I/O Data Path Protection

You can have multiple host-to-array connections for a host. Make sure to select all of the connections to the array when configuring host access to the storage array.

NOTICE: Refer to the Installation Guide for more information on cabling configurations.

NOTE: For maximum redundancy, you must select all host connections to the array when manually defining host topology. For example, a host might have two host connections. For this host, you would select two host connections.

If a component such as a RAID controller module or a cable fails, or an error occurs on the data path to the preferred RAID controller module, virtual disk ownership is moved to the alternate nonpreferred RAID controller module for processing. This failure or error is called failover.

Multi-path drivers such as MPIO and MPP are installed on host systems that access the storage array and provide I/O path failover. The multi-path driver (MPIO in Windows and MPP in Linux) is used for failover. Automatic Virtual Disk Transfer (AVT) is used specifically for single-port cluster failover. The AVT feature mode is automatically selected by host type.

NOTE: You should have the multi-path driver installed on the hosts at all times, even in a configuration where there is only one path to the storage system, such as a single port cluster configuration.

During a failover, the virtual disk transfer is logged as a critical event, and an alert notification is sent automatically if you have configured alert destinations for the storage array.

Failover with Red Hat Enterprise Linux

For users running Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 3.0 (x86), the mpp_vhba failover driver component does not load unless a storage array is connected and a LUN is mapped to the host server. Follow these steps to ensure proper MPP driver loading and LUN mapping:

1Ensure that the storage array is connected to the host server and that out- of-band (Ethernet) connections to each RAID controller module exist.

2Create a virtual disk and map it to LUN 0.

3Reboot the host.

About Your Host

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Dell Computer Drive manual Data Path Protection, Failover with Red Hat Enterprise Linux
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Computer Drive specifications

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