VERITAS Volume Manager

(VxVM) for HP-UX

Russell I. Henmi
Technical Instructor
VERITAS Education Services

Russell Henmi
1 of 24
 Objectives

This presentation is intended to provide an understanding of

the VERITAS Volume Manager (VxVM) product through a
a side-by-side comparison with LVM.

Russell Henmi
2 of 24
 Topics

We will be comparing the differences between VxVM and

LVM in the following areas:

• Structure Names
• Physical Allocation
• Physical to Logical Mapping
• Striping
• Online Resizing
• RAID-5
• Mirroring

Russell Henmi
3 of 24
 VxVM to LVM Translations

VxVM Term LVM Term

VM Disk Physical Volume (PV)
Private Region PVRA/VGRA
Subdisk Physical Extent
Plex Logical Extent
Disk Group Volume Group (VG)
Volume Logical Volume (LV)
Russell Henmi
4 of 24
 LVM: Physical Volume

• Created by the addition of the LVM

PVRA/VGRA metadata areas (PVRA, VGRA)
• Activated when added to a VG
• Metadata records VG membership and
data access information
• Referred to by the disk device identifier
(i.e. /dev/dsk/c1t0d0)

Russell Henmi
5 of 24
 LVM Physical Allocation

PVRA/VGRA

physical extent

Under LVM, the data space on a PV is broken

down into equally sized pieces known as
extents. All space allocation must fall on
extent boundaries.

Russell Henmi
6 of 24
 LVM: Extents
• Defined as the smallest unit of space allocatable in LVM
• PVs are made up of physical extents;
LVs are made up of logical extents
• Extents must be used whole – no volume can have only
a partial extent
• The flexible structures in LVM are achieved one-to-one
mapping of physical to logical extents
• Extent size is fixed at VG creation and cannot be
changed dynamically

Russell Henmi
7 of 24
 LVM Physical to Logical Mapping

volume group
vgtest

physical volume lvol1

physical extents

c0t1d0 logical extents

logical volume

lvol2

Russell Henmi
8 of 24
 LVM: Striping
• LVM allows striping within the individual extents using
a unit known as a stripe unit
• Extent-based striping is also supported
• Does not support RAID-5, RAID-0+1, RAID-1+0

Russell Henmi
9 of 24
 LVM: Resizing
• LVs can be resized real-time
• File systems contained within the LV must be resized as
part of a separate command

Russell Henmi
10 of 24
 LVM: RAID-5
• LVM does not support RAID-5

Russell Henmi
11 of 24
 LVM: Mirroring
• Requires MirrorDisk/UX
• Mirroring is achieved by mapping a single logical extent
to multiple physical extents
• Mirrored physical extents must exist on different disk
devices by default; this requirement can be overridden
• Mirrors can be “broken” so that different copies can be
used independently then remirrored

Russell Henmi
12 of 24
 Mirroring with MirrorDisk/UX
vgmirror volume group

logical extents
c1t0d0

physical volumes
lvmirror
logical volume

physical extents
c0t0d0

Russell Henmi
13 of 24
 VxVM: VM Disk
• Term “VM Disk” refers to the data space
(public region) of a configured disk
private region • Initialized when the public and private
regions are added to the disk
• Activated when added to a DG
• Private region contains a configuration
public region database which contains all DG
information
• Referred to by a “disk media name” after
addition to a DG (i.e. datadg01) for ease
of management
Russell Henmi
14 of 24
 VxVM Physical Allocation
VM Disk
private region

subdisk
public region

VxVM utilizes variable sized allocation units

called subdisks. These structures are defined
by an offset into the public region and a
length for flexibility in space allocation.
Russell Henmi
15 of 24
 VxVM: Subdisks and Plexes
• Defined as address spaces within a DG used to create
volumes
• Subdisks represent the mapping in the physical space;
Plexes represent the mapping in the virtual
space
• Subdisks are represented by an offset on its VM disk and
a length for maximum flexibility
• Subdisks are defined in units of sectors
• Plexes are made up of one or more subdisks
• The address space of the plex maps directly to the
underlying subdisk address space
Russell Henmi
16 of 24
 VxVM: More Plexes
• Plexes are classified as concatenated, striped, RAID-5,
or log types
• Plexes with missing or unresponsive subdisks are known
as sparse plexes (as opposed to a healthy complete plex)
• A volume must have at least one complete plex to be
active
• Log plexes can be added to RAID-5 or mirrored
volumes to enhance recovery operations
• Online relayout or conversion of plex types is supported

Russell Henmi
17 of 24
 VxVM Physical to Logical Mapping
testdg disk group
testdg01 subdisk
plex
testdg01-01 vol01-01
c0t0d0 volume

VM disk
vol01
testdg02
subdisk

c1t0d0 testdg02-01

Russell Henmi
18 of 24
 VxVM: Striping
• VxVM stripes by interleaving pieces of the individual
subdisks within a plex
• Supports RAID-0+1 and RAID-1+0 when combined
with the mirroring functionality

Russell Henmi
19 of 24
 VxVM: Resizing
• Volumes can be resized real-time
• The command vxassist can be used to resize just the
volume
• The command vxresize will adjust both the volume and
the file system within

Russell Henmi
20 of 24
 VxVM: RAID-5
• VxVM supports the use of RAID-5 plexes in volumes
• Cannot be combined with other types of plexes or
mirrored
• RAID-5 plexes are created with an additional log plex
by default

Russell Henmi
21 of 24
 VxVM: Mirroring
• Mirroring is a feature of the base VxVM product – no
additional licenses required
• Mirroring is achieved creating additional plexes within a
single volume (up to 31 plexes)
• Mirrored physical extents must exist on different disk
devices; this requirement cannot be overridden
• Mirroring options can instruct VxVM to mirror across
disk devices or controllers
• Mirror plexes can be concatenated or striped; mirroring
of RAID-5 plexes is not allowed

Russell Henmi
22 of 24
 VxVM: Volume Snapshots
• Mirrors can be “broken” so that different copies can be
used independently then remirrored through a feature
called “volume snapshots”
• The volume snapshot feature adds a new plex to a
volume and then creates a new volume from the
additional plex
• VxVM maintains an association between the original
and snapshot volumes while separated
• Fast Mirror Resync (FMR), an optional licensed feature,
can speed up resynchronization of snapshot volume

Russell Henmi
23 of 24
 Mirroring with VxVM
testdg disk group

VM disk VM disk
plex plex
volume

subdisk

subdisk

Russell Henmi
24 of 24