Linux SAN Install with Multiple Paths to the LUN on IBM Servers Doesn't Work

Asset ID:	1-72-1527234.1
Update Date:	2017-04-26
Keywords:

Solution Type Problem Resolution Sure

Solution 1527234.1 : Linux SAN Install with Multiple Paths to the LUN on IBM Servers Doesn't Work

Applies to:

Oracle Fabric Interconnect F1-15 - Version All Versions and later
Oracle Fabric Interconnect F1-4 - Version All Versions and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Symptoms

Installing Linux on a SAN LUN with multiple paths will not work. The system installs successfully but wipes out everything on the disk after the reboot.

Changes

Has been experienced/reported on:

IBM x3650, x3655, and x3455 servers

Cause

This is a problem with the Redhat anaconda installer where it doesn’t quite know how to handle multiple paths to the same LUN during install. It is seen particularly with IBM servers.

Solution

The solution to this problem is to only make 1 path visible to the LUN during installation time.

If there are multiple paths to the same LUN during install, can temporarily apply "Xsigo lun-mask" on the vHBA to have the host only see a single path to the LUN. After Redhat is installed, can then disable the lun-mask on the vHBA and make sure to install/configure the multipathing software (DM-Multipath, PowerPath) to manage storage redundancy.

As another option is if installing Redhat 5 or higher version, can pass "mpath" as an added kernel argument during installation "linux dd mpath". This allows anaconda to detect, create, and install dm-multipath for storage devices that have multiple paths.

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