Device Name
Device Name refers to identification of peripheral devices on OpenVMS systems and device naming conventions. For DEVICE_NAMING system parameter, see DEVICE_NAMING.
A device name is a string that uniquely identifies a device such as a disk, tape, network controller, terminal etc. on an OpenVMS system.
Contents
Syntax
Parts of an OpenVMS device name include:
- allocation class or node name
- device type
- controller designation
- unit number
The same SCSI disk, DKA300:, could be represented as $1$GKA300:, TEST$DKA300:, or simly DKA300: depending on the device naming format (see below).
Formats
There are three general formats for naming devices depending on the use of clustering and multipath configurations:
- ddcu - when there is no clustering or multipath devices, e.g. DKA100:
- node$ddcu - when there is clustering, e.g. TEST$DKA100:
- $allocation-class$ddcu - when there is clustering and/or multipath devices, e.g. $30$DKA100:
If a device name is preceded by an underscore, this means that the name is a physical device name, not a logical name.
Device Naming Conventions
Allocation Class
Allocation Class is used to uniquely identify shared devices in multipath and cluster configurations. Please see ALLOCATION_CLASS for more information. If allocation classes are used, the format for device names is as follows: $allocation-class$device-name.
Nodename
An OpenVMS Cluster device name includes the name of the node to which the device is attached and the physical device name, separated by a dollar sign ($). For example, TEST$DKA1 refers to disk DKA1 on node TEST. Allocation classes should be used in multipath configurations.
Device Type
| Device Type | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| CM | IPMI device | CMA0: |
| D | Disk | |
| DG | Fibre Channel disk | DGA100: |
| DI | ||
| DK | SCSI disk | DKA100: - SCSI disk |
| DP | ||
| DQ | IDE/SATA disk | |
| DS | Disk Stripe set (e.g. a shadowed disk) | DSA0: |
| DU | Disk connected to MSCP controllers | DUA0: |
| E | Ethernet Network Device | |
| EC | ||
| EF | ||
| EQ | ||
| ES | ||
| ET | ||
| EX | ||
| EW | Ethernet network adapter connected to PCI | EWA0: |
| EZ | ||
| FC | ||
| FG | Fiber Channel Host Bus Adapter | FGA0: |
| FX | ||
| FT | Network Terminal | |
| GG | Medium Changer | |
| GH | DECwindows output device | GHA0: |
| I | Token Ring | |
| H | ATM | |
| KB | Terminal | KBD0: |
| LT | LAT Network Terminal | |
| LM | SCSI tape | LMA0: |
| MB | Mailbox | MBA0: |
| MG | Fibre Channel tape drive | MGA300 |
| MK | SCSI Tape Drive | |
| MO | Terminal | MOU0: |
| MT | Tape Drive | |
| MU | Tape Drive | |
| NTY | Network Terminal | |
| OP | Operator's console | OPA0: - default operator's console |
| PE | NISCA | PEA0: |
| PK | SAS controller | PKA0: |
| RT | DECnet Terminal (created with the SET HOST command) | |
| SE | ACPI system event | SEA0: |
| T | Terminal | TNA0: |
| TT | ||
| TX | ||
| VT | Virtual Terminal | |
| XQ | Emulated Ethernet card (DELQA-T (M7516-YM), DELQA (M7516) and DEQNA (M7504) Q-bus Ethernet cards) | |
| XU | Emulated Ethernet card (Digital's DEUNA (M7792/M7793) and DELUA (M7521) Unibus Ethernet cards) |
Third letter
The third letter represents controller designation (in the order detected by hardware): A - first controller, B - second controller, etc. Pseudo-controllers and indirect controllers (shadow, SAN) always use A.
Unit Number
SCSI disks often have unit numbers that are multiples of 100: DKA100:, DKA200:, DKA300 etc. For tapes on parallel SCSI, the device name of a directly attached tape implies the physical location of the device; for example, MKB301 resides on bus B, SCSI target ID 3, and LUN 1. Such a naming scheme does not scale well for Fibre Channel configurations, in which the number of targets or nodes can be very large.
