Unable to add disk to DG : No signature on disk ...

[ElGringo]

Hello,

I am experiencing issue on integrating a disk in a dynamic Disk Group.  I can not do it. Symantec support help me in the past on the same issue. The tech support guy used vxtool to reset the disk mbr.
But the tech support guy did not gave me the vxtool for later use ...
Can someone have a solution which don't need vxtool (since i haven't got it) ?

my config :
W2k3 SP2 x64
Storage Foundation 5.1
Netapp array

Many thanks for any help !

[rhanley]

Hello,
     vxtool is used to clear the SFW Private Region from a disk and would be used in instances when you were attempting to destroy a Disk Group or remove a problem Disk that has a corrupted private region on it. The resetmbr clears the private region and writes a new signature to the disk.

If you are simply trying to add a disk that is currently in the Basic Group to a Disk Group, vxtool should not be used. If there is no signature on the disk, you can simply right-click the disk in VEA (left-pane view) and choose the 'write signature' option. From there, you can write a signature to one, a selected number of disks, or all of the disks.

Once a signature is written to the disk, the Disk will be available to add to a Disk Group.

If this does not assist you, please provide more detail on the specifics of your issue.

I hope this helps.

- Robert

[ElGringo]

The problem is that I am unable to write signature... the support guy used vxtool again to reset the mbr ... I am really wondering why it's appeared twice... The Lun is on a NetApp array runing DataONTAP 7.3.1

Am I the only one who experienced this issue ?

Many thanks for your explanations Robert.

[Z_Wasilewski]

Did you try to use dumpcfg to write signature of this disk ?

If not, try (DG must be deported on node):

dumpcfg

It shows you list of disks in your machine, with disk signatures and device numbers, then

dumpcfg -S XXXXXXX Y

where XXXXXXX is new signature of disk and Y is disk device number (disk witch you try to add to DG).

[ElGringo]

Hello,

It seems that this issues has a NetApp cause, since creating a dynamic disk cannot be perform with the Windows Disk Managent tools too...

I'll keep you informed

[Jay_Kim]

I noticed that you mentioned it was appearing twice? I'm assuming this is talking about the harddisk?

If that is the case, that may have something to do with multipathing to the disk not being configured properly. (if at all)
You will need a multipathing solution such as our own VxDMP DSM (if you have the license) to manage the 2 instances of the same disk.
Many disk access related issues are commonly due to lack of multipathing software or misconfiguration against our HW compatibility list.

Compatibility list documents - http://entsupport.symantec.com/content_ddProduct_SFFW_view_CL_dsN_1.htm