PowerFlex on Linux: Create and Map a Volume to an SDC

Adding and Mapping a new Volume to a Linux SDC shows how to add a volume using the PowerFlex Manager interface and how to map it to a Linux SDC. Our PowerFlex cluster is running on a lab (nested environment). The PowerFlex version is 4.5.2, and our Linux SDC is CentOS-based.

Important Notes: that mapping exposes the volume to the selected host as a block device; it does not create a partition, filesystem, or mount point. The Linux steps that follow are separate and must target the correct device!

Dell’s PowerFlex 4.5.x guidance says /dev/sciniX names are not guaranteed to persist across reboots. Avoid using /dev/scinic1 as the persistent identifier in /etc/fstab. Prefer the persistent PowerFlex device path under /dev/disk/by-id/ or the filesystem UUID, and follow Dell’s Linux-specific instructions for ordering the mount after the scini service is available. The internal boot-mount article is a useful follow-up.

Before running mkfs.ext4, explicitly verify the selected device and partition. Formatting the wrong block device destroys its existing data. Describe the displayed capacity as matching the volume size approximately, since Linux may display units differently from PowerFlex Manager.

The lab uses a CentOS-based SDC. Dell’s public support matrix reviewed for PowerFlex 4.5.2 does not list CentOS for the SDC combination. This Linux flavor was used in a nested lab only!

Adding a Volume

1- Access the SDC by SSH and check the current disks:

lsblk --path

2- Access the PowerFlex Manager UI –> Block –> Volumes –> Create Volume:

3- A pop-up to map this volume will appear as the volume has been created. Click “Map”:

At the host list, select the desired SDC and click “Map”:

A new pop-up will appear indicating the success of this operation:

4- Go back to the SDC command line and apply the command “lsblk” to check the disk devices:

lsblk --path

As we can see, a new disk device “/dev/scinic” was added. Look at the size; it is precisely the volume size added before:

Note: The “scini” is the module name by the SDC. The command “lsmod” shows that the “scini” module is loaded, as we can see in the following block command:

root@pfmp-sdc-01:~# lsmod | grep -i scini
scini                1662976  0

5- The following steps are:

• Create a GPT disk partition;
• Format this partition to create the filesystem;
• Mount the filesystem into a directory.

5.1- Creating the GPT partition using the “parted” tool:

5.2- Creating an EXT4 filesystem using the “mkfs.ext4” tool.

First, after creating the GPT partition, we need to indicate the partition type. In this case, the partition type is “EXT4”. The following picture shows how to do it:

Second, use the “mkfs.ext4” to create the filesystem under this partition:

mkfs.ext4 /dev/scinic1

5.3- The last step is to mount the filesystem into a system directory.
We will create a directory “linux-vol-01” under “/mnt” and will mount the filesystem there:

# Creating the directory:
mkdir -p /mnt/linux-vol-01

# Mouting the filesystem into the created directory:
mount /dev/scinic1 /mnt/linux-vol-01/

Look that we can access the mount point, create files, etc:

We can also use the “df” command to see details of this mount point:

Note: If you reboot the system, it will not mount on the next boot. You must put the necessary information into the configuration file /etc/fstab to mount it automatically on the next boot.

For help configuring a persistent mount, see Mounting a PowerFlex Volume on Linux’s SDC at Boot.

From Volume Mapping to a Persistent Filesystem

Mapping makes the new PowerFlex volume available to the selected Linux SDC as a block device. To use it for files, identify the correct device, create the required partition and filesystem, and mount it at the intended directory. Verify the target before formatting, then configure persistence with a stable device identifier rather than assuming a /dev/sciniX name will remain unchanged after reboot.

This nested CentOS-based lab demonstrates the workflow; production deployments should use an operating system and PowerFlex combination listed in Dell’s current support matrix.

External References