This section describes how to configure EVMS as the volume manager of your devices.
This section describes how to configure the system device during the Linux install to use EVMS as the volume manager instead of the current default of Linux Volume Manager (LVM).
For the purposes of this install documentation, a system device is any device that contains the Linux /boot
, swap
, or root (/
) partitions for your Linux computer.
The install instructions assume the following:
All three system partitions are on the same physical disk.
If you use different disks for any of the system partitions, make sure to modify the install instructions for your deployment scenario so that all of the system partitions are managed by EVMS.
You must configure the boot partition within the BIOS-addressable space (such as 2 GB for x86 or 8 GB for x86-64) of the first disk recognized by the system.
If this restriction is not required for your hardware, you can modify the location of the /boot
partition as desired.
Your system uses the Grub or LILO boot loaders.
If you have an IA64 system, you must modify these install instructions to use the ELILO boot loader (/boot/efi/elilo.conf
) instead.
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Whenever you manually alter the kernel or |
Version 2.3 and later of mdadm supports component devices up to 4 TB in size each. Earlier versions support component devices up to 2 TB in size.
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If you have a local disk, external disk arrays, or SAN devices that are larger than the supported device size, use a third-party disk partitioner to carve the devices into smaller logical devices. |
You can combine up to 28 component devices to create the RAID array. The md RAID device you create can be up to the maximum device size supported by the file system you plan to use. For information about file system limits for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, see “Large File System Support” in the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Installation and Administration Guide..
This install requires that you delete the default partitioning settings created by the install, and create new partitions to use EVMS instead. This destroys all data on the disk.
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To avoid data loss, it is best to use the EVMS install option only on a new device. |
If you have data volumes on the system device, take one or more of the following precautionary measures:
Move the data volumes from the system device to another device.
If you cannot move the volumes, make a backup copy of the data, so you can restore the data volumes later from a backup copy.
By default, the YaST install for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server uses the Linux Volume Manager to manage the system device. The install procedures in this section describe how to install SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with EVMS as the volume manager of the system device. The instructions assume the following:
You want to use EVMS to manage the system device.
Only the system device is to be configured during the install.
Other devices on the system are not configured during the install, or are attached to the server later. These additional devices are configured only after the system is operating and performing as expected.
To install Linux with EVMS as the volume manager for your boot and system partitions, you must modify the Partitioning configuration in the Installation Settings.
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The following procedure destroys all data on the system device. |
Begin the install, according to the instructions provided in Deployment in the SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Installation and Administration Guide.
When the installation reaches the Installations Settings screen, delete the proposed LVM-based partioning solution. This deletes the proposed partitions and the partition table on the system device so that the device can be marked to use EVMS as the volume manager instead of LVM.
In the list of Installation Settings, select
.In the Partitioning menu, select
, then click .Select
, then click to open the dialog box.Select
> , then click twice to continue through the Warning advisories.This deletes the recommended partitions and the partition table on the system disk.
Create a primary partition on the system disk to use as the boot partition:
Click
.From the list of devices, select the device you want to use for the boot partition, such as /dev/hda
, then click .
If you have a single system disk, only one device is available, and you are not prompted to choose the device.
Select
, then click .Select
, then select the native Linux file system you want to use, such as Ext3.![]() | |
In a paravirtualized environment, use Ext2 as the file system for the boot device. |
In
field, specify 200 MB or larger.For example, to set the size at 300 MB, type 300M.
Set the mount point to
.Click
.The partition appears as a logical device in the devices list, such as /dev/hda1
.
Create a second primary partition on the system disk to use for both the swap and system volumes:
Click
.From the list of devices, select the device you want to use for the second primary partition, such as /dev/hda
, then click .
If you have a single system disk, only one device is available and you are not prompted to choose the device.
Select
, then click .Select
, then select from the list of file system IDs.In
( field), set the cylinder End value to 5 GB or larger, depending on the combined partition size you need to contain your system and swap volumes.![]() | |
Do not make the system partition larger than necessary. The remaining space on the system disk can be used to create NSS volumes or native Linux volumes that are managed by EVMS. |
To determing how much space to use, consider the following recommendations:
For your system volume, allow 2 GB (minimum) to 10 GB (recommended), depending on the OES services that you intend to install.
If you intend to create additional NSS volumes on the same physical disk, you must leave unpartitioned space available.
Set aside 128 MB or larger for the swap volume.
Swap management is different for Linux kernel 2.4.10 and later. How much swap to add depends on the RAM size, the tasks that are planned for the system, and whether you want to make more virtual memory available than the RAM provides.
Some swap (at least 128 MB) is good to have to minimize the risk of losing data when active processes run out of RAM space. Swap is not required for systems with more than 1 GB of RAM. You must have at least 1 GB of virtual memory (RAM plus swap) during the install, but if the swap is more than 2 GB, you might not be able to install on some machines.
The total size should be the size you need for your system volume plus the size you need for your swap volume.
For example, if you have a 20 GB hard drive with 2 GB of RAM and plan to install all of the OES services on the system volume, your system partition should be at least 11 GB. The remaining 9 GB should remain as free unpartitioned space that can be used for NSS volumes or other Linux partitions that you might want to create later.
Click
.The partition appears as a logical device in the devices list, such as /dev/hda2
.
Modify the volume management type from LVM to EVMS for the second primary partition you created in Step 4:
At the bottom of the page, click
.Available partitions for EVMS appear as devices under /dev/evms
, such as /dev/evms/hda2
.
In the EVMS Configurator, select the LVM partition created in Step 4, then click .
In the Create EVMS Container dialog box, select the partition, specify the container name (such as system
), then click to create the lvm/
container, where system
is the container name.system
Click
.The EVMS Configurator displays the lvm/
container you just created, its size, and free space.system
Create the swap volume in the lvm/
container:system
Select lvm/system
, then click .
In the Create Logical Volume dialog box, select
, then select from the drop-down menu.Specify swap
as the volume name.
Specify 1 GB (recommended) for the swap volume.
The swap size should be 128 MB or larger, with a recommended size of 1 GB. For an explanation of this recommendation, see Step 4.e.
Specify the mount point as
.Click
.Create the system volume in the lvm/
container:system
Select lvm/system
, then click .
In the Create Logical Volume dialog box, select
, then select the file system to use from the drop-down menu, such as .In the Volume Name field, specify a volume name, such as sys_lx
.
In the lvm/
partition. system
Specify the mount point as /
(root volume).
Click
.Click
to return to the list of devices.Below is an example of the physical and logical devices that should be configured on your system. Your setup depends on the number of devices in the server and the sizes you choose for your partitions.
Click
to return to the Installation Settings page.You can dismiss the message warning that you should not mix EVMS and non-EVMS partitions on the same device.
Continue with the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server installation.
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After the install is complete, make sure to perform the mandatory post-install configuration of the related system settings to ensure that the system device functions properly under EVMS. Otherwise, the system fails to boot properly. For information, see Section 2.1.3, “After the Server Install”. |
After the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 install is complete, you must perform the following tasks to ensure that the system device functions properly under EVMS:
When you boot the system, the kernel reads the /etc/fstab
file to identify which file systems should be mounted and then mounts them. This file contains a table of file system information about the root (/
), /boot
, and swap
partitions plus other partitions and file systems you want to mount.
The /boot
partition is separate from the EVMS container where you placed the root (/
) and swap
partitions and is not managed by EVMS at this time. However, in the following steps, you disable boot.lvm
and boot.md
, then enable boot.evms
. In effect, this forces EVMS to scan all the partitions at boot time, including the /boot
partition, and it activates /boot
under the /dev/evms
directory. Therefore, this makes /boot
a partition that is discovered by EVMS at startup, and requires that the device be listed under /dev/evms
in the fstab
file so it can be found when booting with boot.evms
. You must edit the /etc/fstab
file to modify the location of the /boot
partition so it is under the /dev/evms
directory.
In fstab
, the entry for the boot device might present the boot device by the device node name (such as /dev/sda1
) or by the UUID pathname (such as /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SServeRA_Drive_1_600BC00000-part1
). In ether case, that name for the boot device must be changed to include evms
in the path, such as /dev/evms/sda1
.
The procedure in this section shows how to change /dev/
to sda1
/dev/evms/
. Replace sda1
with the device name of the device you used for your sda1
/boot
partition.
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When working in the |
To modify the path of the boot device in the /etc/fstab
file, complete the following procedure:
Open the /etc/fstab
file in a text editor.
Locate the line that contains the /boot
partition.
For example, if your /boot
partition uses device sda1
and the Reiser file system, look for a line similar to this:
/dev/sda1
/bootreiser
defaults 1 1
In the /boot
partition from /dev
to /dev/evms
so it can be managed by EVMS. Modify only the device name by adding /evms
to the path:
/dev/evms/
sda1
/boot reiser
defaults 1 1
Save the file.
The changes do not take effect until the server is restarted. Do not restart at this time.
Continue with Section 2.1.3.2, “Make a New initrd”.
Open a terminal console, and log in as the root
user.
At the console prompt, enter
mkinitrd
This creates a new initrd
file with the correct settings for the boot device. The changes do not take effect until the server is restarted. Do not restart at this time.
Continue with Section 2.1.3.3, “Disable the boot.lvm and boot.md Services”.
Disable the boot.lvm
and boot.md
services so they do not run at boot time (runlevel B). EVMS now handles the boot.
In YaST, click
> ) > .Select
.Click
> .Select
.Click
> .Click
, then click .The changes do not take effect until the server is restarted. Do not restart at this time.
Continue with Section 2.1.3.4, “Enable the boot.evms Service”.
The boot.evms
service should be enabled automatically after the install, but you should verify that it is enabled.
In YaST, click
> > .Select
.Click
> .The
option is automatically selected.Click
, then click .The changes do not take effect until the server is restarted.
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Effective in SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, the |
Continue with Section 2.1.3.5, “Restart the Server”.
After the post-install configuration is complete and you have restarted the server, make sure the server is operating as expected.
If you have already installed Linux with a different volume manager for the system device (that is, the devices where you installed the /boot
, swap
, or root (/
) partitions), you can optionally configure the device for EVMS at any time after the install.
If you do not configure the device to use EVMS, you must manage the device and all of its volumes with its current volume manager (the default is LVM), and free space on the device cannot be used for volumes you want to create using EVMS. Beginning with the Linux 2.6 kernel, a given device cannot be managed by multiple volume managers. However, you can have different volume managers for different devices.
The following procedures assume that you installed Linux with three partitions on a single SCSI device named sda
:
/dev/sda1 reiserfs /boot
/dev/sda2 swap swap
/dev/sda3 reiserfs /
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Make sure to modify the following procedures as necessary for your specific setup. |
You need to disable boot.lvm
(handles devices for Linux Volume Manager) and boot.md
(handles multiple devices in software RAIDs) so they do not run at boot time. In the future, you want boot.evms
to run at boot time instead.
In YaST, click
> > .Select
.Click
> .Select
.Click
> .Click
, then click .The changes do not take effect until the server is restarted. Do not restart at this time.
Continue with Section 2.2.2, “Enable the boot.evms Service”.
You need to enable the boot.evms
service so that it boots devices when you restart the server.
In YaST, click
> > .Select
.Click
> .The
option is automatically selected.Click
, then click .The changes do not take affect until the server is restarted. Do not restart at this time.
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Effective in SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, the |
Continue with Section 2.2.3, “Edit the /etc/fstab File”.
When you boot the system, the kernel reads the /etc/fstab
file to identify which file systems should be mounted and then mounts them. This file contains a table of file system information about the /boot
, swap
, and root (/
) partitions plus other partitions and file systems you want to mount.
You must edit the /etc/fstab
file to modify the mount location of these three partitions so they are mounted under the /dev/evms
directory. For example, change /dev/
to sda1
/dev/evms/
. sda1
Although the /boot
partition is not managed by EVMS, the boot.evms
script forces EVMS to scan all the partitions at boot time, including the /boot
partition, and it activates /boot
under the /dev/evms
directory. Therefore, this makes /boot
a partition that is discovered by EVMS at startup, and requires that the device’s path be listed under /dev/evms
in the fstab
file so it can be found when booting with boot.evms
.
Make sure to replace sda1
, sda2
, and sda3
with the device names you used for your partitions.
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When working in the |
Open the /etc/fstab
file in a text editor.
Locate the line that contains the /boot
partition.
For example, if your /boot
partition uses device sda1 and the Reiser file system, look for a line similar to this:
/dev/sda1
/bootreiser
defaults 1 1
In the /boot
partition from /dev
to /dev/evms
so it can be managed by EVMS. Modify only the device name by adding /evms
to the path:
/dev/evms/sda1 /boot
reiser
defaults 1 1
Repeat Step 2 and Step 3 to edit the Device Name entry in the lines for the swap
and root (/
) partitions.
For example, change /dev/
to sda2
/dev/evms/sda2
, and change /dev/sda3
to /dev/evms/sda3
.
Save the file.
The changes do not take effect until the server is restarted. Do not restart at this time.
Continue with Section 2.2.4, “Edit the Boot Loader File”.
When you boot the system, the kernel reads the boot loader file for information about your system. For Grub, this is the /boot/grub/menu.1st
file. For LILO, this is the /etc/lilo.conf
file.
You must edit the boot loader file to modify the mount location of partitions so they are mounted under the /dev/evms
directory. For example, change /dev/sda1
to /dev/evms/sda1
. Make sure to replace the path for all lines that contain device paths in the files. You can modify the boot loader file by editing fields in YaST, or use a text editor to modify the file directly.
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When working in the boot loader file, do not leave any stray characters or spaces in the file. This is a configuration file, and it is highly sensitive to such mistakes. |
To modify the boot loader file in the YaST Control Center:
Log in as the root
user or equivalent.
In Yast, select
+ .Modify the boot loader image so that the root file system is mounted as /dev/evms/
instead of /dev/
.
Select the boot loader image file, then click
.Edit the device path in the
field.For example, change the
value from/dev/
sda2
to
/dev/evms/
sda2
Replace
with the actual device on your machine.sda2
Edit any device paths in the
field.Click
to save the changes and return to the Boot Loader page.Modify the failsafe image so that the failsafe root file system is mounted as /dev/evms/
instead of /dev/
.
Select the failsafe image file, then click
.Edit the device path in the
field.Check the
field and make changes if needed.Click
to save the change and return to the Boot Loader page.Click
.Continue with Section 2.2.5, “Force the RAM Disk to Recognize the Root Partition”.
To edit the boot loader file in a text editor:
Log in as the root
user or equivalent.
Open the boot loader file in a text editor.
For Grub, this is the /boot/grub/menu.1st
file. For LILO, this is the /etc/lilo.conf
file.
Locate the line that contains the root=
parameter.
For example, if your root file system uses device sda1, look for a line similar to this:
kernel (sd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 vga=0x31a splash=silent showopts
Modify the mount location from /dev
to /dev/evms
so it can be managed by EVMS.
For example, after the change, the line looks like this:
kernel (sd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/evms/sda1 vga=0x31a splash=silent showopts
Repeat Step 3 and Step 4 to locate other lines in the file that need to be similarly modified.
Save the file.
The changes do not take effect until the server is restarted. Do not restart at this time.
Continue with Section 2.2.5, “Force the RAM Disk to Recognize the Root Partition”.
The mkinitrd(8) command creates file system images for use as initial RAM disk (initrd) images. These RAM disk images are often used to preload the block device modules (SCSI or RAID) needed to access the root file system.You might need to force the RAM to update its device node information so that it loads the root (/
) partition from the /dev/evms
path.
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Recent patches to mkinitrd might resolve the need to do this task. For the latest version of mkinitrd, see Recommended Updates for mkinitrd at the Novell Technical Support Center. |
At a terminal console prompt, enter the EVMS Ncurses command as the root
user or equivalent:
evmsn
Review the output to verify that EVMS shows only the /boot
and swap
partitions as active in EVMS.
You should see the following devices mounted (with your own partition names, of course) for these two partitions:
/dev/evms/sda1
/dev/evms/sda2
At a terminal console prompt, enter the following to update the initrd
image with the /dev/evms
path information for the root (/
) partition:
/sbin/mkinitrd -f evms
This does not take effect until you restart the server.
Continue with Section 2.2.6, “Restart the Server”.
Restart the server to apply the post-install configuration settings.
When your system restarts, the kernel loads the init-ramdisk, which runs the EVMS tools to activate your volumes and mount your root file system. Then your boot scripts run the EVMS tools once more to make sure your /dev/evms/
directory correctly reflects the current state of your volumes. Finally, the remaining EVMS volumes are mounted as specified in your /etc/fstab
file. Everything else on your system should start up as you would normally expect.
Continue with Section 2.2.7, “Verify that EVMS Manages the Boot, Swap, and Root Partitions”.
At a terminal prompt, enter the EVMS Ncurses command as the root
user or equivalent:
evmsn
Review the output to verify that EVMS shows the /boot
, swap
, and root (/
) partitions as active in EVMS.
You should see the following devices mounted (with your own partition names, of course) under the /dev/evms
directory:
/dev/evms/sda1
/dev/evms/sda2
/dev/evms/sda3
Use the following post-installation procedure to configure data devices (not system devices) to be managed by EVMS. If you need to configure an existing system device for EVMS, see Section 2.2, “Configuring an Existing System Device to Use EVMS ”.
In a terminal console, run the EVMSGUI by entering the following as the root
user or equivalent:
evmsgui
In the
panel, review the names that EVMS reports as compatibility volumes, find the devices that represent the devices you want to manage using EVMS, then write down the names for future reference.For example, /dev/sdb1
.
In a text editor, edit the /etc/fstab
file to use the EVMS volume names.
For example, change the following entry for an LVM2 volume from this
/dev/sdb1 / reiserfs defaults 1 2
to this
/dev/evms/lvm2/sdb1 / reiserfs defaults 1 2
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Make sure not to leave any stray characters or spaces in the line. |
With these changes, each time your system boots, your file system is mounted using EVMS as the volume manager.
Update the boot scripts as follows:
The command evms_activate must be run from your boot scripts in order to activate your volumes so they can be mounted.
If you run software-RAID (boot.md
) or LVM (boot.lvm
) boot files in your boot scripts, and if you are moving all devices to EVMS, remove or disable those commands.
If you have not already done so, enable the boot.evms
service.
For information, see Section 2.1.3.4, “Enable the boot.evms Service”.
Restart your system.
If your EVMS devices, RAIDs, and volumes use storage devices from an iSCSI SAN, make sure that your system starts iSCSI before EVMS so that the SAN and its disks are available to EVMS on system startup. iSCSI must be started and running before any disks or volumes on the iSCSI SAN can be accessed. If EVMS starts before iSCSI, EVMS cannot see or access the devices in the iSCSI SAN to mount the storage objects they contain, so the EVMS devices, RAIDs, and volumes might not be visible or accessible.
If EVMS starts before iSCSI on your system so that your EVMS devices, RAIDs, and volumes are not visible or accessible, you must correct the order in which iSCSI and EVMS are started. Enter the chkconfig command at the Linux server console of every server that is part of your iSCSI SAN.
On a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server boot device EFI System Partition, the full paths to the loader and configuration files are:
/boot/efi/SuSE/elilo.efi
/boot/efi/SuSE/elilo.conf
When configuring partitioning during the install on IA64 systems, set the file system type for the /boot
partition to vfat
, then choose and set the option value to umask=077
to ensure that the partition is accessible only to administrators.
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Whenever you manually alter the kernel or |
If EVMS does not start during the system boot, you must activate it manually.
Use the following procedure to start the EVMS management tools.
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When you are done, make sure to exit the EVMS UI tool. When it is running, the EVMS UI tool locks the EVMS engine, potentially blocking other EVMS actions from taking place. |
Open a terminal console, then log in as the root
user or equivalent.
Enter one of the following commands to open the desired EVMS UI:
Command |
Description |
---|---|
evmsgui |
Starts the graphical interface for EVMS GUI. For information about features in this interface, see ”EVMS GUI” in the EVMS User Guide at the EVMS project on SourceForge.net. |
evmsn |
Starts the text-mode interface for EVMS Ncurses. For information about features in this interface, see the “EVMS Ncurses Interface” in the EVMS User Guide at the EVMS project on SourceForge.net. |
evms |
Starts the EVMS commandline interpreter (CLI) interface. For information about command options, see “EVMS Command Line Interpreter” in the EVMS User Guide at the EVMS project on SourceForge.net. |
To stop evmsgui from running automatically on restart: