Disk Segments; Initializing Disks; Before You Begin; Section 4.2, "Initializing Disks - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 10 - STORAGE ADMINISTRATION GUIDE FOR EVMS Administration Manual

Segment Manager
MAC

4.1.2 Disk Segments

After you initialize the disk by adding a segment manager, you see metadata and free space
segments on the disk. You can then create one or multiple data segments in a disk segment.
Table 4-2
Segment Type
Metadata
Free Space
Data

4.2 Initializing Disks

You must initialize new disks and disks that you want to reformat. After the disk is initialized, you
can subdivide, or carve, the device into one or more disk segments for your file systems.

4.2.1 Before You Begin

If you use large disks or disk arrays, use the vendor's tools to carve them into the sizes that are
usable for the management tools you plan to use. For example, the md driver recognizes disks only
up to 2 TB in size, so the limit also applies to the md plug-in for EVMS. Software RAID devices you
create with EVMS can be larger than 2 TB, of course, because the md driver plug-in manages the
disks underneath that storage structure.
When you boot the server, EVMS scans and recognizes all devices it manages. If you add a new
device to the server or create a device using mkfs, EVMS automatically mounts it on reboot under
/dev/evms as a compatibility volume, such as /dev/evms/sdb.
IMPORTANT: If you cannot find a new disk, device, or volume, look under /dev/evms in a file
browser, or look for compatibility volumes in the Volumes Manager in the EVMS GUI (evmsgui).
34 SLES 10 Storage Administration Guide for EVMS
Description
A partitioning scheme for Mac-OS partitions.
Disk Segment Types
Description
A set of contiguous sectors that contain information needed by the segment
manager.
A set of contiguous sectors that are unallocated or not in use. Free space can
be used to create a segment.
A set of contiguous sectors that has been allocated from a disk. The segment
might be in use for a volume or a software RAID.
Section 4.2.1, "Before You Begin," on page 34
Section 4.2.2, "Guidelines," on page 35
Section 4.2.3, "Adding a Segment Manager," on page 35