devmap_name major minor
devmap_name major:minor  

The first argument to dmsetup is a command. The second argument is the logical device name or uuid.

Invoking the command as devmap_name is equivalent to
dmsetup info -c --noheadings -j major -m minor.  

-c|-C|--columns

Display output in columns rather than as Field: Value lines.

-j|--major major

Specify the major number.

-m|--minor minor

Specify the minor number.

-n|--noheadings

Suppress the headings line when using columnar output.

--noopencount

Tell the kernel not to supply the open reference count for the device.

--notable

When creating a device, don't load any table.

-o|--options

Specify which fields to display.

-r|--readonly

Set the table being loaded read-only.

--readahead [+]<sectors>|auto|none

Specify read ahead size in units of sectors. The default value is "auto" which allows the kernel to choose a suitable value automatically. The + prefix lets you specify a minimum value which will not be used if it is smaller than the value chosen by the kernel. "None" is equivalent to specifying zero.

--table <table>

Specify a one-line table directly on the command line.

-u|--uuid

Specify the uuid.

-v|--verbose [-v|--verbose]

Produce additional output.

--version

Display the library and kernel driver version.

create

device_name [-u uuid] [--notable | --table <table> | table_file]
Creates a device with the given name. If table_file or <table> is supplied, the table is loaded and made live. Otherwise a table is read from standard input unless --notable is used. The optional uuid can be used in place of device_name in subsequent dmsetup commands. If successful a device will appear as /dev/device-mapper/<device-name>. See below for information on the table format.

deps

[device_name]
Outputs a list of (major, minor) pairs for devices referenced by the live table for the specified device.

help

[-c|-C|--columns]
Outputs a summary of the commands available, optionally including the list of report fields.

info

[device_name]
Outputs some brief information about the device in the form:

    State: SUSPENDED|ACTIVE, READ-ONLY

    Tables present: LIVE and/or INACTIVE

    Open reference count

    Last event sequence number (used by wait)

    Major and minor device number

    Number of targets in the live table

    UUID

info

[--noheadings] [--separator separator] [-o fields] [-O|--sort sort_fields] [device_name]
Output you can customise. Fields are comma-separated and chosen from the following list: name, major, minor, attr, open, segments, events, uuid. Attributes are: (L)ive, (I)nactive, (s)uspended, (r)ead-only, read-(w)rite. Precede the list with '+' to append to the default selection of columns instead of replacing it. Precede any sort_field with - for a reverse sort on that column.

ls

[--target target_type] [--exec command] [--tree [-o options]]
List device names. Optionally only list devices that have at least one target of the specified type. Optionally execute a command for each device. The device name is appended to the supplied command. --tree displays dependencies between devices as a tree. It accepts a comma-separate list of options. Some specify the information displayed against each node: device/nodevice; active, open, rw, uuid. Others specify how the tree is displayed: ascii, utf, vt100; compact, inverted, notrunc.

load|reload

device_name [--table <table> | table_file]
Loads <table> or table_file into the inactive table slot for device_name. If neither is supplied, reads a table from standard input.

message

device_name sector message
Send message to target. If sector not needed use 0.

mknodes

[device_name]
Ensure that the node in /dev/mapper for device_name is correct. If no device_name is supplied, ensure that all nodes in /dev/mapper correspond to mapped devices currently loaded by the device-mapper kernel driver, adding, changing or removing nodes as necessary.

remove

[-f|--force] device_name
Removes a device. It will no longer be visible to dmsetup. Open devices cannot be removed except with older kernels that contain a version of device-mapper prior to 4.8.0. In this case the device will be deleted when its open_count drops to zero. From version 4.8.0 onwards, if a device can't be removed because an uninterruptible process is waiting for I/O to return from it, adding --force will replace the table with one that fails all I/O, which might allow the process to be killed.

remove_all

[-f|--force]
Attempts to remove all device definitions i.e. reset the driver. Use with care! From version 4.8.0 onwards, if devices can't be removed because uninterruptible processess are waiting for I/O to return from them, adding --force will replace the table with one that fails all I/O, which might allow the process to be killed. This also runs mknodes afterwards.

rename

device_name new_name
Renames a device.

resume

device_name
Un-suspends a device. If an inactive table has been loaded, it becomes live. Postponed I/O then gets re-queued for processing.

setgeometry

device_name cyl head sect start
Sets the device geometry to C/H/S.

status

[--target target_type] [device_name]
Outputs status information for each of the device's targets. With --target, only information relating to the specified target type is displayed.

suspend

[--nolockfs] [--noflush] device_name
Suspends a device. Any I/O that has already been mapped by the device but has not yet completed will be flushed. Any further I/O to that device will be postponed for as long as the device is suspended. If there's a filesystem on the device which supports the operation, an attempt will be made to sync it first unless --nolockfs is specified. Some targets such as recent (October 2006) versions of multipath may support the --noflush option. This lets outstanding I/O that has not yet reached the device to remain unflushed.

table

[--target target_type] [device_name]
Outputs the current table for the device in a format that can be fed back in using the create or load commands. With --target, only information relating to the specified target type is displayed.

targets

Displays the names and versions of the currently-loaded targets.

version

Outputs version information.

wait

device_name [event_nr]
Sleeps until the event counter for device_name exceeds event_nr. Use -v to see the event number returned. To wait until the next event is triggered, use info to find the last event number.

There are currently three simple target types available together with more complex optional ones that implement snapshots and mirrors.

linear

destination_device start_sector
The traditional linear mapping.

striped

num_stripes chunk_size [destination start_sector]+
Creates a striped area.
e.g. striped 2 32 /dev/hda1 0 /dev/hdb1 0 will map the first chunk (16k) as follows:

    LV chunk 1 -> hda1, chunk 1

    LV chunk 2 -> hdb1, chunk 1

    LV chunk 3 -> hda1, chunk 2

    LV chunk 4 -> hdb1, chunk 2

    etc.

error

Errors any I/O that goes to this area. Useful for testing or for creating devices with holes in them.

# A table to join two disks together

0 1028160 linear /dev/hda 0
1028160 3903762 linear /dev/hdb 0

# A table to stripe across the two disks,
# and add the spare space from
# hdb to the back of the volume

0 2056320 striped 2 32 /dev/hda 0 /dev/hdb 0
2056320 2875602 linear /dev/hdb 1028160

DM_DEV_DIR

The device directory name. Defaults to "/dev" and must be an absolute path.

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

OPTIONS

COMMANDS

TABLE FORMAT

EXAMPLES

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

AUTHORS

SEE ALSO