Locate special files

[Stephane Reiniche]

Hi there,
How can I list special files linked to a device?
e.g. I have a tape drive fully configured and used by a backup application, but I need to locate the related special files under the /dev directory.
TIA – Stéphane.

[Jeff_Traigle · Accepted solution]

ioscan lists the device files for each hardware path. For tape, you could do "ioscan -fnC tape".

[Stephane Reiniche]

Hi Jeff,
Yep, I see them.
It seems that ioscan try to bind/unbind drivers, using the "-f" option.
Is it side impact free in an operational environment (e.g. while using tape drives)?
TIA

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Stephane:

If you wish to use 'ioscan' in a script to ascertain available devices and/or associated device files, it is usually quite sufficient (and very much faster) to have 'ioscan' scan the kernel tables by adding the '-k' switch:

# ioscan -kfnC tape

...for example.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Stephane Reiniche]

Hi JFR
Got my answer – Many Thanks
Stéphane.