Configuring iSCSI initiator with multipathing ?

For configurations where both paths to the iSCSI target travel over different networks-or-subnets

1. Config the first path through one of you network interfaces:

# service iscsid start
# chkconfig iscsid on
# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p -P 1
# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p -l

2. After logging into the target you should see new SCSI block devices created, verify this by executing fdisk -l:

# partprobe
# fdisk -l
3. Config the second path through eth1:

# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p -P 1
# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p -l

For configurations where both paths to the iSCSI target travel over the same network and subnet
1. Configure the iSCSI interfaces by creating iSCSI iface bindings for all interfaces and binding by network device name (eth0, alias, vlan name, etc) or MAC address:

# service iscsid start
# chkconfig iscsid on
# iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi-eth0 -o new
# iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi-eth0 -o update -n iface.net_ifacename -v eth0
# iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi-eth1 -o new
# iscsiadm -m iface -I iscsi-eth1 -o update -n iface.net_ifacename -v eth1

2. Next, verify your targets are available and log in:

# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p -I iscsi-eth0 -I iscsi-eth1 -P 1
# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p -I iscsi-eth0 -I iscsi-eth1 -l

3. After logging into the target you should see new SCSI block devices created, verify this by executing fdisk -l:

# partprobe
# fdisk -l


Each LUN has a different World Wide Identifier (WWID.) Each scsi block device with the same WWID is a different path to the same LUN. To verify the WWIDs perform the following:

# scsi_id -gus /block/sd

Configuring Multipath:

After configuring the iSCSI layer Multipath must be configured via /etc/multipath/multipath.com. Please note that different SAN vendors will their own recommendations for configuring the multipath.conf file; their recommendations should be used if they are provided. For more information on the specific settings for your NAS please contact you hardware vendor.

1. Make the following changes to /etc/multipath.conf to set up a simple Multipath configuration with default settings:



* Un-comment the "defaults" stanza by removing the hash symbols on the following lines:

defaults {
user_friendly_names yes
}

* Comment-out the "blacklist" stanza by putting hash symbols on the following lines:

# blacklist {
# devnode "*"
# }


For more information on device mapper multipath please refer to: Using Device-Mapper Multipath

2. Save the changes to multipath.conf. Start multipath and ensure that it is configured to start at boot time:

# service multipathd start
# chkconfig multipathd on

3. After starting the multipath daemon the multipath command can be used to view your multipath devices. Example output is as follows:

mpath0 (1IET_00010001) dm-4 IET,VIRTUAL-DISK
[size=10G][features=0][hwhandler=0][rw]
\_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][active]
\_ 6:0:0:1 sdf 8:80 [active][ready]
\_ 7:0:0:1 sdh 8:112 [active][ready]

4. Using the mpath psuedo-device for the multipathed storage, create a partition and inform the kernel of the change:

# fdisk /dev/mapper/mpath0
# partprobe

5. Use the kpartx command to inform multipath of the new partition:

# kpartx -a /dev/mapper/mapth0

6. Device mapper will then create a new mpath pseudo device. Example:

/dev/mapper/mapth0p1

7. Create a file system on the multipathed storage and mount it:

# mkfs.ext3 /dev/mapper/mpath0p1
# mount /dev/mapper/mpath0p1 /

8. With the storage mounted begin failover testing. The following is an example of failover testing via a cable-pull on eth1:

* Use the mulitpath command to verify that all paths are up. Example output:

mpath0 (1IET_00010001) dm-4 IET,VIRTUAL-DISK
[size=10G][features=0][hwhandler=0][rw]
\_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][active]
\_ 6:0:0:1 sdf 8:80 [active][ready]
\_ 7:0:0:1 sdh 8:112 [active][ready]

* Pull the cable on eth1. Verify the path is failed with multipath -ll. Example output:

mpath0 (1IET_00010001) dm-4 IET,VIRTUAL-DISK
[size=10G][features=0][hwhandler=0][rw]
\_ round-robin 0 [prio=1][active]
\_ 6:0:0:1 sdf 8:80 [active][ready]
\_ 7:0:0:1 sdh 8:112 [faulty][failed]


9. The final step in the process is tuning failover timing.

o With the default timeouts in /etc/iscsi/iscsi.conf multipath failover takes about 1.5 minutes.
o Some users of multipath and iSCSI want lower timeourts so that I/O doesn't remain queued for long periods of time.
o For more information on lowering multipathed iSCSI failover time refer to How can I improve the failover time of a faulty path when using device-mapper-multipath over iSCSI?