Blueprints: Installing Linux Distributions on Multipath Devices
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Blueprints Installing Linux Distributions on Multipath Devices Blueprints Installing Linux Distributions on Multipath Devices Note Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in Appendix D, “Notices,” on page 27. First Edition (August 2008) © Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2008. US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. Contents Preface . .v Appendix B. Additional multipath Introduction . .v configuration information for IBM storage . .23 Installing Linux Distributions on Multipathed Devices . .1 Appendix C. Related information . .25 What is Multipath Connectivity . .1 Hardware Setup for Test Environment . .2 Appendix D. Notices . .27 Multipath installation on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Trademarks . .28 5.2 . .2 Terms and conditions . .29 Multipath installation on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 . .11 Appendix A. Troubleshooting tips . .21 © Copyright IBM Corp. 2008 iii iv Blueprints: Installing Linux Distributions on Multipath Devices Preface Introduction This blueprint provides step by step instructions for installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 on a LUN in a multipath disk storage environment. The procedure demonstrated here is performed on a System x host connected to a DS6000 storage server through Fibre Channel Fabric, but it can be adapted for installing either of the Linux distribution onto other supported models of storage devices. Intended audience This document is intended to be used by Linux system administrators who have experience in installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and have a moderate level of knowledge in Device Mapper (DM) multipath. Scope and purpose This document is intended to serve any Linux administrator who wants to take advantage of the multiple paths available to their storage devices. It provides installation steps to complete a Linux distribution install to a selected multipath device that is connected through Fibre Channel. Installation onto hosts and storage subsystems that are connected through iSCSI or other protocols are beyond the scope of this blueprint. Also configuration and setup of storage device are not be covered in this document. Refer to appropriate storage manual for those details. Hardware requirements A System x or p server and a supported multipath storage device. The two are connected via a Fibre Channel. The multipath device is setup to be the bootable device. Refer to IBM Storage Interoperability matrices (http://www...ibm.com/ systems/storage/product/interop.html) for supported storage configurations. IBM Services ® Linux offers flexibility, options, and competitive total cost of ownership with a world class enterprise operating system. Community innovation integrates leading edge technologies and best practices into Linux. ® IBM is a leader in the Linux community with over 600 developers in the IBM Linux Technology Center working on over 100 open source projects in the community. IBM supports Linux on all IBM servers, storage, and middleware, offering the broadest flexibility to match your business needs. For more information about IBM and Linux, visit us at ibm.com/linux (https://www.ibm.com/linux) © Copyright IBM Corp. 2008 v IBM Support Questions and comments regarding this documentation may be posted on the DeveloperWorks Multipath Blueprint Community Forum: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=1334 The IBM developerWorks discussion forums let you ask questions, share knowledge, ideas, and opinions about technologies and programming techniques with other developerWorks users. Use the forum content at your own risk. While IBM will attempt to provide a timely response to all postings, the use of this DeveloperWorks forum does not guarantee a response to every question that is posted, nor do we validate the answers or the code that are offered. Typographic conventions The following typographic conventions are used in this blueprint: Bold Identifies commands, subroutines, keywords, files, structures, directories, and other items whose names are predefined by the system. Also identifies graphical objects such as buttons, labels, and icons that the user selects. Italics Identifies parameters whose actual names or values are to be supplied by the user. Monospace Identifies examples of specific data values, examples of text similar to what you might see displayed, examples of portions of program code similar to what you might write as a programmer, messages from the system, or information you should actually type. vi Blueprints: Installing Linux Distributions on Multipath Devices Installing Linux Distributions on Multipathed Devices What is Multipath Connectivity The connection from the server through the Host Bus Adapter (HBA) to the storage controller is referred as a path. Within the context of this blueprint, multipath connectivity refers to a system configuration where multiple connection paths exist between a server and a storage unit (Logical Unit (LUN)) within a storage subsystem. This configuration can be used to provide redundancy or increased bandwidth. Multipath connectivity provides redundant access to the storage devices, for example, to have access to the storage device when one or more of the components in a path fail. Another advantage of using multipath connectivity is the increased throughput by way of load balancing. Note that multipathing protects against the failure of path(s) and not the failure of a specific storage device. A common example of multipath connectivity is a SAN connected storage device. Usually one or more Fibre Channel HBAs from the host will be connected to the fabric switch and the storage controllers will be connected to the same switch. A simple example of multipath connectivity could be: two HBAs connected to a switch to which the storage controllers are connected. In this case the storage controller can be accessed from either of the HBAs and hence we have multipath connectivity. In the following diagram each host has two HBAs and each storage device has two controllers. With the given configuration setup each host will have four paths to each of the LUNs in each of the storage devices. © Copyright IBM Corp. 2008 1 Hardware Setup for Test Environment ™ For the examples included in this blueprint, the host system is a System x x346 server with one HBA connected to a Fibre Channel Fabric. This Fibre Channel ™ Fabric is also connected to a DS6000 storage server with five storage devices. Each storage device has two fabric connections. Multipath installation on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 This section describes the steps for installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 on a multipath device. 1. Determine which multipath device your machine boots from. To do this, note down the LUN (Logical Unit) number of the bootable device that is made available by your Fibre Channel Adapter card during firmware boot. In the test environment, the firmware displays the boot disk, showing lun number 0. 2 Blueprints: Installing Linux Distributions on Multipath Devices 2. Start the installation by providing the keyword mpath in the kernel command line. In the test environment, linux mpath vnc was used. The Partitioning screen displays a list of multipath devices as mapper/mpath*. Installing Linux Distributions on Multipathed Devices 3 3. Determine the multipath device that corresponds to the bootable device for the host being installed. Go back to the console window if using VNC, or start an alternate console. In the test environment, the System x is hooked up to an RSA. In the remote control console, we pressed Ctrl-Alt-F2 for an alternate console. From the output, we found the device that corresponds to the bootable LUN. In the test environment, System x is connected to an RSA. In the console, we ran the command: multipath -ll | grep -E ’:<LUN number> | mpath’ The following output was displayed: From the output of the command as shown above, dm-6, the fourth multipath device listed, corresponds to LUN 0. First, look for the numbers in x:x:x:x 4 Blueprints: Installing Linux Distributions on Multipath Devices format. The devices with x:x:x:0 are the devices correspond to LUN 0. In this case, dm-6, with the two multipaths 0:0:0:0 and 0:0:1:0, is the bootable multipath device of the host. mapper/mpath4, which corresponds to dm-6, is then the bootable multipath device for installation. 4. Continue the install by going back to your VNC session, or switching back to the console window if installing through text mode. In the test environment, we pressed Ctrl-Alt-F1 in the remote control console. 5. Select the appropriate multipath device for installation. In the test environment, mapper/mpath4 is the only device checked. 6. Select Review and modify partitioning layout and then press Next. 7. Boot loader might not selected by default to install into the bootable multipath device. In the test environment, the boot loader defaulted to /dev/mapper/mpath0, as shown in the following screen. Note the first line of the screen: The GRUB boot loader will be installed on /dev/mapper/mpath0. Installing Linux Distributions on Multipathed Devices 5 8. If the installer did not select the correct multipath bootable device, change where the boot loader is installed by selecting Configure advanced boot loader options and press Next. 6 Blueprints: Installing Linux Distributions on Multipath Devices 9. Press Change Drive Order and a new window pops up. 10. Highlight the correct bootable mulitpath device and use Up to move the device up the list. Installing Linux Distributions on Multipathed Devices 7 Repeat this step until the bootable mulitpath device is on top of the list. 8 Blueprints: Installing Linux Distributions on Multipath Devices 11. Press OK. 12. The bootable device is now selected for boot loader install. As in the test environment, note that /dev/mapper/mpath4 is selected. 13. Continue and complete the installation. Note: If you are a different IBM supported multipath storage, additional steps are needed to finish the installation.