Solaris Tips

Copying a disk VTOC using format

If you have some experience with Solaris on Sun hardware, you already know that almost all machines lack hardware RAID. Instead, you use Solstice DiskSuite, renamed in Solaris 9 to Sun Volume Manager.

As Solstice Disk Suite/Sun Volume Manager mirrors slice by slice, we need to copy the VTOC (read "partition table") from one disk to another.

This method is slower than the usual prtvtoc | fmthard method, but it is also quite quick and easier to remember.

The procedure

I assume your system disk is c0t0d0 and it will be mirrored in c0t1d0.

Launch format(1M):

# format
Searching for disks...done


AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
       0. c0t0d0   DISK1
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0
       1. c0t1d0   DISK2
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@1,0
Specify disk (enter its number):

Select the origin disk:

Specify disk (enter its number): 0
selecting c0t0d0: DISK1
[disk formatted]


FORMAT MENU:
        disk       - select a disk
        type       - select (define) a disk type
        partition  - select (define) a partition table
        current    - describe the current disk
        format     - format and analyze the disk
        repair     - repair a defective sector
        label      - write label to the disk
        analyze    - surface analysis
        defect     - defect list management
        backup     - search for backup labels
        verify     - read and display labels
        save       - save new disk/partition definitions
        inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
        volname    - set 8-character volume name
        !     - execute , then return
        quit
format>

Select partition:

format> p



PARTITION MENU:
        0      - change `0' partition
        1      - change `1' partition
        2      - change `2' partition
        3      - change `3' partition
        4      - change `4' partition
        5      - change `5' partition
        6      - change `6' partition
        7      - change `7' partition
        select - select a predefined table
        modify - modify a predefined partition table
        name   - name the current table
        print  - display the current table
        label  - write partition map and label to the disk
        ! - execute , then return
        quit
partition>

Select name:

partition> n
Enter table name (remember quotes):

Enter a name for your VTOC definition, enclosing it with quotes if it contains spaces:
```
Enter table name (remember quotes): source
```

Select quit to go to main menu and then disk:

partition> q


FORMAT MENU:
        disk       - select a disk
        type       - select (define) a disk type
        partition  - select (define) a partition table
        current    - describe the current disk
        format     - format and analyze the disk
        repair     - repair a defective sector
        label      - write label to the disk
        analyze    - surface analysis
        defect     - defect list management
        backup     - search for backup labels
        verify     - read and display labels
        save       - save new disk/partition definitions
        inquiry    - show vendor, product and revision
        volname    - set 8-character volume name
        !     - execute , then return

        quit
format> di


AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
       0. c0t0d0   DISK1
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0
       1. c0t1d0   DISK2
          /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@1,0
Specify disk (enter its number)[0]:

Select the destination disk:

selecting c0t1d0: DISK2
[disk formatted]
format>

Select partition:

format> p


PARTITION MENU:
        0      - change `0' partition
        1      - change `1' partition
        2      - change `2' partition
        3      - change `3' partition
        4      - change `4' partition
        5      - change `5' partition
        6      - change `6' partition
        7      - change `7' partition
        select - select a predefined table
        modify - modify a predefined partition table
        name   - name the current table
        print  - display the current table
        label  - write partition map and label to the disk
        ! - execute , then return
        quit
partition>

Select... select:

partition> s
        0. source
Specify table (enter its number)[0]:

Select the VTOC definition you named previously:

Specify table (enter its number)[0]: 0

partition>

Select label, to write the VTOC to the disk:

partition> label
Ready to label disk, continue?

Last chance to bail out before overwriting the wrong disk's VTOC...
```
Ready to label disk, continue? y
```
You are done! Select quit twice to go back to the command prompt.

Well, it does not look so easy to remember, but what you really need to remember is:

Run format(1M)
Select the source disk
Give a name to its VTOC
Select the target disk
Select the predefined VTOC created previously
Label the disk

If you are new to Solaris and come from Linux, it would be useful to read my page about the naming of disk devices.