You need to set up lvm.conf to do the following. It probably is totally correct, but it seems to work well enough. # Make lvm look at the multipath device maps only, not the # single devices scan = [ "/dev/mapper" ] # exclude the raw disks, just to be paranoid filter = ["r|/dev/sd|"] # make lvm use dm devices types = [ "device-mapper", 16 ] Once you assembled the multipath devices you can then run pvcreate /dev/mapper/XXXXX and create your volume groups. I've created and then extended and LVM across two multipathed physical volumes on my test system. --- Volume group --- VG Name web409mysqltest System ID Format lvm2 Metadata Areas 2 Metadata Sequence No 4 VG Access read/write VG Status resizable MAX LV 0 Cur LV 1 Open LV 1 Max PV 0 Cur PV 2 Act PV 2 VG Size 199.99 GB PE Size 4.00 MB Total PE 51198 Alloc PE / Size 51198 / 199.99 GB Free PE / Size 0 / 0 VG UUID CzUDTb-KpRz-KNLS-U24P-5TmZ-4WLN-OSjGBB --- Logical volume --- LV Name /dev/web409mysqltest/mysqltest1 VG Name web409mysqltest LV UUID tT9PHO-1UVt-RsNN-6iFM-KgQx-Gl9r-adck9U LV Write Access read/write LV Status available # open 2 LV Size 199.99 GB Current LE 51198 Segments 2 Allocation inherit Read ahead sectors 0 Block device 254:16 --- Physical volumes --- PV Name /dev/mapper/3600508b40001417e0001c00001b60000 PV UUID 3QvL3p-t45P-AY4x-nIHp-C44s-IM6O-2Ymuwy PV Status allocatable Total PE / Free PE 25599 / 0 PV Name /dev/mapper/3600508b40001417e0001c00001c90000 PV UUID QGEVaA-W3sJ-DkLB-Ble1-13sU-bL6u-3tNy78 PV Status allocatable Total PE / Free PE 25599 / 0 /sbin/dmsetup status /dev/mapper/3600508b40001417e0001c00001c90000 0 209715200 multipath 1 0 0 2 2 E 0 2 0 65:240 A 0 8:176 A 0 E 0 2 0 8:16 A 0 65:80 A 0 /sbin/dmsetup status /dev/mapper/3600508b40001417e0001c00001b60000 0 209715200 multipath 1 0 0 2 2 E 0 2 0 65:224 A 0 8:160 A 0 E 0 2 0 8:0 A 0 65:64 A 0 lvm version report lvm version LVM version: 2.00.24 (2004-09-16) Library version: 1.00.19-ioctl (2004-07-03) Driver version: 4.3.0 Guy -- Dr. Guy Coates, Informatics System Group The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK Tel: +44 (0)1223 834244 ex 7199