating a flashcopy logical drive, refer to the online help topics in the Enterprise Management Window.

  9. Assign a between theflashcopy logical drives and the host that will access the flashcopy logical drives. You can define mappings by using one of these methods:

    create mapping volume
    

    For command reference information about creating a mapping, refer to the online help topics in the Enterprise Management Window.

  10. Log in to the host as root.
  11. Run the or an operating-system-specific utility to make sure that the host operating system recognizes the flashcopy logical drives. To use the hot_add utility, at the host prompt, type this command, and press Enter:

    hot_add
    

    Several minutes might elapse while the computer is accessing the disk drives. When the program is finished, a dialog appears with this message:

    Storage Subsystem nodes have been updated

    The new logical drives are now available to you through the operating system.

  12. Run the utility to associate the with a host operating system storage subsystem. Running this utility also makes sure that the logical drive name and the operating system storage subsystem name assigned by the operating system correlate.
  13. Look for newly created flashcopy logical drive names. Note the names of the storage subsystem in the associated operating system.
  14. At the host prompt, type this command, and press Enter:

    lspv
    

    A list of all the physical logical drives recognized by the host operating system appears.
  15. Look for the name of the flashcopy logical drive or the flashcopy logical drives on the storage subsystem list that is provided by the operating system. The listing shows a physical volume ID (PVID) for this logical drive that is the same as the PVID for the associated base logical drive. This similarity exists because the flashcopy logical drive contains the same data structures of the array as the base logical drive.
  16. Clear the PVID for the flashcopy logical drives. At the host prompt, type this command, and press Enter:

    chdev - l os_device_name -a pv=clear
    

    In this command, os_device_name is the name of the flashcopy logical drive on the storage subsystem that is given by the operating system. Repeat this step for each flashcopy logical drive in the AIX array.
  17. Re-create a new array. The recreatevg command, available in usr/sbin/, reads the array data structure inside a logical drive and reconstructs it. At the host prompt, type this command, and press Enter:

    recreatevg -y volume-group-name -L /directory-name os-device-name
    

    In this command, volume-group-name is the user-defined name to be assigned to the flashcopy array, directory-name is the name of the directory where you want to mount the flashcopy logical drive, and os-device-name is the name of the flashcopy logical drive on the storage subsystem that is given by the operating system. If your AIX array is made up of more than one flashcopy logical drive, add an os-device-name for each logical drive.

    The command allocates new PVIDs to the flashcopy logical drives. The command also enables access to the flashcopy logical drive for the selected host.

    The array is re-created and contains the flashcopy logical drive or flashcopy logical drives.
  18. Mount the file system to its intended host. At the host prompt, type this command, and press Enter:

    mount mount-point
    

    In this command, mount-point is the name of the file system being mounted. Include the directory-name used in step 17.
  19. Make sure that the logical logical drives are back online. At the host prompt, type this command, and press Enter:

    df -k
    

    A list of the mounted disks appears.
  20. Use the flashcopy logical drive with your backup application for speculative testing or with another application.
  21. When the flashcopy logical drive is no longer required, unmount the file system. At the host prompt, type this command, and press Enter:

    umount mount-point
    

    In this command, mount-point is the name of the file system being unmounted.
  22. Delete the array that was created in step 17 that contains the flashcopy logical drives. At the host prompt, type these commands, and press Enter:

    varyoffvg volume-group-name
    

    exportvg volume-group-name
    

    In these commands, volume-group-name is the name of the flashcopy array.
  23. Disable or delete the flashcopy logical drive or flashcopy logical drives.

    If you disable the flashcopy logical drive instead of deleting it, you can retain the flashcopy logical drive and its associated . Then, when you need to create a different flashcopy of the same base logical drive, you can re-create the disabled flashcopy logical drive. This action takes less time than creating a new flashcopy logical drive and stops any reduction in performance that might occur if the flashcopy logical drive remains available.

    For information about disabling or re-creating a flashcopy, refer to the Disabling a FlashCopy Logical Drive online help topic and the Re-creating a FlashCopy Logical Drive online help topic. For information about deleting a flashcopy logical drive, refer to the Deleting a Logical Drive online help topic.

    For command reference information about disabling, re-creating, and deleting a flashcopy logical drive, refer to the online help topics in the Enterprise Management Window.

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