Error Message

Various errors can occur when attempting to mount a file system including invalid Object location Table file (OLT) or a missing, corrupt, etc., superblock. fsck will also fail with errors such as:

UX:vxfs fsck: ERROR: V-3-20012: not a valid vxfs file system
invalid super-block
search for auxiliary super-block? (ynq)y
alternate super-block not found
UX:vxfs fsck: ERROR: V-3-20694: cannot initialize aggregate
file system check failure, aborting ... 

An example scenario where the file system could become corrupt is when a disk is initialized as a CDS disk type with a public offset of 16 on one node, and when the disk group is imported on another node, the disk will show a public slice disk offset of 0, unless the command vxdisk scandisks [for Linux] or vxdiskconfig [for Solaris] is executed on the node before the disk group is imported. If these commands are not run, the file system data will be allocated on the wrong location. The problem will not be noticed If the system is not rebooted since the incorrect disk offset of 0 matches the wrong location of the file system data. Once the system reboots, the public slice disk offset gets its correct value and now the observed file system metadata is in the wrong locations and cannot be mounted.

This issue has been addressed if Storage Foundation for UNIX/Linux version 5.0MP3RP5 and 6.0 and above. If upgrading is not an option, the following procedure should be executed prior to deporting and importing a disk group whenever there is a change in disk format:

Linux:

vxdisk scandisks

Solaris:

vxdiskconfig

The above commands will prevent the issue from occurring. If the issue has already occurred, please contact Veritas Technical Service immediately. File system recovery depends on rebuilding the disk group and may not always be successful.