Redhat 4 U5 Multipaht with OCFS2

[Nabil_11]

Hi,

I have two DL380 G5 Prolient Servers
with single Emulex HBA (FC2142SR) on each node
connected to MSA1000,
Oracle RAC Installed and configured with OCFS2

My question is :
if I add another HBA on each node
shall I configure Multipath manualy or the redhat 4 update 5 configure it automatically.
if manually how to configure it.

Regards

Nabil

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom Nabil,

You don't have to configure anything. The system will after installation see two paths to each disk on the LUN. Visible end editable by all the standard utilities.

If this is a RAC question someone else will need to answer.

SEP

[Jorge Cocomess]

Nabil,

What version of Oracle are you running? I believe version 10.2 currently using OCFS and 10.3 or later using OCFS2. Also, make sure you have the lastest version of firmware for your MSA1000 to benefit the ACTIVE/ACTIVE - The only HBA that I know that will allow you to manually set multi-path is the Q-Logic HBA driver. Not sure about Emulex HBA though.

Jorge

[Ross Minkov]

Emulex can do multipathing too, although I would recommend using Qlogic with Linux.

For Emulex you need to go to the hp.com site under drivers and software and find the Emulex HBA Driver Kit for Linux. It's a tar ball. Untar it somewhere and cd in. Then run:

./INSTALL -m -a

you can read the INSTALL script to see what these swicthes mean. The -m is to install Emulex's MultiPulse. The INSTALL script will build modules, build new initrd and update config files (like /etc/modprobe.conf). It will also install the fibreutils RPM.

At the end it will tell you "Please reboot your machine or reload the lpfc, lpfcdfc and lpfcmpl (if installed) for the changes made to take effect." Do that.

Then run /opt/hp/hp_fibreutils/hp_rescan -a

Then run lssd and lssg.

This should get you going in the right direction. Let us know if you have any questions.

Regards,
Ross

[Nabil_11]

Hi again,

Thanks Ross,

MultiPulse already installed BUT how could I know if its functional properly ??

at my situation I have two Emulex HBA's
the available paths :
/dev/sda ( 1st HBA )
/dev/sdb ( 1st HBA )
/dev/sdc ( 2st HBA )
/dev/sdd ( 2st HBA )

I format the file system using ocfs2console
and I choose /dev/sda1

I wana make sure if I remove the Fiber cable
from the 1st HBA the system rename /dev/sdc to /dev/sda


Regards

Nabil

[Ross Minkov]

Nabil,

Here is how you can tell. Example below (I had 8 paths to the same LUN in this case).

Before:

[root@bb-0 boot]# lssd
sda 0,0,0,1 HP HSV210 6000
sdb 0,0,1,1 HP HSV210 6000
sdc 0,0,2,1 HP HSV210 6000
sdd 0,0,3,1 HP HSV210 6000
sde 0,0,4,1 HP HSV210 6000
sdf 0,0,5,1 HP HSV210 6000
sdg 0,0,6,1 HP HSV210 6000
sdh 0,0,7,1 HP HSV210 6000
[root@bb-0 boot]# lssg
[root@bb-0 boot]#

fdisk -l will also show you all of the above disks. Note that lssg did not return anything.

After:

[root@bb-0 ~]# lssd
sda 1,0,0,1 HP HSV210 6000
[root@bb-0 ~]# lssg
sg0 1,0,0,0 HP HSV210 6000
sg1 1,0,0,1 HP HSV210 6000
sg2 1,0,1,0 HP HSV210 6000
sg4 1,0,2,0 HP HSV210 6000
sg6 1,0,3,0 HP HSV210 6000
sg8 1,0,4,0 HP HSV210 6000
sg10 1,0,5,0 HP HSV210 6000
sg12 1,0,6,0 HP HSV210 6000
sg14 1,0,7,0 HP HSV210 6000

fdisk -l will now only show sda. sda is the one you want to use.

Regards,
Ross

[Nabil_11]

Hi Ross,

Thanks again,

I still have all paths displayed
see attached file.

I think its issue of MSA1000 Firmware
the installed firmware version 4.48

This Notic at MultiPulse failover driver
Restrictions

This section describes MultiPulse restrictions.
â ¢ MultiPulse does not support older firmware on HP storage arrays. These storage arrays are known as active-passive storage arrays since not all paths are active on the fabric at the same time. These arrays include:
â ¢ MSA1000 and MSA1500 running 4.x or 5.x firmware


Please advice,

Regards

Nabil

[Bharath_Pingali]

Hello Nabil,

MultiPulse supports Active/Active arrays only.

Fw 4.48 is Active/Passive firmware.

There is an option to update your MSA 1000 to Active/Active, Please read the README before updating your MSA.

After Updating your MSA MultiPulse should work as expected.


http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=377751&prodNameId=377753&swEnvOID=2026&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=co-47230-1

-Good Luck
Bharath

[Nabil_11]

Thanks All,

The multipath now exist and work properly

after I did the MSA1000 controller upgrade for 7.0 Active/Acvite


Regards

Nabil