IBM Support

0516-350 Error When Importing a Volume Group

Question & Answer


Question

0516-350 Error When Importing a Volume Group

Answer


Environment

AIX Versions 4 and 5

Problem

When importing a volume group, the user gets an error message of
0516-350 lvgenminor: The genminor function failed
Background
When importing a volume group, the genminor function is called. This subroutine generates either the smallest unused minor number available for a device, a preferred minor number if it is available, or a set of unused minor numbers for a device. The lvgenminor command is is an object file command that returns a minor number that is used during the creation of a logical volume. The minor number of a logical volume is held within the VGDA and LVCB information. In environments where a volume group consists of drives that are shared between two systems, some users prefer the volume group to contain the same major number on both sides. (This is required in an HACMP environment where the volume group consists of NFS filesystems.) When a volume group is imported, the minor number from the logical volume is read. If that same major and minor number is already used on the system where the import is attempted, you will see the following error message:
0516-350 lvgenminor: The genminor function failed

Solution

To resolve the issue, first determine the next available major number. You should use a higher number so the chance is decreased of that number being used by another device while the volume group is exported. The following command should be run on both systems to ensure the major number you select is available on both of them:

# lvlstmajor
(this will give a list of the available major numbers and give output similar to the following):

52,56..58,60...

When importing the volume group, you should try running something similar to the following:

# importvg -V 95 -y vgname hdisk#
That should take care of the problem.

Recommended fixes

APAR    DESCRIPTION                                                 AIX VERSION
IY53768 ERROR 'GENMINOR FUNCTION FAILED' DURING RESTORE OF MKSYSB   5.2
IY57776 IMPORTVG -L MISBEHAVES WITH GETLVODM & SYNCLODM ERRORS      5.1
IY60560 IMPORTVG -L MISBEHAVES WITH GETLVODM & SYNCLODM ERRORS      5.2
IY61101 IMPORTVG -L MISBEHAVES WITH GETLVODM & SYNCLODM ERROR       5.3

New APARs and defects can also be found by searching in the "Quick links to AIX fixes",
http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/support/unixservers/aixfixes.html.

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Historical Number

isg1pTechnote0321

Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

isg3T1000198