AIX varyonvg fails hdlm volumes, "no good copies of the descriptor area".

Asset ID:	1-72-1012592.1
Update Date:	2009-09-17
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1012592.1 : AIX varyonvg fails hdlm volumes, "no good copies of the descriptor area".

Related Items


Sun Storage 9970 System
 Sun Storage 9990 System
 Sun Storage 9910 System
 Sun Storage 9960 System
 Sun Storage 9985 System

Related Categories


GCS>Sun Microsystems>Storage - Disk>Datacenter Disk

PreviouslyPublishedAs
217332

Symptoms

On AIX, when a dlmvaryonvg or varyonvg is attempted to a volume group built on devices presented by hdlm, the command fails with the following error message:

0516-013 varyonvg: The volume group cannot be varied on because there are no good copies of the descriptor area.

One possible reason for this error is:

When volume groups built on hdlm devices are varied on, if reservation level is set to 2 (default), the underlying hdisks are reserved using scsi3 persistent group reservations. The reservations should be removed on varyoffvg but may not have been removed due to a system problem.

Resolution

Here is an example using dlmvg1 which fails to varyon, and showing the recovery steps.

# dlmvaryonvg dlmvg1
0516-013 varyonvg: The volume group cannot be varied on because there are no good copies of the descriptor area.

determine what devices make up dlmvg1:

# lspv | grep dlmvg1
dlmfdrv1        0004014f5aff21af                    dlmvg1

The line above shows dlmvg1 is made up of the single device dlmfdrv1.

To determine what hdisks make up dlmfdrv1:

# dlnkmgr view -drv | grep dlmfdrv1
000000 dlmfdrv1 hdisk3 9970/9980.30221.0102
000001 dlmfdrv1 hdisk5 9970/9980.30221.0102

We see in the line above dlmfdrv1 is made up of two paths, one through hdisk3 the other hdisk5.

To determine if either has a reservation on:

# dlmpr -k
self Reservation Key : [0x0000000004014f4c]
hdisk0     Reservation Key : [0x????????????????]
hdisk1     Reservation Key : [0x????????????????]
hdisk2     Reservation Key : [0x????????????????]
hdisk3     Reservation Key : [0x0000000004014f4c]
Regist Key : [0x0000000004014f4c] , Key Count : 2
hdisk4     Reservation Key : [0x????????????????]
hdisk5     Reservation Key : [0x0000000004014f4c]
Regist Key : [0x0000000004014f4c] , Key Count : 2

From the output above we see reservations on hdisk3 and hdisk5. This is why we can't vary this vg online. Note the self Reservation key may be different from the Reservation Key if a reboot has taken place.

To clear the reservations we use dlmpr -c hdiskN.

dlmpr -c hdisk3
dlmpr -c hdisk5

This should clear the reservations allowing the volume group to be varied online.

Additional Information

This applies to a single host environment. If another host has access to this volume group, it may have the volume group varied on line and the devices reserved. That would be a purely administrative issue.

Product
Sun StorageTek 9900 Dynamic Link Manager 5.4 (AIX)
Sun StorageTek 9900 Dynamic Link Manager 5.2 (AIX)
Sun StorageTek 9900 Dynamic Link Manager 5.1 (AIX)
Sun StorageTek 9910
Sun StorageTek 9960 System
Sun StorageTek 9990 System
Sun StorageTek 9985 System
Sun StorageTek 9970 System

AIX, hdlm, varyonvg, dlmvaryonvg, 0516-013, no good copies of the descriptor area
Previously Published As
82680

Change History
Date: 2006-01-18
User Name: 7058
Action: Update Canceled
Comment: *** Restored Published Content *** SSH AUDIT
Version: 0
Date: 2006-01-18
User Name: 7058
Action: Update Started
Comment: SSH AUDIT
Version: 0
Date: 2005-09-22
User Name: 95826
Action: Approved
Comment: - verified metadata
- review date ok : 2006-09-21
- checked for TM - none added
- checked audience : contract
Publishing
Version: 3
Date: 2005-09-22
User Name: 95826
Action: Accept
Comment:
Version: 0
Date: 2005-09-21
User Name: 30235
Action: Approved
Comment: Looks good. Clear and concise regarding problem, explanation and solution.
Version: 0
Date: 2005-09-21
User Name: 30235
Action: Accept
Comment:
Version: 0
Date: 2005-09-21
User Name: 44308
Action: Approved
Comment: Just ran into this on an escalation. The fact that a single node will apply reservations is not well documented. Recovery method (dlmpr) is referenced in the users guide and ECN.

Drop me a note if you need clarification.

Should have product hdlm 5.6 added when that shows up as a selection on voyager, it has been requested.
Version: 0
Date: 2005-09-21
User Name: 44308
Action: Created
Comment:
Version: 0
Product_uuid
e7377cb8-d52c-11d8-ab52-080020a9ed93|Sun StorageTek 9900 Dynamic Link Manager 5.4 (AIX)
e0840ea0-52a2-11d8-9e3a-080020a9ed93|Sun StorageTek 9900 Dynamic Link Manager 5.2 (AIX)
dbac06c8-e480-11d7-82d3-080020a9ed93|Sun StorageTek 9900 Dynamic Link Manager 5.1 (AIX)
2a918ae2-0a18-11d6-834a-c679537eebe7|Sun StorageTek 9910
2a94fb3c-0a18-11d6-90a8-c9c08656284f|Sun StorageTek 9960 System
15644879-f179-11d8-ab63-080020a9ed93|Sun StorageTek 9990 System
73084edc-dc32-11d9-8a74-080020a9ed93|Sun StorageTek 9985 System
4ea4b951-9fc9-4f1f-b64e-69572a400fb4|Sun StorageTek 9970 System

Attachments

This solution has no attachment