dxlsm - Graphical interface, also called the Visual Administrator,
for the Logical Storage Manager (LSM)
/usr/bin/X11/dxlsm [-options]
Specifies the color of the window's background (color displays
only). The default is white. Specifies the display
screen on which dxlsm displays its window. If the display
flag is not specified, dxlsm uses the display screen specified
by your DISPLAY environment variable. The display
variable has the format hostname:number. Using two colons
(::) instead of one (:) indicates that DECnet is to be
used for transport. The default is :0. For more information,
see X(1X). Specifies the color of the text (color
displays only). The default is black. Specifies the
width, length, and location of the dxlsm window. If the
geometry flag is not specified, dxlsm uses default values.
The geometry flag has the format =[width][xlength][x][y].
For more information about the screen coordinate system,
see X(1X). Brings up a help screen that displays the
dxlsm flags. Uses a monochrome display instead of color.
Instead of using color to differentiate icons, the display
uses bitmap patterns of varying textures and shades.
Specifies the title for the dxlsm window. Sets the specified
X resource for the current dxlsm session. See the X
DEFAULTS section of this reference page for a list of the
resources you can set. Suppresses a reminder message that
is issued by default when dxlsm is used in a TruCluster
Production Server or TruCluster Available Server configuration.
Unless suppressed, this message is displayed each
time dxlsm starts up and whenever the configuration is
changed.
The Visual Administrator (dxlsm) is a graphical user
interface (GUI) for LSM. The Visual Administrator interface
provides the user with graphical elements such as
icons, windows, and menus to ease the task of manipulating
the LSM configuration. Note that the Visual Administrator
software is included with the base system software, but it
requires a separate LSM license to run.
The graphical interface is designed primarily for disk and
volume operations. For example, you can use it to add and
rename disks; to initialize and remove diskgroups; to mirror
volumes, and to create, change, and remove volumes,
plexes, and subdisks. You can also use dxlsm to display
information about disks and volumes. In addition to the
disk and volume operations, the Visual Administrator provides
a limited set of file system operations. For example,
you can create and mirror file sytems.
The Visual Administrator interface provides a consistent
view of the LSM configuration. If a configuration or its
objects are changed while a Visual Administrator session
is running, the icons representing those objects automatically
alter themselves to reflect such changes. The icons
adjust themselves in this manner, regardless of whether
the changes were made by the Visual Administrator itself
or by another LSM interface.
Before you can start the LSM Visual Administrator, you
must be logged into an account that has superuser privileges.
To start the Visual Administrator from the command
line, enter the dxlsm command as follows:
# dxlsm
When dxlsm comes up, it displays the main LSM Visual
Administrator window, called the root window, and the View
of rootdg window.
Mouse Buttons [Toc] [Back]
A two- or three-button mouse is required in order to use
dxlsm. The following table describes the default mouse
buttons, referred to as the MB1, MB2, and MB3 buttons.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virtual 3-Button 2-Button Function
Mouse But- Access Access
ton
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MB1 Left Left Selects a single icon.
MB2 Middle Ctrl-Left Selects either one or multiple
icons simultaneously.
MB3 Right Right Views properties of an object.
If the icon is not undergoing
analysis, it displays the properties
form for that object.
If the icon is undergoing analysis,
it displays the analysis
statistics form for that
object.
Shift-MB1 Shift-Left Shift-Left Toggles between minimizing or
maximizing an icon.
Shift-MB2 Shift-Middle Ctrl-Right Toggles between starting or
stopping projection on the
selected icon.
Shift-MB3 Shift-Right Shift-Right Displays the properties form
for the object, regardless of
whether analysis is in effect.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Icons [Toc] [Back]
The Visual Administrator interface uses icons to represent
the following LSM objects: volumes plexes subdisks disks
Disk groups are represented as view windows rather than
icons.
The icons representing LSM disks, volumes, and other
objects belonging to a particular disk group are all displayed
within the view of the disk group. The following
list describes the icons and their characteristics. Physical
disks appear as cylindrical icons labeled PD. These
icons represent physical disks known to dxlsm. Physical
disk icons appear in the View of Disks window. Partitions
appear as rectangular icons within physical disk icons.
The partition icon is labeled with the device name. If a
disk has been added to a disk group, the corresponding
partition icon is shaded. Partition icons appear in the
View of Disks window. LSM disks appear as cylindrical
icons labeled D usually contain subdisks, which are
represented as rectangles. LSM disk icons represent disks
that are both under LSM control and assigned to a disk
group. LSM disk icons are labeled with the disk name, by
default. LSM disk icons typically appear in a disk group
view. Subdisks appear within LSM disks (and often within
plexes) as rectangular shaped icons. Subdisk icons typically
appear in disk group views or in the View of Volumes
window. Log subdisks (used to log recent disk activity)
have icons with double borders to distinguish them from
regular subdisk icons. Plexes appear either alone or
within volumes as relatively large rectangles containing
subdisks. Plex icons have a heavy border to distinguish
them from partition or subdisk icons. Plex icons typically
appear in disk group views or in the View of Volumes window.
Volumes appear as cylindrical icons labeled V.
These icons often contain plex and subdisk icons. Volume
icons are distinguished from disk icons by a heavy border.
Volume icons typically appear in disk group views or in
the View of Volumes window. With some operations, icons
are updated almost instantly to reflect the results of the
operation just performed. During other operations, it may
take awhile for a particular icon to update itself. While
being updated, icons are prevented from accepting input or
undergoing configuration changes. Since an icon that is
busy being updated should not be selected or manipulated,
dxlsm greys out the text in that icon so that the user is
aware that it is temporarily inaccessible. No input is
accepted by an icon while it is greyed out. As soon as the
icon is fully updated, it returns to its normal visual
state and accepts input again. Icons that are temporarily
greyed out in this manner are also referred to as blocked
icons.
There are two ways to manipulate icons, as described here:
The user first selects an icon by positioning the pointer
on it and then clicking MB1 (when selecting a single icon)
or MB2 (when selecting multiple icons) button. The mouse
or keyboard can then be used to choose an operation (typically
from a menu) to be applied to the selected icons.
The user drags an icon and then drops it elsewhere. An
icon is dragged by holding down MB1 and then moving the
mouse, which moves an outline of that icon. The icon can
then be positioned in a different location or on top of
another icon and dropped there by releasing MB1. The
resulting operation depends on the icon type and drop
location.
Depending on the type of monitor you are using, the Visual
Administrator employs color or bitmap patterns to indicate
the following: State of an icon Activity level of an icon
Relationships between icons Failure of an operation
It is possible for a single icon to be in multiple states
represented by different colors or patterns at once. For
example, a given icon may be both selected and under projection
at the same time. In such cases, the reflects the
color or pattern that represents the highest priority. The
following is the priority list for possible icon states,
starting with the highest priority: Blocked Error Selected
Projected Analyzed Enabled
An icon that is in the blocked state (highest priority) is
one that is currently busy and cannot allow any mouse or
keyboard input. The text within a blocked icon is greyed
out to indicate that it is inaccessible.
If a color monitor is used, the default colors are red,
yellow, grey and green. If a monochrome monitor is used,
bitmap patterns of varying textures and shades are used
instead of colors. By default, standard X Window System
bitmaps (typically located in either
/usr/include/X11/bitmaps or are used to create these patterns.
The following table describes the values for the default
colors and bitmap patterns associated with icons under
different conditions. See the X DEFAULTS section of this
reference page for information about changing the default
colors and patterns.
------------------------------------------------
Situation Color Bitmap Pattern
------------------------------------------------
selected icon royal blue gray3
disabled icon light grey stripe4
alarmed icon red gray1
free subdisk icon light grey root_weave
projection deep pink root_weave
analysis: low green cross_weave
analysis: medium yellow root_weave
analysis: high red wide_weave
------------------------------------------------
Windows and Views [Toc] [Back]
Once you start the Visual Administrator, any of the view
windows can be accessed via the root window. Views are
special windows that display icons representing all LSM
objects or a subset of objects currently known to LSM.
When the Visual Administrator comes up, it displays the
main Visual Administrator window (also known as the root
window). The root window contains a menu bar and a set of
buttons. The set of buttons varies slightly depending on
whether you have RAID (Redundant Arrays of Independent
Disks) subsystems installed on your system. The menu bar
contains the following pull-down menu items: Closes the
current window or exits the Visual Administrator interface
completely Creates and manipulates user views Sets user
preferences when using the Visual Administrator GUI
Accesses the help facility
From the Visual Administrator root window, you can use the
pull-down Views menu to get to the views windows. With
views, you can examine and manipulate different parts of
the physical and logical storage systems. You can add or
remove icons from views only by using the LSM Visual
Administrator.
Each view window title includes the name of the machine on
which the session is running.
The Visual Administrator root window provides a view button
area containing a button for every view on the system.
Views are accessed by clicking MB1 on one of the view buttons
in the views subwindow.
The Visual Administrator allows for two types of views:
default views and user-created views. Both types function
identically, but certain restrictions are placed on
default views. Default views cannot be removed or renamed
by the user, as user-created views can.
Click on the mouse buttons to access the default view windows
described in the following table.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Menu Buttons Window Access
------------------------------------------------------------------
Disks View of Disks Displays all physical disks on
the system
Volumes View of Volumes Displays all volumes, as well as
plexes and associated subdisks,
on the system
World View of World Displays everything on the system
including physical and LSM
disks, volumes, and other
objects
rootdg View of rootdg Displays everything in the
default disk group, rootdg ,
including LSM disks, volumes,
and other objects
------------------------------------------------------------------
A user-created view is a view window that focuses on a
particular part of a physical and a logical mass storage
system, as defined by the system administrator. The system
administrator can create views consisting of a selected
collection of icons. For example, a user might create a
special view to correspond to a physical or logical grouping
(such as a view for the accounting department). Usercreated
views enable the user to isolate part of the mass
storage subsystem to observe or monitor that part of the
configuration.
User-created views differ from default views in that they
contain copies of icons from default views. Operations
performed on these icon copies are reflected in the
default views that display the affected icons. However,
icons that appear in user-created views are not always
updated whenever those icons are altered in the corresponding
default view.
User-created views can be created using the Views pulldown
menu from the Visual Administrator root window. Once
created, icons can be added to a new view window by copying
them over from existing views via the Icon menu.
The rootdg Window [Toc] [Back]
By default, the View of rootdg window, which contains
objects belonging to the rootdg disk group, appears immediately
after the Visual Administrator window displays.
You should perform operations in the View of rootdg window
or in another disk group view whenever possible.
The View of rootdg window has a menu bar containing the
following menu items: Closes the current window or exits
the Visual Administrator completely Accesses basic volume,
file system, and disk operations Accesses advanced operations
involving volumes, disks, and other LSM objects Analyzes
and displays the activity level of objects Illustrates
the relationships between certain objects Sets user
preferences for using the GUI. Also displays the Command
Info window Manipulates icons Accesses the help facility
Disk Operations [Toc] [Back]
This section lists the disk operations you can perform
using the Visual Administrator.
Disk groups are represented visually as disk group views
rather than icons. To view the objects in a particular
disk group, click MB1 on the appropriate disk group button
in the Visual Administrator window. A View of Disks window
appears. Physical disk icons containing partition icons
are displayed in this window. Disks under LSM control contain
partition icons that are colored or patterned. Note
that the View of rootdg window is the view of the disks
that belong to the rootdg disk group.
To display information about for a particular LSM disk, in
the View of rootdg or appropriate disk group view, click
MB3 on the disk icon whose properties you want to view.
The disk's properties form appears, displaying detailed
information about the disk. For example, the properties
form includes a field that shows the maximum free space
available on that disk.
It is possible to alter certain characteristics of the
disk by editing the appropriate properties form field and
then clicking MB1 on Apply. For example, you can use the
properties form to change the name of a disk.
For the following operations, in the appropriate view window,
begin by selecting Disk Group from the Advanced-Ops
menu. Add a disk to a disk group Deport a disk group
Import a disk group
Note that you can be in any view window to import a
disk group. Remove a disk from a disk group
After you remove a disk from a disk group, select
the Disk menu from the Advanced-Ops menu and select
Remove Disk.
See the manual Logical Storage Manager for more information
on disk operations.
Volume Operations [Toc] [Back]
The volume operations are performed from the View of
rootdg window for the rootdg disk group or from the appropriate
disk group view for other disk groups.
To display information about a volume, in the View of
rootdg or appropriate disk group view, click MB3 on the
volume icon whose properties you want to view. The volume's
properties form appears, displaying detailed information
about the volume. It is possible to alter certain
characteristics of the volume (such as its name) by editing
the appropriate properties form field and then clicking
MB1 on Apply.
To perform the following volume operations using the
Visual Administrator, from the appropriate disk view,
select Volume Operations from the Basic-Ops menu: Create a
simple volume
If you want to specify the disk where the volume
will reside, click MB1 on the desired disk icon,
before selecting Volume Operations from the BasicOps
menu. Otherwise, LSM will select the disk for
you. Create a striped volume Mirror a volume
Resize a volume, either by extending or shrinking
it Remove a volume
To back up a volume, follow these steps: In View of rootdg
or the appropriate disk group view, select the volume you
want to back up. Select Basic-OPs -> Volume Operations ->
Snapshot -> Snapstart. For UFS volumes, you may want to
unmount the file system briefly, to ensure that the snapshot
data on disk is consistent and complete. Select
Basic-Ops -> Volume Operations -> Snapshot -> Snapshot.
In the Snapshot Form, either accept the default snapshot
name or fill in a new name, then click MB1 on Apply to
complete the backup snapshot. Note that normal usage of
the original volume can now resume. Back up the snapshot
volume to tape. Remove the snapshot volume by first
selecting it and then selecting the following menu items:
Basic-Ops -> Volume Operations -> Remove Volumes
Recursively
See the manual Logical Storage Manager for more information
on volume operations.
File System Operations [Toc] [Back]
The file system operations are performed from the View of
rootdg window for the rootdg disk group or from the appropriate
disk group view for other disk groups.
To perform the following file system operations, from the
appropriate disk view, first select UFS Operations from
the Basic-Ops menu: Create a file system on a simple or
striped volume Make a file system
This operation is different from creating a file
system, in that in this operation, the volume on
which you create the file system already exists.
Mount a file system Umount a file system Display a
mounted file system
To mirror a file system, select the following: Basic-Ops
-> Volume Operations -> Add Mirror
See the manual Logical Storage Manager for more information
on file system operations.
Analyze Menu [Toc] [Back]
The Analyze menu, available from the View of rootdg and
other disk group views, allows you to display statistics
about the performance of LSM objects. Note that only volume
and LSM disk icons can be selected for analysis.
To start analysis, select one or more LSM disk and volume
icons and then select Start from the Analyze menu. Select
Parameters from the Analyze menu to specify user preferences
for analysis. For example, you can specify the cutoff
values for coloring or patterning of the icons under
analysis.
When an icon is under analysis, you can display the Analysis
Statistics form for that icon by clicking the MB3 button
on the icon. Because the MB3 button is normally used
to access an icon's properties form, use the Shift-MB3
button to access the properties form of an icon undergoing
analysis instead.
See the manual Logical Storage Manager for more information
on the Analyze menu.
Projection [Toc] [Back]
Projection is the technique that the Visual Administrator
uses to show relationships between icons that represent
LSM objects. Projection is illustrated using color (deep
pink is the default) or bitmap patterns. Projection highlights
those objects that the selected object is composed
of and illustrates the relationship between the objects.
For example, if a volume is selected for projection, the
corresponding subdisks are highlighted within the volume
icon and also on the appropriate disk icons. If the
selected icon has no associated objects, the Visual Administrator
issues a warning to this effect.
To show the projection of a particular icon, click the MB2
button on the icon while holding down the Shift key
(Shift-MB2). To stop projection, press Shift-MB2 again.
You can also start and stop projection by selecting an
icon and then using the Icon Projection submenu of the
Projection menu.
Volume, plex, subdisk, and LSM disk icons can be selected
for projection. Projection does not apply to physical
disk or partition icons.
Projection may be requested in any view. When an icon is
highlighted by projection, all icons representing that
object in all view windows where it appears are highlighted.
See the manual Logical Storage Manager for more information
on projection.
The Disk Operations menu under the Basic Ops menu is not
currently supported. For disk operations, use the disk
menus under the Advanced Ops menu.
This section lists X resources that can be used to configure
the Visual Administrator according to personal preferences
and system requirements.
The Visual Administrator resources and associated preferences
can be specified in your file. A file with default
dxlsm entries is located in /usr/lib/X11/appdefaults/DXlsm.
The entries in this file are commented
out. You can uncomment the lines that you want to enable.
Refer also to your X window system documentation on X
resources for further information.
The default values specified here correspond to those
defaults compiled into the Visual Administrator. Preferences
specified in the system's app-defaults file may
change these defaults.
The entries in the file should take the following form:
DXlsm*resource: value
For example, the color used to represent a disabled icon
can be altered from the default color (light grey) to
orange by editing the file to include the following line:
DXlsm*disabledPixel: orange
The dxlsm-related resources can also be specified for a
single session only by invoking the Visual Administrator
using the following syntax:
dxlsm -xrm dxlsm*resource: value
The default values can be changed according to user preferences.
The resources are listed to the left with their
default values to the right. Each resource-value pair is
followed by a brief description.
Color Resources [Toc] [Back]
The following resources apply only when the Visual Administrator
is run on a color monitor: The color of icons
that have been selected. The color of icons that are disabled
and cannot be used by Visual Administrator (for
example, detached plexes). The color of icons that have
been selected when an error occurs (for example, incorrectly
selected icons). The color of subdisk icons that
are free (unassociated) when Show Free Subdisks has been
turned on. The color of icons that are projecting (displaying
object relationships) when Icon Projection has
been turned on for that icon or a related icon. The color
of icons that have a low usage level (as defined in the
Analysis Properties Form) when analysis has been turned on
for that icon or a related icon. The color of icons that
have a medium usage level (as defined in the Analysis
Properties Form) when analysis has been turned on for that
icon or a related icon. The color of icons that have a
high usage level (as defined in the Analysis Properties
Form) when analysis has been turned on for that icon or a
related icon. When True is specified, the Visual Administrator
is forced to operate in monochrome (black and
white) mode, whether or not a color monitor is being used.
Monochrome Resources [Toc] [Back]
The following resources apply only when the Visual Administrator
is run on a monochrome monitor: The bitmap pattern
for icons that have been selected. The bitmap pattern
for icons that are disabled and cannot be used by the
Visual Administrator (detached plexes, for example). The
bitmap pattern for icons that have been selected when an
error occurs (incorrectly selected icons, for example).
The bitmap pattern for subdisk icons that are free (unassociated)
when Show Free Subdisks has been turned on. The
bitmap pattern for icons that are projecting (displaying
object relationships) when Icon Projection has been turned
on for that icon or a related icon. The bitmap pattern
for icons that have a low usage level (as defined in the
Analysis Properties Form) when analysis has been turned on
for that icon or a related icon. The bitmap pattern for
icons that have a medium usage level (as defined in the
Analysis Properties Form) when analysis has been turned on
for that icon or a related icon. The bitmap pattern for
icons that have a high usage level (as defined in the
Analysis Properties Form) when analysis has been turned on
for that icon or a related icon.
Icon Resources [Toc] [Back]
The following resources relate to icons: When True is
specified, volume icons will be minimized when created, by
default. When True is specified, plex icons will be minimized
when created, by default. This feature is useful to
display structures within volumes, but to hide details
about the subdisk structure that makes up the plex. When
True is specified, disk icons will be minimized when created,
by default. When True is specified, physical disk
icons will be minimized when created, by default. When
True is specified, icons selected for an operation are
automatically deselected when the operation completes. If
set to False, icons are remain selected until the user
decides to deselect them, making it possible to perform
multiple operations on the same set of selected icons.
Miscellaneous Resources [Toc] [Back]
The following are miscellaneous dxlsm-related resources:
The color in which all foreground items are displayed.
This typically applies to icon outlines and text. The
color that serves as the background for all windows in the
Visual Administrator. When True is specified to IsvalHelp,
the Visual Administrator displays a help message
(including command line option usage information) in a
window at program start up. This is the title of the
application's root window. This describes the font to be
used for all text within the Visual Administrator. Use
this to specify the number of command silos supported. A
command silo is a set of sequentially dependent commands
(like file system create, followed by file system mount).
A larger number of silos supports a larger number of concurrent
operations that can be run, but also requires the
Visual Administrator to use more memory. Use commandHistorySize
to specify the number of commands that the Visual
Administrator should remember and display in the history
portion of the Command Info Window. Use defaultViewWindow
to specify the name of the disk group to be popped up by
default when the Visual Administrator is run. Use chkMntptInterval
to specify how often, in seconds, the Visual
Administrator should check the system mount table to accurately
display information about mounted file systems.
When True is specified to twoButtonMouse, the Visual
Administrator remaps the mouse buttons for a two button
mouse.
Window Adjustments [Toc] [Back]
On small displays (such as those with a graphical resolution
of 640x480), some windows or forms may be too long to
fit entirely on the screen and the bottom area of these
windows/forms may not be visible. If this is the case, the
window manager's move function (ALT-F7, by default) can be
used to move the window or form so that all areas and form
buttons are visible.
Another technique that may allow forms to fit better on a
small screen is to start up dxlsm as follows:
# dxlsm -xrm dxlsm*propertiesForm*marginHeight: 1
This resource specification causes forms to appear shorter
than normal. To achieve similar results, you can add the
following lines to your $HOME/.Xdefaults file:
dxlsm*propertiesForm*marginHeight: 1 dxlsm*propertiesForm*marginWidth:
1
SEE ALSO
X(1X), volassist(8), volintro(8)
Logical Storage Manager
dxlsm(8X)
[ Back ] |
