RHBA-2010:0532 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated device-mapper-multipath packages that fix multiple bugs are now
available.

Description

The device-mapper-multipath packages provide tools to manage multipath devices
by giving the "dm-multipath" kernel module instructions on what to do, as well
as by managing the creation and removal of partitions for Device-Mapper devices.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• due to the inability of multipathd (a path monitoring daemon) to distinguish

between deleted and recently added but not yet fully initialized devices, it
used to take more than a minute to remove a dead path and reload the device with
a new one. This has been fixed and multipathd now removes the deleted devices
immediately. (BZ#603616)

• previously, to resize a multipath device, users had to run the command

"multipathd -k'resize map <mapname>'", as running "multipath" instead caused the
multipath to become stuck in the SUSPENDED state. In this state, all
input/output to the device hung. Now users can resize the device with either
command, and the multipath device will no longer get stuck in the SUSPENDED
state. (BZ#607487)

• adding and removing a path in quick succession could have caused it to be

removed while the multipathd was still using it, which used to lead to a
segmentation fault. This has been resolved, and multipathd no longer crashes
when the path is added and quickly removed again. (BZ#607911)

Users are advised to upgrade to these updated device-mapper-multipath packages,
which resolve these issues.

Solution

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

This update is available via the 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 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 603616 - device mapper refuses to revive device despite the physical path being available
• BZ - 607487 - IO is stuck due to active device that moved to suspend mode and never resumed
• BZ - 607911 - rhel: multipathd[2424]: segfault at 00000000000004a4 rip 000000000041eb98 rsp 00000000

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)