Guidelines; Adding A Segment Manager - Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 10 SP3 - STORAGE ADMINISTRATION GUIDE 2-23-2010 Administration Manual

4.2.2 Guidelines

Consider the following guidelines when initializing a disk:
EVMS might allow you to create segments without first adding a segment manager for the
disk, but it is best to explicitly add a segment manager to avoid problems later.
IMPORTANT: You must add a Cluster segment manager if you plan to use the devices for
volumes that you want to share as cluster resources.
When you initialize an existing disk that is already formatted, the process of adding a segment
manager destroys all data on the disk. If you want to keep the data on the disk, make sure to
back up the data before you begin this process.
For existing disks on the system or disks that you move from another system, you must delete
any existing volume management structures, and remove any segment managers. This removes
the device's metadata and data, and destroys all data on the disk.
WARNING: Do not initialize the device that contains your current system disk or any device
that contains the
/boot
If a new disk does not show up in the list of Available Objects, look for it in the Volumes list to
see if the disk shows up as a compatibility volume. For example, a new disk
up as
/dev/evms/sdb
Objects, then create segments as desired.

4.2.3 Adding a Segment Manager

Use the following procedure to assign a segment manager to device for servers using x86, x64, and
IA64 controllers. This option is not available for S390 platforms, so simply continue with
configuring software RAIDs or file system partitions, as desired.
WARNING: Adding a segment manager initializes the disk, completely removing all the segments
it contains. All the data stored on the device is lost.
1 If the disk has any existing volume management structures or an existing segment manager,
remove them.
1a Select Actions > Delete > Volume to view the Volumes list.
1b Select any existing volume management structures on the device, then click Delete.
1c Select Actions > Remove > Segment Manager from Storage Object.
1d Select the type of Segment Manager in use, then click Next.
1e Select the device, then click Remove.
2 If the disk is a new one that is listed as a compatibility volume in the Volumes list, delete it as a
compatibility volume.
2a Select Actions > Delete > Volume to view the Volumes list.
2b Select the device, then click Delete.
3 Add the Segment Manager.
3a In the list of Availability Objects, select the device, then click Actions > Add > Segment
Manager to Storage Object.
, , or root ( ) volumes.
swap /
. Delete it from the Volumes list to force the disk to show up in Available
would show
sdb
Managing EVMS Devices 37