With virtual disk multipathing, the path that is used to access the back end automatically changes if the back end becomes inaccessible by means of the currently active path. This path change occurs independently of the value of the virtual disk timeout property.
The virtual disk timeout property specifies the amount of time after which an I/O fails when no service domain is available to process the I/O. This timeout applies to all virtual disks, even those that use virtual disk multipathing.
As a consequence, setting a virtual disk timeout when virtual disk multipathing is configured can prevent multipathing from working correctly, especially with a small timeout value. So, avoid setting a virtual disk timeout for virtual disks that are part of a multipathing group.
For more information, see Virtual Disk Timeout.