multu-path eva 5000 red hat 5

[ilayy]

hi all
i need your help i have an eva 5000 connected to a sun server running red hat 5.1 i need to configure multi-pathing how can i do it?

[Matti_Kurkela · Accepted solution]

Please read this first to understand the terminology and concepts:

http://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5/html/DM_Multipath/index.html

For RHEL 5.1, you'll need the "HPDM Enablement Kit":

http://www.hp.com/go/devicemapper

Version 4.1.0 is intended for RHEL 5.1 and 5.2, and includes EVA 5000 support:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=3559651&swItem=co-66308-1&prodNameId=3559652&swEnvOID=4006&swLang=13&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=0

Please read the Release Notes for the HPDM kit. There's important EVA-specific configuration information you must copy to your /etc/multipath.conf.

MK

[ilayy]

hi
thanks for you fast reply but as it is mentioned in the link you rpovide for me hpdsm works only on ho servers and what i have is sun servers with the following HBA -XPCIE1FC-QF4 - Qlogic QLE2460-Sunx4 PCI Express

please advice

[Matti_Kurkela]

The HPDM enablement kit is *supported* on HP server models only, but I don't see anything server-hardware-specific in it. Even if the HBAs are Sun-branded, you've yourself identified they're Qlogic HBAs - and the HPDM kit works with all types of HBAs.

Anyway, the most important thing is the EVA5000-specific settings for /etc/multipath.conf, which you can read in the Release Notes:

device {
vendor "(COMPAQ|HP)"
product "HSV1[01]1|HSV2[01]0|HSV300"
getuid_callout "/sbin/scsi_id -g -u -s /block/%n"
prio_callout "/sbin/mpath_prio_alua /dev/%n"
features "0"
hardware_handler "0"
path_selector "round-robin 0"
path_grouping_policy group_by_prio
failback immediate
rr_weight uniform
no_path_retry 12
rr_min_io 100
path_checker tur
}

If the device-mapper-multipath package of the RHEL 5.1 distribution includes /sbin/mpath_prio_alua and /sbin/scsi_id, this is literally *all* you need from the HPDM kit. Put the block of settings listed above in the "devices { }" section of /etc/multipath.conf, and you're done.

If there is no /sbin/mpath_prio_alua in standard RHEL 5.1 device-mapper-multipath package, I'm afraid you must upgrade your server to RHEL 5.3 or newer. On those versions, these settings and binaries are built-in to the standard device-mapper-multipath package.

(See /usr/share/doc/device-mapper-multipath-/multipath.conf.defaults: it documents the built-in defaults of the installed device-mapper-multipath version.)

If you want HP's official word, you should be looking at HP's compatibility database for HP storage systems, called SPOCK:

http://www.hp.com/storage/spock

MK

[ilayy]

hi all

the eva 5000 has vcs3.28 (active/passive) and in the release note of hpdm is mentioned that it works fore vsa 4.0(active/active) so how can we configure multipathing for eva 5000 vcs3.28?

[ilayy]

hi again
the eva500 has vcs 3.28(active/passive) all hp forum mention that hp device mapper will not solve solve the problem for active/passive controller software

[Matti_Kurkela]

Yes, active/passive is generally a major pain.

Upgrading your EVA to allow active/active mode would make your life easier. Of course it can be a major task that requires careful planning and change management on its own.

But ALUA is the standard way for handling active/passive style storage systems; the /sbin/mpath_prio_alua is the dm-multipath component that is supposed to use ALUA to identify the active paths. The fact that it's present in the recommended configuration suggests there is *some* support for active/passive mode.

If the vcs 3.28 of the EVA 5000 uses an older, proprietary technology instead of ALUA for reporting the active/passive states, it might be Not Supported (in the sense of "will never work right") until you upgrade it to enable active/active mode.

You should talk with an EVA expert (hopefully the EVA administrator at your site is one). I'm more familiar with EMC storage systems.

MK

[ilayy]

hi expert
i am really stacked and need urgent help
i am relying on qlogic failover driver to do the work i can see the volume normally my problem is the following
1) the first HBA on the server is connected to san swicth 1
2) the second HBA on the server is connected to san switch 2

when i disconnected the second HBA everything is ok and i can access the volume

but when i disconnect the first HBA i just see the volume as read only i cannot make any changes please advice i am not expert with linux .
please find attached the config files

[Zinky]

iLayy,

Shalom.

Older EVAs with the VCS 3.X firmware (aka Active/Passice) is NOT supported on RHEL 5 to use Device Mapper. You will HAVE to update your EVA500 to 4.X - it should be an inplace upgrade but will require an overhaul of your entire servers that are hooked up to it. I am pretty sure you have other Servers that are hooked up and officially supported by empoying perhaps SecurePath software. The fact that you are already at VCS 3.028 makes your EVA ideal for an upgrade to VCS 4.X (aka Assymetric Active/Active operation). So BE very careful though if you chose or recommend this path -- your other servers must be prepared to be able to be compatibel with Active/Active operation of your EVA5000.

I mention SecurePath as a possible solution IF you need to stay on VCS 3.028. But the thing is - (1) you will need a SecurePath License and (2) it is only officially supported on REDHAT 4 (ymmv if you force the install on RHEL 5).

HP Device Mapper Enablement Kit works on all X86 HW. It is highly suggested for Linux OSes (SUSE and RHEL) to be hooked up to HP's StorageWOrks Arrays -- unfortunately the EVA5000 with an older VCS firmware is NOT supported officially. You can still however use it using single path connections and it will be supported - you will not just have that redundancy on your paths.

[ilayy]

hi really thanks for your reply somebody has mentioned that we can use qlogic failover and we forget about the device mapper is that true?