If successful, the command does not display an output. To verify success and view exact partition naming, you can use these commands to
see the full partition names assigned.
# cd /dev/mapper# ls
The following are some examples of the general mapping formats:
•
On Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) hosts, a partition node has the format:/dev/mapper/mpath
<y>
p
<y>
Where
<y>
is the alphabetic number for the multipathing device,
<y>
is the partition number for this device.
•
On SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11.x hosts, a partition node has the format:/dev/mapper/mpath
<y>
-part
<y>
Where
<y>
is letters assigned to the multipathing device and
<y>
is the partition number.
•
On SLES 10.3 hosts, a partition node has the format: /dev/mapper/mpath
<y>
_part
<y>
Where
<y>
is one or more letters assigned to the multipathing device and
<y>
is the partition number.
NOTE:
After creating a partition on a device capable of multipathing, all I/O operations, including file system creation, raw I/O
and file system I/O, must be done through the partition node, and not through the multipathing device nodes.
Create file system on Device Mapper partition
Use the standard
mkfs
command to create the file system on the newly created Device Mapper partition.
For example:
# mkfs –t <filesystem type> /dev/mapper/<partition node>
where
<partition node>
is the partition on which the file system is created.
Mount a Device Mapper partition
Use the standard mount command to mount the Device Mapper partition, as shown below:
# mount /dev/mapper/<partition_node> <mounting point>
Ready for use
The newly created virtual disks created on the MD Series storage array are now setup and ready to be used. Future reboots automatically
find multipathing devices along with their partitions.
NOTE:
To ensure data integrity protection, reboot a Linux host server attached to an MD Series storage array using the
procedure given below.
Linux host server reboot best practices
It is recommended that you follow the procedures given below when you reboot your Linux host server using Device Mapper multipathing
with an MD Series storage array.
1
Unmount all Device Mapper multipath device nodes mounted on the server:
# umount <mounted_multipath_device_node>
2
Stop the Device Mapper multipath service:
# /etc/init.d/multipathd stop
3
Flush the Device Mapper multipath maps list to remove any old or modified mappings:
# multipath –F
NOTE:
The boot operating system drive may have an entry with the Device Mapper multipathing table. This is not affected
by the
multipath –F
command.
4
Log out of all iSCSI sessions from the host server to the storage array:
# iscsiadm –m node --logout
Device Mapper multipath for Linux
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