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===== DM devices =====

[[wp>Device_mapper|Device Mapper]] (abbreviated DM) is the universal technology to access block devices by Linux. For a good overview over DM devices in relation to multipath see [[https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/DM_Multipath/MPIO_description.html|here]]. Ubuntu specific information on DM can be found [[https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/introduction-to-device-mapper-multipathing|here]]. For Debian see [[https://wiki.debian.org/SAN/DM-Multipath|here]].

All devices described so far are DM devices. Some of the mentioned devices have to be accessed as DM devices only in exceptional cases.

__Warning__\\ 
Especial care must be taken when directly manipulating DM devices. Direct modifications of DM devices are access on lowest level. Devices or information can easily be destroyed by such access. This is especially true when snapshots exist because the creation of snapshots adds further DM devices. 

The only program to handle DM devices directly is ''dmsetup'' from the software package of the same name. It has quite a few sub-commands. For the best overview see the man page. Here are only the most important sub-commands described. 

All DM devices can be displayed with the sub-command ''ls'' as follows:
  root@kvm55:~# dmsetup ls
  350002ac21d622071	(252, 4)
  350002ac21d632071	(252, 2)
  vg-images	(252, 0)
  vg3_nas-lv_nas5501	(252, 5)
  vg3_dbserver-lv_dbserver5501	(252, 3)
  vg-lv_dbslave5501	(252, 1)
The first column delivers the name of the device. The type of device can be derived from it:\\ 
350002ac21d622071, 350002ac21d632071:	Multipath device\\ 
vg-images, vg3_nas-lv_nas5501 …: 	LVM logical volumes

The numbers in brackets are the major device number and the minor device number. The major device number of DM devices is always 252, while the minor device number represents the DM device number. The multipath device '350002ac21d622071' in the example above could be for instance accessed as DM device '/dev/dm-4'. 

More detailed information on DM devices can be displayed by the sub-command ''info'' as follows:
  root@kvm55:~# dmsetup info /dev/dm-2
  Name:              350002ac21d632071
  State:             ACTIVE
  Read Ahead:        256
  Tables present:    LIVE
  Open count:        1
  Event number:      1
  Major, minor:      252, 2
  Number of targets: 1
  UUID: mpath-350002ac21d632071
For a detailed description of all displayed information see the man page of ''dmsetup''. The most important information is 'Open count' - the number of open connection. When the number displayed here is greater than '0', the device is in use. Extreme care has to be taken when accessing DM devices in use by the means of ''dmsetup''. 

The assignment of DM devices to his connections to physical devices can be made visible with the help of the following commands and their options:
  root@kvm55:~# lsscsi --device
  [4:2:0:0]    disk    LSI      MR9240-4i        2.13  /dev/sda[8:0]
  [5:0:0:0]    disk    3PARdata VV               3112  /dev/sdc[8:32]
  [5:0:0:1]    disk    3PARdata VV               3112  /dev/sde[8:64]
  [5:0:0:254]  enclosu 3PARdata SES              3112  -       
  [6:0:0:0]    disk    3PARdata VV               3112  /dev/sdb[8:16]
  [6:0:0:1]    disk    3PARdata VV               3112  /dev/sdd[8:48]
  [6:0:0:254]  enclosu 3PARdata SES              3112  -       

  root@kvm55:~# dmsetup ls --tree
  350002ac21d622071 (252:4)
   ├─ (8:32)
   └─ (8:16)
  vg-images (252:0)
   └─ (8:4)
  vg3_nas-lv_nas5501 (252:5)
   └─350002ac21d632071 (252:2)
      ├─ (8:64)
      └─ (8:48)
  vg3_dbserver-lv_dbserver5501 (252:3)
   └─ (8:32)
  vg-lv_dbslave5501 (252:1)
   └─ (8:4)
The device '8:4' is a local hard disk. The other disks are iSCSI devices. Identical device labels like e.g. '8:32' in the output of both commands point to the same device.
===== Software RAID =====
Other DM devices are software [[wp>RAID]] devices like e.g. '/dev/md0'. For unknown reasons the commands ''lsscsi'' or ''dmsetup'' don't display software raid devices while the command ''dmsetup ls –tree'' does.\\ 
This is an example from another KVM host with configured software RAID:
  root@kvm62:~# cat /proc/mdstat
  Personalities : [linear] [multipath] [raid0] [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4]
  md0 : active raid1 dm-4[1] dm-1[0]
        976760768 blocks [2/2] [UU]
      
  unused devices: <none>

  root@kvm62:~# lsscsi --device
  [0:0:0:0]    disk    ATA      M4-CT128M4SSD2   010G  /dev/sda[8:0]
  [6:0:0:0]    disk    TOSHIBA  MK1001TRKB       0106  /dev/sdb[8:16]
  [6:0:1:0]    disk    TOSHIBA  MK1001TRKB       0106  /dev/sdc[8:32]
  [8:0:0:1]    disk    3PARdata VV               3112  /dev/sdd[8:48]
  [8:0:0:254]  enclosu 3PARdata SES              3112  -       
  [9:0:0:1]    disk    3PARdata VV               3112  /dev/sde[8:64]
  [9:0:0:254]  enclosu 3PARdata SES              3112  -       

  root@kvm62:~# dmsetup ls --tree
  350000393f8ca90dc-part1 (252:4)
   └─350000393f8ca90dc (252:3)
      └─ (8:32)
  350000393f8ca9334-part1 (252:1)
   └─350000393f8ca9334 (252:0)
      └─ (8:16)
  350002ac314162071 (252:8)
   ├─ (8:64)
   └─ (8:48)
  vg-lv_admin6201 (252:5)
   └─ (9:0)
  vg-images (252:2)
   └─ (9:0)
  vg-lv_backup6201 (252:6)
   └─ (9:0)
  vg3_lb-lv_lb6101 (252:7)
   └─ (8:64)

Note the following interesting details of the example output:
  * Partitions can also be DM devices. In the example above the DM devices 'dm-1' and 'dm-4' are partitions
  * The DM devices of host 'kvm62' are not in perfect order. The device 'vg3_lb-lv_lb6101' should be bound to the multipath device '350002ac314162071'.
  * The software RAID device '9:0' is displayed neither by the command ''lsscsi'' nor by the command ''dmsetup ls''.


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