topic Activate all paths for a LUN in HPE EVA Storage

Activate all paths for a LUN

Barakati — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:54:47 GMT

Dears,

I have the following output from the SCSIMGR command shows the paths I have and status for each one of them

***********************************************
prod2# scsimgr lun_map -D /dev/rdisk/disk29

LUN PATH INFORMATION FOR LUN : /dev/rdisk/disk29

Total number of LUN paths = 4
World Wide Identifier(WWID) = 0x600508b40006cbf10001600000520000

LUN path : lunpath44
Class = lunpath
Instance = 44
Hardware path = 0/0/12/1/0/4/0.0x50001fe15010d278.0x400300000000
0000
SCSI transport protocol = fibre_channel
State = ACTIVE
Last Open or Close state = ACTIVE

LUN path : lunpath45
Class = lunpath
Instance = 45
Hardware path = 0/0/12/1/0/4/0.0x50001fe15010d27c.0x400300000000
0000
SCSI transport protocol = fibre_channel
State = STANDBY
Last Open or Close state = STANDBY

LUN path : lunpath43
Class = lunpath
Instance = 43
Hardware path = 0/0/14/1/0/4/0.0x50001fe15010d279.0x400300000000
0000
SCSI transport protocol = fibre_channel
State = ACTIVE
Last Open or Close state = ACTIVE

LUN path : lunpath46
Class = lunpath
Instance = 46
Hardware path = 0/0/14/1/0/4/0.0x50001fe15010d27d.0x400300000000
0000
SCSI transport protocol = fibre_channel
State = STANDBY
Last Open or Close state = STANDBY
***********************************************

It is clear that two of them standby and not in use??

Please guys help me to find out how can I make all of them active in order to enhance performance??

Thanx in advance

Re: Activate all paths for a LUN

Víctor Cespón — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:34:31 GMT

You don't say what kind of storage device you're using, but by the WWN I guess it's an EVA3000 or 5000.

50001fe15010d278 = Controller A FP2
50001fe15010d27c = Controller B FP2
50001fe15010d279 = Controller A FP1
50001fe15010d27d = Controller B FP1

As you can see, the active paths are through the two ports on controller A. This is the normal situation with firmware 3.x, which is Active/Passive.

Paths through controller B are only activated if there's a failure on paths to controller A.

You need firmware 4.x to convert the EVA to Active/Active mode, like the recent models.

Re: Activate all paths for a LUN

Barakati — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:10:20 GMT

Dear vcespon;

Actully we have 6100 EVA and with 6.1 firmware version ...

so would you help me to change the EVA mode from Active/Passive to Active/Active??

Re: Activate all paths for a LUN

Víctor Cespón — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:34:38 GMT

The EVA6100 is Active/Active already. The access can be done through all 4 fiber channel ports.

What operating system is this? Maybe you need to configure something on the multipath software.

Re: Activate all paths for a LUN

ManojK_1 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:41:12 GMT

Hi,

What is the version of OS you are using. If you are using HP UX 11.23, 11.11 then you can use HP Secure Path.

You have to install SecurePath which supports Active-Active disk arrays.

While installing secure path version 3 and above it will prompt for selecting the support for Active/Active or active/passive disk arrays.

Once you install SecurePath by selecting Active/Active. You can run the command autopath with options like discover, display etc.....
And can view the multiple path and it's Virtual path.

Autopath is also having the option to set LoabBalancing policy if you give Load balancing policy as round robin all the path to the lun will active and do a I/O load balancing.

Please go through the document c00248499.pdf in HP site for more info regarding SecurePath.

Thanks and regards,
manoj K

Re: Activate all paths for a LUN

Barakati — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:47:45 GMT

Dear Manoik,

I am using HP-UX v3 , so there is no need for Secure Path to be installed.

Re: Activate all paths for a LUN

Mark... — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:37:03 GMT

Hi
For EVA6100 and HP-UX 11-23 or earlier you should be using HP SP V3.0f.
If you have V3.0c then that was for VCS V3.xxx
Easy way to check and to sort out your load balencing is to enter "autopath" rtn from the prompt and you will see the options you have.
For HP-UX 11-31 then it is native.
Mark...