RHBA-2011:0243 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated device-mapper-multipath package that fixes several bugs and adds
various enhancements is now available.

[Updated 27th April 2011]
The original text for this advisory omitted descriptions for two workarounds,
BZ#509095 and BZ#487443, and a bug fix, BZ#588753. The packages provided with
this advisory have not been changed. The text of this advisory has been updated
with summaries of each of these issues, and a link to the Known Issues section
of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.9 Release Notes, where these issues are
described in detail, has been added to the References section of this advisory.

Description

The device-mapper-multipath package provides tools to manage multipath devices
using the device-mapper multipath kernel module.

The advisory text was updated on the 27th of April, 2011 with the following bug
description:

• Installing the device-mapper-multipath RPM package could have caused the

default installed /etc/kpartx.conf configuration file to be modified. As a
consequence, verifying the package with the "rpm -V" failed due to the
/etc/kpartx.conf file's size, md5sum, and last modification time having been
changed. This update adds flags to the device-mapper-multipath package's spec
file that inform rpm that the size, md5sum and modification time of the
/etc/kpartx.conf file may change, with the result that verifying the package now
succeeds in this situation. (BZ#588753)

The advisory text was updated on the 27th of April, 2011 with the following two
workaround descriptions:

• When the /var directory was mounted on a separate file system from the root

directory ("/"), the association between mpath[n] device names and device WWIDs
could have been become inconsistent. As a workaround, a bindings_file
configuration option now provides a consistent mapping between mpath[n] and WWID
device names. Refer to the Release Notes link provided in the References section
of this erratum for further details. (BZ#509095)

• Multipath is unable to reconfigure a multipath device while the multipathd

service is running, or add new paths to the device. A workaround for this issue
is provided in the 4.9 Release Notes, which are linked to in the References
section of this advisory. (BZ#487443)

[The original advisory text follows]

This update provides fixes for the following bugs:

• The direction path checker occasionally dropped paths due to a too short limit

for the IO. The direction checker now waits asychronously for the IO with a 30
second limit per path. (BZ#500580)

• When gathering path information, multipath did not wait long enough for some

sysfs files to be created. This caused it to not create some devices. It will
now wait up to a minute, unless it notices that the sysfs device directory has
been removed, in which case it exits early. (BZ#511034)

• Multipath gave incorrect path groupings for multipath devices configured to

use "group_by_node_name". This was due to an incorrect reporting of the target
node name for iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface) targets. With
this update multipath checks the iSCSI target name if the fc check fails.
(BZ#512065)

• Multipath could have occasionally consumed a large amount of memory. This was

caused by improper setting of thread size. With this update, the thread size
setting is adjusted and the issue no longer occurs. (BZ#516253)

• Previously, kpartx could have made incorrect partitions for devices with minor

numbers greater than 255. This happened due to a mistake in calculation of minor
number of devices. This update fixes the calculation procedure and the issue is
fixed. (BZ#528734)

• Multipathd occasionally used an incorrect UID/GID/MODE setting for the devices

it created, if these were defined in multipath.conf. This was due to a race
between udevd and multipathd. With this update, the issue no longer occurs.
(BZ#531131)

• If a multipath device configured with queue_if_no_path with no working paths

was created while booting, and multipathd was not running, the machine did not
boot. init scripts must call multipath with the -q option that forces multipath
to disable queuing on all devices. (BZ#575244)

In addition, this updated package provides the following enhancements:

• The multipath.conf file contains a new option "queue_without_daemon" with the

"yes" default setting. If set to "no", multipathd disables queue_if_no_paths on
all devices. (BZ#488921)

• A default configuration for HP HSVX700 is added. (BZ#623468)

All device-mapper-multipath users are advised to upgrade to this updated
package, which resolves these issues and adds these 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
https://access.redhat.com/kb/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 - 487443 - [RHEL4 U5] dm-multipath: multipath command fails when a path is added to a map with failed path.
• BZ - 488921 - [NetApp- 4.8 bug] I/O Processes don't get killed when all the paths to the LUN are down
• BZ - 500580 - [NetApp 4.9 bug]Target controller faults are resulting in underlying FC paths getting offlined/onlined on the host
• BZ - 511034 - [NetApp 4.9 bug] Dm-multipath occasionally fails to configure devices when large no. of luns/paths are mapped to a RHEL 4.8 host
• BZ - 512065 - [NetApp 4.9 bug] "multipath -v3" displays tgt_node_name as blank for iscsi devices
• BZ - 528734 - kpartx does not create device maps from partition tables for some mpath devices
• BZ - 531131 - [RHEL4] Multipath UID/GID/MODE settings not always taking effect
• BZ - 575244 - System hangs on boot if multipath disks are in Not Ready state.
• BZ - 588753 - rpm -V device-mapper-multipath shows errors on config
• BZ - 623468 - Incorrect hwtable entry for HSVX700

CVEs

(none)

References

• https://docs.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/4/html-single/4.9_Release_Notes/index.html#id3794941