The VxFS component of Storage Foundation High Availability solution 6.0.1, 6.0.2 and 5.1SP1RP3 fails to install and function after Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.3 kernel update

Problem

After installing  Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.3  kernel update ( https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1366.html ) or higher, the VERITAS Filesytem (VxFS) component of  Veritas’s SFHA/SFCFSHA/SFRAC (5.1SP1RP3, 6.0.1 & 6.0.2)  stack fails to install or function, due to breakages in the kernel interfaces. Veritas is actively working on providing a solution for the problem and would be releasing a patch  for the impacted customers.

Error Message

# /etc/init.d/vxfs start
Error in loading module "vxfs". See documentation.
Failed to create /dev/vxportal
ERROR: Module fdd does not exist in /proc/modules
ERROR: Module vxportal does not exist in /proc/modules
ERROR: Module vxfs does not exist in /proc/modules
# tail /var/log/messages
Nov 12 15:58:29 unix kernel: vxfs: disagrees about version of symbol inc_zone_page_state
Nov 12 15:58:29 unix kernel: vxfs: Unknown symbol inc_zone_page_state
 
 

Cause

VxFS component has a kernel compatibility issue with the RHEL 6.3 kernel update 

Solution

Veritas have released two public patches and a maintenance release to resolve this issue:

5.1SP1RP3P1 (P-Patch1 for installation on VxFS 5.1SP1RP3)

https://sort.veritas.com/patch/detail/7013

6.0.100.300 (Public hotfix 3 for installation on VxFS 6.0.1)

https://sort.veritas.com/patch/detail/7103

6.0.3 (Maintenance Release)

https://sort.veritas.com/patch/detail/6998

Note: This MR requires 6.0.1 to be installed first, so the fresh installation of 6.0.1 to RHEL6.3 fails to configure VRTSvxfs package due to this problem. But the upgrade to 6.0.3 followed by that will complete the installation of VRTSvxfs package.

Alternative workaround : Consider booting from earlier kernel - 2.6.32-279.9.1.el6  - for example 

Applies To

Storage Foundation & High Availability 5.1SP1RP3, 6.0.1 & 6.0.2

Storage Foundation Cluster File System (SFCFS) 5.1SP1RP3, 6.0.1 & 6.0.2

Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC (SFRAC) 5.1SP1RP3, 6.0.1 & 6.0.2

RHEL 6.3 with kernel update 2.6.32-279.11.1.el6 ( provided in https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1366.html)  or later