160Administering dynamic multipathing (DMP)

Administering DMP using vxdmpadm

Configuring DMP path restoration policies

DMP maintains a kernel thread that re-examines the condition of paths at a specified interval. The type of analysis that is performed on the paths depends on the checking policy that is configured.

Note: The DMP path restoration thread does not change the disabled state of the path through a controller that you have disabled using vxdmpadm disable.

Use the start restore command to configure one of the following policies:check_all

The path restoration thread analyzes all paths in the system and revives the paths that are back online, as well as disabling the paths that are inaccessible. The command to configure this policy is:

#vxdmpadm start restore [interval=seconds] policy=check_allcheck_alternate

The path restoration thread checks that at least one alternate path is healthy. It generates a notification if this condition is not met. This policy avoids inquiry commands on all healthy paths, and is less costly than check_all in cases where a large number of paths are available. This policy is the same as check_all if there are only two paths per DMP node. The command to configure this policy is:

#vxdmpadm start restore [interval=seconds] \ policy=check_alternate

check_disabled

This is the default path restoration policy. The path restoration thread checks the condition of paths that were previously disabled due to hardware failures, and revives them if they are back online. The command to configure this policy is:

#vxdmpadm start restore [interval=seconds] \ policy=check_disabled

check_periodic

The path restoration thread performs check_all once in a given number of cycles, and check_disabled in the remainder of the cycles. This policy may lead to periodic slowing down (due to check_all) if there is a large number of paths available. The command to configure this policy is:

#vxdmpadm start restore interval=seconds \ policy=check_periodic [period=number]