JavaScript is required to for searching.
Skip Navigation Links
Exit Print View
Oracle Solaris Administration: SAN Configuration and Multipathing     Oracle Solaris 11 Information Library
search filter icon
search icon

Document Information

Preface

1.  Solaris I/0 Multipathing Overview

2.  Fibre Channel Multipathing Configuration Overview

3.  Configuring Solaris I/O Multipathing Features

Configuring Multipathing I/O Features

Multipathing Considerations

Enabling and Disabling Multipathing

How to Enable Multipathing

How to Disable Multipathing

Enabling or Disabling Multipathing on a Per-Port Basis

Port Configuration Considerations

How to Configure Multipathing by Port

Configuring Third-Party Storage Devices

Third-Party Device Configuration Considerations

Configuring Third-Party Storage Devices: New Devices

How o Configure Third-Party Devices

Configuring Third-Party Storage Devices: Disabling Devices

How to Disable Third-Party Devices

Displaying Device Name Changes

Configuring Automatic Failback

How to Configure Automatic Failback

4.  Administering Multipathing Devices (mpathadm)

5.  Configuring SAN Devices

6.  Configuring Virtual Fibre Channel Ports

7.  Configuring FCoE Ports

8.  Configuring SAS Domains

9.  Configuring IPFC SAN Devices

10.  Booting the Solaris OS From Fibre Channel Devices on x86 Systems

11.  Persistent Binding for Tape Devices

A.  Manual Configuration for Fabric-Connected Devices

B.  Supported FC-HBA API

C.  Troubleshooting Multipathed Device Problems

Index

Enabling or Disabling Multipathing on a Per-Port Basis

Multipathing can be enabled or disabled on specific Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA) controller ports. If you enable multipathing on a specific HBA port controller port, all supported devices connected to that controller port will be enabled for multipath operation.

The following procedure applies to both SPARC and x86 based machines.

Port Configuration Considerations

Before you start configuring the software by port, consider the following:

How to Configure Multipathing by Port

Depending on how many ports you want the multipathing software to control, you can enable or disable multipathing globally or for specified ports.

  1. Become an administrator.
  2. Determine the HBA controller ports that you want the multipathing software to control.

    For example, to select the desired device, perform an ls -l command on /dev/cfg directory. The following example shows the ls -l command output.

    # ls -l
    lrwxrwxrwx  1 root  root  50 Jan 29 21:33 c0 -> 
         ../../devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/ide@8:scsi
    lrwxrwxrwx  1 root  root  61 Jan 29 21:33 c1 ->
         ../../devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0,2/LSILogic,sas@1:scsi
    lrwxrwxrwx  1 root  root  61 Jan 29 21:33 c2 -> 
         ../../devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0,2/LSILogic,sas@2:scsi
    lrwxrwxrwx  1 root  root  53 Jan 29 21:33 c3 -> 
         ../../devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/LSILogic,sas@0:scsi
    lrwxrwxrwx  1 root  root  54 Apr 16 20:28 c5 ->
         ../../devices/pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/SUNW,qlc@0/fp@0,0:fc
    lrwxrwxrwx  1 root  root  56 Apr 16 20:28 c6 -> 
         ../../devices/pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/SUNW,qlc@0,1/fp@0,0:fc

    Note - Controllers c5 and c6 are ports A and B on a dual-port FC HBA. Controllers c1 and c3 are single port SAS HBA ports. Controller c2 is the internal SAS controller in Oracle's Sun Fire T2000 server.


    Once you have determined the port, or ports, you want to explicitly enable or disable multipathing for, go to the next step.

  3. Copy the /kernel/drv/fp.conf file to the /etc/driver/drv/fp.conf file.
  4. Select one of the following to enable or disable specific FC HBA ports:
    • Add the following line for each FC HBA port that is to be enabled in the /etc/driver/drv/fp.conf:

      name="fp" parent="parent name" port=port-number mpxio-disable="no";

      where parent name is the port device name, and port-number is the FC HBA port number.

      For example, the following entries disable multipathing on all FC HBA controller ports except for the two specified ports:

      mpxio-disable="yes";
      name="fp" parent="/pci@6,2000/SUNW,qlc@2" port=0 mpxio-disable="no";
      name="fp" parent="/pci@13,2000/pci@2/SUNW,qlc@5" port=0 mpxio-disable="no";
    • Add the following line for each FC HBA port that is to be disabled:

      name="fp" parent="parent name" port=port-number mpxio-disable="yes";

      For example:

      name="fp" parent="/pci@6,2000/SUNW,qlc@2" port=0 mpxio-disable="yes";
  5. Start the reboot and configuration process.
    # stmsboot -u

    You are prompted to reboot. During the reboot, the /etc/vfstab file and your dump device configuration are updated to reflect any device name changes.

  6. (Optional) After the reboot, if necessary, configure your applications to use new device names as described in Multipathing Considerations.