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Chapter 13. Storage

The smartPQI (smartpqi) driver is now available

This update provides the smartPQI (smartpqi) driver for new Microsemi storage adapter hardware, which becomes available in 2017. The new hardware can also be used with the previous aacraid driver on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, and 6.8. In comparison with the aacraid driver, the smartpqi driver provides improved performance and enhanced functionality.
Migration from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9 changes the driver from aacraid to smartpqi. As long as standard installation configurations are used, this driver change is transparent to the user and no action is needed. The new smartpqi driver is automatically used after booting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9. (BZ#1343743)

Update of mpt3sas

The mpt3sas storage driver has been updated to version 14.100.00.00-rh, which adds support for new devices with these PCI IDs:
  • 0x1000:0x00AA
  • 0x1000:0x00AB SAS3516 Fusion-MPT Tri-Mode RAID On Chip (ROC)
  • 0x1000:0x00AC SAS3416 Fusion-MPT Tri-Mode I/O Controller Chip (IOC)
  • 0x1000:0x00AD
  • 0x1000:0x00AE SAS3508 Fusion-MPT Tri-Mode RAID On Chip (ROC)
  • 0x1000:0x00AF SAS3408 Fusion-MPT Tri-Mode I/O Controller Chip (IOC) (BZ#1306469)

Update of megaraid_sas

The megaraid_sas driver has been updated to version 07.700.00.00-rc1, which adds support for new devices with these PCI IDs:
  • 0x1000:0x0014
  • 0x1000:0x0016
  • 0x1000:0x0017
  • 0x1000:0x001B
  • 0x1000:0x001C (BZ#1306457)

A new default configuration for Huawei XSG1 arrays has been added for device-mapper-multipath

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, a specific configuration is recommended in the device-mapper-multipath tool configuration for Huawei XSG1 arrays. This configuration is now used by default. (BZ#1333334)

The disable_changed_wwids multipath.conf option is now available in multipath to avoid data corruption

The multipath tool now has the disable_changed_wwids multipath.conf option. If disable_changed_wwids is set to yes, the multipathd service monitors path devices, and if their World Wide Identifier (WWID) changes, multipathd disables access to the path devices until the WWID changes back.
If a Logical Unit Number (LUN) is remapped while a multipath device exists on top of it, it is possible in some cases for I/O to be written to an incorrect LUN, which leads to corruption. Writing to an incorrect LUN can be detected by multipathd that registers a change of the LUN WWID, and disables access to the device.
Note that due to the gap between when the LUN is remapped, and when multipathd is notified that the device has changed, there is still a risk of corruption in some cases, and remapping in-use LUNs is still not supported. (BZ#1377532)

device-mapper-multipath now supports the max_sectors_kb configuration parameter

With this update, device-mapper-multipath provides a new max_sectors_kb parameter in the defaults, devices, and multipaths sections of the multipath.conf file. The max_sectors_kb parameter allows you to set the max_sectors_kb device queue parameter to the specified value on all underlying paths of a multipath device before the multipath device is first activated.
When a multipath device is created, the device inherits the max_sectors_kb value from the path devices. Manually raising this value for the multipath device or lowering this value for the path devices can cause multipath to create I/O operations larger than the path devices allow.
Using the max_sectors_kb multipath.conf parameter is an easy way to set these values before a multipath device is created on top of the path devices, and prevent invalid-sized I/O operations from being passed down. (BZ#1355669)

The skip_kpartx multipath.conf option to allow skipping kpartx partition creation has been added

This update enables the user to only create a multipath device, and not any partitions, even if the device has a partition table. Now, multipath devices that are configured with the skip_kpartx option do not have any partition devices created for them. (BZ#1310320)

Users are now warned if they create multipath devices while multipathd is not running

With this update, multipath prints a warning message for adding and listing multipath devices when the multipathd service is not running. (BZ#1305589)