Enterprise Volume Management on SLES
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Installing Suse Linux Enterprise Server
Enterprise Volume Management System (EVMS)
For some installations, you may require more control over the disk subsystem than what is provided by the previously mentioned tools. To accommodate these installations, a utility called EVMS was created. When working with EVMS, the first thing to realize is the fact that the Enterprise Volume Management System (EVMS) is not a single item related to storage, such as Software RAID or Logical Volume Management, it is instead a "framework" created to help manage all of the aspects of the system's storage.
This framework includes ways to configure Software Raid and LVM Volume Groups, as well as ways to do basic disk tasks.
Creating an EVMS Container and adding Volumes to it
I would venture to say that most servers would probably have little benefit from using EVMS, and sometimes it may be a hindrance since it does require a bit of knowledge to configure and maintain the storage subsystem using EVMS. However, if your organization or server uses technology such as Multipath or SANs, etc., you may in fact benefit greatly using EVMS, as this is why it was created. Also if you are looking to Virtualize your servers/services, EVMS would be something you should definitely look into.
Using the EVMS Administration Utility
With that being said, the configuration of EVMS is very similar to LVM. You have to create LVM Partitions (or Software RAID arrays), then you would go through the Yast EVMS Wizard to create an EVMS container. Once the container is created you would add your LVM Partitions or your Software RAID arrays to the container. After you have a physical base (the EVMS container) established you can then add volumes to the container to hold data (very similar to LVM).
However, once you are finished with the installation, this is where the similarities to configuring a simple LVM solution end. Instead of using simple commands to grow volumes or creating snapshots, you are given a full fledged utility to accomplish all of the tasks related to maintaining your disk subsystem. Not only can you manage all aspects of the LVM portion of your disk subsystem, you can now fine tune your Multipath Segments, your Software RAID arrays, etc. from a single utility.
Fully configuring and maintaining your EVMS solution could fill a whole book, so if you are interested in micro-managing your disk subsystem you should definitely do further research on EVMS.
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