Filesystem Naming

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This document contains the Volume Group, Logical Volume, and File System naming standards for RS/6000 machines running AIX. These standards are used by Mt Xia to provide consistancy across a wide variety of applications being run on the AIX platform. These standards also provide interoperability with the requirements of HACMP.

In the following document, there are many references to a generic representation of the naming standard shown as XXX##. This representation is explained as follows:

Where:
XXX = represents the 3 letter identifier of the machine
## = represents the 2 digit identifier of the machine

There are four standard volume groups to be used on all machines:

1. root VG
2. System VG
3. Application VG
4. Data VG

Root VG

The root volume group "rootvg" is to contain the AIX operating system and updates. No other applications, programs or data should be stored on this VG. This VG is configured to use the two internal disk drives and should be mirrored between the systems. Each drive should be configured to be bootable and the bootlist should contain both drives.

System VG

The system volume group XXX##systvg is for system related applications and programs. These include MQSeries, Patrol, Connect:Direct, TSM, CONTROL-M/Agent, etc. This volume group is always configured on a single 4.5gb EMC drive and should exist on every system.

The generic representation of the naming convention assumes that XXX represents the three letter identifier of the machine, and ## represents the two digit identifier of the machine. This is followed by the letters "systvg". For example, the system VG of the machine "ftweai01" would be called "eai01systvg".

Application VG

The application volume group XXX##appsvg is for applications, programs, utilities, scripts, etc. This would include this such as ECS, CONTROL-M/Server, OMS, EXE, Mercator, Manugistics, etc. This volume group may be configured to use one or more EMC drives and may or may not exist on every system. The naming convention as shown above assumes that XXX represents the three letter identifier of the machine, and ## represents the two digit identifier of the machine. This is followed by the letters "appsvg". For example, the application VG of the machine "ftweai01" would be called "eai01appsvg".

Data VG

The data volume group XXX##datavg is for storage of databases, data files, data queues, flat files, etc. All data storage should be contained within this volume group. Exceptions may include database applications which require a different architecture. This volume group may be configured to contain one or more EMC drives and may or may not exist on every system. The naming convention as shown above assumes that XXX represents the three letter identifier of the machine, and ## represents the two digit identifier of the machine. This is followed by the letters "datavg". For example, the application VG of the machine "ftweai01" would be called "eai01datavg".

The "Mt Xia" AIX architecture requires that each logical volume be created with a specific naming structure which conforms to the following template:

XXX##YYYYlv

Where:

XXX = represents the 3 letter identifier of the machine
## = represents the 2 digit identifier of the machine
YYYY = represents a four letter identifier of the purpose of the logical volume

The final 2 letters of the logical volume name should always be "lv", which will distinguish the logical volumes from volume groups in a listing of the "/dev" directory. These logical volume names should remain consistant across machines so that multiple logical volumes are not created for the same purpose. This will require that a list of currently used logical volume names and their purpose be maintained. Uniqueness is achieved by combining this consistent naming structure with the three letter identifier and the two digit number of the machine.

The list of logical volume names currently in use are as follows:

XXX##homelv # Home directory for all regular users
XXX##cduslv # Connect Direct User area
XXX##cduxlv # Connect Direct Unix Area
XXX##cdfslv # Connect Direct NFS upload/download area
XXX##mqmxlv # MQSeries binaries, programs, and configuration
XXX##vmqmlv # MQSeries data area (standard configuration)
XXX##datalv # MQSeries Data area (HACMP configuration)
XXX##logslv # MQSeries Logs area (HACMP configuration)
XXX##dcomlv # OMS Main program area
XXX##dtmplv # OMS temporary space
XXX##ordelv # OMS Order files queue
XXX##nonolv # OMS Non-Order files queue
XXX##repolv # OMS Reports
XXX##tranlv # OMS Transmit Queue files
XXX##mwmalv # OMS MW Maintenance
XXX##dbmslv # OMS Informix Database
XXX##debulv # OMS debug output
XXX##ecsxlv # Enterprise Control System
XXX##ctmslv # CONTROL-M/Server programs
XXX##ctm2lv # CONTROL-M/Server programs (2nd instance)
XXX##ctm3lv # CONTROL-M/Server programs (3rd instance)
XXX##ctm4lv # CONTROL-M/Server programs (4th instance)
XXX##ctmalv # CONTROL-M/Agent programs
XXX##merclv  # Mercator Production instance
XXX##merqalv # Mercator QA instance
XXX##mer1lv  # Mercator QA (2nd Instance)
XXX##kornlv # Korn shell functions, scripts, utilities
XXX##patrlv # BMC Patrol programs
XXX##db2lv  /ftwXXX##/db2
XXX##db2xlv  /ftwXXX##/ibm/db2
XXX##vagenlv  /ftwXXX##/vagen

The rest of the logical volumes shown here currently exist on one or more systems, but the associated file systems do not conform to the naming standard. The file system names should begin with the name of the machine on which they normally reside:

XXX##cogklv  /usr/cognos-kmart
XXX##cognlv  /usr/cognos
XXX##cubelv  /home/cubes
XXX##cubeslv  /home/cubes
XXX##cubeslv  /home/smallcubes
XXX##daclv11  /exe_acp
XXX##daclv12  /exe_acp/bin
XXX##daclv13  /exe_acp/temp
XXX##dblv  /databases
XXX##devlv11  /exe_dev
XXX##devlv12  /exe_dev/bin
XXX##devlv13  /exe_dev/temp
XXX##devlv14  /exe/pvcs
XXX##devlv15  /ISMBackup
XXX##devlv16  /sr3archives
XXX##devlv17  /exe_dev/export
XXX##homeftplv  /home/ftp
XXX##homeloglv  /home/logs
XXX##oemclv  /opt/emc
XXX##qa1lv11  /exe_qa1
XXX##qa1lv12  /exe_qa1/bin
XXX##qa1lv13  /exe_qa1/temp
XXX##rshlv11  /exe_rsh
XXX##rshlv12  /exe_rsh/bin
XXX##rshlv13  /exe_rsh/temp
XXX##sapputlv  /usr/sap/put
XXX##tr1lv11  /exe_trn1
XXX##tr1lv12  /exe_trn1/bin
XXX##tr1lv13  /exe_trn1/temp
XXX##tr1lv14  /sr3merge
XXX##tr1lv15  /sr3scratch
XXX##tr1lv16  /sr3logs
XXX##tr2lv11  /exe_trn2
XXX##tr2lv12  /exe_trn2/bin
XXX##tr2lv13  /exe_trn2/temp
XXX##uemclv  /usr/emc
XXX##usrsaplv  /usr/sap/R3P
XXX##applv01  /usr/local
XXX##applv02  /informix
XXX##applv03  /opt/fourjs
XXX##applv04  /informix.730uc6
XXX##applv05  /informix.730uc7

One additional file system which should be configured in the root volume group is for storage of installation images. It should have the logical volume name of "XXX##instlv" and a file system mount point of "/usr/sys/inst.images".

There are two distinct types of file systems with the "Mt Xia" AIX architecture: file systems which reside on hard drives within each AIX machine, and file systems which reside on external EMC drives. File systems which reside on external EMC drives are likely to be involved in an HACMP environment, so the directory mount point must be unique enterprise wide. Uniqueness is accomplished by using the name of the machine, on which the file system is normally mounted, as the first part of the directory structure of the mount point. All file systems which reside on external EMC drives should conform to the following template:

/ftwXXX##/<directoryName>

Where:
XXX = represents the 3 letter identifier of the machine
## = represents the 2 digit identifier of the machine

As an example, the CONTROL-M/Agent file system on the machine "ftweai01" should have the following directory mount point:

/ftweai01/bmc/ctmagent

This insures that during an HACMP or manual failover of the file systems, that there will be no directory conflicts between applications, programs or data.