An IBMer from Omaha told us that one should always format with CMS or ICKDSF before giving an MDISK to a Linux guest before the guest formats the MDISK with "dasdfmt". No reason for the CMS or ICKDSF format was given.
Formatting an MDISK twice really, really (pun intended) rubs me the wrong way.
But we have experienced inconsistent problems with MDISKs given to Linux guests after formatting with only "dasdfmt" (i.e. not with ICKDSF or CMS FORMAT). Sometimes the MDISK worked with only dasdfmt, other times Linux would not recognize it and we had to format it with CMS, then dasdfmt. When at a Linux workshop in Poughkeepsie, the IBM instructor related that Linux mdisks should always be formatted by CMS or ICKDSF before giving them to the Linux guest to be formatted with "dasdfmt" - having experienced random failures himself.
I suspect that the problem is related to the MDISK needing a volser or dummy VTOC, but have never had time to research it. My guess is that skipping the CMS format works when the newly defined MDISK happens to align with a previously used MDISK beginning at that same cylinder extent.
Does anyone have a verifiable explanation for the requirement to format the MDISK before giving it to Linux for a dasdfmt? It may explain Loren's problem, too.
Mike Walter
Hewitt Associates
The opinions expressed herein are mine alone, not my employer's.
| "Loren Charnley, Jr."
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent by: "The IBM z/VM Operating System" <IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU> 05/23/2006 10:41 AM
|
|
That was the reason that I included the comment. I tried without the format
and when I went to bring up the instance, it was NOT satisfied with the LVM
and I could not get a clean boot. I don't know why but when I did the format
then the restore, it came up clean the first time.
Loren Charnley, Jr.
IT Systems Engineer
Family Dollar Stores, Inc.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(704) 847-6961 x 2000
-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Zell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 11:14 AM
To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
Subject: Re: Moving a guest to new DASD
> I have been successful in using DDR to copy the volumes.
> The one big step that I originally over looked was to format
> the new volumes before the DDR restore. I have just finished
> copying two LINUX guests to a new storage array and it is
> now in production.
>
> Loren Charnley, Jr.
Hi Loren,
I was just curious why you needed to format the new volumes
before restoring the data. If you use DDR to DUMP ALL and
RESTORE ALL, wouldn't that take care of "formatting" the
new packs? What am I missing here?
Thanks.
Ed Zell
(309) 674-8255 x-107
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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