When you create or grow a file system, the SAM-QFS Manager software attempts to discover available devices that can be used in the process.
The software discovers available devices on formatted disks that are properly labeled. SMI and EFI labels are supported. A device is considered unavailable if it meets any of the following restrictions:
Its size is equal to zero.
It is listed in the /etc/vfstab file.
It is listed in the selected server’s mcf file.
It starts at sector 0. Because of this, s2 is excluded for disks that use the default Solaris™ Operating System formatting scheme.
It cannot be opened in exclusive-read mode, which eliminates slices or volumes that are used by mounted file systems.
It is used by a Solaris Volume Manager volume or by a metadb slice.
It is used by a VERITAS Volume Manager volume.
Caution - A device is also unavailable if another host is using the device. However, the browser interface lists such devices as available. You are responsible for knowing which shared devices are being used by other hosts.
There might be additional circumstances under which the devices listed as available in the browser interface are actually unavailable. For example, the browser interface may list devices as available because the software expects disks to be partitioned without overlapping slices, or because the software was unable to invoke volume manager commands when performing discovery.
If you need to format a disk, use the format(1M) command outside of the browser interface. If you use the format(1M) command, you are responsible for determining whether devices on the disk are in use.