Dynamic Multi-Pathing (DMP) supports using multi-pathing with raw devices. The dmp_native_multipathing tunable controls the behavior. If the dmp_native_multipathing tunable is set to on, DMP intercepts I/O requests, operations such as open, close, and ioctls sent on the raw device path.

If the dmp_native_multipathing tunable is set to off, these requests are sent directly to the raw device. In A/PF arrays, the format command on Solaris platform does not show the extra attributes (like vendor ID, product ID and geometry information) of the passive paths. To avoid this issue, enable the dmp_native_multipathing tunable. DMP intercepts the request and routes it on the primary path.

For A/P arrays, turning on the dmp_native_multipathing feature enables the commands to succeed without trespassing. The feature has no benefit for A/A or A/A-A arrays.

DMP native multi-pathing should not be enabled if one of the following tools are already managing multi-pathing:

If EMC PowerPath is installed first, the command to set dmp_native_multipathing to on fails. If VxVM is installed first, ensure that dmp_native_multipathing is set to off before installing EMC PowerPath.