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10
Multipath IO
Linux multipathing provides IO failover and path load sharing for multipathed block
devices. The multipath IO support in SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server is based on the
Device Mapper multipath module of the Linux kernel and the multipath-tools
userspace package.
Device mapping multipath IO features automatic configuration of the subsystem for a
large variety of setups. Active/passive or active/active (with round-robin load balancing)
configurations of up to eight paths to each device are supported.
multipath-tools take care of automatic path discovery and grouping as well as
automated path retesting, so that a previously failed path is automatically reinstated
when it becomes healthy again. This minimizes the need for administrator attention in
a production environment.
Device mapping multipath IO supports partitions (with limitations) and LVM2. Software
RAID is also supported, but automatic discovery is not available. To use software RAID
with mdadm, /etc/mdadm.conf must be set up correctly. See
Section 10.4, "Using
the Devices"
(page 256) for more information.
Currently, device mapping multipath IO is not available for the boot partition, because
the boot loader cannot handle multipath IO. Therefore it is recommended to set up a
separate boot partition when using multipath IO.
Multipath IO
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Troubleshooting
