Multipath Error "DM multipath kernel driver not loaded"

  • Document ID:3003090
  • Creation Date:15-Sep-2006
  • Modified Date:20-Apr-2017
    • Micro Focus Products:
      Open Enterprise Server
    • SUSE Products:
      SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12
Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 (OES 2) Linux
Device Mapper Multipath I/O (DM-MPIO)

Situation

When the administrator runs the command 'multipath -l' it returns the following error:

ERROR: DM multipath kernel driver not loaded

Resolution

For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and 11:

The boot.multipath and multipathd services must be running. To enable these services and check the multipath output, proceed as follows.

  1. Run
    chkconfig boot.multipath on
  2. Run
    chkconfig multipathd on

  3. Reboot the server, or start the services manually:
    • To manually start boot.multipath, run
      /etc/init.d/boot.multipath start
    • To manually start multipathd, run
      /etc/init.d/multipathd start

For SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12:

  1. Run
    systemctl enable multipathd.service

  2. Reboot the server, or start the services manually:
    • To manually start, run
      systemctl start multipathd.service

Additional steps may be required to fully configure Multipath I/O (MPIO). Please review all documented configuration requirements.
SLES10 MPIO Documentation
SLES11 MPIO Documentation
SLES12 MPIO Documentation