Multipath and Redhat Linux 5

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:30:51 +0000

As many of you know, multipath was finally integrated into Redhat Linux with the 5 series. This is great when you have multipath enabled during an install as you will see /dev/mapper/mpath0, but what happens post install when you attach new LUN? Here is the howto for what happens behind the scenes during a RHEL install:

After the filer has attached and presented the new LUN reboot the machine allowing for the HBA card to recognize them
Post-reboot login and verify with the drivers are present with the correct capacity: dmesg | grep sd
Next we need the WWID for the new path. For this example assume that sdh is one of our newly presented multipath drives: scsi_id -gus /block/sdh
Copy this output down and have it ready to input into a config file. I recommend pipping or copying down the results withing GNOME/vim
Edit the /etc/multipath.conf with your editor of choice and look for the blacklist exception list. You will see a WWID “923847089123908u2389” already listed. Copy that line and replace the “218934708912374” with the output of command #3
Reboot the box
After the reboot login and cd /dev/mapper and verify that there is a newly listed mpath1. If this is not the case stop what you are doing and wash-rinse-repeat steps 1-6
If there is a mpath1 we need to create a new partition. Since Linux sees the device as a new block, use fdisk as you would with any other drive: fdisk /dev/mapper/mpath1
Since the drive is freshly paritioned you will need to reboot to allow the kernel to recognize the new parition table.
Post reboot we can create a filesystem. I am going to assume you created one parition and are going to use ext3: mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/mpath1p1
Next edit your /etc/fstab and point the new drive to a path you want the new mapping mounted to: /dev/mapper/mpath1p1 /storage ext3 defaults 1 1
For the next portion I will operate under the assumption you are attaching more storage to your /opt directory for a new commercial install. As root drop to run level 2: init 2 This is the lowest run level where the / filesystem is mounted r/w and multipathd is running
We will move /opt as it is current substatianted to /opt2: mv /opt /opt2
Create the mount for the SAN LUN: mkdir /opt
Mount the LUN: mount /opt <–read from the /etc/fstab entry
Now we sync the directories with rsync: rsync -avh /opt2/* /opt I recommend holding onto the /opt2 until everything is tested after a reboot
Done!

Rhel on Geeky Schmidt

Multipath and Redhat Linux 5