Error Message

0516-1254 /usr/sbin/mkvg: Changing the PVID in the ODM
0516-1397 /usr/sbin/mkvg: The physical volume hdisk7, will not be added to the volume group.
0516-862 /usr/sbin/mkvg: Unable to create volume group.

With Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM) 5.0 installed, a disk that is not under VxVM control can only be used by AIX Logical Volume Manager (LVM) after the disk has been removed from VxVM explicitly.

This issue has been documented in the Veritas Storage Foundation 5.0 for AIX Release Notes under the section "Veritas Volume Manager known issues" (page 38) as follows:

Using vpath devices with LVM
VxVM keeps open all non-LVM devices in 5.0. To initialize a disk under LVM,
first remove the device from VxVM by using the following command with the
disk access name:

# vxdisk rm disk_access_name
[525903]

Although the Release Notes mention vpath devices specifically, the issue is known to affect non vpath devices also.

Following is a practical demonstration of the problem and resolution.

aix1# lspv
hdisk0          0050105a4431c346                    rootvg          active
hdisk1          0050105aa6058c7a                    None
hdisk2          none                                VeritasVolumes
hdisk4          0050105a6a231dc5                    jlvg            active
hdisk7          none                                None
hdisk8          none                                VeritasVolumes
hdisk9          none                                VeritasVolumes

aix1# vxdisk -o alldgs list
DEVICE       TYPE            DISK         GROUP        STATUS
hdisk0       auto:LVM        -            -            LVM
hdisk1       auto:none       -            -            online invalid
hdisk2       auto:cdsdisk    -            (oradg)      online
hdisk4       auto:LVM        -            -            LVM
hdisk5       simple          -            -            error
hdisk7       auto:none       -            -            online invalid
hdisk8       auto:cdsdisk    d2           testdg       online
hdisk9       auto:cdsdisk    d1           testdg       online

hdisk7 is not under LVM or VxVM control.

An attempt to create an AIX LVM volume group fails.

aix1# mkvg -y newvg hdisk7
0516-1254 mkvg: Changing the PVID in the ODM.
0516-1397 mkvg: The physical volume hdisk7, will not be added to
the volume group.
0516-862 mkvg: Unable to create volume group.

Remove the disk from VxVM, clear the owning volume mgr from disk and retry the mkvg command:

aix1# vxdisk rm hdisk7

aix1# chpv -C hdisk7        << Clears the owning volume manager from a disk.
aix1# mkvg -y newvg hdisk7
0516-1254 mkvg: Changing the PVID in the ODM.
newvg

AIX LVM now has control of hdisk7 disk.

aix1# lspv
hdisk0          0050105a4431c346                    rootvg          active
hdisk1          0050105aa6058c7a                    None
hdisk2          none                                VeritasVolumes
hdisk4          0050105a6a231dc5                    jlvg            active
hdisk7          0050105ac9cb7918                    newvg           active
hdisk8          none                                VeritasVolumes
hdisk9          none                                VeritasVolumes

Since hdisk7 has been removed from VxVM, scan for new devices.

aix1# vxdisk scandisks new
aix1# vxdisk -o alldgs list
DEVICE       TYPE            DISK         GROUP        STATUS
hdisk0       auto:LVM        -            -            LVM
hdisk1       auto:none       -            -            online invalid
hdisk2       auto:cdsdisk    -            (oradg)      online
hdisk4       auto:LVM        -            -            LVM
hdisk5       simple          -            -            error
hdisk7       auto:LVM        -            -            LVM
hdisk8       auto:cdsdisk    d2           testdg       online
hdisk9       auto:cdsdisk    d1           testdg       online