Each attached system LUN has a set of device files in the /dev Linux™ directory.
These device files are intended to be used only by the multipath tools. Allowing them to be used directly by your system or applications can produce data inconsistencies. Instead, configure your system and applications to use the device nodes that are created by the multipath tools.
The maximum number of devices depends on your Linux configuration. See the latest Linux on zSeries Device Drivers and Installation Commands for the Linux Kernel and Device Drivers, Features and Commands for the Linux Kernel publications for additional information about multipathing support.