The commands in the vos command suite are the administrative interface to the Volume Server and Location Service. Cell administrators use vos commands to create, move, delete, replicate, back up and examine volumes, among other operations. The Location Service automatically records changes in volume status and location that result from vos commands.
The operations invoked by most vos commands are idempotent, meaning that if an operation is interrupted due to network outage or server failure, then a subsequent attempt at the same operation continues from the interruption point, rather than starting over at the beginning of the operation. The vos command checks with the Volume Server and Location Service to verify the current state of the volumes and their location information.
If the volumes and associated location information are already in the desired end state (or a consistent intermediate state), there is no need to repeat the internal steps that brought them there. Idempotency does not apply if the command issuer explicitly interrupts the operation with Ctrl-C or another interrupt signal. In that case, the volume is left locked and the cell administrator must use the vos_unlock(1) command to unlock it before proceeding.
It is important that the Location Service accurately indicate the status of the volumes on File Servers at all times. If a vos command changes volume status, it notifies the Location Service. The most common cause of discrepancies between the state of a volume as reported by the Location Service and the volume status known to the File Servers is interrupted operations. To restore consistency, use the vos_syncfs(1) and vos_syncloc(1) commands.
There are several categories of commands in the vos command suite:
- Commands to create, move, rename and split volumes: vos_backup(1), vos_backupsys(1), vos_changeloc(1), vos_create(1), vos_move(1), vos_rename(1), and vos_splitvolume(1).
- Commands to remove a volume from the Location Service or the Volume Server or both: vos_delentry(1), vos_remove(1), and vos_zap(1).
- Commands to edit or display file server data managed by the Location Service: vos_listfs(1), and vos_removefs(1).
- Commands to create, size, and restore dump files: vos_dump(1), vos_restore(1), and vos_size(1).
- Commands to administer replicated volumes: vos_addsite(1), vos_copysite(1), vos_movesite(1), vos_release(1), vos_remove(1), and vos_remsite(1).
- Commands to display volume state information as known to the Location Service, Volume Server, or both: vos_examine(1), vos_listloc(1), and vos_listvol(1).
- Commands to display information about partitions that house volumes: vos_listpart(1) and vos_partinfo(1).
- Command to query the Location Service for the list of registered file servers and generate formatted output: vos_eachfs(1).
- Command to query the cell for the list of configured Location Service servers and generate formatted output: vos_eachvl(1).
- Command to query the Location Service for a list of matching volumes and generate formatted output: vos_eachvol(1).
- Commands to restore consistency between the Location Service and Volume Servers: vos_syncfs(1) and vos_syncloc(1).
- Commands to lock and unlock volumes in the Location Service: vos_lock(1), vos_unlock(1), and vos_unlockall(1).
- A command to report Volume Server status: vos_status(1).
- A command to end Volume Server transactions: vos_endtrans(1).
- Commands to change volume settings: vos_setaddrs(1), vos_setfields(1), vos_setmaxacl(1), vos_listmaxacl(1), vos_setrootacl(1), vos_listrootacl(1), vos_setquota(1).
- Commands to view and set volume security levels: vos_listseclevels(1), vos_setseclevels(1).
- Commands to run commands interactively: vos_interactive(1), vos_sleep(1), and vos_quit(1).
- A command to run commands from a file: vos_source(1).
- Commands to obtain help: vos_apropos(1) and vos_help(1).
- Command to display the program version: vos_version(1).
Use this category to discuss the use of the vos command suite.