Root LVM volume on multipath fibre-channel often does not detect properly on boot

Bug #276696 reported by Dag Stenstad
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
multipath-tools (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Low
Unassigned
Declined for Hardy by Chuck Short
Declined for Intrepid by Chuck Short

Bug Description

Binary package hint: multipath-tools-boot

After upgrading some servers to 8.04.1, booting from my multipath LVM volumes often fails.

Hardware:

 * IBM HS21 blades
    * Emulex HBAs
 * EMC Clariion CX-3 SAN, Fibre Channel

Configuration:

EMCs "best practice" configuration in /etc/multipathd.conf

/boot on normal device, but multipathed.
/ on LVM logical volume.

Symptoms:

During the boot sequence, the initrd-hooks (multipath-tools-boot) display that it is detecting mulipaths.
After a little delay, I see that the lpfc drivers detect that fibre channel paths, and brings them online.
I get dumped to a busybox shell, as it is unable to detect the multipath devices the LVM volumes for root are supposed to be on.
I run "/etc/init.d/multipath-tools start", and press ctrl-d to exit the shell. System boots as it should.

I have a feeling that the order of startup scripts needs to be changed, or that a delay has to be introduced in one of the scripts so that the fibre channel luns have had time to be detected.

This happens 4 times out of 5; Sometimes things get detected as it should. Timing is everything, I guess. :-)

Other:

# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 8.04.1
Release: 8.04
Codename: hardy

multipath-tools-boot:
  Installed: 0.4.8-7ubuntu2

Revision history for this message
Dag Stenstad (dag-stenstad) wrote :

Okay, I should have spellchecked that.

Revision history for this message
Chuck Short (zulcss) wrote :

Hi,

I was wondering if you were still having this problem?

Regards
chuck

Chuck Short (zulcss)
Changed in multipath-tools (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
importance: Undecided → Low
Revision history for this message
Dag Stenstad (dag-stenstad) wrote :

Unsure; That platform where we had this problem is no longer in production, hosts have been moved to another storage backend.

Since I'm unable to test this further, you should close the ticket.

Revision history for this message
Mathias Gug (mathiaz) wrote :

Marking invalid as suggested by the reporter.

Changed in multipath-tools (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Invalid
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