Why do device names like "/dev/mpath/mpath0" still appear after defining custom aliases in /etc/multipath.conf?

Issue

• Multipath device symbolic links with names like "mpath0" are created in /dev/mpath after configuring custom aliases in /etc/multipath.conf

• The multipath directive can be used to configure a user-specified alias for a device-mapper-multipath device in /etc/multipath.conf:

• Error found in /var/log/messages

Apr  4 15:43:06 hostname multipathd: 00000000000000000000123: rename mpathzz to drive_name123

multipaths {
    multipath { 
        alias san0
        wwid  350004fc006b902aa
    }
}

• The alias binds a name to a device WWID
• This is an alternative to the automatically assigned mpathN aliases provided by the user_friendly_names feature and provides more control over device naming to the system administrator