Dell MD3200 Create a File System on a Device Mapper Partition, Mount a Device Mapper Partition

On SLES 11.x hosts, a partition node has the format /dev/mapper/mpath<x>-part<y>, where <x> is letter(s) 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<x>_part<y>, where <x> is the letter(s) assigned to the multipathing device and <y> is the partition number.

NOTE: After creating a partition on a multipathing device, 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 a File System on a 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:

# mount /dev/mapper/<partition_node> <mounting_point>

Ready for Use

The newly created virtual disks created on the MD3200 Series array are now setup and ready to be used. Future reboots automatically finds multipathing devices along with their partitions.

Blacklist Local Drive in Multi-path Driver

If your multipath drivers are connecting to storage area networks (SANs), it may be useful to be able to exclude or "blacklist" certain devices in your /etc/multipath.conf file. Blacklisting prevents the multipath driver from attempting to use those local devices.

To blacklist a local drive or device:

1Run the multipath -lcommand to determine the local drive or device WWID (World-Wide Identifier) or vendor/model string.

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Configuration: Device Mapper Multipath for Linux