dmsetup(8) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | COMMANDS | TABLE FORMAT | EXAMPLES | CONCISE FORMAT | EXAMPLES | ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES | AUTHORS | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

DMSETUP(8)                 MAINTENANCE COMMANDS                DMSETUP(8)

NAME         top

       dmsetup — low level logical volume management

SYNOPSIS         top


       dmsetup clear device_name
       dmsetup create device_name [-n|--notable|--table table|table_file]
                [--readahead [+]sectors|auto|none] [-u|--uuid uuid]
                [--addnodeoncreate|--addnodeonresume]
       dmsetup create --concise [concise_device_specification]
       dmsetup deps [-o options] [device_name...]
       dmsetup help [-c|-C|--columns]
       dmsetup info [device_name...]
       dmsetup info -c|-C|--columns [--count count] [--interval seconds]
                [--noheadings] [-o fields] [-O|--sort sort_fields]
                [--nameprefixes] [--separator separator] [device_name]
       dmsetup load device_name [--table table|table_file]
       dmsetup ls [--target target_type] [-o options] [--exec command]
                [--tree]
       dmsetup mangle [device_name...]
       dmsetup measure [device_name...]
       dmsetup message device_name sector message
       dmsetup mknodes [device_name...]
       dmsetup reload device_name [--table table|table_file]
       dmsetup  remove [-f|--force] [--retry] [--deferred] device_name...

       dmsetup remove_all [-f|--force] [--deferred]
       dmsetup rename device_name new_name
       dmsetup rename device_name --setuuid uuid
       dmsetup resume device_name...  [--addnodeoncreate|--addnodeonre‐
                sume] [--noflush] [--nolockfs] [--readahead
                [+]sectors|auto|none]
       dmsetup setgeometry device_name cyl head sect start
       dmsetup splitname device_name [subsystem]
       dmsetup stats command [options]
       dmsetup status [--target target_type] [--noflush] [device_name...]

       dmsetup suspend [--nolockfs] [--noflush] device_name...
       dmsetup table [--concise] [--target target_type] [--showkeys]
                [device_name...]
       dmsetup targets
       dmsetup udevcomplete cookie
       dmsetup udevcomplete_all [age_in_minutes]
       dmsetup udevcookie
       dmsetup udevcreatecookie
       dmsetup udevflags cookie
       dmsetup udevreleasecookie [cookie]
       dmsetup version
       dmsetup wait [--noflush] device_name [event_nr]
       dmsetup wipe_table device_name...  [-f|--force] [--noflush]
                [--nolockfs]

       devmap_name major minor
       devmap_name major:minor

DESCRIPTION         top

       dmsetup manages logical devices that use the device-mapper driver.
       Devices are created by loading a table that specifies a target for
       each sector (512 bytes) in the logical device.

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

       Invoking  the  dmsetup  tool as devmap_name (which is not normally
       distributed and is  supported  only  for  historical  reasons)  is
       equivalent to dmsetup info -c --noheadings -j major -m minor.

OPTIONS         top

       --addnodeoncreate
              Ensure /dev/mapper node exists after dmsetup create.

       --addnodeonresume
              Ensure /dev/mapper node exists after dmsetup resume (de‐
              fault with udev).

       --checks
              Perform additional checks on the operations requested and
              report potential problems.  Useful when debugging scripts.
              In some cases these checks may slow down operations notice‐
              ably.

       -c|-C|--columns
              Display output in columns rather than as Field: Value
              lines.

       --count count
              Specify the number of times to repeat a report. Set this to
              zero continue until interrupted.  The default interval is
              one second.

       -f|--force
              Try harder to complete operation.

       -h|--help
              Outputs a summary of the commands available, optionally in‐
              cluding the list of report fields (synonym with help com‐
              mand).

       --inactive
              When returning any table information from the kernel report
              on the inactive table instead of the live table.  Requires
              kernel driver version 4.16.0 or above.

       --interval seconds
              Specify the interval in seconds between successive itera‐
              tions for repeating reports. If --interval is specified but
              --count is not, reports will continue to repeat until in‐
              terrupted.  The default interval is one second.

       --manglename auto|hex|none
              Mangle any character not on a whitelist using mangling_mode
              when processing device-mapper device names and UUIDs. The
              names and UUIDs are mangled on input and unmangled on out‐
              put where the mangling mode is one of: auto (only do the
              mangling if not mangled yet, do nothing if already mangled,
              error on mixed), hex (always do the mangling) and none (no
              mangling).  Default mode is auto.  Character whitelist:
              0-9, A-Z, a-z, #+-.:=@_. This whitelist is also supported
              by udev. Any character not on a whitelist is replaced with
              its hex value (two digits) prefixed by \x.  Mangling mode
              could be also set through DM_DEFAULT_NAME_MANGLING_MODE en‐
              vironment variable.

       -j|--major major
              Specify the major number.

       -m|--minor minor
              Specify the minor number.

       -n|--notable
              When creating a device, don't load any table.

       --nameprefixes
              Add a "DM_" prefix plus the field name to the output.  Use‐
              ful with --noheadings to produce a list of field=value
              pairs that can be used to set environment variables (for
              example, in udev(7) rules).

       --noheadings
              Suppress the headings line when using columnar output.

       --noflush
              Do not flush outstanding I/O when suspending a device, or
              do not commit thin-pool metadata when obtaining thin-pool
              status.

       --nolockfs
              Do not attempt to synchronize filesystem eg, when suspend‐
              ing a device.

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

       --noudevrules
              Do not allow udev to manage nodes for devices in device-
              mapper directory.

       --noudevsync
              Do not synchronise with udev when creating, renaming or re‐
              moving devices.

       -o|--options options
              Specify which fields to display.

       --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 mini‐
              mum value which will not be used if it is smaller than the
              value chosen by the kernel.  The value none is equivalent
              to specifying zero.

       -r|--readonly
              Set the table being loaded read-only.

       -S|--select selection
              Process only items that match selection criteria.  If the
              command is producing report output, adding the "selected"
              column (-o selected) displays all rows and shows 1 if the
              row matches the selection and 0 otherwise. The selection
              criteria are defined by specifying column names and their
              valid values while making use of supported comparison oper‐
              ators. As a quick help and to see full list of column names
              that can be used in selection and the set of supported se‐
              lection operators, check the output of dmsetup in‐
              fo -c -S help command.

       --table table
              Specify a one-line table directly on the command line.  See
              below for more information on the table format.

       --udevcookie cookie
              Use cookie for udev synchronisation.  Note: Same cookie
              should be used for same type of operations i.e. creation of
              multiple different devices. It's not adviced to combine
              different operations on the single device.

       -u|--uuid uuid
              Specify the uuid.

       -y|--yes
              Answer yes to all prompts automatically.

       -v|--verbose [-v|--verbose]
              Produce additional output.

       --verifyudev
              If udev synchronisation is enabled, verify that udev opera‐
              tions get performed correctly and try to fix up the device
              nodes afterwards if not.

       --version
              Display the library and kernel driver version.

COMMANDS         top


       clear device_name
              Destroys the table in the inactive table slot for de‐
              vice_name.

       create device_name [-n|--notable|--table table|table_file]
              [--readahead [+]sectors|auto|none] [-u|--uuid uuid]
              [--addnodeoncreate|--addnodeonresume]
              Creates  a  device  with  the  given name.  If table or ta‐
              ble_file is supplied, the table is loaded  and  made  live.
              Otherwise  a table is read from standard input unless --no‐
              table is used.  The optional uuid can be used in  place  of
              device_name  in subsequent dmsetup commands.  If successful
              the device will appear in table and  for  live  device  the
              node  /dev/mapper/device_name  is  created.   See below for
              more information on the table format.

       create --concise [concise_device_specification]
              Creates one or more devices from a concise device  specifi‐
              cation.   Each  device  is  specified  by a comma-separated
              list: name, uuid, minor number, flags, comma-separated  ta‐
              ble  lines.   Flags  defaults  to read-write (rw) or may be
              read-only (ro).  Uuid, minor number and flags are  optional
              so those fields may be empty.  A semi-colon separates spec‐
              ifications of different devices.  Use a backslash to escape
              the  following character, for example a comma or semi-colon
              in a name or table. See also CONCISE FORMAT below.

       deps [-o options] [device_name...]
              Outputs a list of devices referenced by the live table  for
              the  specified  device.  Device names on output can be cus‐
              tomised by following options: devno (major and minor  pair,
              used  by  default), blkdevname (block device name), devname
              (map name for device-mapper devices,  equal  to  blkdevname
              otherwise).

       help [-c|-C|--columns]
              Outputs a summary of the commands available, optionally in‐
              cluding 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 -c|-C|--columns [--count count] [--interval seconds]
              [--noheadings] [-o fields] [-O|--sort sort_fields]
              [--nameprefixes] [--separator separator] [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.  Pre‐
              cede 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] [-o options] [--exec command] [--tree]
              List  device names.  Optionally only list devices that have
              at least one target of the specified type.  Optionally exe‐
              cute a command for each device.  The device name is append‐
              ed to the supplied command.  Device names on output can  be
              customised  by  following  options:  devno (major and minor
              pair, used by default), blkdevname (block device name), de‐
              vname (map name for device-mapper devices, equal to blkdev‐
              name otherwise).  --tree displays dependencies between  de‐
              vices  as  a tree.  It accepts a comma-separate list of op‐
              tions.  Some specify the information displayed against each
              node: device/nodevice; blkdevname; 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.

       mangle [device_name...]
              Ensure existing device-mapper device_name and  UUID  is  in
              the  correct mangled form containing only whitelisted char‐
              acters (supported by udev) and do a  rename  if  necessary.
              Any character not on the whitelist will be mangled based on
              the  --manglename  setting. Automatic rename works only for
              device names and not for device UUIDs  because  the  kernel
              does not allow changing the UUID of active devices. Any in‐
              correct  UUIDs  are reported only and they must be manually
              corrected by deactivating the device first and then reacti‐
              vating it with proper mangling mode used (see  also  --man‐
              glename).

       measure [device_name...]
              Show the data that device_name would report to the IMA sub‐
              system  if a measurement was triggered at the current time.
              This is for debugging and does not actually trigger a  mea‐
              surement.

       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 cor‐
              rect.  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] [--retry] [--deferred] device_name...
              Removes a device.  It will no longer be visible to dmsetup.
              Open devices cannot be removed, but adding --force will re‐
              place the table with one that fails  all  I/O.   --deferred
              will  enable  deferred removal of open devices - the device
              will be removed when the last user closes it. The  deferred
              removal  feature  is  supported since version 4.27.0 of the
              device-mapper driver available in upstream  kernel  version
              3.13.   (Use dmsetup version to check this.)  If an attempt
              to remove a device fails, perhaps  because  a  process  run
              from  a  quick udev rule temporarily opened the device, the
              --retry option will cause the operation to be retried for a
              few seconds before failing.  Do  NOT  combine  --force  and
              --udevcookie,  as  udev  may start to process udev rules in
              the middle of error target replacement and result in nonde‐
              terministic result.

       remove_all [-f|--force] [--deferred]
              Attempts to remove all device definitions  i.e.  reset  the
              driver.  This also runs mknodes afterwards.  Use with care!
              Open devices cannot be removed, but adding --force will re‐
              place  the  table  with one that fails all I/O.  --deferred
              will enable deferred removal of open devices -  the  device
              will be removed when the last user closes it.  The deferred
              removal  feature  is  supported since version 4.27.0 of the
              device-mapper driver available in upstream  kernel  version
              3.13.

       rename device_name new_name
              Renames a device.

       rename device_name --setuuid uuid
              Sets  the uuid of a device that was created without a uuid.
              After a uuid has been set it cannot be changed.

       resume device_name...  [--addnodeoncreate|--addnodeonresume]
              [--noflush] [--nolockfs] [--readahead [+]sectors|auto|none]
              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.

       splitname device_name [subsystem]
              Splits  given device name into subsystem constituents.  The
              default subsystem is LVM.  LVM currently  generates  device
              names by concatenating the names of the Volume Group, Logi‐
              cal  Volume and any internal Layer with a hyphen as separa‐
              tor.  Any hyphens within the names are  doubled  to  escape
              them.   The precise encoding might change without notice in
              any future release, so we recommend you always decode using
              the current version of this command.

       stats command [options]
              Manages IO statistics regions for devices.  See  dmstats(8)
              for more details.

       status [--target target_type] [--noflush] [device_name...]
              Outputs  status  information  for each of the device's tar‐
              gets.  With --target,  only  information  relating  to  the
              specified  target  type  any is displayed.  With --noflush,
              the thin target (from version  1.3.0)  doesn't  commit  any
              outstanding  changes  to  disk before reporting its statis‐
              tics.

       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  un‐
              flushed.

       table [--concise] [--target target_type] [--showkeys]
              [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.  Real encryption keys are suppressed  in
              the table output for crypt and integrity targets unless the
              --showkeys  parameter  is  supplied.  Kernel key references
              prefixed with : are not affected by the parameter  and  get
              displayed  always (crypt target only).  With --concise, the
              output is presented concisely on  a  single  line.   Commas
              then  separate  the  name, uuid, minor device number, flags
              ('ro' or 'rw') and the table (if present). Semi-colons sep‐
              arate devices. Backslashes escape any  commas,  semi-colons
              or backslashes.  See CONCISE FORMAT below.

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

       udevcomplete cookie
              Wake any processes that are waiting for  udev  to  complete
              processing the specified cookie.

       udevcomplete_all [age_in_minutes]
              Remove  all cookies older than the specified number of min‐
              utes.  Any process waiting on a cookie will be resumed  im‐
              mediately.

       udevcookie
              List  all  existing  cookies. Cookies are system-wide sema‐
              phores with keys prefixed by two predefined bytes (0x0D4D).

       udevcreatecookie
              Creates a new cookie to synchronize actions with udev  pro‐
              cessing.   The  output is a cookie value. Normally we don't
              need to create cookies since dmsetup creates  and  destroys
              them  for each action automatically. However, we can gener‐
              ate one explicitly to group several  actions  together  and
              use  only one cookie instead. We can define a cookie to use
              for each relevant command by using --udevcookie option. Al‐
              ternatively, we can export this value into the  environment
              of  the  dmsetup  process as DM_UDEV_COOKIE variable and it
              will be used automatically with all subsequent commands un‐
              til it is unset.  Invoking this command will create system-
              wide semaphore that needs to be cleaned  up  explicitly  by
              calling udevreleasecookie command.

       udevflags cookie
              Parses  given  cookie  value  and extracts any udev control
              flags encoded.  The output is  in  environment  key  format
              that is suitable for use in udev rules. If the flag has its
              symbolic    name    assigned    then    the    output    is
              DM_UDEV_FLAG_<flag_name> = '1', DM_UDEV_FLAG<flag_position>
              = '1' otherwise.  Subsystem udev flags don't have  symbolic
              names  assigned  and  these  ones  are  always  reported as
              DM_SUBSYSTEM_UDEV_FLAG<flag_position> = '1'. There  are  16
              udev flags altogether.

       udevreleasecookie [cookie]
              Waits for all pending udev processing bound to given cookie
              value and clean up the cookie with underlying semaphore. If
              the  cookie  is not given directly, the command will try to
              use a value defined by DM_UDEV_COOKIE environment variable.

       version
              Outputs version information.

       wait [--noflush] 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.   With --noflush, the thin target
              (from version 1.3.0) doesn't commit any outstanding changes
              to disk before reporting its statistics.

       wipe_table device_name...  [-f|--force] [--noflush] [--nolockfs]
              Wait for any I/O in-flight through the device to  complete,
              then  replace the table with a new table that fails any new
              I/O sent to the device.  If successful, this should release
              any devices held open by the device's table(s).

TABLE FORMAT         top

       Each line of the table specifies a single target  and  is  of  the
       form:

       logical_start_sector num_sectors target_type target_args

       Simple target types and target args include:

       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.

       zero   Returns blocks of zeroes on reads.  Any data written is
              discarded silently.  This is a block-device equivalent of
              the /dev/zero character-device data sink described in
              null(4).

       More complex targets include:

       cache  Improves performance of a block device (eg, a spindle) by
              dynamically migrating some of its data to a faster smaller
              device (eg, an SSD).

       crypt  Transparent encryption of block devices using the kernel
              crypto API.

       delay  Delays reads and/or writes to different devices.  Useful
              for testing.

       flakey Creates a similar mapping to the linear target but exhibits
              unreliable behaviour periodically.  Useful for simulating
              failing devices when testing.

       mirror Mirrors data across two or more devices.

       multipath
              Mediates access through multiple paths to the same device.

       raid   Offers an interface to the kernel's software raid driver,
              md.

       snapshot
              Supports snapshots of devices.

       thin, thin-pool
              Supports thin provisioning of devices and also provides a
              better snapshot support.

       To find out more about the various targets and their table formats
       and status lines, please read the files in the Documentation/de‐
       vice-mapper directory in the kernel source tree.  (Your distribu‐
       tion might include a copy of this information in the documentation
       directory for the device-mapper package.)

EXAMPLES         top

       # 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

CONCISE FORMAT         top

       A concise representation of one of more devices.

       - A comma separates the fields of each device.
       - A semi-colon separates devices.

       The representation of a device takes the form:
              <name>,<uuid>,<minor>,<flags>,<table>[,<table>+]
              [;<dev_name>,<uuid>,<minor>,<flags>,<table>[,<table>+]]

       The fields are:

       name   The name of the device.

       uuid   The UUID of the device (or empty).

       minor  The minor number of the device.  If empty, the kernel as‐
              signs a suitable minor number.

       flags  Supported flags are:
              ro Sets the table being loaded for the device read-only
              rw Sets the table being loaded for the device read-write
              (default)

       table  One line of the table. See TABLE FORMAT above.

EXAMPLES         top

       # A simple linear read-only device
       test-linear-small,,,ro,0 2097152 linear /dev/loop0 0,2097152
       2097152 linear /dev/loop1 0
       # Two linear devices
       test-linear-small,,,,0 2097152 linear /dev/loop0 0;test-
       linear-large,,,,0 2097152 linear /dev/loop1 0, 2097152 2097152
       linear /dev/loop2 0

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES         top

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

       DM_UDEV_COOKIE
              A cookie to use for all relevant commands to synchronize
              with udev processing.  It is an alternative to using --ude‐
              vcookie option.

       DM_DEFAULT_NAME_MANGLING_MODE
              A default mangling mode. Defaults to "auto" and it is an
              alternative to using --manglename option.

AUTHORS         top

       Original version: Joe Thornber <thornber@redhat.com>

SEE ALSO         top

       dmstats(8), udev(7), udevadm(8)

       LVM2 resource page: ⟨https://www.sourceware.org/lvm2⟩
       Device-mapper resource page: ⟨http://sources.redhat.com/dm

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the lvm2 (Logical Volume Manager 2) project.
       Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://www.sourceware.org/lvm2/⟩.  If you have a bug report for
       this manual page, see ⟨https://github.com/lvmteam/lvm2/issues⟩.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨git://sourceware.org/git/lvm2.git⟩ on 2025-02-02.  (At that time,
       the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
       repository was 2025-01-31.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
       a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

Linux                          Apr 06 2006                     DMSETUP(8)

Pages that refer to this page: pmdadm(1)blkdeactivate(8)blkmapd(8)dmstats(8)fsfreeze(8)lvm(8)xfs_io(8)