RHBA-2009:1011 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated device-mapper-multipath packages that fix several bugs and add
an enhancement are now available.

Description

The device-mapper-multipath packages provide tools to manage multipath
devices using the device-mapper multipath kernel module.

This update applies the following bug fixes:

• multipath was sometimes unable to get a lock on the bindings file before

it reached its timeout limit for doing so (3 seconds). If this happened,
multipath created multipath maps named with WWIDs even when the
user_friendly_names option was set. This timeout is now 30 seconds, which
ensures that multipath always honors the user_friendly_names option.

• multipath did not process the rr_min_io variable in the multipath.conf

file. Regardless of the rr_min_io value, multipath performed 1000 I/Os
before switching ports. Multipath now processes rr_min_io correctly and
honors the setting.

• The tur path checker did not take notice of the UNIT_ATTENTION sense code

returned by a busy LUN. Therefore, the path checker marked all paths for a
busy multipath device as failed. The sg_read and tur path checkers now
check the path again if the device is busy.

• multipathd crashed with a status of with a "multipathd dead but pid file

exists" when multipath was configured for 1024 or more paths, because it
was unable to open a file descriptor for each path. This may also have
caused "error calling out ..." errors. Now, a new multipath.conf parameter,
"max_fds", allows end users to set the maximum number of file descriptors
that the multipathd process can have open. Setting max_fds to either a
sufficiently high number or to "max" (the system maximum) avoids this crash
in multipathd.

• kpartx used 32-bit variables, which did not allow it to handle devices

larger than 2 TB. kpartx now uses 64-bit variables and successfully
partitions devices larger than 2 TB.

• The existence of queued I/O for a multipath device after the multipath

device and its underlying block device have been deleted could cause
multipathd to hang. multipathd now disables queuing for a device when its
last path is deleted.

• The Makefiles for some of the multipath tools were stripping the

binaries, which would make debugging impossible. Now all binaries are
compiled with debugging enabled.

• device-mapper-multipath now includes hardware table entries to support

new HP array products, including product IDs for the XP, EVA, and MSA lines
and default settings for HP arrays that use the dm_hp_sw hardware handler.

• multipath could not parse entries in the multipath.conf files if there

was no space between the section name and the open bracket that followed it
(for example, "blacklist{" instead of "blacklist {") and would simply
ignore such entries. Multipath now parses entries without spaces.

• If multipaths are manually aliased in the same format that multipath sets

user-friendly_names automatically (mpathN, where N is an integer) and the
user_friendly_names option is in use, conflicts may occur between
manually-set and automatically-set names. The multipath.conf.annotated file
now alerts end-users to this danger.

• Some default multipath device configurations have been optimized.

As well, this update adds the following enhancement:

• device-mapper-multipath now includes an updated version of the netapp

path priority callout that features improved error handling, renamed from
mpath_prio_netapp to mpath_prio_ontap.

Note:

• A change in the kernel now makes it possible to perform an online resize

of a multipath device by resizing the device and then running multipath.
See the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 Release Notes for more detail.
Users of device-mapper-multipath are advised to upgrade to this updated
package, which resolves these issues and adds this enhancements.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 214809 - Update userspace multipath for dm_hp_sw hardware handler
• BZ - 445268 - [NetApp 4.8 bug] multipath may create WWID named multipath maps even when user_friendly_names is set
• BZ - 445413 - device-mapper-multipath-debuginfo package incomplete
• BZ - 453547 - [NetApp 4.8 bug] Specifying rr_min_io in device specific section of multipath.conf fails during multipath configuration.
• BZ - 455616 - Running kpartx –a against a gpt labeled disk results in messages
• BZ - 456457 - multipath does not read a section in multipath.conf unless it has a space before the open bracket.
• BZ - 457228 - [NetApp 4.8 bug] multipathd fails to start if max_fds option is configured as "unlimited" in multipath.conf with 1024 paths.
• BZ - 467495 - device-mapper-multipath segfaults when mpathX is deleted then underlying devices
• BZ - 469845 - [NetApp 4.8 bug] New Prio Patch required for NetApp

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)