White Papers

Volume management
23 Dell EMC SC Series: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Best Practices | CML1031
Name the Server object, define the Operating System, and select the corresponding FC HBA
WWPNs associated with the Server object
3.6.2 Multipath software solutions
There are a few multipath software choices, and it is up to the administrator's to decide which software
solution is best for the environment. The following list provides a brief description of some of these solutions.
• Native Linux multipath (device-mapper-multipath)
• Dell EMC PowerPath™
• Symantec™ Veritas Dynamic Multipathing (VxDMP)
The native Linux multipath solution is supported and bundled with most popular Linux distributions in use
today. Because the software is widely and readily available at no additional cost, many administrators prefer
using it compared to other third-party solutions.
Unlike the native Linux multipath solution, PowerPath and Symantec VxDMP provide extended capabilities for
some storage platforms and software integration. Both solutions also offer support for numerous operating
systems in addition to Linux.
Only one multipath software solution should be enabled on the host and the same solution should be
deployed in a cluster on all cluster hosts.
Refer to the vendor's multipath solution documentation for more information. For information on operating
systems supported by PowerPath, see the Dell EMC Simple Support Matrix. Appendix Error! Reference
source not found. provides links to additional resources to these solutions.
3.6.3 Configuring the native Linux multipath software
If the device-mapper-multipath package is not installed on the system, install the package from the
installation CD or the vendor’s software repositories.
# yum install device-mapper-multipath
Enable multipathd to autostart during system boot:
# systemctl enable multipathd #For RHEL 7 and newer
# chkconfig –levels 345 multipathd on #For RHEL 6 and older