EMC PowerPath Powermt Commands (Cheat Sheet)

The powermt command is a utility that is used to manage and monitor the performance and availability of storage devices in a SAN (Storage Area Network). It is typically used in enterprise environments to manage large storage systems that are accessed by multiple servers.

Below are few of the most commonly used commands to check the POWER PATH config on unix servers.

1. Display High Level HBA I/O Paths

To display a list of all the storage devices that are currently being managed by powermt, use the display subcommand:

# powermt display 

Symmetrix logical device count=212
CLARiiON logical device count=0
Hitachi logical device count=0
Invista logical device count=0
HP xp logical device count=0
Ess logical device count=0
HP HSx logical device count=0
==============================================================================
----- Host Bus Adapters ---------  ------ I/O Paths -----  ------ Stats ------
###  HW Path                       Summary   Total   Dead  IO/Sec Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   3 0/4/0/0/0/1                   optimal     424      0       -     0    848
   5 0/5/0/0/0/1                   optimal     424      0       -     0    848

2. Display specific LUN

To display the status of a specific storage device, use the display subcommand with the dev= option followed by the device name:

# powermt display dev=emcpowera

When there are multiple LUNs connected to a server, you might want to view information about a specific LUN by providing the logical name of the LUN as shown below.

3. Display All Attached LUNs

Mostly we used to run this command powermt, which will display all the attached logical devices to the server.

# powermt display dev=all

Pseudo name=disk915
Symmetrix ID=000290103691
Logical device ID=06B8
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   3 0/4/0/0/0/1.0x5006048c52a862e7.0x40a6000000000000 c14t4d6   FA  8cB   active  alive       0      2
   3 0/4/0/0/0/1.0x5006048c52a862f7.0x40a6000000000000 c15t4d6   FA  8dB   active  alive       0      2
   5 0/5/0/0/0/1.0x5006048c52a862e8.0x40a6000000000000 c16t4d6   FA  9cB   active  alive       0      2
   5 0/5/0/0/0/1.0x5006048c52a862f8.0x40a6000000000000 c17t4d6   FA  9dB   active  alive       0      2

Pseudo name=disk988
Symmetrix ID=000290103691
Logical device ID=074B
state=alive; policy=SymmOpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   5 0/5/0/0/0/1.0x5006048c52a862e8.0x40dc000000000000 c16t11d4  FA  9cB   active  alive       0      2
   3 0/4/0/0/0/1.0x5006048c52a862e7.0x40dc000000000000 c14t11d4  FA  8cB   active  alive       0      2
   3 0/4/0/0/0/1.0x5006048c52a862f7.0x40ce000000000000 c15t9d6   FA  8dB   active  alive       0      2
   5 0/5/0/0/0/1.0x5006048c52a862f8.0x40ce000000000000 c17t9d6   FA  9dB   active  alive       0      2

Details:

a. Pseudo name=emcpowera – The device name that can be used by the server. For example,
/dev/emcpowera.
b. CLARiiON ID=AAA00000000000 [dev-server] - EMC CLARiiON CX3 serial number and
the server name.
c. Logical device ID=11111111 [LUN 1] – LUN number. For example, LUN 1.
d. state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; – This displays that this particular LUN is valid and using
the CLAROpt policy.
e. Owner: default=SP B, current=SP B – This indicates that the default (and current) owner for
this LUN is storage processor SP B.

4. powermt check_registration – Display PowerPath Registration Key / Status

If you’ve lost the PowerPath registration key that you’ve used during the EMC PowerPath installation, you can retrieve it using the following command.

# powermt check_registration
Key AAAA-BBBB-CCCC-DDDD-EEEE-FFFF
  Product: PowerPath
  Capabilities: All

5. Display EMC PowerPath Options

Displays the high level EMC SAN array options:

# powermt display options

6. Display PowerPath HBA Mode

This is similar to #1, but displays whether hba is enabled or not, as shown in the last column of the output.

# powermt display hba_mode

Symmetrix logical device count=212
CLARiiON logical device count=0
Hitachi logical device count=0
Invista logical device count=0
HP xp logical device count=0
Ess logical device count=0
HP HSx logical device count=0
==============================================================================
----- Host Bus Adapters ---------  ------ I/O Paths -----  Stats
###  HW Path                       Summary   Total   Dead  Q-IOs Mode
==============================================================================
   3 0/4/0/0/0/1                   optimal     424      0     0 Enabled
   5 0/5/0/0/0/1                   optimal     424      0     0 Enabled

7. Display available I/O Paths

This displays all available path for your SAN device:

# powermt display paths

To display the path status for a specific storage device, use the display subcommand with the paths option and the dev= option:

# powermt display paths dev=device_name

8. Display Port Status

Displays the status of the individual ports on the HBA. i.e Whether the port is enabled or not.

# powermt displays port_mode

9. Display EMC PowerPath Version

Use the below command to identify the version number of EMC PowerPath software:

# powermt version

10. Check the I/O Paths

If we made changes to the HBA’s, or I/O paths, then run the powermt check, to take appropriate action. For example, if you manually removed an I/O path, check command will detect a dead path and remove it from the EMC path list.

# powermt check

11. Display Stats

To display the performance statistics for a specific storage device, use the display subcommand with the stats option and the dev= option:

# powermt display stats dev=device_name

12. Change State of the path

To set a specific storage device to a specific path state, use the set subcommand with the path_state option and the dev= option:

# powermt set path_state=state dev=device_name

Where state is the desired path state (e.g., active, standby, etc.)

13. Change load balance mode

To set a specific storage device to a specific load balance mode, use the set subcommand with the lb_mode option and the dev= option:

# powermt set lb_mode=mode dev=device_name

Where mode is the desired load balance mode (e.g., round_robin, weighted_path, etc.)

These are just a few examples of using the powermt command. There are many other options and subcommands available, which can be viewed by running the powermt command with the –help option.

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