VxVM Configuration Database

Veritas Configuration Database

When new objects (e.g., subdisks, plexes, volumes) are created with the Veritas CLI or GUI, Veritas will write the configuration data to describe these objects to a configuration database. The configuration database is stored in the private region of several devices in each disk group for redundancy. To list the devices in a disk group with a copy of the configuration database, the vxdg(1m) utility can be invoked with the "list" option and a disk group to query:

$ vxdg list oradg | egrep "config disk.*clean online"

config disk c1t1d0s2 copy 1 len=1280 state=clean online
config disk c1t2d0s2 copy 1 len=1280 state=clean online
config disk c1t3d0s2 copy 1 len=1280 state=clean online
config disk c1t4d0s2 copy 1 len=1280 state=clean online
config disk c1t5d0s2 copy 1 len=1280 state=clean online

To print the contents of the configuration database, the vxprint(1m) utility can be used. The following example uses the vxprint(1m) "-h" (list record hierarchies) and "-t" (use one-line format tailored for each record type) options to display the configuration database with an informational header and descriptive records:

$ vxprint -ht

DG NAME NCONFIG NLOG MINORS GROUP-ID
ST NAME STATE DM_CNT SPARE_CNT APPVOL_CNT
DM NAME DEVICE TYPE PRIVLEN PUBLEN STATE
RV NAME RLINK_CNT KSTATE STATE PRIMARY DATAVOLS SRL
RL NAME RVG KSTATE STATE REM_HOST REM_DG REM_RLNK
CO NAME CACHEVOL KSTATE STATE
VT NAME NVOLUME KSTATE STATE
V NAME RVG/VSET/CO KSTATE STATE LENGTH READPOL PREFPLEX UTYPE
PL NAME VOLUME KSTATE STATE LENGTH LAYOUT NCOL/WID MODE
SD NAME PLEX DISK DISKOFFS LENGTH [COL/]OFF DEVICE MODE
SV NAME PLEX VOLNAME NVOLLAYR LENGTH [COL/]OFF AM/NM MODE
SC NAME PLEX CACHE DISKOFFS LENGTH [COL/]OFF DEVICE MODE
DC NAME PARENTVOL LOGVOL
SP NAME SNAPVOL DCO

dg oradg default default 46000 1123603158.13.pooh

dm c1t1d0 c1t1d0s2 auto 2048 35365968 -
dm c1t2d0 c1t2d0s2 auto 2048 35521408 -
dm c1t3d0 c1t3d0s2 auto 2048 35521408 -
dm c1t4d0 c1t4d0s2 auto 2048 35521408 -
dm c1t5d0 c1t5d0s2 auto 2048 35365968 -
dm c1t6d0 c1t6d0s2 auto 2048 35521408 -

v oravol01 - ENABLED ACTIVE 41943040 SELECT oravol01-03 fsgen
pl oravol01-03 oravol01 ENABLED ACTIVE 41943168 STRIPE 3/128 RW
sv oravol01-S01 oravol01-03 oravol01-L01 1 13981056 0/0 2/2 ENA
sv oravol01-S02 oravol01-03 oravol01-L02 1 13981056 1/0 2/2 ENA
sv oravol01-S03 oravol01-03 oravol01-L03 1 13981056 2/0 2/2 ENA

v oravol01-L01 - ENABLED ACTIVE 13981056 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol01-P01 oravol01-L01 ENABLED ACTIVE 13981056 CONCAT - RW
sd c1t1d0-02 oravol01-P01 c1t1d0 0 13981056 0 c1t1d0 ENA
pl oravol01-P02 oravol01-L01 ENABLED ACTIVE 13981056 CONCAT - RW
sd c1t4d0-02 oravol01-P02 c1t4d0 0 13981056 0 c1t4d0 ENA

v oravol01-L02 - ENABLED ACTIVE 13981056 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol01-P03 oravol01-L02 ENABLED ACTIVE 13981056 CONCAT - RW
sd c1t2d0-02 oravol01-P03 c1t2d0 0 13981056 0 c1t2d0 ENA
pl oravol01-P04 oravol01-L02 ENABLED ACTIVE 13981056 CONCAT - RW
sd c1t5d0-02 oravol01-P04 c1t5d0 0 13981056 0 c1t5d0 ENA

v oravol01-L03 - ENABLED ACTIVE 13981056 SELECT - fsgen
pl oravol01-P05 oravol01-L03 ENABLED ACTIVE 13981056 CONCAT - RW
sd c1t3d0-02 oravol01-P05 c1t3d0 0 13981056 0 c1t3d0 ENA
pl oravol01-P06 oravol01-L03 ENABLED ACTIVE 13981056 CONCAT - RW
sd c1t6d0-02 oravol01-P06 c1t6d0 0 13981056 0 c1t6d0 ENA

The object types (e.g., subdisks, disk groups, plexes, volumes, etc.), block offsets, object names, and locations can be useful for understanding the Veritas Volume Manager layout and reassembling the configuration layout during a disaster. Due to the importance of this information, backing up the configuration database is imperative! As you will see in the next section, Veritas Volume Manager makes backing up the configuration information a snap.