When Good Disks Go Bad: Dealing with Disk Failures Under LVM (5900-3153, June 2013)

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/dev/dsk/c40t0d4
(02) !VGID:35c8cf58 3f8df316 PVID:065f303f 3e63f003
/dev/dsk/c40t1d0
…
In this example, note that the volume group ids (VGID) for the disks in /dev/vg01
are not consistent; inconsistencies are marked !VGID.
Recommended Action:
a. Use ioscan and diskinfo to confirm that the disk is functioning properly. Re-
activate the volume group using the following command:
# vgchange –a y vgname
b. There are several methods of recovery from this error. If you are not familiar with the
commands outlined in the following procedures, contact your HP support
representative for assistance.
1) Restore a known good configuration to the disks using vgcfgrestore. Be
sure to use a valid copy dated before the first occurrence of the problem.
# vgcfgrestore –n vgname pvname
2) Recreate the volume group and its logical volumes, restoring the data from the
most current backup.
3) Export and re-import the volume group using the following commands:
# vgexport -m vgname.map -v -f vgname.file /dev/vgname
# mkdir /dev/vgname
# mknod /dev/vgname/group c 64 unique_minor_number
# vgimport -m vgname.map -v -f vgname.file /dev/vgname
vgchange: Couldn't set the unique id for volume group "/dev/vgname"
Cause:
There are multiple LVM group files with the same minor number.
Recommended Action:
List the LVM group files. If there are any duplicate minor numbers, export one of the
affected volume groups, create a new group file with a unique minor number, and re-
import the volume group. If you are not familiar with the procedure shown here, contact
your HP support representative for assistance:
# ll /dev/*/group
# vgexport -m vgname.map -v -f vgname.file /dev/vgname
# mkdir /dev/vgname
# mknod /dev/vgname/group c 64 unique_minor_number
# vgimport -m vgname.map -v -f vgname.file /dev/vgname
vgcreate
vgcreate: Volume group "/dev/vgname" could not be created:
VGRA for the disk is too big for the specified parameters. Increase
the extent size or decrease max_PVs/max_LVs and try again.
Cause:
The Volume Group Reserved Area at the front of each LVM disk cannot hold all the
information about the disks in this volume group. This error typically occurs if you use
disks larger than 100 GB.
Recommended Action:
Adjust the volume group creation parameters. Use the –s option of the vgextend
command to select an extent size larger than 4 MB, or use the –p option to select a
smaller number of physical volumes. See vgcreate(1M) for information on these
options.