Creating Volumes - (Using Solaris 9 Volume Manager
Commands)
by Jeff Hunter, Sr. Database Administrator
Source site:
http://www.idevelopment.info/data/Unix/Solaris/SOLARIS_CreateVolumes_VolumeMan
ager9Commands.shtml
Contents
1. Overview
2. Examining the Disks In Our Example
3. Partitioning the Disks
4. State Database - (State Database Replicas)
o Creating the (Initial)
o Creating the
o Creating
o
o Deleting a State Database Replica
5. Creating a Stripe - (RAID 0)
6. Creating a Concatenation - (RAID 0)
7. Creating Mirrors - (RAID 1)
o Create a Mirror From Unused Slices
o Create a Mirror From a File System That Can Be Unmounted
o Create a Mirror From a File System That Cannot Be Unmounted
o Create a Mirror From swap
o Create a Mirror From root (/)
8. Creating a RAID 5 Volume - (RAID 5)
9. Creating Hot Spare
Overview
This article provides a comprehensive overview for creating Volume Manager
components (volumes, disk sets, state database replicas, hot spare pools) using the
Volume Manager command-line tools. Most of the information can also be found in the
"Solaris 9 Volume Manager Administration Guide" (Part No: 816-4519-10, April 2003).
Examining the Disks In Our Example
This article is all about providing definitions and examples of Volume Manager's
command line tools.
For all examples in this document, I will be utilizing a Sun Blade 150 connected to a Sun
StorEDGE D1000 Disk Array containing twelve 9.1GB / 10000 RPM / UltraSCSI disk
drives for a total disk array capacity of 108GB. The disk array is connected to the Sun
Blade 150 using a Dual Differential Ultra/Wide SCSI (X6541A) host adapter. In the Sun
StorEDGE D1000 Disk Array, the system identifies the drives as follows:
Controller 1 Controller 2
c1t0d0 - (d0) c2t0d0 - (d0)
c1t1d0 - (d0) c2t1d0 - (d1)
c1t2d0 - (d1) c2t2d0 - (d1)
c1t3d0 - (d20) c2t3d0 - (d20)
c1t4d0 - (d3) c2t4d0 - (d3)
c1t5d0 - (d3) c2t5d0 - (d4)
d0 : RAID 0 - Stripe
d1 : RAID 0 - Concatenation
d20 : RAID 1 - Mirror
d3 : RAID 5
d4 : Hot Spare
From the configuration above, you can see we have plenty of disk drives to utilize for our
examples! For the examples in this article, I will only be using several of the disks within
the D1000 array - in many cases, just enough to demonstrate the use of the Volume
Manager commands and component configuration.
Partitioning the Disks
Volumes in Volume Manager are built from slices (disk partitions). If the disks you plan
on using as volumes have not been partitioned, do so now. For the twelve 9.1GB disk
drives within the D1000 Disk Array, I use the same partition sizes and layout. By
convention, I will use slice 7 for the entire disk for storing the actual data. I will also use
slice 7 to store the state database replicas for each of the tweleve disks. Also by
convention, I will use slice 2 as the backup partition.
The following is the partition tables from one of the twelve hard drives:
format> verify
Primary label contents:
Volume name = < >
ascii name =
pcyl = 4926
ncyl = 4924
acyl = 2
nhead = 27
nsect = 133
Part Tag Flag Cylinders Size Blocks
0 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0) 0
1 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0) 0
2 backup wm 0 - 4923 8.43GB (4924/0/0) 17682084
3 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0) 0
4 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0) 0
5 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0) 0
6 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0) 0
7 usr wm 0 - 4922 8.43GB (4923/0/0) 17678493
Use the format(1M) command to edit the partition table, label the disks, and set the
volume name.
State Database - (State Database Replicas)
The Solaris Volume Manager state database is used by Volume Manager to store
configuration and state information about volumes, hot spares, and disk sets. Before
creating volumes you will need to create state database replicas. The state database
replicas ensure that the data in the state database is always valid. When the state database
is updated, each state database replica is also updated.
At a bare minimum, Volume Manager requires a minimum of three state database
replicas. If your system looses a state database replica, Volume Manager will attempt to
determine which state database replcas are still valid. Before any of the state database
replicas can be considered valid, Volume Manager requires that a majority (half + 1) of
the state database replicas be available and in agreement before any of them are
considered valid. Solaris Volume Manager calls this algorithm a majority consensus
algorithm. The system will not reboot without one more than half the total state database
replicas. Instead, it will go into single-user mode for administrative tasks.
State database replicas are created on disk slices using the metadb command. Keep in
mind that state database replicas can only be created on slices that are not in use. (i.e.
have no file system or being used to store RAW data). You cannot create state database
replicas on slices on partitions that contain a file system, root (/), /usr, or swap. State
database replicas can be created on slices that will be part of a volume, but will need to
be created BEFORE adding the slice to a volume.
In the following example, I will create one state database replica on each of the first 11
disk drives in the D1000 Disk Array using the metadb command. On the twelfth disk, I
will give an example of how to create two state database replicas on the same slice. In
total I will be creating 13 state database replicas on 12 twelve disks. The replicas will be
created on slice 7 for each disk. (This is the slice that we created to be be used for each
disk in the disk array.) I will create the 13 state database replicas on the tweleve disks
using the following methods:
1. The first four initial state database replicas on the first four disks in the disk array
using the -a and -f command line options to the metadb command.
2. Then create seven more replicas just using the -a option to the metadb command.
3. Then use the -c option to the metadb command on the twelfth disk to give an
example of how to create two replicas on a single slice.
Creating the (Initial) First Four State Database Replicas
# metadb -a -f c1t0d0s7 c1t1d0s7 c1t2d0s7 c1t3d0s7
· The -a switch tells metadb to attach a new database device. The
/etc/lvm/mddb.cf file is automatically updated with the new information to tell
the system to reattach the devices at boot-time. An alternate way to create replicas
in DiskSuite 4.2.1 was by defining them in the /etc/lvm/md.tab file and
specifying the assigned name at the command line in the form, mddbnn, where nn
is a two-digit number given to the replica definitions. I do not believe this file is
used in Solaris 9 Volume Manager. Refer to the md.tab(4) man page for
instructions on setting up replicas in that file.
· The -f option is used to create the initial state database. It is also used to force the
deletion of replicas below the minimum of one. (The -a and -f options should be
used together only when no state databases exist.)
Creating the Next Seven State Database Replicas
# metadb -a c1t4d0s7 c1t5d0s7 c2t0d0s7 c2t1d0s7 c2t2d0s7 c2t3d0s7
c2t4d0s7
· The -a switch tells metadb to attach a new database device. The
/etc/lvm/mddb.cf file is automatically updated with the new information to tell
the system to reattach the devices at boot-time. An alternate way in DiskSuite
4.2.1 to create replicas was by defining them in the /etc/lvm/md.tab file and
specifying the assigned name at the command line in the form, mddbnn, where nn
is a two-digit number given to the replica definitions. I do not believe this file is
used in Solaris 9 Volume Manager. Refer to the md.tab(4) man page for
instructions on setting up replicas in that file.
Creating Two State Database Replicas On the Same Slice
# metadb -a -c2 c2t5d0s7
· The -a switch tells metadb to attach a new database device. The
/etc/lvm/mddb.cf file is automatically updated with the new information to tell
the system to reattach the devices at boot-time. An alternate way in DiskSuite
4.2.1 to create replicas was by defining them in the /etc/lvm/md.tab file and
specifying the assigned name at the command line in the form, mddbnn, where nn
is a two-digit number given to the replica definitions. I do not believe this file is
used in Solaris 9 Volume Manager. Refer to the md.tab(4) man page for
instructions on setting up replicas in that file.
· The -c switch is used to determine the number of database replicas that will be
created on each of the specified slices. In our case, we're creating two replicas on
one slice.
Query All State Database Replicas
# metadb
flags first blk block count
a m p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c1t1d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c1t2d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c1t3d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c1t4d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c1t5d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c2t0d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c2t1d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c2t2d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c2t3d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c2t4d0s7
a p luo 16 8192 /dev/dsk/c2t5d0s7
a p luo 8208 8192 /dev/dsk/c2t5d0s7
Deleting a State Database Replica
# metadb -d c2t4d0s7
· The -d deletes all replicas that are located on the specified slice. The
/etc/system file is automatically updated with the new information and the
/etc/lvm/mddb.cf file is updated.
Ok, now lets put it back!
# metadb -a c2t4d0s7
Creating a Stripe - (RAID 0)
A RAID 0 volume (often called just a stripe) are one of the three types of simple volumes:
· Striped Volumes - (or stripes)
· Concatenated Volumes - (or concatenations)
· Concatenated Striped Volumes - (or contatenated stripes)
These components are made from slices. Simple volumes can be used directly or as the
basic building block for mirrors.
NOTE: Sometimes a striped volume is called a stripe. Other times, stripe refers to the
component blocks of a striped concatenation. To "stripe" means to spread I/O requests
across disks by chunking parts of the disks and mapping those chunks to a virtual device (a
volume). Both striping and concatenation are classified as RAID Level 0.
The data in a striped volume is arranged across two or more slices. The striping alternates
equally-sized segments of data across two or more slices to form one logical storage unit.
These segments are interleaved round-robin, so that the combined space is made
alternately from each slice. Sort of like a shuffled deck of cards.
1. The following example creates a striped volume using 3 slices named
/dev/md/rdsk/d0 using the metainit command. Of the twelve disks available in
the D1000 Disk Array, I will be using slices c1t0d0s7, c2t0d0s7, c1t1d0s7 as
follows:
2. # metainit d0 1 3 c1t0d0s7 c2t0d0s7 c1t1d0s7 -i 32k
d0: Concat/Stripe is setup
3. Use the metastat command to query your new volume:
4. # metastat d0
5. d0: Concat/Stripe
6. Size: 52999569 blocks (25 GB)
7. Stripe 0: (interlace: 64 blocks)
8. Device Start Block Dbase Reloc
9. c1t0d0s7 10773 Yes Yes
10. c2t0d0s7 10773 Yes Yes
11. c1t1d0s7 10773 Yes Yes
12.
13.Device Relocation Information:
14.Device Reloc Device ID
15.c1t0d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJR76697000019460DB4
16.c2t0d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLV00222700001005J6Q7
c1t1d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJR58209000019461YK2
Let's explain the details of the above example. First notice that the new striped
volume, d0, consists of a single stripe (Stripe 0) made of three slices (c1t0d0s7,
c2t0d0s7, c1t1d0s7). The -i option sets the interlace to 32KB. (The interlace
cannot be less than 8KB, nor greater than 100MB.) If interlace were not specified
on the command line, the striped volume would use the default of 16KB. When
using the metastat command to verify our volume, we can see from all disks
belonging to Stripe 0, that this is a stripped volume. Also, that the interlace is 32k
(512 * 64 blocks) as we defined it. The total size of the stripe is 27,135,779,328
bytes (512 * 52999569 blocks).
17. Now that we have created our simple volume (a RAID 0 stripe), we can now
pretend that the volume is a big partition (slice) on which we can do the usual file
system things. Let's now create a UFS file system using the newfs command. I
want to create a UFS file system with an 8KB block size:
18.# newfs -i 8192 /dev/md/rdsk/d0
19.newfs: /dev/md/rdsk/d0 last mounted as /db0
20.newfs: construct a new file system /dev/md/rdsk/d0: (y/n)? y
21.Warning: 1 sector(s) in last cylinder unallocated
22./dev/md/rdsk/d0: 52999568 sectors in 14759 cylinders of 27
tracks, 133 sectors
23. 25878.7MB in 923 cyl groups (16 c/g, 28.05MB/g, 3392 i/g)
24.super-block backups (for fsck -F ufs -o b=#) at:
25. 32, 57632, 115232, 172832, 230432, 288032, 345632, 403232,
460832, 518432,
26.Initializing cylinder groups:
27...................
28.super-block backups for last 10 cylinder groups at:
29. 52459808, 52517408, 52575008, 52632608, 52690208, 52747808,
52805408,
52863008, 52920608, 52978208,
30. Finally, we mount the file system on /db0 as follows:
31.# mkdir /db0
# mount -F ufs /dev/md/dsk/d0 /db0
32. To ensure that this new file system is mounted each time the machine is started,
insert the following line into you /etc/vfstab file (all on one line with tabs
separating the fields):
/dev/md/dsk/d0 /dev/md/rdsk/d0 /db0 ufs 2
yes -
Creating a Concatenation - (RAID 0)
The method used for creating a Concatenated Volume is very similar to that used in
creating a Striped Volume - both use the metainit command (obviously using different
options) and the same method for creating and mounting a UFS file system for.
A Solaris 9 Volume Manager Concatenated Volume (often called just a Concatenation) is
one of three types of simple volumes.
· Striped Volumes - (or stripes)
· Concatenated Volumes - (or concatenations)
· Concatenated Striped Volumes - (or contatenated stripes)
These components are made from slices. Simple volumes can be used directly or as the
basic building block for mirrors.
The data for a concatenated volume is organized serially and adjacently across disk
slices, forming one logical storage unit. Many system administrators use a concatenated
volume to get more storage capacity by logically combining the capacities of several
slices. It is possible to add more slices to the concatenated volume as the demand for
storage grows. A concatenated volume enables you to dynamically expand storage
capacity and file system sizes online! With a concatenated volume you can add slices
even if the other slices are currently active.
NOTE: You can also create a concatenated volume from a single slice. You could, for
example, create a single-slice concatenated volume. Later, when you need more storage,
you can add more slices to the concatenated volume.
1. The following example creates a concatenated volume using 3 slices named
/dev/md/rdsk/d1 using the metainit command. Of the twelve disks available in
the D1000 Disk Array, I will be using slices c2t1d0s7, c1t2d0s7, c2t2d0s7 as
follows:
2. # metainit d1 3 1 c2t1d0s7 1 c1t2d0s7 1 c2t2d0s7
d1: Concat/Stripe is setup
3. Use the metastat command to query your new (or in our example all) volumes:
4. # metastat
5. d1: Concat/Stripe
6. Size: 53003160 blocks (25 GB)
7. Stripe 0:
8. Device Start Block Dbase Reloc
9. c2t1d0s7 10773 Yes Yes
10. Stripe 1:
11. Device Start Block Dbase Reloc
12. c1t2d0s7 10773 Yes Yes
13. Stripe 2:
14. Device Start Block Dbase Reloc
15. c2t2d0s7 10773 Yes Yes
16.
17.d0: Concat/Stripe
18. Size: 52999569 blocks (25 GB)
19. Stripe 0: (interlace: 64 blocks)
20. Device Start Block Dbase Reloc
21. c1t0d0s7 10773 Yes Yes
22. c2t0d0s7 10773 Yes Yes
23. c1t1d0s7 10773 Yes Yes
24.
25.Device Relocation Information:
26.Device Reloc Device ID
27.c2t1d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJP46564000019451VGF
28.c1t2d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJU8183300002007J3Z2
29.c2t2d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJM7285500001943H5XD
30.c1t0d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJR76697000019460DB4
31.c2t0d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLV00222700001005J6Q7
c1t1d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJR58209000019461YK2
Let's explain the details of the above example. First notice that the new
concatenated volume, d1, consists of three stripes (Stripe 0, Stripe 1, Stripe 2,)
each made from a single slice (c2t1d0s7, c1t2d0s7, c2t2d0s7 respectively). When
using the metastat command to verify our volumes, we can see this is a
concatenation from the fact of having multiple Stripes. The total size of the
concatenation is 27,137,617,920 bytes (512 * 53003160 blocks).
32. Now that we have created our simple volume (a concatenation), we can now
pretend that the volume is a big partition (concatenation) on which we can do the
usual file system things. Let's now create a UFS file system using the newfs
command. I want to create a UFS file system with an 8KB block size:
33.# newfs -i 8192 /dev/md/rdsk/d1
34.newfs: construct a new file system /dev/md/rdsk/d1: (y/n)? y
35./dev/md/rdsk/d1: 53003160 sectors in 14760 cylinders of 27
tracks, 133 sectors
36. 25880.4MB in 923 cyl groups (16 c/g, 28.05MB/g, 3392 i/g)
37.super-block backups (for fsck -F ufs -o b=#) at:
38. 32, 57632, 115232, 172832, 230432, 288032, 345632, 403232,
460832, 518432,
39.Initializing cylinder groups:
40...................
41.super-block backups for last 10 cylinder groups at:
42. 52459808, 52517408, 52575008, 52632608, 52690208, 52747808,
52805408,
52863008, 52920608, 52978208,
43. Finally, we mount the file system on /db1 as follows:
44.# mkdir /db1
# mount -F ufs /dev/md/dsk/d1 /db1
45. To ensure that this new file system is mounted each time the machine is started,
insert the following line into you /etc/vfstab file (all on one line with tabs
separating the fields):
/dev/md/dsk/d1 /dev/md/rdsk/d1 /db1 ufs 2
yes -
Creating Mirrors - (RAID 1)
A mirror is a volume just like any other volume (stripe, concatenation) and is made of
one or more submirrors. A submirror is made of one or more striped or concatenated
volumes. Mirroring data provides you with maximum data availability by maintaining
multiple copies of your data (also called RAID 1). RAID 0 does, however, require an
investment in disks. To setup RAID 0, you will need at least twice as much disk space as
the amount of data you will have to mirror. Keep in mind also, that since Solaris Volume
Manager must write to all submirrors, the process of mirroring can also increase the
amount of time it takes for write requests to be written to disk.
Before creating a mirror, create the striped or concatenated volumes that will make up the
mirror.
Any file system including root (/), swap, and /usr, or any application such as a database,
can use a mirror. Basically, you can mirror any file system, including existing file
systems. You can also mirror large applications, such as the data files for a database.
When creating a mirror, first create a one-way mirror, then attach a second submirror.
This starts a resync operation and ensures that data is not corrupted.
To mirror an existing file system, use an additional slice of equal or greater size than the
slice already used by the mirror. You can use a concatenated volume or striped volume of
two or more slices that have adequate space to contain the mirror.
You can create a one-way mirror for a future two- or three-way mirror.
You can create up to a three-way mirror. However, two-way mirrors usually provide
sufficient data redundancy for most applications, and are less expensive in terms of disk
drive costs. A three-way mirror enables you to take a submirror offline and perform a
backup while maintaining a two-way mirror for continued data redundancy. While any
submirror is offline, all reading and writing to the submirror is stopped. This enables
system administrators to take backups of other system administration responsibilities.
Remember, the submirror is in a read-only state. While the submirror is offline, Solaris
Volume Manager is keeping track of all writes to the mirror. When the submirror is
brought back online, only portions of the mirror that were written while the submirror
was offline are resynchronized.
Use the same size slices when creating submirrors. Using different size slices creates
unused space in the mirror.
Avoid having slices of submirrors on the same disk. Also, when possible, use disks
attached to different controllers to avoid single points-of-failure. For maximum
protection and performance, place each submirror on a different physical disk and, when
possible, on different disk controllers. For further data availability, use hot spares with
mirrors.
In some cases, mirroring can improve read performance. Write performance, however,
will always degrade. If an application is multi-threaded or can take advantage of
asynchronous I/O, you will see performance gains. If an application is only singlethreaded
reading from the volume, you will see no performance gains.
Adding additional state database replicas before creating a mirror can increase the
mirror's performance. As a general rule, add one additional replica for each mirror you
add to the system.
If possible create mirrors from disks consisting of the same disk geometries. The
historical reason is that UFS uses disk blocks based on disk geometries. Today, the issue
is centered around performance: a mirror composed of disks with different geometries
will only be as fast as its slowest disk.
This section will contain the following five examples for creating different types of twoway
mirrors:
1. Create a Mirror From Unused Slices
2. Create a Mirror From a File System That Can Be Unmounted
3. Create a Mirror From a File System That Cannot Be Unmounted
4. Create a Mirror From swap
5. Create a Mirror From root (/)
To perform the above mirror examples, I will be using the two disks: c1t3d0 and c2t3d0.
After creating each two-way mirror example, I will be deleting the newly created mirror
to get ready for the next example.
Create a Mirror From Unused Slices
1. Use the metainit command to create two volumes - each new concatenation
volume (d21 and d22) consists of a single slice (c1t3d0s7 and c2t3d0s7)
respectively:
2. # metainit d21 1 1 c1t3d0s7
3. d21: Concat/Stripe is setup
4.
5. # metainit d22 1 1 c2t3d0s7
d22: Concat/Stripe is setup
6. Using the metainit -m command to create a one-way mirror (named d20) from one
of the submirrors.
7. # metainit d20 -m d21
d20: Mirror is setup
8. Finally, use the metattach command to create the two-way mirror (named d20)
from the second submirror (d22).
9. # metattach d20 d22
d20: submirror d22 is attached
We now have a two-way mirror, d20. The metainit command was first used to
create the two submirrors (d21 and d22), which are actually concatenations. The
metainit -m command was then used to create a one-way mirror from the d21
concatenation. We then used the metattach command to attach d22, creating a
two-way mirror and causing a mirror resync. (Any data on the attached
submirror is overwritten by the other submirror during the resync.) The system
verifies that the objects are set up.
10. Use the metastat command to query your new volume:
11.# metastat d20
12.d20: Mirror
13. Submirror 0: d21
14. State: Okay
15. Submirror 1: d22
16. State: Resyncing
17. Resync in progress: 26 % done
18. Pass: 1
19. Read option: roundrobin (default)
20. Write option: parallel (default)
21. Size: 17667720 blocks (8.4 GB)
22.
23.d21: Submirror of d20
24. State: Okay
25. Size: 17667720 blocks (8.4 GB)
26. Stripe 0:
27. Device Start Block Dbase State Reloc Hot Spare
28. c1t3d0s7 10773 Yes Okay Yes
29.
30.
31.d22: Submirror of d20
32. State: Resyncing
33. Size: 17667720 blocks (8.4 GB)
34. Stripe 0:
35. Device Start Block Dbase State Reloc Hot Spare
36. c2t3d0s7 10773 Yes Okay Yes
37.
38.
39.Device Relocation Information:
40.Device Reloc Device ID
41.c1t3d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJV45682000029500HYF
c2t3d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJE46028000019291ARS
Let's explain the details of the above example. First notice that the new mirror
volume, d20, consists of two submirrors, (d21 and d22) each made from a single
slice (c1t3d0s7, c2t3d0s7 respectively). When using the metastat command to
verify our volumes, we can see this is a mirror. The total size of the mirror is
9,045,872,640 bytes (512 * 17667720 blocks).
42. Now that we have created our simple volume (a mirror), and the mirror resync is
complete, we can now pretend that the volume is just a regular partition (slice) on
which we can do the usual file system things. Let's now create a UFS file system
using the newfs command. I want to create a UFS file system with an 8KB block
size:
43.# newfs -i 8192 /dev/md/rdsk/d20
44.newfs: construct a new file system /dev/md/rdsk/d20: (y/n)? y
45./dev/md/rdsk/d20: 17667720 sectors in 4920 cylinders of 27
tracks, 133 sectors
46. 8626.8MB in 308 cyl groups (16 c/g, 28.05MB/g, 3392 i/g)
47.super-block backups (for fsck -F ufs -o b=#) at:
48. 32, 57632, 115232, 172832, 230432, 288032, 345632, 403232,
460832, 518432,
49. 17123360, 17180960, 17238560, 17296160, 17353760, 17411360,
17468960,
17526560, 17584160, 17641760,
50. Finally, we mount the file system on /db20 as follows:
51.# mkdir /db20
# mount -F ufs /dev/md/dsk/d20 /db20
52. To ensure that this new file system is mounted each time the machine is started,
insert the following line into you /etc/vfstab file (all on one line with tabs
separating the fields):
/dev/md/dsk/d20 /dev/md/rdsk/d20 /db20 ufs 2
yes -
53. The volume, /db20 is now ready for use!
Create a Mirror From a File System That Can Be Unmounted
1. The procedures document in this section can be used to mirror a file system that
can be unmounted during normal operation. While most file systems can be
unmounted during normal operation, there are some which cannot be unmounted
like root /, /usr, /opt or swap. Procedures for mirroring those file systems which
cannot be unmounted during normal operation are documented in the next section.
2. First, identify the slice that contains the file system to me mirrored. For this
example, I will be using /dev/dsk/c1t3d0s7 that contains an existing file system
that I want to have mirrored. This is a file system that can be unmounted.
The slice /dev/dsk/c1t3d0s7 contains an 8K UFS file system and is mounted on
/db20.
3. Use the metainit -f to put the mounted file system's slice in a single slice (oneway)
concat/stripe. (This will be submirror1) The following command creates one
stripe that contains one slice. The new volume will be named d21:
4. # metainit -f d21 1 1 c1t3d0s7
d21: Concat/Stripe is setup
5. Create a second concat/stripe. (This will be submirror2)
6. # metainit d22 1 1 c2t3d0s7
d22: Concat/Stripe is setup
7. Use the metainit -m command to create a one-way mirror with submirror1.
8. # metainit d20 -m d21
d20: Mirror is setup
9. Unmount the file system
# umount /db20
10. Edit the /etc/vfstab file so that the existing file system entry now refers to the
newly created mirror. In the following example snippet, I commented out the
original entry for the c1t3d0s7 slice and added a new entry that refers to the
newly created mirrored volume (d20) to be mounted to /db20:
11.# /dev/dsk/c1t3d0s7 /dev/rdsk/c1t3d0s7 /db20 ufs 2
yes -
/dev/md/dsk/d20 /dev/md/rdsk/d20 /db20 ufs 2
yes -
12. Remount the file system:
# mount /db20
13. Use the metattach command to attach submirror2
14.# metattach d20 d22
d20: submirror d22 is attached
15. After attaching d22 (submirror2), this triggers a mirror resync. Use the metastat
command to view the progress of the mirror resync:
16.# metastat d20
17.d20: Mirror
18. Submirror 0: d21
19. State: Okay
20. Submirror 1: d22
21. State: Resyncing
22. Resync in progress: 15 % done
23. Pass: 1
24. Read option: roundrobin (default)
25. Write option: parallel (default)
26. Size: 17470215 blocks
27.
28.d21: Submirror of d20
29. State: Okay
30. Size: 17470215 blocks
31. Stripe 0:
32. Device Start Block Dbase State Hot
Spare
33. c1t3d0s7 3591 Yes Okay
34.
35.
36.d22: Submirror of d20
37. State: Resyncing
38. Size: 17470215 blocks
39. Stripe 0:
40. Device Start Block Dbase State Hot
Spare
c2t3d0s7 3591 Yes Okay
41. From the above example, we didn't create a multi-way mirror right away. Rather,
we created a one-way mirror with the metainit command then attach the
additional submirrors with the metattach command. When the metattach
command is not used, no resync operations occur and data could become
corrupted. Also, do not create a two-mirror for a file system without first
unmounting the file system , editing the /etc/vfstab file to reference the
mirrored volume, and then mount the file system to the new mirrored volume
before attaching the second submirror.
Create a Mirror From a File System That Cannot Be Unmounted
1. The procedures in this section can be used to mirror file systems, such as /usr
and /opt - those that cannot be unmounted during normal system usage.
2. First, identify the slice that contains the file system to me mirrored. For this
example, I will be using the /usr file system which is located on c0t0d0s6 that I
want to have mirrored. This is a file system that cannot be unmounted.
The slice /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s6 contains an 8K UFS file system and is mounted on
/usr. This will be made into submirror1 (d21) using the metainit command. For
submirror2 (to make our two-way mirror) I will be using /dev/dsk/c2t3d0s7.
3. Use the metainit -f to put the mounted file system's slice in a single slice (oneway)
concat/stripe. (This will be submirror1) The following command creates one
stripe that contains one slice. The new volume will be named d21:
4. # metainit -f d21 1 1 c0t0d0s6
d21: Concat/Stripe is setup
5. Create a second concat/stripe. (This will be submirror2)
6. # metainit d22 1 1 c2t3d0s7
d22: Concat/Stripe is setup
7. Use the metainit -m command to create a one-way mirror with submirror1.
8. # metainit d20 -m d21
d20: Mirror is setup
9. Edit the /etc/vfstab file so that the file system (/usr) now refers to the newly
created mirror. In the example snippet, I commented out the original entry for the
c0t0d0s6 slice and added a new entry that refers to the newly created mirror to be
mounted to /usr:
10.# /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s6 /dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s6 /usr ufs 1
no -
/dev/md/dsk/d20 /dev/md/rdsk/d20 /usr ufs 1
no -
11. Reboot the system
# reboot
12. Use the metattach command to attach submirror2
13.# metattach d20 d22
d20: submirror d22 is attached
14. After attaching d22 (submirror2), this triggers a mirror resync. Use the metastat
command to view the progress of the mirror resync:
15.# metastat d20
16.d20: Mirror
17. Submirror 0: d21
18. State: Okay
19. Submirror 1: d22
20. State: Resyncing
21. Resync in progress: 8 % done
22. Pass: 1
23. Read option: roundrobin (default)
24. Write option: parallel (default)
25. Size: 16781040 blocks
26.
27.d21: Submirror of d20
28. State: Okay
29. Size: 16781040 blocks
30. Stripe 0:
31. Device Start Block Dbase State Hot
Spare
32. c0t0d0s6 0 No Okay
33.
34.
35.d22: Submirror of d20
36. State: Resyncing
37. Size: 17470215 blocks
38. Stripe 0:
39. Device Start Block Dbase State Hot
Spare
c2t3d0s7 3591 Yes Okay
40. From the above example, we didn't create a multi-way mirror right away for the
/usr file system. Rather, we created a one-way mirror with the metainit command
then attach the additional submirrors with the metattach command (after
rebooting the server). When the metattach command is not used, no resync
operations occur and data could become corrupted. Also, do not create a twomirror
for a file system without first editing the /etc/vfstab file to reference the
mirror volume and then rebooting the server before attaching the second
submirror.
Create a Mirror From swap
1. The procedures in this section of the documentation can be used to mirror the
swap file system. The swap file system, like /usr and /opt, cannot be unmounted
during normal system usage.
2. First, identify the slice that contains the swap file system to me mirrored. For this
example, the swap file system it is located on c0t0d0s3 that I want to have
mirrored. This is a file system that cannot be unmounted.
The slice /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3 contains the swap file system. This will be made
into submirror1 (d21) using the metainit command. For submirror2 (to make our
two-way mirror) I will be using /dev/dsk/c2t3d0s7.
3. Use the metainit -f to put the mounted file system (swap) in a single slice (oneway)
concat/stripe. (This will be submirror1) The following command creates one
stripe that contains one slice. The new volume will be named d21:
4. # metainit -f d21 1 1 c0t0d0s3
d21: Concat/Stripe is setup
5. Create a second concat/stripe. (This will be submirror2)
6. # metainit d22 1 1 c2t3d0s7
d22: Concat/Stripe is setup
7. Use the metainit -m command to create a one-way mirror with submirror1.
8. # metainit d20 -m d21
d20: Mirror is setup
9. Edit the /etc/vfstab file so that the swap file system now refers to the newly
created mirror. In the example snippet, I commented out the original swap entry
for the c0t0d0s3 slice and added a new entry that refers to the newly created
mirror:
10.# /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3 - - swap - no -
/dev/md/dsk/d20 - - swap - no -
11. Reboot the system
# reboot
12. Use the metattach command to attach submirror2
13.# metattach d20 d22
d20: submirror d22 is attached
14. After attaching d22 (submirror2), this triggers a mirror resync. Use the metastat
command to view the progress of the mirror resync:
15.# metastat d20
16.d20: Mirror
17. Submirror 0: d21
18. State: Okay
19. Submirror 1: d22
20. State: Resyncing
21. Resync in progress: 32 % done
22. Pass: 1
23. Read option: roundrobin (default)
24. Write option: parallel (default)
25. Size: 2101200 blocks
26.
27.d21: Submirror of d20
28. State: Okay
29. Size: 2101200 blocks
30. Stripe 0:
31. Device Start Block Dbase State Hot
Spare
32. c0t0d0s3 0 No Okay
33.
34.
35.d22: Submirror of d20
36. State: Resyncing
37. Size: 17470215 blocks
38. Stripe 0:
39. Device Start Block Dbase State Hot
Spare
c2t3d0s7 3591 Yes Okay
40. Verify that the swap file system is mounted on the d20 volume:
41.# swap -l
42.swapfile dev swaplo blocks free
/dev/md/dsk/d20 85,20 16 2101184 2101184
43. From the above example, we didn't create a multi-way mirror right away for the
swap file system. Rather, we created a one-way mirror with the metainit
command then attach the additional submirrors with the metattach command
(after rebooting the server). When the metattach command is not used, no resync
operations occur and data could become corrupted. Also, do not create a twomirror
for a file system without first editing the /etc/vfstab file to reference the
mirror volume and then rebooting the server before attaching the second
submirror.
Create a Mirror From root ( / )
1. Use the following procedures to mirror the root (/) file system on a SPARC
system.
NOTE: The task for using the command-line to mirror root (/) on an x86 system is
different from the task used for a SPARC system.
When mirroring root (/), it is essential that you record the secondary root slice name to
reboot the system if the primary submirror fails. This information should be written down,
not recorded on the system, which may not be available in the event of a disk failure.
2. Use the metainit -f to put the root (/) slice in a single slice (one-way) concat.
(submirror1). (This will be submirror1)
The following command creates one stripe that contains one slice. The new
volume will be named d21:
# metainit -f d21 1 1 c0t0d0s0
d21: Concat/Stripe is setup
3. Create a second concat/stripe. (This will be submirror2)
4. # metainit d22 1 1 c0t2d0s0
d22: Concat/Stripe is setup
5. Use the metainit -m command to create a one-way mirror with submirror1.
6. # metainit d20 -m d21
d20: Mirror is setup
7. Run the metaroot command. This will update both the /etc/vfstab and
/etc/system files to reflect the new rootslice the system will boot from:
# metaroot d20
8. Run the lockfs command:
# lockfs -fa
9. Reboot the system
# reboot
10. Use the metattach command to attach submirror2
11.# metattach d20 d22
d20: submirror d22 is attached
12. Record/document the alternate boot path in the case of failure.
13.# ls -l /dev/rdsk/c0t2d0s0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 42 Nov 12 09:35 /dev/rdsk/c0t2d0s0 ->
../../devices/pci@1f,0/ide@d/dad@2,0:a,raw
NOTE: The -f option forces the creation of the first concatenation, d21, which contains
the mounted file system root (/) on /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0. The second concatenation, d22,
is created from /dev/dsk/c0t2d0s0. (This slice must be the same size or greater than that
of d21) The metainit command with the -m option creates the one-way mirror d20 using
the concatenation containing root (/). Next, the metaroot command edits the /etc/vfstab
and /etc/system files so that the system may be booted with the root file system (/) on a
volume. (It is a good idea to run lockfs -fa before rebooting.) After a reboot, the
submirror d22 is attached to the mirror, causing a mirror resync. (The system verifies that
the concatenations and the mirror are set up, and that submirror d22 is attached.) The ls -l
command is run on the root raw device to determine the path to the alternate root device in
case the system needs to be booted from it.
Creating a RAID5 Volume - (RAID 5)
A RAID5 volume uses storage capacity equivalent to one slice in the volume to store
redundant information about user data stored on the remainder of the RAID5 volume's
slices. The redundant information is distributed across all slices in the volume. Like a
mirror, a RAID5 volume increases data availability, but with a minimum of cost in terms
of hardware.
The system must contain at least three state database replicas before you can create
RAID5 volumes.
A RAID5 volume can only handle a single slice failure.
Follow the 20-percent rule when creating a RAID5 volume: because of the complexity of
parity calculations, volumes with greater than about 20 percent writes should probably
not be RAID5 volumes. If data redundancy is needed, consider mirroring.
There are drawbacks to a slice-heavy RAID5 volume: the more slices a RAID5 volume
contains, the longer read and write operations will take if a slice fails.
A RAID5 volume must consist of at least three slices.
A RAID5 volume can be grown by concatenating additional slices to the volume. The
new slices do not store parity information, however they are parity protected. The
resulting RAID5 volume continues to handle a single slice failure.
The interlace value is key to RAID5 performance. It is configurable at the time the
volume is created; thereafter, the value cannot be modified. The default interlace value is
16 Kbytes. This is reasonable for most applications.
Use the same size disk slices. Creating a RAID5 volume from different size slices results
in unused disk space in the volume.
Do not create a RAID5 volume from a slice that contains an existing file system. Doing
so will erase the data during the RAID5 initialization process.
RAID5 volumes cannot be striped, concatenated, or mirrored.
1. The following example creates a RAID 5 volume using 3 slices that will be
named /dev/md/rdsk/d3 with the metainit command. Of the twelve disks
available in the D1000 Disk Array, I will be using slices c1t4d0s7, c2t4d0s7,
and c1t5d0s7 as follows:
2. # metainit d3 -r c1t4d0s7 c2t4d0s7 c1t5d0s7
d3: RAID is setup
Let's explain the details of the above example. The RAID5 volume d3 is created
with the -r option from three slices. Because no interlace is specified, d3 uses the
default of 16 Kbytes. The system verifies that the RAID5 volume has been set up,
and begins initializing the volume.
3. Use the metastat command to query your new RAID5 volumes. After running the
above command, the volume will go through an initialization state. This may take
several minutes to complete. When using the metastat command, you will be able
to view how far of the initialization is completed. You must wait for the
initialization to finish before you can use the new RAID5 volume. The following
screenshot shows the RAID5 volume during its initialization phase:
4. # metastat d3
5. d3: RAID
6. State: Initializing
7. Initialization in progress: 32.0% done
8. Interlace: 32 blocks
9. Size: 35331849 blocks (16 GB)
10.Original device:
11. Size: 35334720 blocks (16 GB)
12.
Spare
13. c1t4d0s7 11103 Yes Initializing Yes
14. c2t4d0s7 11103 Yes Initializing Yes
15. c1t5d0s7 11103 Yes Initializing Yes
16.
17.Device Relocation Information:
18.Device Reloc Device ID
19.c1t4d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJP248260000194511NU
20.c2t4d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJP1841500002945H5FE
c1t5d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJE34597000029290C8N
When the disks within the RAID5 volume are completed with their initialization
phase, this is what it will look like:
# metastat d3
d3: RAID
State: Okay
Interlace: 32 blocks
Size: 35331849 blocks (16 GB)
Original device:
Size: 35334720 blocks (16 GB)
Device Start Block Dbase State Reloc Hot
Spare
c1t4d0s7 11103 Yes Okay Yes
c2t4d0s7 11103 Yes Okay Yes
c1t5d0s7 11103 Yes Okay Yes
Device Relocation Information:
Device Reloc Device ID
c1t4d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJP248260000194511NU
c2t4d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJP1841500002945H5FE
c1t5d0 Yes
id1,sd@SSEAGATE_ST39102LCSUN9.0GLJE34597000029290C8N
21. Now that we have created our RAID5 volume, we can now pretend that the
volume is a big partition (slice) on which we can do the usual file system things.
Let's now create a UFS file system using the newfs command. I want to create a
UFS file system with an 8KB block size:
22.# newfs -i 8192 /dev/md/rdsk/d3
23.newfs: construct a new file system /dev/md/rdsk/d3: (y/n)? y
24.Warning: 1 sector(s) in last cylinder unallocated
25./dev/md/rdsk/d3: 35331848 sectors in 9839 cylinders of 27
tracks, 133 sectors
26. 17251.9MB in 615 cyl groups (16 c/g, 28.05MB/g, 3392 i/g)
27.super-block backups (for fsck -F ufs -o b=#) at:
28. 32, 57632, 115232, 172832, 230432, 288032, 345632, 403232,
460832, 518432,
29.Initializing cylinder groups:
30.............
31.super-block backups for last 10 cylinder groups at:
32. 34765088, 34822688, 34880288, 34933280, 34990880, 35048480,
35106080,
35163680, 35221280, 35278880,
33. Finally, we mount the file system on /db3 as follows:
34.# mkdir /db3
# mount -F ufs /dev/md/dsk/d3 /db3
35. To ensure that this new file system is mounted each time the machine is started,
insert the following line into you /etc/vfstab file (all on one line with tabs
separating the fields):
/dev/md/dsk/d3 /dev/md/rdsk/d3 /db3 ufs 2
yes -
Pa
ge: # format
Searching for disks...done
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
0. c0t0d0
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0
1. c0t1d0
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@1,0
2. c0t2d0
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@2,0
3. c0t3d0
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@3,0
Specify disk (enter its number): 1
selecting c0t1d0
[disk formatted]
FORMAT MENU:
disk - select a disk
type - select (define) a disk type
partition - select (define) a partition table
current - describe the current disk
format - format and analyze the disk
repair - repair a defective sector
label - write label to the disk
analyze - surface analysis
defect - defect list management
backup - search for backup labels
verify - read and display labels
save - save new disk/partition definitions
inquiry - show vendor, product and revision
volname - set 8-character volume name
!
quit
format> partition
PARTITION MENU:
0 - change `0' partition
1 - change `1' partition
2 - change `2' partition
3 - change `3' partition
4 - change `4' partition
5 - change `5' partition
6 - change `6' partition
7 - change `7' partition
select - select a predefined table
modify - modify a predefined partition table
name - name the current table
print - display the current table
label - write partition map and label to the disk
!
quit
partition> print
Current partition table (original):
Total disk cylinders available: 4924 + 2 (reserved cylinders)
Part Tag Flag Cylinders Size Blocks
0 root wm 0 - 667 1.14GB (668/0/0) 2398788
1 unassigned wm 668 - 782 201.64MB (115/0/0) 412965
2 backup wu 0 - 4923 8.43GB (4924/0/0) 17682084
3 unassigned wm 783 - 981 348.93MB (199/0/0) 714609
4 unassigned wm 982 - 2266 2.20GB (1285/0/0) 4614435
5 unassigned wm 2267 - 3435 2.00GB (1169/0/0) 4197879
6 unassigned wm 3436 - 4136 1.20GB (701/0/0) 2517291
7 unassigned wm 4137 - 4837 1.20GB (701/0/0) 2517291
partition>
Electronic Mail (E-Mail) is a way of sending messages electronically using computers. It is the cheapest and most efficient method of modern communication.
The messages you send through E - Mail are converted to electronic signals and are thereby able to travel great distances in a short space of time.
It can take seconds to send E - Mails half way across the world and is much cheaper than a long distance phone call.
Advantages of E - Mail.
High speed: one of the greatest things about E - Mail is that you can send messages and files to anyone worldwide almost instantly.
Low cost: the cost of sending information by E - Mail is a fraction of that involved when using the traditional mail system, especially when E - Mailing to a different country.
Worldwide portability: once you have an E - Mail setup, you should be able to access your E - Mail from anywhere where there is an Internet connection
Time zone friendly: If you live in Zimbabwe and phone someone in America at around 9 am, you would either get no reply (because the office might be closed for the night), or you will be walking them in the middle of the night. The great thing about E - Mail is that you can send it anytime you want and the recipient will read the mail when they want without inconveniencing anyone.
Disadvantages of E - Mail
Spam: there are companies that sell lists of E - Mail addresses by the million. If you are a regular Internet user, then the chances are that the providers of these lists will pick up your E - Mail address and sell it. As more and more companies will buy in these lists, you will receive Spam mail offering a range of bizarre merchandise.
Small E - Mailbox size: if you are using free E - Mail service such as Yahoo mail account, you will be given only a small free mailbox.
Viruses: there is a risk of E - Mail attachments carrying viruses that might be harmful to your computer.
Addresses
For one to send or receive an E - Mail, you should have an E - Mail address of your self and that of the expectant recipient.
An E - Mail address has an @ in the middle to indicate that it is an E - Mail address not an Internet address.
E.g.: sales@sutherlandcomputers.co.zw
Name/department company name country
If E - Mail is sent to an E - Mail that does not exist, it is sent back
Or
Username hostname
MICROSOFT OUTLOOK 2003
Microsoft Outlook 2003 is an E - Mail program that will manage the messages that are sent to you and that you sent to others. It has an excellent filling system that allows you to organize your messages into suitable folders.
Microsoft Outlook 2003 allows you to sort the mail that you receive and send into suitable areas for easy access. Just as you would sort the information on your desk into suitable areas as filling cabinets, folders, drawers etc, you can also sort the information from E - Mail in the same way.
Microsoft Outlook 2003 can also be used as a time-tracking tool with calendar, contents and tasks.
Microsoft Outlook 2003 will run on various operating systems including Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 2003.
Email can be sent in HTML, Rich Text or Plain text formats. Depending on size, files from most outside applications can be attached to an email.
All messages that are sent or received are stamped with the date and time that they were sent.
Opening MS OUTLOOK 2003
· Click START button from the task bar
· Go to Programs, and click on Microsoft Outlook
MS OUTLOOK 2003 SCREEN
Navigation Pane Folder Pane Reading Pane
Title bar: the title bar displays folder name and application name. It also displays three property buttons (i.e. minimize, restore and close button)
Menu bar: the menu bar activates different commands. From the pull down menu, you select the command to use. It also includes an Ask a Question field where questions can be typed directly
Toolbars: toolbars are shortcuts to the menu bar and are in the form of icons.
Select or deselect a toolbar:
· Click on View, then Toolbars
· Select or deselect a toolbar
Main parts of the screen:
The main part of the screen is divided into three parts.
Navigation Pane
Folder Pane
Reading Pane
Navigation pane: The Navigation Pane holds the Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, Folder list, Shortcuts and Journal icons
The middle part displays the Folder Pane.
The right section displays the Reading Pane within folders.
The Outlook 2003 shortcuts
This group contains folders that are specific to Outlook 2003’s personal information management functions, including folders for your schedule and a list of important contacts:
Outlook today: Provides an overview of your day e.g. how many messages are in the Inbox, Outbox and Drafts
Inbox: stores the E - Mail messages that you receive
Calendar: keeps the information and displays the appointment information
Contacts: contains a list of all current contacts
Tasks: displays to do list
Journal: store information that has been recorded in a timeline format
Notes: allow you to make “post it” notes to yourself
Deleted items: temporarily stores items that you delete until you permanently delete them.
Creating a new folder
· Click on file, new and click on folder
· Type folder name in the name box.
· Select what the folder will contain.
· Select the main folder for the new folder.
· Click on OK.
Remove a folder
· Right click on the folder.
· Click on Delete and select Yes.
·
Setting Message Formats
The three formats that are typically used within an Outlook email are:
HTML
Rich Text
Plain Text
The default setting for Microsoft Outlook 2003 is HTML
HTML – Enables you to create formatted pages containing pictures, animated graphics, horizontal lines or multimedia files. A background design can also be set for the messages.
Rich Text – Enables you to set font, font size, font colors and format paragraphs. Objects and pictures can be embedded in the text.
PLAIN TEXT – Allows you to send basic emails with unformatted text in the body of the email.
Setting the Mail format:
· Click Tools, Options to open the Options dialogue box,
· Click Mail Format tab:
The Compose in this message format drop down field allows you to set how all messages will be formatted.
A message is created using a blank form, which has the fields To, CC, Bcc, and Subject. You cannot send a message if there is no address.
· Click on File, New, Mail message
OR
· Click on the new mail message icon.
Addressing a message
An E - Mail address contains the address of the recipient of the E - Mail. You can type in the address or pick one from the address book.
To: this is where the addresses of the main recipients are entered
Cc: enter the name of the address to receive a copy
Bcc: names of those on the Bcc line will not be known to those on To or Cc.
Pick from address book.
Click on either To, Cc or Bcc and pick the recipients addresses and click where to place the address.
Creating a subject
In the Subject field you type a relevant subject for the message. It is very useful to have a subject as the receiver can see a glimpse of what the mail contains. It is regarded as a bad E - Mail etiquette not to include a subject.A good subject allows you to see at a glance whether the E - Mail contains important mail or not.
Entering the message
Click on the message area and start typing in your E - Mail.
Working with text in the message:
Selection keys
Before you apply any formats, you must select the area to format.
Text: double click on the text
Lines: place cursor on the left margin until the arrow points to the right and then click
Paragraphs: triple click inside the paragraph
Whole document: press Ctrl + A
Formatting
Select text first
Use the formatting toolbar to select a format.
Using this bar, you can change font, font size, bold, italise, underline, change alignment etc
Copying and Moving text
Text can be moved from one area to another using the Cut and Paste or Copy and Paste techniques
Select text to Copy or Cut
Click on Copy 
or Cut 
icon
Click the area to place text
Click on Paste 
icon
Spell check
It is important to check for errors in a message before sending it. All words that are assumed to be incorrect will be highlighted and if any suggestions are given. From the suggestions you can then either change or ignore
· Press F7
·
·OR
· Click Tools, then spelling
·
Spell checker options
You can the option to customize how you want to check for errors.
· Click Tools then Options.
· Click on Spelling in the dialog box.
· Select how you would like to do the spell check.
· Click on OK
·
Once you have written a message and it has an address and done your spell check, you can then send it.
· Click on File, then Send
·
OR
· Click on the Send button
·
OR
· Press Ctrl + Enter
·
Checking for new messages
You can check to see if you have any new unread messages in your Inbox
· Click tools
· Then select Send/Receive
OR
· Press F9
·
OR
Click on Send/Receive icon
Any new messages will be downloaded.
Open messages
Any unread messages will display unopened envelope to show that it has not been read.
Other message status icons
The message has not been read
The message has an attachment
The message has been read
The message has high importance
The message has been replied to
The message has low importance
The message has been flagged
The message has been forwarded
So to open, click on Inbox and double click on messages with unopened mail icon
Moving messages to other folders
· Click on the message to move (press Ctrl and click if there are more than one).
· Click on Edit then Move to new folder.
· Click on the folder where to place mail.
· Click OK
Deleting a mail message
Click on the message to delete
· Click on Delete icon
OR
· Press Delete
Restore deleted mail
You can restore deleted mail to any folder of your choice.
· Open the Deleted items folder
· Select the message you wish to recover
· Click Edit, Move to folder
Empty the Deleted Items Folder
· Open the Deleted Items folder
· Click Tools, Empty “Deleted Items” folder
· Click Yes
Empty Deleted Items Folder upon exiting Outlook
· Click Tools, Options
· Click Other
· Select Empty the Deleted Items Folder upon Exiting
.
You can send a reply to received mail
· Select message to reply to
· Click on Reply icon
The following window will be displayed
To: will display the address of the sender
Subject: will have Re: to indicate that it is a reply
Replying to all
This option will allow you to reply to all people who would have also received the same mail including the sender also
· Click the message to reply to all to.
· Click on Reply to all button
The reply to all will display the following window
To: will display all the addresses of the recipients of the same mail together with that of the sender
Subject: will have Re to indicate that it is a reply
The message area will look like this.
To reply, you could just type your reply below the areas that need immediate answers.
Setting the option not include original messages when replying
· Open the Inbox folder
· Click on Tools, then Options
· Select Preferences from the Options dialog Box
· Select E-mail Options
· On the When replying to messages, select Do not include original message
· Click OK
When messages are being created or when they appear in a list, they can be marked according to their importance. Once they are marked, they can then be sorted or referred back according to their importance.
Prioritizing messages
Prioritizing messages will mark that message with a symbol so that you can see straight away whether the message is of high, normal or low importance.
Mark a message within a list
· Right click message to mark
· Click on Options
· Select High, Normal or Low
·
The message will be marked with the following symbols:
Low importance
High importance
Normal importance will not display any icon.
Mark a message when being created.
Create your message and click on the High importance or Low Importance buttons
Flagging mail
You can flag a message to follow it up later.
Select message to flag.
· Then right click a message to flag and click on Follow up
· Click Add reminder
· Set Due date and Time
Marking mail as read or unread
· Right click mail to mark
· Then select Mark as read or Mark as unread
·
A file that has been created in another program can easily be sent to another user who may be in another location. The important thing to remember about attachments is that the recipient must have the program that the original file was created in.
To attach a file
· Click on New Message button
· 
Enter the address where you are sending the message.
· In the message section, click Inset, File or click on Insert File icon
· Choose the folder where the file is and then choose the file.
· An icon will appear displaying the file that you selected
· Click Send
Opening a file with an attachment
When you receive a file with an attachment you will notice on the Inbox listing that the file appears with a paper clip sign next to it. This indicates that there is a file attachment.
When you see a file with the paper clip, double click on the file
You will notice an icon for the attachment. Double click on the icon
You will immediately be taken into the program where the file was created and the file will be displayed on the screen.
You can view your mail in different views according to whatever field you require.
· Click View, then Arrange By
· Select a view that displays your items in a table line view
Grouping messages
Messages can be grouped according to whatever field you require
· Click View, Arrange by, Current View then Customize current View
· Click Group By
· In the Group items by, click a field to group by.
· Select Ascending or Descending for the sorting order
To display the field you are grouping items by, select the show field in view check box. To group by subgroups, select a field in the Then by box
· Click Ok
You will notice that the messages have been grouped. Those grouped will appear with a cross next to them to indicate that there are messages in that group.
Sorting
Messages can also be sorted according to their Folders.
· Click the folder to use to Sort messages
· Click View, Arrange by, Current View then Customize Current View
· Click Sort
· Select sorting Fields and their order (i.e. ascending or descending)
· Click OK then OK
The messages will be automatically sorted
Sorting on columns
Messages can be sorted in either ascending or descending order by any of the columns
· Click the column header e.g. Importance, Attachments, From, Subject, Date received etc
· A directional arrow will then appear which will indicate either Ascending or Descending order
· Mail will then be sorted accordingly
Auto signatures or Internet Mail Signatures allow you to sign at the bottom message that you are going to send. This is useful as it means that you don’t have to sign off each letter that can be monotonous and time-consuming activity.
E.g.:
Sean Moyo
Sales and Marketing Manager
Dombi Investments
10th Floor Kuuya Building, Harare
Tel: +263-4-112233
Cell: +263-11 023 091
To create:
· Click Tools, then Options
· Click Mail Format tab
· On Send in this message format, select Microsoft Outlook Rick text
· Click on Signatures, then New
· Type the name to give to the Auto signature, then click Next
· Then type the text that you would like to include in the signature
· To change the paragraph or font, highlight text and click either on Paragraph or Font
· Then select the options that you want
· Click on Finish, OK, OK, Apply then OK
Your signature will appear at the bottom of all new messages that that you are going to compose.
The address book is very useful for compiling a list of recipients that you usually send messages to. A number of address books may be set up. If you are linked on the network, the address book of all users on the same network will be displayed. You can set up your own “personal” address book for your particular recipients that you are likely to be sending messages to.
Adding an address to address book
· Click on File, then New and select Contact
Outlook will display a window like this;
· Fill in areas like full name, company, E - Mail etc
· When done, click on Save and Close or Save to add another Contact.
Deleting a Contact
There may be times that you no longer need a contact in your address list.
· Click on Contacts folder
· Click the Address to delete
· Click on delete icon
Creating an address book group
You may need o create a group that might contain the addresses of recipients that may fall within the same category e.g. a group for sales, a group for friends etc
· Click on Contacts folder
· Click the down pointing arrow on New
· Click on Distribution List
· Type the name of the group in the Group name box
· Click on Select members to pick from the Address Book
· Click on OK button
Groups will have the following icons to indicate that they are groups
Delete an E - Mail address from the group
· Open the Contacts folder
· Double click on the Group you wish to work with
· Select the person to remove and click on Remove
· Click OK
Add sender’s address to the group
· Open the message from the person you want to add to your address book
· Right click on the senders name or E - Mail address in the From header
· Select Add to Contacts
· The Contact window will open and you can enter additional information about the sender
· Click on Save and Close
Received mail can be printed
· Open the Mail to print
· Click File, Print
· Select the appropriate command from the Print dialogue box
· Click Print
Managing E - Mail is like managing any other form of correspondence
· Delete unwanted E - Mails
· Create folders with meaningful names and move E - Mails to relevant folders
· Delete outdated E - Mails
· Use E - Mail address lists to maintain an address list
Each day we hear more and more on the Internet. Most news broadcasts, magazines and social conversations make mention of this emerging resource. For most people the question still remain:
“WHAT IS IT? And “HOW CAN I USE IT”
The Internet harbors huge volumes of information and content. It connects millions of people and thousands of organizations and provides an incredible distribution channel and also represents a multitude of markets both in itself and through those that are connected to it.
The word Internet comes from two words
INTernational / NETwork
The Internet can be defined as a network of computers connected together globally for information sharing.
Who controls the Internet?
The Internet community runs itself. It is generally anarchy in that every organization that is connected to the Internet is simply responsible for its own part.
There is no governing body that commands a strict set of rules but there are sets of rules that are collectively called “NETIQUETTE” which can be interpreted as Etiquette on the Net
Before thinking about the Internet there is a need for the following items:
Computer
This is an electronic device that you will need to use to type or view your results.
Modem
The modem is needed at the point of exit or entry of data to convert your signals from analogy to digital or vice versa.
Telephone line
The telephone line is used to transmit your data across the Internet.
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
This is the host that will host all your needs on the Internet.
COMPUTER COMPUTER VIA MODEM
World Wide Web (WWW)
WWW is just a small part of the Internet as a whole. The Internet relates to all the hardware and software involved and as well as including the WWW. The Internet also includes FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL (FTP), E-Mail and newsgroups.
The WWW is basically the text and pictures that you can view using your Web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.
HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
HTTP is the language your Web browser uses to request pages and graphics from the web server. The HTTP protocol is shown at start of the web address such as http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport
Uniform resource locator (URL)
The URL is just another name for the web address. The URL consists of the name of the protocol e.g. HTTP or FTP followed by the address of the computer you want to connect to, e.g. a URL ofhttp://www.pdf995.com, which tells the HTTP to connect to pdf995 site.
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
If you need to connect to the Internet, you need to subscribe via an ISP. The ISP gives you connection to the Internet either through your telephone or via special digital high-speed lines examples include Comone, Mweb, Samara, Africaonline, Zimbabweonline etc
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
FTP is just a way of transferring data from one computer to another on the Internet. It is often used to download large files from web site. It normally works in the background after you might have selected where you want the downloaded files to be located.
Hyperlink
A hyperlink is a piece of text or graphic on a web page, that when clicked will automatically do the any of the following:
q Take you to a different part of the same page
q Take you to a different page within the website
q Take you to a page in a different site
q Enable you to download a file
q Launch an application, video or sound
The illustration below displays a fragment of a web page. The words that are underlined indicate a hyperlink. By default these words are normally underlined in blue.
Web site
A Web site is simply data that is stored on WWW server and which can be freely accessed by people “surfing the net”.
If you want to visit a web site you must have the address of the site. You then type in the address in URL bar.
You can also use a search engine to search for a web site that you might want to visit.
Web browser
A web browser is the program that you use to display web sites. These include Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.
Search engine
q A search engine holds information about web sites throughout the Internet. It only has information that has been reported to it.
Cookies
The WWW is built on a very simple, but powerful premise. All material on the Web is formatted in a general, uniform format called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), and all information requests and responses conform to a similarly standard protocol. When someone accesses a server on the Web, such as the Library of Congress, the user's Web browser will send an information request to the Library of Congress' computer. This computer is called a Web server. The Web server will respond to the request by transmitting the desired information to the user's computer. There, the user's browser will display the received information on the user's screen.
Cookies are pieces of information generated by a Web server and stored in the user's computer, ready for future access. Cookies are embedded in the HTML information flowing back and forth between the user's computer and the servers. Cookies were implemented to allow user-side customization of Web information. For example, cookies are used to personalize Web search engines, to allow users to participate in WWW-wide contests (but only once!), and to store shopping lists of items a user has selected while browsing through a virtual shopping mall.
Essentially, cookies make use of user-specific information transmitted by the Web server onto the user's computer so that the information might be available for later access by itself or other servers. In most cases, not only does the storage of personal information into a cookie go unnoticed, so does access to it. Web servers automatically gain access to relevant cookies whenever the user establishes a connection to them, usually in the form of Web requests.
Cookies are based on a two-stage process. First the cookie is stored in the user's computer without their consent or knowledge. For example, with customizable Web search engines like My Yahoo! A user selects categories of interest from the Web page. The Web server then creates a specific cookie, which is essentially a tagged string of text containing the user's preferences, and it transmits this cookie to the user's computer. The user's Web browser, if cookie-savvy, receives the cookie and stores it in a special file called a cookie list. This happens without any notification or user consent. As a result, personal information (in this case the user's category preferences) is formatted by the Web server, transmitted, and saved by the user's computer.
During the second stage, the cookie is clandestinely and automatically transferred from the user's machine to a Web server. Whenever a user directs her Web browser to display a certain Web page from the server, the browser will, without the user's knowledge, transmit the cookie containing personal information to the Web server.
Internet Cache
Each time you display a web site within your Web browser, a copy of the information is saved on your hard disk. The reason for this is that the next time you want to re-visit the site, the information is quickly loaded from the hard disk rather than slowly from the Internet site.
Protected sites
A protected site a site that only allows restricted access. In many cases, that is via passwords. If you can’t provide for the correct password, you are not allowed to view the site contents.
The following illustration shows that you can’t access Yahoo mail if you can’t provide a password to their mail server.
Digital certificate
A digital certificate is used to encrypt information for secure transition across the Internet. A digital certificate can be used to create a digital signature for an email. The signature guarantees the identity of the sender and also ensures that the message cannot be tempered with in transit.
Internet based shopping Web sites encrypt client’s credit card details so that they cannot be intercepted as they travel across the Internet by using digital certificates.
Encrypting
Encrypting is a means of scrambling an E - Mail message. It is used to make the message more secure so that only the intended recipient of the message will be able to read the message.
Firewall
A firewall consists of hardware and software protection against invasion via the Internet. In other organizations, access to the Internet goes through a firewall that would have been installed and customized by the company’s IT department.
Viruses
Surfing the Internet can provide you with an incredible source of information. It can be fun, but however there are dangers. If you download something from the Internet, there is a possibility that it might be infected with a computer virus. To protect yourself against virus attack, you should have a virus checker installed on your computer.
The anti virus software will check for viruses on all downloaded files and report back or remove the virus.
The anti virus software needs to be updated on a regular basis so that it can deal with any form of virus at any given time.
Fraud
Never give your credit card details on the Internet unless if you are dealing with a reputable organization. You may find your credit card details being used fraudulently to make other purchases.
Spam
Be careful about entering your E - Mail address on forms that you find on the Internet. You may later get unsolicited E - Mails (called Spam).
There are so many ways that you can use to open Microsoft Internet Explorer.
q Double click on the Internet Explorer from the desktop
Or
q Click on START from the task bar
q Go to PROGRAMS
q Then click on INTERNET EXPLORER
SCROLL BAR
STATUS BAR
Title bar
SCROLL BAR |
STATUS BAR |
The title bar displays the site on display and application name. It also displays property buttons used to control the application (minimize button 
, restore button 
and the close button 
)
Menu bar
The menu bar activates different commands. By clicking on any menu option from the menu bar, a pull down menu appears.
You then click the desired option from the list.
Toolbars
Toolbars are shortcuts to the menu bar. They are in the form of ICONS or pictorial images. TheICONS represent the command, which they perform.
There are different toolbars which you can use.
Standard toolbar
Will re- display the previous page that you visited
Will display the next page (assuming that you have first moved back)
Will halt the download of information
Will reloads current information from the site you will be visiting
Will take you to the default home page
It allows you to search the site
Adds bookmarks
Will allow you to print
Will allow you to revisit other sites
Select or deselect toolbars
You can add or remove toolbars from view. To do so, click on View, from the menu bar, then Toolbars and then select or deselect a toolbar.
Home page is the starting page.
Setting the home page
q Click on the Tools drop down menu.
q Click on the Internet Options command
q If you wish to use the currently displayed page as the starting page, click on the Use Currentbutton
q If you wish to use the default Microsoft starting page, click on Use Default
q If you wish to start the program with a blank page, click on Use Blank
q If you wish to use another starting, enter the full URL into the Address box
q Click on OK button to close the Internet Options dialog box.
To display a web page, type the address in the address bar.
If you wish to visit the site of The Herald, you type the following URL.
Display a web page in new window
To display a web page in new window, right click on the hyperlink and select the Open in New Window command
Stopping a web page from downloading
A WEB page may start loading within your web browser and take so long to display anything that you may wish to stop it and look for something.
You click on the Stop icon.
Refresh a web page
Many web sites change their content regularly. However you web browser may download the page once and display the information and not then go back to see if the page has changed. Refreshing the web page forces the web browser to see if there is an updated version of the page.
Many web browsers will “cache” pages that you have visited. This means that they will create a copy of the page on the hard disk. The reason for this is that if you wish to revisit the page again, then the page can be quickly loaded from the copy on your hard disk rather than having to be slowly downloaded to your computer via the Internet.
To display the current page click on the Refresh button
Or press F5
As you move your mouse pointer over an Internet page displayed within your Web Browser, occasionally you will notice that the mouse pointer’s shape changes to the shape of a hand. This shows that the area contain a hyperlink. Some hyperlinks are text based, while others are embedded within pictures.
Favorites are bookmarks. They are used to mark areas of interest for easy access in the future.
Add a Web site to the Favorites
q When you wish to add the current page to the Favorites, click the Favorites drop down menu (not the icon). This will display a drop down menu from which you select the Add to favorites command.
q Click OK
Open a bookmark (favorite)
q Click on Favorites drop down menu
q Select the item you wish to visit and the correct URL will be displayed in the address bar.
Click on the Help command from the menu bar and select the required command
CONTENTS AND INDEX
The Contents and Index option will display a box with four options
Contents tab
On the left side of the Contents tab, there will be help topics. By clicking on any help topic, a list of information will be displayed to the right.
Index
The Index tab within Microsoft Internet Explorer Help dialog box will display the following window.
Type in a key help term. In the example below, we have type in Cookies
Clicking on About cookies and then Display
Tip of the day
By clicking on Tip of the day option from the Help menu will display a tip like the following.
Hide images.
By default Microsoft Internet Explorer will display any images within a Web Page. You may choose to turn this off to speed up the loading of the Web pages.
q Click on Tools and select Internet Options
q Click on the Advanced tab within the dialog box
q Scroll down until you see the option relating to Show Pictures
q By removing the tick next to this option will mean that the browser pages, but not display any pictures that might be contained within the pages.
q To see the effect, close down the application and start again the Web browser application.
History is a list of previously visited sites.
To display, click on the down pointing arrow at the end of the URL bar. It will display a list of sites last visited.
History trail cache
The History trail cache is a list of previously visited Web sites. You can even use links within the list to revisit these sites.
q Click on the History icon.
A display box is displayed down the left side of the screen. Within this, you can select how to display pages you have visited, (i.e. today, last week etc).
Delete history trail
q Click on Tools and select Internet options
q Select General tab
q On History section, click on the Clear History button
A search engine holds information about web sites throughout the Internet. It only has information that has been reported to it. There are a number of different search engines run by different organizations.
Examples include:
q Google www.google.com
q Lycos www.lycos.com
q AltaVista www.altavista.com
q Askjeeves www.askjeeves.com
To search for specific information on any topic, type in key word(s) or phrase to use for the search. Try to use unique words that directly relates to what you are searching for.
Within a search engine you just enter a search phase like Victoria Falls and the search engine will search through its database and after a short pause, should display a list of sites that fit your search parameters. In the following example we have used Goggle search engine and entered Victoria Falls.
After clicking on the Google Search button the following pages were displayed.
Clicking on any of the item found will take you to that organizations site.
You can duplicate a Web image, text, URL from a Web page to a document.
q To copy a Web image, right click the image, text or the URL and select Copy.
q This will copy the image to the clipboard
q You then go the destination area and Paste.
q Right click the image and select Save Picture As
q Select the destination folder and type the image name
q Click on Save
You can also print pages currently on display.
q Click File, then Print
q This will display a dialog box from where you select option such as number of pages, which printer to use etc.
q By clicking on print, the printing will resume.
