Hi,

I have a RH 5.5 server which boots from SAN and i use device mapper multipath driver.

all the ports are up(see the multipath -ll output below) and i can see all the device but still when i do

the multipath command it gives me this output, im wondering whether this is a lvm.conf configuration issue..

any advise???
######################################################
multipath
sdc: checker msg is "tur checker reports path is down"
sdd: checker msg is "tur checker reports path is down"
sdg: checker msg is "tur checker reports path is down"
sdh: checker msg is "tur checker reports path is down"

#####################################################



#####################################################
#multipath -ll
mpath1 (360050768018f0329080000000000034r) dm-9 IBM,2145
[size=75G][features=1 queue_if_no_path][hwhandler=0][rw]
\_ round-robin 0 [prio=100][active]
\_ 0:0:0:0 sda 8:0 [active][ready]
\_ 1:0:0:0 sde 8:64 [active][ready]
\_ round-robin 0 [prio=20][enabled]
\_ 0:0:1:0 sdb 8:16 [active][ready]
\_ 1:0:1:0 sdf 8:80 [active][ready]
mpath0 (360050548018f032908000000000003f3) dm-0 IBM,2145
[size=70G][features=1 queue_if_no_path][hwhandler=0][rw]
\_ round-robin 0 [prio=100][active]
\_ 0:0:2:0 sdc 8:32 [active][ready]
\_ 1:0:2:0 sdg 8:96 [active][ready]
\_ round-robin 0 [prio=20][enabled]
\_ 0:0:3:0 sdd 8:48 [active][ready]
\_ 1:0:3:0 sdh 8:112 [active][ready]
#####################################################

Thank You

Fellow Knight..

IMO, since you've already configured multipath and created its associated devices, it is non-sensical to be running multipath(8) without arguments. I can't explain the messages you're seeing, but I do not think they are anything to sweat.

Is that the complete output you see from multipath -ll? If so, then I don't see any problem here.

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply anomie, i am concerned because i am not seeing the same message on other servers, also i get the same error when i do the #multipath -r command when i try to reload my devmap.


####################################################################
##multipath -r
reload: mpath1 (360050768018f0329080000000000034r) IBM,2145
[size=75G][features=0][hwhandler=0][n/a]
\_ round-robin 0 [prio=100][undef]
\_ 0:0:0:0 sda 8:0 [active][ready]
\_ 1:0:0:0 sde 8:64 [active][ready]
\_ round-robin 0 [prio=20][undef]
\_ 0:0:1:0 sdb 8:16 [active][ready]
\_ 1:0:1:0 sdf 8:80 [active][ready]
sdc: checker msg is "tur checker reports path is down"
sdd: checker msg is "tur checker reports path is down"
sdg: checker msg is "tur checker reports path is down"
sdh: checker msg is "tur checker reports path is down"

##############################################################


Yes that was the whole output of my multipath -ll command.

Thanks

Fellow Knight...

I see similar/analogous checker messages on my EMC SAN-connected host when I force reload devmap. I don't have an explanation, but I am positive my paths are up and working normally. When they're not, I see problems in the -ll output.

You might try adding the -v 3 option to see if you can piece together why the messages are appearing. (Failing that, you have RH support.)

Hi
We fixed this, YEY !

we downgraded these packages:

#yum erase :

device-mapper-multipath x86_64 0.4.7-34.el5_5.1
kpartx x86_64 0.4.7-34.el5_5.1

Also note that removing these packages would remove the kernel packages too,so make sure you re-install the kernel before reboot

The extra packages are the ones that were removed dependencies for the above mentioned packages.

kpartx-0.4.7-34.el5
mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-61.el5_5.1
mkbootdisk-1.5.3-2.1
device-mapper-multipath-0.4.7-34.el5
kpartx-0.4.7-34.el5
dmraid-events-1.0.0.rc13-63.el5
dmraid-1.0.0.rc13-63.el5
dmraid-events-1.0.0.rc13-63.el5
gnome-session-2.16.0-7.el5
gnome-volume-manager-2.15.0-5.el5
mkbootdisk-1.5.3-2.1
mkinitrd-5.1.19.6-61.el5_5.1
pcmciautils-014-5
system-config-kdump-1.0.14-4.el5
systemtap-runtime-1.1-3.el5
systemtap-1.1-3.el5


Installed kernel 2.6.18-194.el5

NO MORE TUR CHECKER REPORTS PATH IS DOWN MESSAGE...


Thank You For all your help !

Fellow Knight...

@sampappachan_nyc: For posterity's sake, the messages you were seeing weren't causing any functional problems.

I won't be downgrading any packages myself, but I'm glad you were able to suppress the message to your liking.

I logged a support call about this very issue with Red Hat and this is what they came back with.

Thank you for contacting Red Hat Support.

It appears that when running a multipath -v2 or higher verbosity, it is often the case that the multipath command will return with erroneous "path is down" messages. This is across all path checker tools. It is likely to do with that when the multipath command is run and it spits out those verbose messages, there hasn't been enough time yet for those paths to be fully realized. If paths are all functioning as intended (no red flags in logs), there shouldn't be anything worry about.

While running a multipath -v4 -ll, and it gives the same "path is down" messages at the top while showing all devices in the bottom section (the normal -ll output) as functioning correctly, this is operating as intended. Bottom line: this is a known issue with no available remedy and there shouldn't be anything to worry about regarding those "path is down" messages.

I just dealt this same issue. I could not ignore the error as we have tickets generated because of any errors, and I could not downgrade the package without permission. I discovered if I did the following the errors went away:

multipath -v2
multipath -l (to see if the error is still there or not. sometimes the multipath -v2 will get rid of the errors, if it doesn't then proceed)
multipath -F

I had two systems with error one cleared up after the multipath -v2 was issued, the other needed multipath -F. I thought I would post the fix in case someone else comes across this error and needs it.

thanks for the -v2 that fix my problem

why verbosity level fix problens ???