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4.4. Multipaths Device Configuration Attributes

Table 4.2, “Multipath Attributes” shows the attributes that you can set in the multipaths section of the multipath.conf configuration file for each specific multipath device. These attributes apply only to the one specified multipath. These defaults are used by DM-Multipath and override attributes set in the defaults and devices sections of the multipath.conf file.
Table 4.2. Multipath Attributes
Attribute Description
wwid Specifies the WWID of the multipath device to which the multipath attributes apply. This parameter is mandatory for this section of the multipath.conf file.
alias Specifies the symbolic name for the multipath device to which the multipath attributes apply. If you are using user_friendly_names, do not set this value to mpathn; this may conflict with an automatically assigned user friendly name and give you incorrect device node names.
path_grouping_policy
Specifies the default path grouping policy to apply to unspecified multipaths. Possible values include:
failover = 1 path per priority group
multibus = all valid paths in 1 priority group
group_by_serial = 1 priority group per detected serial number
group_by_prio = 1 priority group per path priority value
group_by_node_name = 1 priority group per target node name
path_selector
Specifies the default algorithm to use in determining what path to use for the next I/O operation. Possible values include:
round-robin 0: Loop through every path in the path group, sending the same amount of I/O to each.
queue-length 0: Send the next bunch of I/O down the path with the least number of outstanding I/O requests.
service-time 0: Send the next bunch of I/O down the path with the shortest estimated service time, which is determined by dividing the total size of the outstanding I/O to each path by its relative throughput.
The default value is round-robin 0.
failback
Manages path group failback.
A value of immediate specifies immediate failback to the highest priority path group that contains active paths.
A value of manual specifies that there should not be immediate failback but that failback can happen only with operator intervention.
A value of followover specifies that automatic failback should be performed when the first path of a path group becomes active. This keeps a node from automatically failing back when another node requested the failover.
A numeric value greater than zero specifies deferred failback, expressed in seconds.
The default value is manual.
prio
Specifies the default function to call to obtain a path priority value. For example, the ALUA bits in SPC-3 provide an exploitable prio value. Possible values include:
const: Set a priority of 1 to all paths.
emc: Generate the path priority for EMC arrays.
alua: Generate the path priority based on the SCSI-3 ALUA settings.
tpg_pref: Generate the path priority based on the SCSI-3 ALUA settings, using the preferred port bit.
ontap: Generate the path priority for NetApp arrays.
rdac: Generate the path priority for LSI/Engenio RDAC controller.
hp_sw: Generate the path priority for Compaq/HP controller in active/standby mode.
hds: Generate the path priority for Hitachi HDS Modular storage arrays.
no_path_retry
A numeric value for this attribute specifies the number of times the system should attempt to use a failed path before disabling queueing.
A value of fail indicates immediate failure, without queueing.
A value of queue indicates that queuing should not stop until the path is fixed.
rr_min_io Specifies the number of I/O requests to route to a path before switching to the next path in the current path group. The default value is 1000.
rr_weight If set to priorities, then instead of sending rr_min_io requests to a path before calling path_selector to choose the next path, the number of requests to send is determined by rr_min_io times the path's priority, as determined by the prio function. If set to uniform, all path weights are equal.
flush_on_last_del If set to yes, then multipath will disable queueing when the last path to a device has been deleted. The default value is no.
mode The mode to use for the multipath device nodes, in octal.
uid The user ID to use for the multipath device nodes. You may use the either the symbolic or numeric user ID. The default value is determined by the process.
gid The group ID to use for the multipath device nodes. You may use either the symbolic or the numeric group ID. The default value is determined by the process.

The following example shows multipath attributes specified in the configuration file for two specific multipath devices. The first device has a WWID of 3600508b4000156d70001200000b0000 and a symbolic name of yellow.
The second multipath device in the example has a WWID of 1DEC_____321816758474 and a symbolic name of red. In this example, the rr_weight attributes is set to priorities. 
multipaths {
       multipath {
              wwid                  3600508b4000156d70001200000b0000
              alias                 yellow
              path_grouping_policy  multibus
              path_checker          readsector0
              path_selector         "round-robin 0"
              failback              manual
              rr_weight             priorities
              no_path_retry         5
       }
       multipath {
              wwid                  1DEC_____321816758474
              alias                 red
              rr_weight             priorities
        }
}