Issued:
2011-02-15
Updated:
2011-04-29

RHBA-2011:0243 - device-mapper-multipath bug fix and enhancement update

Synopsis

device-mapper-multipath bug fix and enhancement update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated device-mapper-multipath package that fixes several bugs and adds various enhancements is now available.

[Updated 27th April 2011] The original text for this advisory omitted descriptions for two workarounds, BZ#509095 and BZ#487443, and a bug fix, BZ#588753. The packages provided with this advisory have not been changed. The text of this advisory has been updated with summaries of each of these issues, and a link to the Known Issues section of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.9 Release Notes, where these issues are described in detail, has been added to the References section of this advisory.

Description

The device-mapper-multipath package provides tools to manage multipath devices using the device-mapper multipath kernel module.

The advisory text was updated on the 27th of April, 2011 with the following bug description:

  • Installing the device-mapper-multipath RPM package could have caused the default installed /etc/kpartx.conf configuration file to be modified. As a consequence, verifying the package with the "rpm -V" failed due to the /etc/kpartx.conf file's size, md5sum, and last modification time having been changed. This update adds flags to the device-mapper-multipath package's spec file that inform rpm that the size, md5sum and modification time of the /etc/kpartx.conf file may change, with the result that verifying the package now succeeds in this situation. (BZ#588753)

The advisory text was updated on the 27th of April, 2011 with the following two workaround descriptions:

  • When the /var directory was mounted on a separate file system from the root directory ("/"), the association between mpath[n] device names and device WWIDs could have been become inconsistent. As a workaround, a bindings_file configuration option now provides a consistent mapping between mpath[n] and WWID device names. Refer to the Release Notes link provided in the References section of this erratum for further details. (BZ#509095)

  • Multipath is unable to reconfigure a multipath device while the multipathd service is running, or add new paths to the device. A workaround for this issue is provided in the 4.9 Release Notes, which are linked to in the References section of this advisory. (BZ#487443)

[The original advisory text follows]

This update provides fixes for the following bugs:

  • The direction path checker occasionally dropped paths due to a too short limit for the IO. The direction checker now waits asychronously for the IO with a 30 second limit per path. (BZ#500580)

  • When gathering path information, multipath did not wait long enough for some sysfs files to be created. This caused it to not create some devices. It will now wait up to a minute, unless it notices that the sysfs device directory has been removed, in which case it exits early. (BZ#511034)

  • Multipath gave incorrect path groupings for multipath devices configured to use "group_by_node_name". This was due to an incorrect reporting of the target node name for iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface) targets. With this update multipath checks the iSCSI target name if the fc check fails. (BZ#512065)

  • Multipath could have occasionally consumed a large amount of memory. This was caused by improper setting of thread size. With this update, the thread size setting is adjusted and the issue no longer occurs. (BZ#516253)

  • Previously, kpartx could have made incorrect partitions for devices with minor numbers greater than 255. This happened due to a mistake in calculation of minor number of devices. This update fixes the calculation procedure and the issue is fixed. (BZ#528734)

  • Multipathd occasionally used an incorrect UID/GID/MODE setting for the devices it created, if these were defined in multipath.conf. This was due to a race between udevd and multipathd. With this update, the issue no longer occurs. (BZ#531131)

  • If a multipath device configured with queue_if_no_path with no working paths was created while booting, and multipathd was not running, the machine did not boot. init scripts must call multipath with the -q option that forces multipath to disable queuing on all devices. (BZ#575244)

In addition, this updated package provides the following enhancements:

  • The multipath.conf file contains a new option "queue_without_daemon" with the "yes" default setting. If set to "no", multipathd disables queue_if_no_paths on all devices. (BZ#488921)

  • A default configuration for HP HSVX700 is added. (BZ#623468)

All device-mapper-multipath users are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which resolves these issues and adds these enhancements.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at This content is not included.https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian4ppc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems4s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems4s390
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation4ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation4i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server4ia64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server4i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop4x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop4i386

Updated Packages

  • device-mapper-multipath-0.4.5-42.el4.ia64.rpm
  • device-mapper-multipath-0.4.5-42.el4.x86_64.rpm
  • device-mapper-multipath-0.4.5-42.el4.src.rpm
  • device-mapper-multipath-0.4.5-42.el4.i386.rpm
  • device-mapper-multipath-0.4.5-42.el4.ppc.rpm
  • device-mapper-multipath-0.4.5-42.el4.s390.rpm
  • device-mapper-multipath-0.4.5-42.el4.s390x.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

Additional information