UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello everybody,

I'm using the binary inqraid (Linux RHEL) in order to retrieve information about SAN disks. The questions are:

Given an LDEV, how do I know if the SAN disk related to this LDEV is being used by the OS? I mean, how can I demonstrate to "Storage department" that all disks of the cabine are not being used? And how I identify the cabine of the SAN disk?

Thank you.

just in case some ask... inqraid is a utility for query Hitachi HDS based storage systems. To the OP... the question is specific to that storage system. You may get a reply, but it's not a Linux question really...

Well, sorry. Let's make it general then:

- How can I be sure the SAN disks accessible from the server are not being used by the OS?

- Imagine a "Solaris" global zone with few zones, each one with his own LUN. So when removing a zone, one have first to dettach the LUN in order to "free the resource" so it can be used to another purpose. Now the same situation with Linux and without zones: how can I be sure a SAN disk is not being used?

Well.. you could look through lsof and see if there's anything using the device file. That would probably work. I mean, there's nothing saying how a disk HAS to be used though. So it is possible to write to a SAN drive much like a floppy (just giving an example)... what I'm trying to say is that just because nothing is currently accessing the drive doesn't mean that it isn't being used (again, think of transient storage, e.g. USB drives, etc.).

But.. in general, check for file opens probably does what you want.

I am closing this thread. Continue the discussion here: Identify SAN disks not in use