Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 D M Multipath

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

DM Multipath
DM Multipath Configuration and Administration

Edition 3

Legal Notice

Legal Notice
Copyright 2013 Red Hat, Inc. T he text of and illustrations in this document are licensed by Red Hat under a Creative Commons AttributionShare Alike 3.0 Unported license ("CC-BY-SA"). An explanation of CC-BY-SA is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. In accordance with CC-BY-SA, if you distribute this document or an adaptation of it, you must provide the URL for the original version. Red Hat, as the licensor of this document, waives the right to enforce, and agrees not to assert, Section 4d of CC-BY-SA to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law. Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Shadowman logo, JBoss, MetaMatrix, Fedora, the Infinity Logo, and RHCE are trademarks of Red Hat, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus T orvalds in the United States and other countries. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates. XFS is a trademark of Silicon Graphics International Corp. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. MySQL is a registered trademark of MySQL AB in the United States, the European Union and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 1801 Varsity Drive Raleigh, NC 27606-2072 USA Phone: +1 919 754 3700 Phone: 888 733 4281 Fax: +1 919 754 3701

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 D M Multipath

Abstract
T his book provides information on using the Device-Mapper Multipath feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Preface 1. Audience 2. Related Documentation 3. Feedback 4. Document Conventions 4.1. T ypographic Conventions 4.2. Pull-quote Conventions 4.3. Notes and Warnings 1. Device Mapper Multipathing 1.1. New and Changed Features for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7 1.2. New and Changed Features for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 1.3. New and Changed Features for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 1.4. Overview of DM-Multipath 1.5. Storage Array Support 1.6. DM-Multipath Components 1.7. DM-Multipath Setup Overview 2. Multipath Devices 2.1. Multipath Device Identifiers 2.2. Consistent Multipath Device Names in a Cluster 2.3. Multipath Device Attributes 2.4. Multipath Devices in Logical Volumes 3. Setting Up DM-Multipath 3.1. Setting Up DM-Multipath 3.2. Ignoring Local Disks when Generating Multipath Devices 3.3. Adding Devices to the Multipathing Database 4. T he DM-Multipath Configuration File 4.1. Configuration File Overview 4.2. Configuration File Blacklist 4.2.1. Blacklisting by WWID 4.2.2. Blacklisting By Device Name 4.2.3. Blacklisting By Device T ype 4.2.4. Blacklist Exceptions 4.3. Configuration File Defaults 4.4. Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes 4.5. Configuration File Devices 5. DM-Multipath Administration and T roubleshooting 5.1. Resizing an Online Multipath Device 5.2. T he Multipath Daemon 5.3. Issues with Large Number of LUNs 5.4. Issues with queue_if_no_path feature 5.5. Multipath Command Output 5.6. Multipath Queries with multipath Command 5.7. Multipath Command Options 5.8. Determining Device Mapper Entries with the dmsetup Command 5.9. T roubleshooting with the multipathd Interactive Console A. Revision History Index

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 D M Multipath

Preface

Preface
T his book describes the Device Mapper Multipath (DM-Multipath) feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 release.

1. Audience
T his book is intended to be used by system administrators managing systems running the Linux operating system. It requires familiarity with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

2. Related Documentation
For more information about using Red Hat Enterprise Linux, refer to the following resources: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide Provides information regarding installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Deployment Guide Provides information regarding the deployment, configuration and administration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. For more information about Red Hat Cluster Suite for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, refer to the following resources: Red Hat Cluster Suite Overview Provides a high level overview of the Red Hat Cluster Suite. Configuring and Managing a Red Hat Cluster Provides information about installing, configuring and managing Red Hat Cluster components. Logical Volume Manager Administration Provides a description of the Logical Volume Manager (LVM), including information on running LVM in a clustered environment. Global File System: Configuration and Administration Provides information about installing, configuring, and maintaining Red Hat GFS (Red Hat Global File System). Global File System 2: Configuration and Administration Provides information about installing, configuring, and maintaining Red Hat GFS2 (Red Hat Global File System 2). Using GNBD with Global File System Provides an overview on using Global Network Block Device (GNBD) with Red Hat GFS. Linux Virtual Server Administration Provides information on configuring high-performance systems and services with the Linux Virtual Server (LVS). Red Hat Cluster Suite Release Notes Provides information about the current release of Red Hat Cluster Suite. Red Hat Cluster Suite documentation and other Red Hat documents are available in HT ML, PDF, and RPM versions on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Documentation CD and online at http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-us/index.html.

3. Feedback
If you spot a typo, or if you have thought of a way to make this manual better, we would love to hear from you. Please submit a report in Bugzilla (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/) against the component Documentation-cluster . Be sure to mention the manual's identifier:
Bugzilla component: Documentation-cluster Book identifier: DM_Multipath(EN)-5 (2013-1-4:15:35)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 D M Multipath

By mentioning this manual's identifier, we know exactly which version of the guide you have. If you have a suggestion for improving the documentation, try to be as specific as possible. If you have found an error, please include the section number and some of the surrounding text so we can find it easily.

4. Document Conventions
T his manual uses several conventions to highlight certain words and phrases and draw attention to specific pieces of information. In PDF and paper editions, this manual uses typefaces drawn from the Liberation Fonts set. T he Liberation Fonts set is also used in HT ML editions if the set is installed on your system. If not, alternative but equivalent typefaces are displayed. Note: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and later includes the Liberation Fonts set by default. 4 .1. T ypographic Conventions Four typographic conventions are used to call attention to specific words and phrases. T hese conventions, and the circumstances they apply to, are as follows. Mono-spaced Bold Used to highlight system input, including shell commands, file names and paths. Also used to highlight keys and key combinations. For example: T o see the contents of the file m y_next_bestselling_novel in your current working directory, enter the cat m y_next_bestselling_novel command at the shell prompt and press Enter to execute the command. T he above includes a file name, a shell command and a key, all presented in mono-spaced bold and all distinguishable thanks to context. Key combinations can be distinguished from an individual key by the plus sign that connects each part of a key combination. For example: Press Enter to execute the command. Press Ctrl + Alt+ F2 to switch to a virtual terminal. T he first example highlights a particular key to press. T he second example highlights a key combination: a set of three keys pressed simultaneously. If source code is discussed, class names, methods, functions, variable names and returned values mentioned within a paragraph will be presented as above, in m ono-spaced bold . For example: File-related classes include filesystem for file systems, file for files, and dir for directories. Each class has its own associated set of permissions. Proportional Bold T his denotes words or phrases encountered on a system, including application names; dialog box text; labeled buttons; check-box and radio button labels; menu titles and sub-menu titles. For example: Choose System Preferences Mouse from the main menu bar to launch Mouse Preferences. In the Buttons tab, click the Left-handed m ouse check box and click Close to switch the primary mouse button from the left to the right (making the mouse

Preface

suitable for use in the left hand). T o insert a special character into a gedit file, choose Applications Accessories Character Map from the main menu bar. Next, choose Search Find from the Character Map menu bar, type the name of the character in the Search field and click Next. T he character you sought will be highlighted in the Character T able . Double-click this highlighted character to place it in the T ext to copy field and then click the Copy button. Now switch back to your document and choose Edit Paste from the gedit menu bar. T he above text includes application names; system-wide menu names and items; application-specific menu names; and buttons and text found within a GUI interface, all presented in proportional bold and all distinguishable by context. Mono-spaced Bold Italic or Proportional Bold Italic Whether mono-spaced bold or proportional bold, the addition of italics indicates replaceable or variable text. Italics denotes text you do not input literally or displayed text that changes depending on circumstance. For example: T o connect to a remote machine using ssh, type ssh username@ domain.name at a shell prompt. If the remote machine is exam ple.com and your username on that machine is john, type ssh john@ exam ple.com . T he m ount -o rem ount file-system command remounts the named file system. For example, to remount the /hom e file system, the command is m ount -o rem ount /hom e . T o see the version of a currently installed package, use the rpm -q package command. It will return a result as follows: package-version-release. Note the words in bold italics above username, domain.name, file-system, package, version and release. Each word is a placeholder, either for text you enter when issuing a command or for text displayed by the system. Aside from standard usage for presenting the title of a work, italics denotes the first use of a new and important term. For example: Publican is a DocBook publishing system. 4 .2. Pull-quote Conventions T erminal output and source code listings are set off visually from the surrounding text. Output sent to a terminal is set in m ono-spaced rom an and presented thus:
books books_tests Desktop Desktop1 documentation downloads drafts images mss notes photos scripts stuff svgs svn

Source-code listings are also set in m ono-spaced rom an but add syntax highlighting as follows:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 D M Multipath

package org.jboss.book.jca.ex1; import javax.naming.InitialContext; public class ExClient { public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception { InitialContext iniCtx = new InitialContext(); Object ref = iniCtx.lookup("EchoBean"); EchoHome home = (EchoHome) ref; Echo echo = home.create(); System.out.println("Created Echo"); System.out.println("Echo.echo('Hello') = " + echo.echo("Hello")); } }

4 .3. Notes and Warnings Finally, we use three visual styles to draw attention to information that might otherwise be overlooked.

Note
Notes are tips, shortcuts or alternative approaches to the task at hand. Ignoring a note should have no negative consequences, but you might miss out on a trick that makes your life easier.

Important
Important boxes detail things that are easily missed: configuration changes that only apply to the current session, or services that need restarting before an update will apply. Ignoring a box labeled 'Important' will not cause data loss but may cause irritation and frustration.

Warning
Warnings should not be ignored. Ignoring warnings will most likely cause data loss.

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Chapter 1. D evice Mapper Multipathing

Chapter 1. Device Mapper Multipathing

Device Mapper Multipathing (DM-Multipath) allows you to configure multiple I/O paths between server nodes and storage arrays into a single device. T hese I/O paths are physical SAN connections that can include separate cables, switches, and controllers. Multipathing aggregates the I/O paths, creating a new device that consists of the aggregated paths.

1.1. New and Changed Features for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7 includes the following documentation and feature updates and changes. T he new configuration file parameters fast_io_fail_tm o , dev_loss_tm o , and file_tim eout are documented in Chapter 4, The DM-Multipath Configuration File. T he procedure for ensuring that multipath devices names are consistent across the nodes in a cluster has been expanded in Section 2.2, Consistent Multipath Device Names in a Cluster.

1.2. New and Changed Features for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 includes the following documentation and feature updates and changes. T he getuid_callout and prio_callout configuration file parameters now accept the %c wildcard. For information on the configuration file parameters, see Chapter 4, The DM-Multipath Configuration File. You can now define either the selector or path_selector parameter in the defaults section of the m ultipath.conf configuration file. Both parameters have the same meaning. For information on the multipath configuration defaults, see T able 4.1, Multipath Configuration Defaults.

1.3. New and Changed Features for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 includes the following documentation and feature updates and changes. T he user_friendly_nam es and flush_on_last_del multipath configuration parameters can now be defined in the m ultipaths and devices sections of the m ultipath.conf configuration file, as documented in Chapter 4, The DM-Multipath Configuration File.

1.4. Overview of DM-Multipath

DM-Multipath can be used to provide: Redundancy DM-Multipath can provide failover in an active/passive configuration. In an active/passive configuration, only half the paths are used at any time for I/O. If any element of an I/O path (the cable, switch, or controller) fails, DM-Multipath switches to an alternate path. Improved Performance DM-Multipath can be configured in active/active mode, where I/O is spread over the paths in a roundrobin fashion. In some configurations, DM-Multipath can detect loading on the I/O paths and dynamically re-balance the load. Figure 1.1, Active/Passive Multipath Configuration with One RAID Device shows an active/passive configuration with two I/O paths from the server to a RAID device. T here are 2 HBAs on the server, 2

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 D M Multipath

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SAN switches, and 2 RAID controllers.

Figure 1.1. Active/Passive Multipath Configuration with One RAID Device In this configuration, there is one I/O path that goes through hba1, SAN1, and controller 1 and a second I/O path that goes through hba2, SAN2, and controller2. T here are many points of possible failure in this configuration: HBA failure FC cable failure SAN switch failure Array controller port failure With DM-Multipath configured, a failure at any of these points will cause DM-Multipath to switch to the alternate I/O path. Figure 1.2, Active/Passive Multipath Configuration with T wo RAID Devices shows a more complex active/passive configuration with 2 HBAs on the server, 2 SAN switches, and 2 RAID devices with 2 RAID controllers each.

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Chapter 1. D evice Mapper Multipathing

Figure 1.2. Active/Passive Multipath Configuration with T wo RAID Devices In the example shown in Figure 1.2, Active/Passive Multipath Configuration with T wo RAID Devices, there are two I/O paths to each RAID device (just as there are in the example shown in Figure 1.1, Active/Passive Multipath Configuration with One RAID Device). With DM-Multipath configured, a failure at any of the points of the I/O path to either of the RAID devices will cause DM-Multipath to switch to the alternate I/O path for that device. Figure 1.3, Active/Active Multipath Configuration with One RAID Device shows an active/active configuration with 2 HBAs on the server, 1 SAN switch, and 2 RAID controllers. T here are four I/O paths from the server to a storage device: hba1 to controller1 hba1 to controller2 hba2 to controller1 hba2 to controller2 In this configuration, I/O can be spread among those four paths.

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Figure 1.3. Active/Active Multipath Configuration with One RAID Device

1.5. Storage Array Support

By default, DM-Multipath includes support for the most common storage arrays that support DMMultipath. T he supported devices can be found in the m ultipath.conf.defaults file. If your storage array supports DM-Multipath and is not configured by default in this file, you may need to add them to the DM-Multipath configuration file, m ultipath.conf . For information on the DM-Multipath configuration file, see Chapter 4, The DM-Multipath Configuration File. Some storage arrays require special handling of I/O errors and path switching. T hese require separate hardware handler kernel modules.

1.6. DM-Multipath Components

T able 1.1, DM-Multipath Components. describes the components of DM-Multipath. T able 1.1. DM-Multipath Components Component dm -m ultipath kernel module m ultipath command Description Reroutes I/O and supports failover for paths and path groups. Lists and configures multipath devices. Normally started up with /etc/rc.sysinit, it can also be started up by a udev program whenever a block device is added or it can be run by the initram fs file system. Monitors paths; as paths fail and come back, it may initiate path group switches. Provides for interactive changes to multipath devices. T his must be restarted for any changes to the /etc/m ultipath.conf file. Creates device mapper devices for the partitions on a device It is necessary to use this command for DOS-based partitions with DMMP. T he kpartx is provided in its own package, but the devicem apper-m ultipath package depends on it.

m ultipathd daemon

kpartx command

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Chapter 1. D evice Mapper Multipathing

1.7. DM-Multipath Setup Overview

DM-Multipath includes compiled-in default settings that are suitable for common multipath configurations. Setting up DM-multipath is often a simple procedure. T he basic procedure for configuring your system with DM-Multipath is as follows: 1. Install device-m apper-m ultipath rpm. 2. Edit the m ultipath.conf configuration file: comment out the default blacklist change any of the existing defaults as needed save the configuration file 3. Start the multipath daemons. 4. Create the multipath device with the m ultipath command. Detailed setup instructions for several example multipath configurations are provided in see Chapter 3, Setting Up DM-Multipath.

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Chapter 2. Multipath Devices

Without DM-Multipath, each path from a server node to a storage controller is treated by the system as a separate device, even when the I/O path connects the same server node to the same storage controller. DM-Multipath provides a way of organizing the I/O paths logically, by creating a single multipath device on top of the underlying devices.

2.1. Multipath Device Identifiers

Each multipath device has a World Wide Identifier (WWID), which is guaranteed to be globally unique and unchanging. By default, the name of a multipath device is set to its WWID. Alternately, you can set the user_friendly_nam es option in the multipath configuration file, which sets the alias to a node-unique name of the form m path n. For example, a node with two HBAs attached to a storage controller with two ports via a single unzoned FC switch sees four devices: /dev/sda , /dev/sdb , dev/sdc , and /dev/sdd . DM-Multipath creates a single device with a unique WWID that reroutes I/O to those four underlying devices according to the multipath configuration. When the user_friendly_nam es configuration option is set to yes, the name of the multipath device is set to m path n. When new devices are brought under the control of DM-Multipath, the new devices may be seen in three different places under the /dev directory: /dev/m apper/m path n, /dev/m path/m path n, and /dev/dm -n. T he devices in /dev/m apper are created early in the boot process. Use these devices to access the multipathed devices, for example when creating logical volumes. T he devices in /dev/m path are provided as a convenience so that all multipathed devices can be seen in one directory. T hese devices are created by the udev device manager and may not be available on startup when the system needs to access them. Do not use these devices for creating logical volumes or filesystems. Any devices of the form /dev/dm -n are for internal use only and should never be used. For information on the multipath configuration defaults, including the user_friendly_nam es configuration option, see Section 4.3, Configuration File Defaults. You can also set the name of a multipath device to a name of your choosing by using the alias option in the m ultipaths section of the multipath configuration file. For information on the m ultipaths section of the multipath configuration file, see Section 4.4, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes.

2.2. Consistent Multipath Device Names in a Cluster

When the user_friendly_nam es configuration option is set to yes, the name of the multipath device is unique to a node, but it is not guaranteed to be the same on all nodes using the multipath device. Similarly, if you set the alias option for a device in the m ultipaths section of the m ultipath.conf configuration file, the name is not automatically consistent across all nodes in the cluster. T his should not cause any difficulties if you use LVM to create logical devices from the multipath device, but if you require that your multipath device names be consistent in every node it is recommended that you not set the user_friendly_nam es option to yes and that you not configure aliases for the devices. By default, if you do not set user_friendly_nam es to yes or configure an alias for a device, a device name will be the WWID for the device, which is always the same. If you want the system-defined user-friendly names to be consistent across all nodes in the cluster, however, you can follow this procedure:

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Chapter 2. Multipath D evices

1. Set up all of the multipath devices on one machine. 2. Disable all of your multipath devices on your other machines by running the following commands:
# service multipathd stop # multipath -F

3. Copy the bindings file from the first machine to all the other machines in the cluster. By default, the location of this file is /var/lib/m ultipath/bindings. If /var is a separate partition on your system, however, you should change this value with the bindings_file option in the defaults section of the m ultipath.conf configuration file, as described in Section 4.3, Configuration File Defaults. T his file needs to be located on your root file system partition, for example:
bindings_file "/etc/multipath_bindings"

4. Re-enable the m ultipathd daemon on all the other machines in the cluster by running the following command:
# service mutipathd start

If you add a new device, you will need to repeat this process. Similarly, if you configure an alias for a device that you would like to be consistent across the nodes in the cluster, you should ensure that the /etc/m ultipath.conf file is the same for each node in the cluster by following the same procedure: 1. Configure the aliases for the multipath devices in the in the m ultipath.conf file on one machine. 2. Disable all of your multipath devices on your other machines by running the following commands:
# service multipathd stop # multipath -F

3. Copy the /etc/m ultipath.conf file from the first machine to all the other machines in the cluster. 4. Re-enable the m ultipathd daemon on all the other machines in the cluster by running the following command:
# service mutipathd start

When you add a new device you will need to repeat this process.

2.3. Multipath Device Attributes

In addition to the user_friendly_nam es and alias options, a multipath device has numerous attributes. You can modify these attributes for a specific multipath device by creating an entry for that device in the m ultipaths section of the multipath configuration file. For information on the m ultipaths section of the multipath configuration file, see Section 4.4, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes.

2.4. Multipath Devices in Logical Volumes

After creating multipath devices, you can use the multipath device names just as you would use a

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physical device name when creating an LVM physical volume. For example, if /dev/m apper/m path0 is the name of a multipath device, the following command will mark /dev/m apper/m path0 as a physical volume.
pvcreate /dev/mapper/mpath0

You can use the resulting LVM physical device when you create an LVM volume group just as you would use any other LVM physical device.

Note
If you attempt to create an LVM physical volume on a whole device on which you have configured partitions, the pvcreate command will fail. Note that the Anaconda and Kickstart installation programs create empty partition tables if you do not specify otherwise for every block device. If you wish to use the whole device rather than a partition, you must remove the existing partitions from the device. You can remove existing partitions with the kpartx -d and the fdisk commands. If your system has block devices that are greater that 2T b, you can use the parted command to remove partitions. When you create an LVM logical volume that uses active/passive multipath arrays as the underlying physical devices, you should include filters in the lvm .conf to exclude the disks that underlie the multipath devices. T his is because if the array automatically changes the active path to the passive path when it receives I/O, multipath will failover and failback whenever LVM scans the passive path if these devices are not filtered. For active/passive arrays that require a command to make the passive path active, LVM prints a warning message when this occurs. T o filter all SCSI devices in the LVM configuration file (lvm .conf ), include the following filter in the devices section of the file.
filter = [ "r/disk/", "r/sd.*/", "a/.*/" ]

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Chapter 3. Setting Up D M-Multipath

Chapter 3. Setting Up DM-Multipath

T his chapter provides step-by-step example procedures for configuring DM-Multipath. It includes the following procedures: Basic DM-Multipath setup Ignoring local disks Adding more devices to the configuration file

3.1. Setting Up DM-Multipath

Before setting up DM-Multipath on your system, ensure that your system has been updated and includes the device-m apper-m ultipath package. Use the following procedure to set up DM-Multipath for a basic failover configuration. 1. Edit the /etc/m ultipath.conf file by commenting out the following lines at the top of the file. T his section of the configuration file, in its initial state, blacklists all devices. You must comment it out to enable multipathing.
blacklist { devnode "*" }

After commenting out those lines, this section appears as follows.

# blacklist { # devnode "*" # }

2. T he default settings for DM-Multipath are compiled in to the system and do not need to be explicitly set in the /etc/m ultipath.conf file. T he default value of path_grouping_policy is set to failover , so in this example you do not need to change the default value. For information on changing the values in the configuration file to something other than the defaults, see Chapter 4, The DM-Multipath Configuration File. T he initial defaults section of the configuration file configures your system that the names of the multipath devices are of the form m path n; without this setting, the names of the multipath devices would be aliased to the WWID of the device. 3. Save the configuration file and exit the editor. 4. Execute the following commands:
modprobe dm-multipath service multipathd start multipath -v2

T he m ultipath -v2 command prints out multipathed paths that show which devices are multipathed. If the command does not print anything out, ensure that all SAN connections are set up properly and the system is multipathed. For further information on the m ultipath command output, see Section 5.5, Multipath Command Output. 5. Execute the following command to ensure sure that the multipath daemon starts on bootup:
chkconfig multipathd on

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Since the value of user_friendly_nam e is set to yes in the configuration file the multipath devices will be created as /dev/m apper/m path n. For information on setting the name of the device to an alias of your choosing, see Chapter 4, The DM-Multipath Configuration File.

3.2. Ignoring Local Disks when Generating Multipath Devices

Some machines have local SCSI cards for their internal disks. DM-Multipath is not recommended for these devices. T he following procedure shows how to modify the multipath configuration file to ignore the local disks when configuring multipath. 1. Determine which disks are the internal disks and mark them as the ones to blacklist. In this example, /dev/sda is the internal disk. Note that as originally configured in the default multipath configuration file, executing the m ultipath -v2 shows the local disk, /dev/sda , in the multipath map. For further information on the m ultipath command output, see Section 5.5, Multipath Command Output.
[root@rh4cluster1 ~]# multipath -v2 create: SIBM-ESXSST336732LC____F3ET0EP0Q000072428BX1 [size=33 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 \_ 0:0:0:0 sda 8:0 [--------device-mapper ioctl cmd 9 failed: Invalid argument device-mapper ioctl cmd 14 failed: No such device or address create: 3600a0b80001327d80000006d43621677 [size=12 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 \_ 2:0:0:0 sdb 8:16 \_ 3:0:0:0 sdf 8:80 create: 3600a0b80001327510000009a436215ec [size=12 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 \_ 2:0:0:1 sdc 8:32 \_ 3:0:0:1 sdg 8:96 create: 3600a0b80001327d800000070436216b3 [size=12 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 \_ 2:0:0:2 sdd 8:48 \_ 3:0:0:2 sdh 8:112 create: 3600a0b80001327510000009b4362163e [size=12 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 \_ 2:0:0:3 sde 8:64 \_ 3:0:0:3 sdi 8:128

2. In order to prevent the device mapper from mapping /dev/sda in its multipath maps, edit the blacklist section of the /etc/m ultipath.conf file to include this device. Although you could blacklist the sda device using a devnode type, that would not be safe procedure since /dev/sda is not guaranteed to be the same on reboot. T o blacklist individual devices, you can blacklist using the WWID of that device. Note that in the output to the m ultipath -v2 command, the WWID of the /dev/sda device is SIBM-ESXSST 336732LC____F3ET 0EP0Q000072428BX1. T o blacklist this device, include the following in the /etc/m ultipath.conf file.

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Chapter 3. Setting Up D M-Multipath

blacklist { wwid SIBM-ESXSST336732LC____F3ET0EP0Q000072428BX1 }

3. After you have updated the /etc/m ultipath.conf file, you must manually tell the m ultipathd daemon to reload the file. T he following command reloads the updated /etc/m ultipath.conf file.
service multipathd reload

4. Run the following commands:

multipath -F multipath -v2

T he local disk or disks should no longer be listed in the new multipath maps, as shown in the following example.
[root@rh4cluster1 ~]# multipath -F [root@rh4cluster1 ~]# multipath -v2 create: 3600a0b80001327d80000006d43621677 [size=12 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 \_ 2:0:0:0 sdb 8:16 \_ 3:0:0:0 sdf 8:80 create: 3600a0b80001327510000009a436215ec [size=12 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 \_ 2:0:0:1 sdc 8:32 \_ 3:0:0:1 sdg 8:96 create: 3600a0b80001327d800000070436216b3 [size=12 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 \_ 2:0:0:2 sdd 8:48 \_ 3:0:0:2 sdh 8:112 create: 3600a0b80001327510000009b4362163e [size=12 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 \_ 2:0:0:3 sde 8:64 \_ 3:0:0:3 sdi 8:128

3.3. Adding Devices to the Multipathing Database

By default, DM-Multipath includes support for the most common storage arrays that support DMMultipath. T he default configuration values, including supported devices, can be found in the m ultipath.conf.defaults file. If you need to add a storage device that is not supported by default as a known multipath device, edit the /etc/m ultipath.conf file and insert the appropriate device information. For example, to add information about the HP Open-V series the entry looks like this:

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devices { device { vendor "HP" product "OPEN-V." getuid_callout "/sbin/scsi_id -g -u -p0x80 -s /block/%n" } }

For more information on the devices section of the configuration file, see Section 4.5, Configuration File Devices.

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Chapter 4. The D M-Multipath Configuration File

Chapter 4. The DM-Multipath Configuration File

By default, DM-Multipath provides configuration values for the most common uses of multipathing. In addition, DM-Multipath includes support for the most common storage arrays that support DM-Multipath. T he default configuration values and the supported devices can be found in the /usr/share/doc/device-m apper-m ultipath-0.4 .7/m ultipath.conf.defaults file. You can override the default configuration values for DM-Multipath by editing the /etc/m ultipath.conf configuration file. If necessary, you can also add a storage array that is not supported by default to the configuration file. T his chapter provides information on parsing and modifying the m ultipath.conf file. It contains sections on the following topics: Configuration file overview Configuration file blacklist Configuration file defaults Configuration file multipaths Configuration file devices In the multipath configuration file, you need to specify only the sections that you need for your configuration, or that you wish to change from the default values specified in the m ultipath.conf.defaults file. If there are sections of the file that are not relevant to your environment or for which you do not need to override the default values, you can leave them commented out, as they are in the initial file. T he configuration file allows regular expression description syntax. An annotated version of the configuration file can be found in /usr/share/doc/device-m apperm ultipathd-0.4 .7/m ultipath.conf.annotated .

4.1. Configuration File Overview

T he multipath configuration file is divided into the following sections: blacklist Listing of specific devices that will not be considered for multipath. By default all devices are blacklisted. Usually the default blacklist section is commented out. blacklist_exceptions Listing of multipath candidates that would otherwise be blacklisted according to the parameters of the blacklist section. defaults General default settings for DM-Multipath. multipaths Settings for the characteristics of individual multipath devices. T hese values overwrite what is specified in the defaults and devices sections of the configuration file. devices

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23

Settings for the individual storage controllers. T hese values overwrite what is specified in the defaults section of the configuration file. If you are using a storage array that is not supported by default, you may need to create a devices subsection for your array.

When the system determines the attributes of a multipath device, first it checks the multipath settings, then the per devices settings, then the multipath system defaults.

4.2. Configuration File Blacklist

T he blacklist section of the multipath configuration file specifies the devices that will not be used when the system configures multipath devices. Devices that are blacklisted will not be grouped into a multipath device. By default, all devices are blacklisted, since the following lines appear in the initial configuration file.
blacklist { devnode "*" }

T o enable multipathing on all of the devices that are supported by default, comment out those lines, as described in Section 3.1, Setting Up DM-Multipath. After commenting out the universal blacklist, you can specify general device types and individual devices to blacklist. You can blacklist devices according to the following criteria: By WWID, as described in Section 4.2.1, Blacklisting by WWID By device name, as described in Section 4.2.2, Blacklisting By Device Name By device type, as described in Section 4.2.3, Blacklisting By Device T ype By default, a variety of device types are blacklisted, even after you comment out the initial blacklist section of the configuration file. For information, see Section 4.2.2, Blacklisting By Device Name. 4 .2.1. Blacklisting by WWID You can specify individual devices to blacklist by their World-Wide IDentification with a wwid entry in the blacklist section of the configuration file. T he following example shows the lines in the configuration file that would blacklist a device with a WWID of 26353900f02796769.
blacklist { wwid 26353900f02796769 }

4 .2.2. Blacklisting By Device Name You can blacklist device types by device name so that they will not be grouped into a multipath device by specifying a devnode entry in the blacklist section of the configuration file. T he following example shows the lines in the configuration file that would blacklist all SCSI devices, since it blacklists all sd* devices.

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Chapter 4. The D M-Multipath Configuration File

blacklist { devnode "^sd[a-z]" }

You can use a devnode entry in the blacklist section of the configuration file to specify individual devices to blacklist rather than all devices of specific type; this is not recommended, however. Unless it is statically mapped by udev rules, there is no guarantee that a specific device will have the same name on reboot. For example, a device name could change from /dev/sda to /dev/sdb on reboot. By default, the following devnode entries are compiled in the default blacklist; the devices that these entries blacklist do not generally support DM-Multipath. T o enable multipathing on any of these devices, you would need to specify them in the blacklist_exceptions section of the configuration file, as described in Section 4.2.4, Blacklist Exceptions.
blacklist { devnode "^(ram|raw|loop|fd|md|dm-|sr|scd|st)[0-9]*" devnode "^hd[a-z]" }

4 .2.3. Blacklisting By Device T ype You can specify specific device types in the blacklist section of the configuration file with a device section. T he following example blacklists all IBM DS4200 and HP devices.
blacklist { device { vendor "IBM" product "3S42" } device { vendor "HP" product "*" } } #DS4200 Product 10

4 .2.4 . Blacklist Exceptions You can use the blacklist_exceptions section of the configuration file to enable multipathing on devices that have been blacklisted by default. For example, by default, devices with vendor = "IBM" and product = "S/390.*" are blacklisted since usually DASD devices are used for local storage. If you do need to enable multipathing on these devices, uncomment the following lines in the configuration file:
blacklist_exceptions { device { vendor "IBM" product "S/390.*" } }

When specifying devices in the blacklist_exceptions section of the configuration file, you must specify the exceptions in the same way they were specified in the blacklist. For example, a WWID exception will not apply to devices specified by a devnode blacklist entry, even if the blacklisted device is associated with that WWID. Similarly, devnode exceptions apply only to devnode entries, and device exceptions apply only to device entries.

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4.3. Configuration File Defaults

T he /etc/m ultipath.conf configuration file includes a defaults section that sets the user_friendly_nam es parameter to yes, as follows.
defaults { user_friendly_names yes }

T his overwrites the default value of the user_friendly_nam es parameter. T he configuration file includes a template of configuration defaults. T his section is commented out, as follows.
#defaults { # udev_dir # polling_interval # selector # path_grouping_policy # getuid_callout # prio_callout # path_checker # rr_min_io # max_fds # rr_weight # failback # no_path_retry # user_friendly_names #}

/dev 10 "round-robin 0" multibus "/sbin/scsi_id -g -u -s /block/%n" /bin/true readsector0 100 8192 priorities immediate fail yes

T o overwrite the default value for any of the configuration parameters, you can copy the relevant line from this template into the defaults section and uncomment it. For example, to overwrite the path_grouping_policy parameter so that it is m ultibus rather than the default value of failover , copy the appropriate line from the template to the initial defaults section of the configuration file, and uncomment it, as follows.
defaults { user_friendly_names path_grouping_policy }

yes multibus

T able 4.1, Multipath Configuration Defaults describes the attributes that are set in the defaults section of the m ultipath.conf configuration file. T hese values are used by DM-Multipath unless they are overwritten by the attributes specified in the devices and m ultipaths sections of the m ultipath.conf file.

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Chapter 4. The D M-Multipath Configuration File

T able 4 .1. Multipath Configuration Defaults Attribute udev_dir verbosity Description Specifies the directory where udev device nodes are created. T he default value is /udev. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) Specifies the verbosity level of the command. It can be overridden by the -v command line option. T he default value is 2. Specifies the interval between two path checks in seconds. T he default value is 5. Specifies the default algorithm to use in determining what path to use for the next I/O operation. T he default value is round-robin 0 . selector and path_selector have the same meaning; the path_selection attribute is supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 and later. Specifies the default path grouping policy to apply to unspecified multipaths. Possible values include: failover = 1 path per priority group m ultibus = all valid paths in 1 priority group group_by_serial = 1 priority group per detected serial number group_by_prio = 1 priority group per path priority value group_by_node_nam e = 1 priority group per target node name T he default value is failover . getuid_callout Specifies the default program and arguments to call out to obtain a unique path identifier. An absolute path is required. T his parameter accepts the following wildcard values: %n : replaced with the device name as it appears in sysfs. %c : replaced with the device name as it appears in /dev (this is different than the sysfs name for CCISS devices). (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 and later) %d : replaced with major_nr:minor_nr %h : replaced with host_nr :bus_nr :target_nr :lun_nr . T he default value of getuid_callout is /sbin/scsi_id -g u -s /block/%n . prio_callout Specifies the default program and arguments to call out to obtain a path weight. Weights are summed for each path group to determine the next path group to use in case of failure. "none" is a valid value. T his parameter accepts the same wildcard values as getuid_callout. Specifies the default method used to determine the state of the paths. Possible values include: readsector0 , rdac , tur ,

polling_interval selector, path_selector

path_grouping_policy

path_checker

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cciss_tur , hp_tur (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 and later), em c_clariion , hp_sw, and directio . T he default value is readsector0 . features T he extra features of multipath devices. T he only existing feature is queue_if_no_path , which is the same as setting no_path_retry to queue . For information on issues that may arise when using this feature, see Section 5.4, Issues with queue_if_no_path feature. Specifies the number of I/O requests to route to a path before switching to the next path in the current path group. T he default value is 1000 . (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 and later) Sets the maximum number of open file descriptors for the m ultipathd process. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3, this option allows a value of m ax, which sets the number of open file descriptors to the system maximum. As of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 release, the default value is m ax, which sets this to the system limit from /proc/sys/fs/nr_open . For earlier releases, if this is not set the maximum number of open file descriptors is taken from the calling process; it is usually 1024. T o be safe, this should be set to the maximum number of paths plus 32, if that number is greater than 1024. If set to priorities, then instead of sending rr_m in_io requests to a path before calling selector or path_selector to choose the next path, the number of requests to send is determined by rr_m in_io times the path's priority, as determined by the prio_callout program. Currently, there are priority callouts only for devices that use the group_by_prio path grouping policy, which means that all the paths in a path group will always have the same priority. If set to uniform , all path weights are equal. T he default value is uniform . failback Specifies path group failback. A value of 0 or im m ediate specifies that as soon as there is a path group with a higher priority than the current path group the system switches to that path group. A numeric value greater than zero specifies deferred failback, expressed in seconds. A value of m anual specifies that failback can happen only with operator intervention. T he default value is m anual . no_path_retry A numeric value for this attribute specifies the number of times the system should attempt to use a failed path before disabling queueing. A value of fail indicates immediate failure, without queueing. A value of queue indicates that queueing should not stop until the

rr_m in_io

m ax_fds

rr_weight

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Chapter 4. The D M-Multipath Configuration File

path is fixed. flush_on_last_del (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) If set to yes, the m ultipathd daemon will disable queueing when the last path to a device has been deleted. T he default value is no . (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) If set to no , the m ultipathd daemon will disable queueing for all devices when it is shut down. As of Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 5.9, the default value is no ; for earlier releases, the default value is yes. If set to yes, specifies that the system should using the bindings file to assign a persistent and unique alias to the multipath, in the form of m path n. T he default location of the bindings file is /var/lib/m ultipath/bindings, but this can be changed with the bindings_file option. If set to no , specifies that the system should use the WWID as the alias for the multipath. In either case, what is specified here will be overridden by any device-specific aliases you specify in the m ultipaths section of the configuration file. T he default value is no . (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 and later) T he location of the bindings file that is used with the user_friendly_nam es option. T he default value is /var/lib/m ultipath/bindings. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) T he mode to use for the multipath device nodes, in octal. T he default value is determined by the process. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) T he user ID to use for the multipath device nodes. You must use the numeric user ID. T he default value is determined by the process. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) T he group ID to use for the multipath device nodes. You must use the numeric group ID. T he default value is determined by the process. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 and later) T he timeout value to use for path checkers that issue SCSI commands with an explicit timeout, in seconds. T he default value is taken from sys/block/sd x/device/tim eout. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 and later) If set to avg , sets the priority of path groups to the average of the priorities of the included paths. If set to sum , sets the priority of path groups to the sum of the priorities of the included paths. As of Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 5.9, the default value is avg ; for earlier releases, the default value is sum . (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 and later) If set to once , a path checker error is logged once at logging level 2 and any later errors are logged at level 3 until the device is restored. If set to always, every path checker error is logged at logging level 2. T he default value is always. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7 and later) T he number of seconds the SCSI layer will wait after a problem has been detected on an FC remote port before failing I/O to devices on that remote port. T his value should be smaller than the value of dev_loss_tm o . Setting this to off will disable the timeout. T he default value is determined by the OS. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7 and later) T he number of seconds

queue_without_daem on

user_friendly_nam es

bindings_file

m ode

uid

gid

checker_tim eout

pg_prio_calc

log_checker_err

fast_io_fail_tm o

dev_loss_tm o

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29

the SCSI layer will wait after a problem has been detected on an FC remote port before removing it from the system. T he default value is determined by the OS. file_tim eout (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7 and later) T he number of seconds multipath will wait for a necessary file to appear while setting up a multipath device. T he default value is 90 .

4.4. Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes

T able 4.2, Multipath Attributes shows the attributes that you can set in the m ultipaths section of the m ultipath.conf configuration file for each specific multipath device. T hese attributes apply only to the one specified multipath. T hese defaults are used by DM-Multipath and override attributes set in the defaults and devices sections of the m ultipath.conf file.

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Chapter 4. The D M-Multipath Configuration File

T able 4 .2. Multipath Attributes Attribute wwid alias path_grouping_policy Description Specifies the WWID of the multipath device to which the m ultipath attributes apply. Specifies the symbolic name for the multipath device to which the m ultipath attributes apply. Specifies the default path grouping policy to apply to unspecified multipaths. Possible values include: failover = 1 path per priority group m ultibus = all valid paths in 1 priority group group_by_serial = 1 priority group per detected serial number group_by_prio = 1 priority group per path priority value group_by_node_nam e = 1 priority group per target node name prio_callout Specifies the default program and arguments to call out to obtain a path weight. Weights are summed for each path group to determine the next path group to use in case of failure. "none" is a valid value. Specifies the default algorithm to use in determining what path to use for the next I/O operation. Specifies path group failback. A value of 0 or im m ediate specifies that as soon as there is a path group with a higher priority than the current path group the system switches to that path group. A numeric value greater than zero specifies deferred failback, expressed in seconds. A value of m anual specifies that failback can happen only with operator intervention. rr_weight If set to priorities, then instead of sending rr_m in_io requests to a path before calling selector to choose the next path, the number of requests to send is determined by rr_m in_io times the path's priority, as determined by the prio_callout program. Currently, there are priority callouts only for devices that use the group_by_prio path grouping policy, which means that all the paths in a path group will always have the same priority. If set to uniform , all path weights are equal. no_path_retry A numeric value for this attribute specifies the number of times the system should attempt to use a failed path before disabling queueing. A value of fail indicates immediate failure, without queueing. A value of queue indicates that queueing should not stop until the path is fixed.

path_selector failback

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user_friendly_nam es

If set to yes, specifies that the system should use the /etc/m ultipath/bindings file to assign a persistent and unique alias to the multipath, in the form of m path n. If set to no , specifies that the system should use use the WWID as the alias for the multipath. In either case, what is specified here will be overridden by any device-specific aliases you specify with the alias attribute for a specific multipath device. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) If set to yes, the m ultipathd daemon will disable queueing when the last path to a device has been deleted. Specifies the number of I/O requests to route to a path before switching to the next path in the current path group. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) T he mode to use for the multipath device nodes, in octal. T he default value is determined by the process. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) T he user ID to use for the multipath device nodes. You must use the numeric user ID. T he default value is determined by the process. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) T he group ID to use for the multipath device nodes. You must use the numeric group ID. T he default value is determined by the process.

flush_on_last_del

rr_m in_io m ode

uid

gid

T he following example shows multipath attributes specified in the configuration file for two specific multipath devices. T he first device has a WWID of 3600508b4 000156d70001200000b0000 and a symbolic name of yellow. T he second multipath device in the example has a WWID of 1DEC_____3218167584 74 and a symbolic name of red . In this example, the rr_weight attributes is set to priorities.
multipaths { multipath { wwid alias path_grouping_policy path_selector failback rr_weight no_path_retry } multipath { wwid alias rr_weight } }

3600508b4000156d70001200000b0000 yellow multibus "round-robin 0" manual priorities 5

1DEC_____321816758474 red priorities

4.5. Configuration File Devices

T able 4.3, Device Attributes shows the attributes that you can set for each individual storage device in the devices section of the m ultipath.conf configuration file. T hese attributes are used by DMMultipath unless they are overwritten by the attributes specified in the m ultipaths section of the m ultipath.conf file for paths that contain the device. T hese attributes override the attributes set in the defaults section of the m ultipath.conf file.

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Chapter 4. The D M-Multipath Configuration File

Many devices that support multipathing are included by default in a multipath configuration. T he values for the devices that are supported by default are listed in the m ultipath.conf.defaults file. You probably will not need to modify the values for these devices, but if you do you can overwrite the default values by including an entry in the configuration file for the device that overwrites those values. You can copy the device configuration defaults from the m ultipath.conf.defaults file for the device and override the values that you want to change. T o add a device to this section of the configuration file that is not configured automatically by default, you need to set the vendor and product parameters. You can find these values by looking at /sys/block/device_name/device/vendor and /sys/block/device_name/device/m odel where device_name is the device to be multipathed, as in the following example:
# cat /sys/block/sda/device/vendor WINSYS # cat /sys/block/sda/device/model SF2372

T he additional parameters to specify depend on your specific device. If the device is active/active, you will usually not need to set additional parameters. You may want to set path_grouping_policy to m ultibus. Other parameters you may need to set are no_path_retry and rr_m in_io , as described in T able 4.3, Device Attributes. If the device is active/passive, but it automatically switches paths with I/O to the passive path, you need to change the checker function to one that does not send I/O to the path to test if it is working (otherwise, your device will keep failing over). T his almost always means that you set the path_checker to tur ; this works for all SCSI devices that support the T est Unit Ready command, which most do. If the device needs a special command to switch paths, then configuring this device for multipath requires a hardware handler kernel module. T he current hardware handlers are em c and rdac . If these are not sufficient for your device, you may not be able to configure the device for multipath.

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T able 4 .3. Device Attributes Attribute vendor product path_grouping_policy Description Specifies the vendor name of the storage device to which the device attributes apply, for example COMPAQ . Specifies the product name of the storage device to which the device attributes apply, for example HSV110 (C)COMPAQ . Specifies the default path grouping policy to apply to unspecified multipaths. Possible values include: failover = 1 path per priority group m ultibus = all valid paths in 1 priority group group_by_serial = 1 priority group per detected serial number group_by_prio = 1 priority group per path priority value group_by_node_nam e = 1 priority group per target node name getuid_callout Specifies the default program and arguments to call out to obtain a unique path identifier. An absolute path is required. T his parameter accepts the following wildcard values: %n : replaced with the device name as it appears in sysfs. %c : replaced with the device name as it appears in /dev (this is different than the sysfs name for CCISS devices). (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 and later) %d : replaced with major_nr:minor_nr %h : replaced with host_nr:bus_nr:target_nr:lun_nr. prio_callout Specifies the default program and arguments to call out to obtain a path weight. Weights are summed for each path group to determine the next path group to use in case of failure. "none" is a valid value. T his parameter accepts the same wildcard values as getuid_callout. Specifies the default method used to determine the state of the paths. Possible values include readsector0 , rdac , tur , cciss_tur , hp_tur , em c_clariion , hp_sw, and directio . Specifies the default algorithm to use in determining what path to use for the next I/O operation. T he extra features of multipath devices. T he only existing feature is queue_if_no_path , which is the same as setting no_path_retry to queue . For information on issues that may arise when using this feature, see Section 5.4, Issues with queue_if_no_path feature. Specifies a module that will be used to perform hardware specific actions when switching path groups or handling I/O errors. Possible values include 0 , 1 em c , and 1 rdac . T he default value is 0 . If set to priorities, then instead of sending rr_m in_io

path_checker

path_selector features

hardware_handler

rr_weight

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Chapter 4. The D M-Multipath Configuration File

requests to a path before calling selector to choose the next path, the number of requests to send is determined by rr_m in_io times the path's priority, as determined by the prio_callout program. Currently, there are priority callouts only for devices that use the group_by_prio path grouping policy, which means that all the paths in a path group will always have the same priority. If set to uniform , all path weights are equal. no_path_retry A numeric value for this attribute specifies the number of times the system should attempt to use a failed path before disabling queueing. A value of fail indicates immediate failure, without queueing. A value of queue indicates that queueing should not stop until the path is fixed. failback Specifies path group failback. A value of 0 or im m ediate specifies that as soon as there is a path group with a higher priority than the current path group the system switches to that path group. A numeric value greater than zero specifies deferred failback, expressed in seconds. A value of m anual specifies that failback can happen only with operator intervention. rr_m in_io fast_io_fail_tm o Specifies the number of I/O requests to route to a path before switching to the next path in the current path group. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 5.7 and later) T he number of seconds the SCSI layer will wait after a problem has been detected on an FC remote port before failing I/O to devices on that remote port. T his value should be smaller than the value of dev_loss_tm o . Setting this to off will disable the timeout. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 5.7 and later) T he number of seconds the SCSI layer will wait after a problem has been detected on an FC remote port before removing it from the system. (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 and later) If set to yes, the m ultipathd daemon will disable queueing when the last path to a device has been deleted. If set to yes, specifies that the system should use the /etc/m ultipath/bindings file to assign a persistent and unique alias to the multipath, in the form of m path n. If set to no , specifies that the system should use use the WWID as the alias for the multipath. In either case, what is specified here will be overridden by any device-specific aliases you specify in the m ultipaths section of the configuration file. Specifies a regular expression used to blacklist devices by product.

dev_loss_tm o

flush_on_last_del

user_friendly_nam es

product_blacklist

T he following example shows a device entry in the multipath configuration file.

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# } # device { # vendor "COMPAQ " # product "MSA1000 " # path_grouping_policy multibus # path_checker tur # rr_weight priorities # } #}

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Chapter 5. D M-Multipath Administration and Troubleshooting

Chapter 5. DM-Multipath Administration and Troubleshooting

T his chapter will provide information on administering DM-Multipath on a running system. It includes sections on the following topics: Resizing an Online Multipath Device T he Multipath Daemon Issues with Large Number of LUNs Issues with queue_if_no_path feature Multipath Command Output Multipath Queries with multipath Command Multipath Command Options Multipath Queries with dmsetup Command T roubleshooting with the multipathd Interactive Console

5.1. Resizing an Online Multipath Device

If you need to resize an online multipath device, use the following procedure. 1. Resize your physical device. 2. Use the following command to find the paths to the LUN:
# multipath -l

3. Resize your paths. For SCSI devices, writing a 1 to the rescan file for the device causes the SCSI driver to rescan, as in the following command:
# echo 1 > /sys/block/device_name/device/rescan

4. Resize your multipath device by running the multipathd resize command:

# multipathd -k'resize map mpath0'

5. Resize the filesystem (assuming no LVM or DOS partitions are used):

# resize2fs /dev/mapper/mpath0

For further information on resizing an online LUN, see the Online Storage Reconfiguration Guide.

5.2. The Multipath Daemon

If you find you have trouble implementing a multipath configuration, you should ensure that the multipath daemon is running, as described in Chapter 3, Setting Up DM-Multipath. T he m ultipathd daemon must be running in order to use multipathed devices.

5.3. Issues with Large Number of LUNs

When a large number of LUNs are added to a node, using multipathed devices can significantly increase the time it takes for the udev device manager to create device nodes for them. If you experience this problem, you can correct it by deleting the following line in /etc/udev/rules.d/4 0m ultipath.rules:

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37

KERNEL!="dm-[0-9]*", ACTION=="add", PROGRAM=="/bin/bash -c '/sbin/lsmod | /bin/grep ^dm_multipath'", RUN+="/sbin/multipath -v0 %M:%m"

T his line causes the udev device manager to run m ultipath every time a block device is added to the node. Even with this line removed, the m ultipathd daemon will still automatically create multipathed devices, and m ultipath will still be called during the boot process for nodes with multipathed root file systems. T he only change is that multipathed devices will not be automatically created when the m ultipathd daemon is not running, which should not be a problem for the vast majority of multipath users.

5.4. Issues with queue_if_no_path feature

If features "1 queue_if_no_path" is specified in the /etc/m ultipath.conf file, then any process that issues I/O will hang until one or more paths are restored. T o avoid this, set the no_path_retry N parameter in the /etc/m ultipath.conf file (where N is the number of times the system should retry a path). When you set the no_path_retry parameter, remove the features "1 queue_if_no_path" option from the /etc/m ultipath.conf file as well. If, however, you are using a multipathed device for which the features "1 queue_if_no_path" option is set as a compiled-in default, as it is for many SAN devices, you must explicitly add features "0" to override this default. You can do this by copying the existing devices section for your device from /usr/share/doc/device-m apper-m ultipath0.4 .7/m ultipath.conf.defaults into /etc/m ultipath.conf and editing it to suit your needs. If you need to use the features "1 queue_if_no_path" option and you experience the issue noted here, use the dm setup command to edit the policy at runtime for a particular LUN (that is, for which all the paths are unavailable). For example, if you want to change the policy on the multipath device m path2 from "queue_if_no_path" to "fail_if_no_path" , execute the following command.
dmsetup message mpath2 0 "fail_if_no_path"

Note that you must specify the m path n alias rather than the path.

5.5. Multipath Command Output

When you create, modify, or list a multipath device, you get a printout of the current device setup. T he format is as follows. For each multipath device:
action_if_any: alias (wwid_if_different_from_alias) [size][features][hardware_handler]

For each path group:

\_ scheduling_policy [path_group_priority_if_known] [path_group_status_if_known]

For each path:

\_ host:channel:id:lun devnode major:minor [path_status] [dm_status_if_known]

For example, the output of a multipath command might appear as follows:

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Chapter 5. D M-Multipath Administration and Troubleshooting

mpath1 (3600d0230003228bc000339414edb8101) [size=10 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][active] \_ 2:0:0:6 sdb 8:16 [active][ready] \_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][enabled] \_ 3:0:0:6 sdc 8:64 [active][ready]

If the path is up and ready for I/O, the status of the path is ready or active . If the path is down, the status is faulty or failed . T he path status is updated periodically by the m ultipathd daemon based on the polling interval defined in the /etc/m ultipath.conf file. T he dm status is similar to the path status, but from the kernel's point of view. T he dm status has two states: failed , which is analogous to faulty, and active which covers all other path states. Occasionally, the path state and the dm state of a device will temporarily not agree.

Note
When a multipath device is being created or modified, the path group status and the dm status are not known. Also, the features are not always correct. When a multipath device is being listed, the path group priority is not known.

5.6. Multipath Queries with multipath Command

You can use the -l and -ll options of the m ultipath command to display the current multipath configuration. T he -l option displays multipath topology gathered from information in sysfs and the device mapper. T he -ll option displays the information the -l displays in addition to all other available components of the system. When displaying the multipath configuration, there are three verbosity levels you can specify with the -v option of the m ultipath command. Specifying -v0 yields no output. Specifying -v1 outputs the created or updated multipath names only, which you can then feed to other tools such as kpartx. Specifying v2 prints all detected paths, multipaths, and device maps. T he following example shows the output of a m ultipath -l command.
# multipath -l mpath1 (3600d0230003228bc000339414edb8101) [size=10 GB][features="0"][hwhandler="0"] \_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][active] \_ 2:0:0:6 sdb 8:16 [active][ready] \_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][enabled] \_ 3:0:0:6 sdc 8:64 [active][ready]

5.7. Multipath Command Options

T able 5.1, Useful m ultipath Command Options describes some options of the m ultipath command that you may find useful.

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T able 5.1. Useful m ultipath Command Options Option -l -ll -f device -F Description Display the current multipath configuration gathered from sysfs and the device mapper. Display the current multipath configuration gathered from sysfs, the device mapper, and all other available components on the system. Remove the named multipath device. Remove all unused multipath devices.

5.8. Determining Device Mapper Entries with the dmsetup Command

You can use the dm setup command to find out which device mapper entries match the multipathed devices. T he following command displays all the device mapper devices and their major and minor numbers. T he minor numbers determine the name of the dm device. For example, a minor number of 3 corresponds to the multipathed device /dev/dm -3 .
# dmsetup ls mpath2 (253, 4) mpath4p1 (253, mpath5p1 (253, mpath1 (253, 3) mpath6p1 (253, mpath7p1 (253, mpath0 (253, 2) mpath7 (253, 9) mpath6 (253, 8) VolGroup00-LogVol01 mpath5 (253, 7) VolGroup00-LogVol00 mpath4 (253, 6) mpath1p1 (253, mpath3 (253, 5)

12) 11) 14) 13)

(253, 1) (253, 0) 10)

5.9. Troubleshooting with the multipathd Interactive Console

T he m ultipathd -k command is an interactive interface to the m ultipathd daemon. Entering this command brings up an interactive multipath console. After entering this command, you can enter help to get a list of available commands, you can enter a interactive command, or you can enter CT RL-D to quit. T he m ultipathd interactive console can be used to troubleshoot problems you may be having with your system. For example, the following command sequence displays the multipath configuration, including the defaults, before exiting the console.
# multipathd -k > > show config > > CTRL-D

T he following command sequence ensures that multipath has picked up any changes to the m ultipath.conf ,

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Chapter 5. D M-Multipath Administration and Troubleshooting

# multipathd -k > > reconfigure > > CTRL-D

Use the following command sequence to ensure that the path checker is working properly.
# multipathd -k > > show paths > > CTRL-D

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 D M Multipath

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Revision History
Revision 7.0-7 Fri Jan 4 2013 Version for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 GA release Revision 7.0-6 Fri Aug 24 2012 Beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 Corrects small capitalization error. Revision 7.0-2 T hu Aug 9 2012 Fixes error in Multipath Attributes table. Steven Levine Steven Levine

Steven Levine

Revision 7.0-1 T ue Jul 31 2012 Steven Levine Resolves: #839007 Documents support for user_friendly_names and flush_on_last_del in multipaths and devices section of multipath configuration file. Updates documentation of default values. Revision 6.0-3 T hu Feb 16 2012 Release for GA of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 Revision 6.0-2 T hu Dec 15 2011 Beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8 Steven Levine

Steven Levine

Revision 6.0-1 Wed Nov 16 2011 Steven Levine Resolves: #741463 Documents new parameter support in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8. Resolves: #753942 Corrects description of m ultipath -F parameter. Revision 5.0-1 T hu Jul 21 2011 Initial revision for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7 release Resolves: #703610 Documents new configuration file parameters. Resolves: #510333 Clarifies procedure for maintaining consistent device names across a cluster. Revision 4 .0-1 T hu Dec 23 2010 Initial revision for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 release Steven Levine Steven Levine

Resolves: #661532 Updates configuration file documentation to include Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 options and parameters. Resolves: #654525 Corrects small typos in document. Revision 3.0-1 Wed Mar 10 2010 Initial revision for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 release Steven Levine

42

Index

Resolves: #561167 Updates configuration file documentation to include Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 options and parameters. Resolves: #541836 Fixes minor typos. Resolves: #541836 Fixes minor typo. Revision 2.0-1 T ue Aug 18 2009 Initial revision for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 release Steven Levine

Resolves: #466970 Adds note clarifying that if a multipathed device contains partitions, you cannot create a logical volume using the whole device without removing the partitions. Resolves #513330 Elaborates documentation to address issues with queue_if_no_path features option. Resolves #510707 Adds a procedure for resizing online multipath devices. Resolves #498986 Fixes minor typo. Resolves #498988 Fixes minor typo. Revision 1.0-1 First version T hu Jan 29 2009

Index
Symbols
/etc/multipath.conf package, Setting Up DM-Multipath

A
active/active configuration - definition, Overview of DM-Multipath - illustration, Overview of DM-Multipath

active/passive configuration - definition, Overview of DM-Multipath - illustration, Overview of DM-Multipath

alias parameter , Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes - configuration file, Multipath Device Identifiers

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43

B
bindings_file parameter, Configuration File Defaults blacklist configuration file, Configuration File Blacklist default devices, Blacklisting By Device Name device name, Blacklisting By Device Name device type, Blacklisting By Device T ype in configuration file, Setting Up DM-Multipath WWID, Blacklisting by WWID

blacklist_exceptions section - multipath.conf file, Blacklist Exceptions

C
checker_timeout parameter, Configuration File Defaults chkconfig command, Setting Up DM-Multipath configuration file - alias parameter, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes - bindings_file parameter, Configuration File Defaults - blacklist, Setting Up DM-Multipath, Configuration File Blacklist - checker_timeout parameter, Configuration File Defaults - dev_loss_tmo parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices - failback parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices - fast_io_fail_tmo parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices - features parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices - file_timeout parameter, Configuration File Defaults - flush_on_last_del parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices - getuid_callout parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices - gid parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes - hardware_handler parameter, Configuration File Devices - log_checker_err parameter, Configuration File Defaults - max_fds parameter, Configuration File Defaults - mode parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes - no_path_retry parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices - overview, Configuration File Overview - path_checker parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices - path_grouping_policy parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices - path_selector parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices - pg_prio_calc parameter, Configuration File Defaults - polling-interval parameter, Configuration File Defaults - prio_callout parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices - product parameter, Configuration File Devices - product_blacklist parameter, Configuration File Devices

44

Index

- queue_without_daemon parameter, Configuration File Defaults - rr_min_io parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes - rr_weight parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices - selector parameter, Configuration File Defaults - udev_dir parameter, Configuration File Defaults - uid parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes - user_friendly_names parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices - vendor parameter, Configuration File Devices - verbosity parameter, Configuration File Defaults - wwid parameter, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes

configuring - DM-Multipath, Setting Up DM-Multipath

D
defaults section - multipath.conf file, Configuration File Defaults

dev/mapper directory, Multipath Device Identifiers dev/mpath directory, Multipath Device Identifiers device name, Multipath Device Identifiers device-mapper-multipath package, Setting Up DM-Multipath devices - adding, Adding Devices to the Multipathing Database , Configuration File Devices

devices section - multipath.conf file, Configuration File Devices

dev_loss_tmo parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices DM-Multipath - and LVM, Multipath Devices in Logical Volumes - components, DM-Multipath Components - configuration file, T he DM-Multipath Configuration File - configuring, Setting Up DM-Multipath - definition, Device Mapper Multipathing - device name, Multipath Device Identifiers - devices, Multipath Devices - failover, Overview of DM-Multipath - overview, Overview of DM-Multipath - redundancy, Overview of DM-Multipath - setup, Setting Up DM-Multipath - setup, overview, DM-Multipath Setup Overview

dm-multipath kernel module , DM-Multipath Components

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45

dm-n devices, Multipath Device Identifiers dmsetup command, determining device mapper entries, Determining Device Mapper Entries with the dmsetup Command

F
failback parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices failover, Overview of DM-Multipath fast_io_fail_tmo parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices features parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices feedback, Feedback file_timeout parameter, Configuration File Defaults flush_on_last_del parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices

G
getuid_callout parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices gid parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes

H
hardware_handler parameter, Configuration File Devices

K
kpartx command , DM-Multipath Components

L
local disks, ignoring, Ignoring Local Disks when Generating Multipath Devices log_checker_err parameter, Configuration File Defaults LVM physical volumes - multipath devices, Multipath Devices in Logical Volumes

lvm.conf file , Multipath Devices in Logical Volumes

M
max_fds parameter, Configuration File Defaults mode parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes modprobe command, Setting Up DM-Multipath multipath command , DM-Multipath Components, Setting Up DM-Multipath - options, Multipath Command Options - output, Multipath Command Output - queries, Multipath Queries with multipath Command

multipath daemon (multipathd), T he Multipath Daemon multipath devices, Multipath Devices

46

Index

- logical volumes, Multipath Devices in Logical Volumes - LVM physical volumes, Multipath Devices in Logical Volumes

multipath.conf file, Storage Array Support, T he DM-Multipath Configuration File - blacklist_exceptions section, Blacklist Exceptions - defaults section, Configuration File Defaults - devices section, Configuration File Devices - multipaths section, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes

multipath.conf.annotated file, T he DM-Multipath Configuration File multipath.conf.defaults file, Storage Array Support, T he DM-Multipath Configuration File multipathd - command, T roubleshooting with the multipathd Interactive Console - interactive console, T roubleshooting with the multipathd Interactive Console

multipathd daemon , DM-Multipath Components multipathd start command, Setting Up DM-Multipath multipaths section - multipath.conf file, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes

N
no_path_retry parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices

P
path_checker parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices path_grouping_policy parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices path_selector parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices pg_prio_calc parameter, Configuration File Defaults polling_interval parameter, Configuration File Defaults prio_callout parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices product parameter, Configuration File Devices product_blacklist parameter, Configuration File Devices

Q
queue_without_daemon parameter, Configuration File Defaults

R
resizing a multipath device, Resizing an Online Multipath Device rr_min_io parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 D M Multipath

47

rr_weight parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes, Configuration File Devices

S
selector parameter, Configuration File Defaults setup - DM-Multipath, Setting Up DM-Multipath

storage array support, Storage Array Support storage arrays - adding, Adding Devices to the Multipathing Database , Configuration File Devices

U
udev_dir parameter, Configuration File Defaults uid parameter, Configuration File Defaults, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes user_friendly_names parameter , Multipath Device Identifiers, Configuration File Defaults, Configuration File Devices

V
vendor parameter, Configuration File Devices verbosity parameter, Configuration File Defaults

W
World Wide Identifier (WWID), Multipath Device Identifiers wwid parameter, Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes