E.1 FAQs About Using EVMS with NSS

E.1.1 Why Should I Use EVMS with NSS?

Using EVMS with NSS allows you to take advantage of the full range of capabilities of NSS and the NSS management tools, including the Storage plug-in to Novell iManager 2.7, the NSS Management Utility (NSSMU), the NSS Console Utility (NSSCON), and other NSS utilities and commands. NSS tools require EVMS for management functions related to devices, software RAIDS, partitions, pool snapshots, and creating pools.

For information about limitations for NSS on devices managed by non-EVMS volume managers, see NSS Limitations for Non-EVMS Volume Managers.

E.1.2 NSS Limitations for Non-EVMS Volume Managers

The basic NSS file system works on devices that are managed by any volume manager. However, the following NSS capabilities are unavailable or have limited availability for devices managed by a non-EVMS volume manager:

  • NSS Management Tools: The following NSS management tools are affected:

    • iManager: The storage-related plug-ins for Novell iManager require that EVMS be used as the volume manager of any devices where you want to create and manage NSS file systems. The tool does not work with devices managed by non-EVMS volume managers.

      For information about storage-related plug-ins, see Section 9.1, Novell iManager and Storage-Related Plug-Ins.

    • NSSMU: NSSMU requires EVMS to manage partitions, manage devices, create and manage software RAIDs, create and manage pool snapshots, and create and mirror pools.

      If you create the pool with mkfs at the command line on a non-EVMS device, you can only create a Pool object using the Pools > Update NDS option, and create and manage both non-encrypted and encrypted volumes for the pool using the Volumes page.

      For information about NSSMU on Linux, see Section 9.2.1, NSSMU for Linux Quick Reference.

    • Command Line: EVMS is required for NSS command line commands and utilities.

  • NSS Software RAIDS: NSS requires EVMS to create and manage software RAID devices. However, you can optionally create software RAIDs for your device using the Linux Device Mapper utility.

  • NSS Pool Snapshots: NSS requires EVMS to create and manage pool snapshots.

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility: NSS pools that are created on devices managed by non-EVMS volume managers cannot be moved to a NetWare® server.

  • Clusters: Novell Cluster Services™ (NCS) for Linux requires EVMS for clustering. Pools created on devices managed by non-EVMS volume managers cannot be used in NCS clusters. Third-party clustering systems that integrate with third-party cluster volume managers should be able to work with NSS volumes.

To use NSS with a non-EVMS volume manager, create partitions and pools with the Linux mkfs command, then use NSSMU to manage the volumes. For information, see Section E.3, Creating and Mounting NSS Pools and Volumes Using Linux Commands.