Enabling and Disabling Multipathing

You can use the stmsboot command to enable or disable multipathing for Fibre Channel (FC) and SAS devices. The stmsboot command updates the /etc/vfstab file and dump configuration to reflect device name changes during the next reboot. You do not need to manually edit the fp.conf or mpt.conf files.

The following considerations apply to the stmsboot -e, -d, and -u options:

• You should reboot immediately after running the stmsboot command.

• Because the stmsboot command reboots the machine to complete the operation, use the eeprom to ensure the system boots from the current boot device.

• The stmsboot command saves a copy of the original /kernel/drv/fp.conf, /kernel/drv/mpt.conf, and /etc/vfstab files before modifying them. See Appendix C, Troubleshooting Multipathing-Related Problems if you encounter unexpected problems while using the stmsboot command.

How to Enable Multipathing

Perform the following steps to enable multipathing on all multipath-capable devices on SPARC or x86 based systems. If you want to enable multipathing only on specific FC or SAS HBA ports, refer to Enabling or Disabling Multipathing on a Per-Port Basis.

The multipathing software automatically recognizes Oracle-supported devices. If you want to enable multipathing on third-party devices, add entries to the /kernel/drv/scsi_vhci.conf file as described by Device Name Change Considerations in Multipathing Considerations.

1. Become superuser.
2. Confirm that the multipathing software package is installed.

   # pkginfo | grep Multipath
   system      SUNWmpapi                  SNIA Multipath Management API Common Library
   system      SUNWmpapir                 SNIA Multipath Management API Common Library (Root)
   system      SUNWmpathadm               Solaris Multipathing CLI
   system      SUNWmpathadmr              Solaris Multipathing CLI (Root)

3. Enable device multipathing.

   # stmsboot -e
   WARNING: stmsboot operates on each supported multipath-capable controller
                detected in a host. In your system, these controllers are
   
       /devices/pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/SUNW,qlc@0/fp@0,0
       /devices/pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/SUNW,qlc@0,1/fp@0,0
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0,2/LSILogic,sas@1
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0,2/LSILogic,sas@1
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0,2/LSILogic,sas@2
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/LSILogic,sas@0
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/LSILogic,sas@0
   
       If you do NOT wish to operate on these controllers, please quit stmsboot
       and re-invoke with -D { fp | mpt } to specify which controllers you wish
       to modify your multipathing configuration for.
   
       Do you wish to continue? [y/n] (default: y) y
       Checking mpxio status for driver fp
       Checking mpxio status for driver mpt
       WARNING: This operation will require a reboot.
       Do you want to continue ? [y/n] (default: y) y
       The changes will come into effect after rebooting the system.
       Reboot the system now ? [y/n] (default: y) y

   ---

   Note - During the reboot, /etc/vfstab and the dump configuration are updated to reflect the device name changes.

   ---

4. (Optional) After the reboot, if necessary, configure your applications to use new device names as described by Device Name Change Considerations in Multipathing Considerations.

How to Disable Multipathing

Perform the following steps to disable multipathing on all multipath-capable devices on SPARC or x86 based systems. If you want to disable multipathing only on specific FC or SAS HBA ports, refer to Enabling or Disabling Multipathing on a Per-Port Basis.

1. Disable device multipathing.

   # stmsboot -d
   WARNING: stmsboot operates on each supported multipath-capable controller
                detected in a host. In your system, these controllers are
   
       /devices/pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/SUNW,qlc@0/fp@0,0
       /devices/pci@780/pci@0/pci@8/SUNW,qlc@0,1/fp@0,0
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0,2/LSILogic,sas@1
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0,2/LSILogic,sas@1
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0,2/LSILogic,sas@2
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/LSILogic,sas@0
       /devices/pci@7c0/pci@0/pci@9/LSILogic,sas@0
   
       If you do NOT wish to operate on these controllers, please quit stmsboot
       and re-invoke with -D { fp | mpt } to specify which controllers you wish
       to modify your multipathing configuration for.
   
       Do you wish to continue? [y/n] (default: y) y
       Checking mpxio status for driver fp
       Checking mpxio status for driver mpt
       WARNING: This operation will require a reboot.
       Do you want to continue ? [y/n] (default: y) y
       The changes will come into effect after rebooting the system.
       Reboot the system now ? [y/n] (default: y) y

   ---

   Note - During the reboot, /etc/vfstab and the dump configuration are updated to reflect the device name changes.

   ---

2. (Optional) After the reboot, if necessary, configure your applications to use new device names as described by Device Name Change Considerations in Multipathing Considerations.

How to Determine if Multipathing is Enabled or Disabled

1. Become superuser.
2. Determine if multipathed device information is available on the system.

   Multipathing is disabled on this system because the following command returns no multipathed device information.

   # prtconf -vc /devices/scsi_vhci |grep dev_link.*s2 
   # 

   Multipathing is enabled on this system because the following command returns multipathed device information.

   # prtconf -vc /devices/scsi_vhci |grep dev_link.*s2 
                       dev_link=/dev/dsk/c2t5000CCA0002D0004d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/rdsk/c2t5000CCA0002D0004d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/dsk/c2t5000CCA0002D8EA8d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/rdsk/c2t5000CCA0002D8EA8d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/dsk/c2t5000CCA0002D93C0d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/rdsk/c2t5000CCA0002D93C0d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/dsk/c2t5000CCA0002CEFB0d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/rdsk/c2t5000CCA0002CEFB0d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/dsk/c2t5000CCA0002A41B0d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/rdsk/c2t5000CCA0002A41B0d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/dsk/c2t5000CCA000276E2Cd0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/rdsk/c2t5000CCA000276E2Cd0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/dsk/c2t5000CCA00022B6B8d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/rdsk/c2t5000CCA00022B6B8d0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/dsk/c2t5000CCA0002CDA5Cd0s2
                       dev_link=/dev/rdsk/c2t5000CCA0002CDA5Cd0s2