Linux System - Table 10 > Packages - Table 10 > device-mapper

In the Linux kernel, the device-mapper serves as a generic framework to map one block device onto another. It forms the foundation of LVM2 and EVMS, software RAIDs, dm-crypt disk encryption, and offers additional features such as file-system snapshots. Device-mapper works by processing data passed in from a virtual block device, that it itself provides, and then passing the resultant data on to another block device.