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Conference aosg::lsm

Title:LSM
Moderator:SMURF::SHIDERLY
Created:Mon Jan 17 1994
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:803
Total number of notes:2852

762.0. "Minimum disk group size?" by NQOS01::rcoras10.rco.dec.com::Workbench () Thu Mar 06 1997 17:09

At the HSZ level, it is possible to configure large volumes that are 
presented to the system as one device.  We can then use LSM to cut out 
smaller volumes as needed.

My question is simply this:  Is a one device LSM disk group a good thing?
Or is it better (required?) that a disk group have more than one device?

 
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762.1not recommendedSMURF::SCHLOSSFri Mar 07 1997 19:2423
    There are really two issues here so I will try to address both of them.
    Yes it is possible for an HSZ to present all physical devices as one
    large logical device.  This does not necessarily mean that it is
    desirable to do so.  You may want to follow-up in the HSZ conference
    but I have been told that HSZ performance is degraded if requests are
    not distributed amongst multiple targets and LUNs (front end).
    
    The other issue is the question of whether or not a single device LSM
    disk group is a good thing.  One issue that comes to mind is the number
    of copies of the configuration database.  A single device can only hold
    two copies of a configuration database and the recommended policy is
    that each diskgroup have between four and eight copies.  It is also
    possible that both copies of the configuration database will end up on
    the same physical disk on the HSZ.  This means that the loss of single
    disk will result in the loss of the entire diskgroup although I guess
    this would be true anyway since the loss a single physical disk would
    make the entire logical device unavailable on the HSZ.
    
    Lastly, creating one large logical device limits your reconfiguration
    options.  If you decide that you want to change the mirroring or
    striping characteristics for one LSM volume you are pretty much out of
    luck.  You need to reconfigure the entire HSZ logical device because it
    is all or nothing.