Wil Cooley wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Sep 2006 07:37:27 -0700, StephenRichter wrote:
>
> > Are there significant differences between the LVM of AIX and Linux?
> > Also, what is the release history of this feature of the OS? I am new
> > to UNIX of all stripes, running AIX 5.3 on an ebay 170 44P. The LVM is
> > looking like the first big issue to tackle when learning AIX/Linux.
> >
> > Did the LVM in Linux and AIX come out around the year 2000 or so? If
> > so, any major changes since then?
>
> That's probably about right for Linux; at least, it was in most of the
> mainline distributions around then. According to Wikipedia, it began
> around 1998. There are major internal changes between v1 and v2
> implementations, but you can upgrade in-place and the tools themselves
> didn't really change much.
>
> The AIX LVM is considerably older; I cannot say how much, but I'd guess
> maybe 10 years or so?
>
> The Linux LVM is based on the HP-UX LVM, which is probably approximately
> as old as the AIX LVM, which is why the commands are different.

got it.

> > If the LVM of Linux and AIX did come out around the same time, why the
> > difference in terminology? In Linux you have physical extents vs AIX
> > physical partitions? To grow a logical volume in Linux you "lvextend".
> > Not the same in AIX?
>
> AIX takes over the whole disk; Linux runs primarily on PCs, so there has
> to be a DOS partition table on at least the first disk for booting--after
> that, they're not required, but are conventionally used. From the
> perspective of forming a mental model, Linux PEs and AIX PPs probably
> aren't that much different, but there's an extra legacy layer in Linux on
> PCs below it. (It's also convenient for setting up RAID with the MD
> driver and putting the LVM on top of the MD devices.)

Linux on RS6000/p5? Or does the primary partition of a p5 have to be
AIX? Dont bother with this question much, but what I am utlimately
getting at is whether I should run AIX or Linux. If the Linux LVM has
more features than AIX, why use AIX?

> > I am looking to automate the allocation of space as much as possible. I
> > am an AS400 refugee where OS400 handles all of this automatically. I
> > like the flexibility of the LVM approach but would like the ability to
> > put the system on auto pilot also.
>
> I'm not sure how much automation is necessary; what are the circumstances
> requiring such?

while FTPing to my just arrived ebay 170 44P the FTP just halted.
Turned out the /home file system was full. I would like all the file
systems in a volume group to be able to grow and shrink within the
confines of the PPs in the VG. When a file system is getting full I
would like to get an email. When a process is halted because of space
I would like to add space to the file system and see the process
continue on without abending.

-Steve