Issue with extraneous paths showing up in Powerpath

Yes, I had 2 dead paths, ran powermt check, (did not reboot), powerpath cleared up and things looked good, then I logged onto the server about 2-3 hours later and I had another dead extraneous path pointing to a completely different port. That's my problem is I clear them up and they come back and there doesn't seem to be any pattern to what comes back. If it was always the same port or something then I would be inclined to think it was the switch or something but there seems to be no pattern to what shows up.

If you have any error during PP installation. Check if you have more revevalant log on the Event Viewer :

I Have experienced the same promblem,initially no drives were visible to the server than ,reboot worked drives came online ,however they are getting error as "Failed redundancy"

below is the powermt output:

Microsoft Windows [Version 5.2.3790]
(C) Copyright 1985-2003 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\t0000365.EC>powermt display dev=all
Pseudo name=harddisk6
CLARiiON ID=CK200061701561 [wfsrvsgsu001002]
Logical device ID=6006016094BB19002039D26F0A18DC11 [LUN 6]
state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
Owner: default=SP A, current=SP A       Array failover mode: 1
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   4 port4\path0\tgt0\lun0    c4t0d0    SP B1     active  alive       0      0
   4 port4\path0\tgt1\lun0    c4t1d0    SP A0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt0\lun0    c5t0d0    SP B0     active  alive       0      0

Pseudo name=harddisk7
CLARiiON ID=CK200061701561 [wfsrvsgsu001002]
Logical device ID=6006016094BB19006C79C0B30A18DC11 [LUN 7]
state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
Owner: default=SP B, current=SP B       Array failover mode: 1
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   4 port4\path0\tgt0\lun1    c4t0d1    SP B1     active  alive       0      0
   4 port4\path0\tgt1\lun1    c4t1d1    SP A0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt0\lun1    c5t0d1    SP B0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt1\lun1    c5t1d1    SP B0     active  dead        0      0

Pseudo name=harddisk8
CLARiiON ID=CK200061701561 [wfsrvsgsu001002]
Logical device ID=6006016094BB1900322A23CB0A18DC11 [LUN 8]
state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
Owner: default=SP A, current=SP A       Array failover mode: 1
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   4 port4\path0\tgt0\lun2    c4t0d2    SP B1     active  alive       0      0
   4 port4\path0\tgt1\lun2    c4t1d2    SP A0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt0\lun2    c5t0d2    SP B0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt1\lun2    c5t1d2    SP B0     active  dead        0      0

Pseudo name=harddisk9
CLARiiON ID=CK200061701561 [wfsrvsgsu001002]
Logical device ID=6006016094BB1900448CA5890A00DB11 [LUN 300]
state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
Owner: default=SP B, current=SP B       Array failover mode: 1
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   4 port4\path0\tgt0\lun3    c4t0d3    SP B1     active  alive       0      0
   4 port4\path0\tgt1\lun3    c4t1d3    SP A0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt0\lun3    c5t0d3    SP B0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt1\lun3    c5t1d3    SP B0     active  dead        0      0

Pseudo name=harddisk10
CLARiiON ID=CK200061701561 [wfsrvsgsu001002]
Logical device ID=6006016094BB1900478CA5890A00DB11 [LUN 303]
state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
Owner: default=SP A, current=SP A       Array failover mode: 1
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   4 port4\path0\tgt0\lun4    c4t0d4    SP B1     active  alive       0      0
   4 port4\path0\tgt1\lun4    c4t1d4    SP A0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt0\lun4    c5t0d4    SP B0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt1\lun4    c5t1d4    SP B0     active  dead        0      0

Pseudo name=harddisk11
CLARiiON ID=CK200061701561 [wfsrvsgsu001002]
Logical device ID=6006016094BB1900488CA5890A00DB11 [LUN 305]
state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
Owner: default=SP A, current=SP A       Array failover mode: 1
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   4 port4\path0\tgt0\lun5    c4t0d5    SP B1     active  alive       0      0
   4 port4\path0\tgt1\lun5    c4t1d5    SP A0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt0\lun5    c5t0d5    SP B0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt1\lun5    c5t1d5    SP B0     active  dead        0      0

Pseudo name=harddisk12
CLARiiON ID=CK200061701561 [wfsrvsgsu001002]
Logical device ID=6006016094BB1900A80E0B873AC1DC11 [LUN 93]
state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
Owner: default=SP B, current=SP B       Array failover mode: 1
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   4 port4\path0\tgt0\lun6    c4t0d6    SP B1     active  alive       0      0
   4 port4\path0\tgt1\lun6    c4t1d6    SP A0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt0\lun6    c5t0d6    SP B0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt1\lun6    c5t1d6    SP B0     active  dead        0      0

Pseudo name=harddisk13
CLARiiON ID=CK200061701561 [wfsrvsgsu001002]
Logical device ID=6006016094BB1900627D49CCBC13DE11 [LUN 95]
state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
Owner: default=SP A, current=SP A       Array failover mode: 1
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   4 port4\path0\tgt0\lun7    c4t0d7    SP B1     active  alive       0      0
   4 port4\path0\tgt1\lun7    c4t1d7    SP A0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt0\lun7    c5t0d7    SP B0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt1\lun7    c5t1d7    SP B0     active  dead        0      0

Pseudo name=harddisk14
CLARiiON ID=CK200061701561 [wfsrvsgsu001002]
Logical device ID=6006016094BB19009670C2D36093E011 [LUN 52]
state=alive; policy=CLAROpt; priority=0; queued-IOs=0;
Owner: default=SP B, current=SP B       Array failover mode: 1
==============================================================================
--------------- Host ---------------   - Stor -   -- I/O Path --  -- Stats ---
###  HW Path               I/O Paths    Interf.   Mode    State   Q-IOs Errors
==============================================================================
   4 port4\path0\tgt0\lun8    c4t0d8    SP B1     active  alive       0      0
   4 port4\path0\tgt1\lun8    c4t1d8    SP A0     active  alive       0      0
   5 port5\path0\tgt0\lun8    c5t0d8    SP B0     active  alive       0      0

Attached is the error snap at host end,In the above case you will not see SP A1 as the port is faulty at storage end ,however its a known issue ..the concern is of showing dead path at SPB0 for some lun's.

Will keep you updated ,if gets somethimg on this.

Answer to your questions :

they still part of the storage group: with reference to above powermt command output lets say Lun 93 showing dead path for SPB0,so I have checked ,I can see lun93 in the storage group.

Did anybody mess with the Lun's:NO

Did you try to bring them back (powermt restore) ? : Do you want to say that i have to ask windows team to run command powermt restore at server CMd.

since it's only some specific LUNs that are showing up as dead, are they still part of the storage group, did anybody mess with them ? Did you try to bring them back (powermt restore) ?

worth a shot

please refer the below output:

C:\Documents and Settings\svc_rmse>powermt restore dev=all

Warning: CLARiiON device path c5t1d1 is currently dead.

Warning: CLARiiON device path c5t1d2 is currently dead.

Warning: CLARiiON device path c5t1d3 is currently dead.

Warning: CLARiiON device path c5t1d4 is currently dead.

Warning: CLARiiON device path c5t1d5 is currently dead.

Warning: CLARiiON device path c5t1d6 is currently dead.

Warning: CLARiiON device path c5t1d7 is currently dead.

please suggest how to proceed on this

can you please how to read this path c5t1d1 and identify from storage end ?..what does c ,t and d means ?

ctd stands for controller, target, and disk(LUN) where controller is your HBA number, target is your array and disk is the HostID assigned to the LUN. Notice how target id is 0 on the working path and it's target id 1 on the dead path so something changed somewhere but PowerPath is smart enough to detect it and discover the new path. As long as you see the correct number of live paths you should be fine to go ahead and run "powermt check" which will tell you that they are dead paths and offer you to remove them. Select "a" to remove all dead paths, this should clear the PowerPath console.

Just off hand I'd say to check your zoning on the switches. Are you using WWN zoning or Port zoning? Are the switches set to Open zoning?

glen

we are using WWN zonning on switches ,I have already checked this no issues with this ,as this is resolved ..thanks for ur reply..however could you please let me know what do you mean :Are the switch set to open zonning ?

Thanks a lott..we ran "powermt check" command and then powermt restore dev=all,now all looks fine ..

However I have got some doubts on info provided :

You said -ctd stands for controller, target, and disk(LUN) where controller is your HBA number, target is your array and disk is the HostID assigned to the LUN.

doubt: How can it could be C5 & C4 in case of c5t0d1 & Cc4t0d5,as I have only one HBA in that server and it has only 2 ports...I beleive these are the ports of the single ,then why names as 4 & 5 intsead of C1 & C2 ?

You said : Notice how target id is 0 on the working path and it's target id 1 on the dead path so something changed somewhere but PowerPath is smart enough to detect it and discover the new path.

doubt: With refrence to  above powermt display output: I agree to this point,However as i said target SPA1 is faulty on Array,

so this could be the reason whty it was showing as dead ,as second port of HBA access each Lun via SPA1 & SPB0(Redundancy at Processer end via switch B)...May previously it was accessible before SPA1 goes faulty ...so that's the reason powerpath throwing error ?

Yo said : As long as you see the correct number of live paths:

It means if SPA1 would not be faulty then result could have shown as below :

C4 path loged in to  SPA0

C4 path loged into SPA1

C5 path loged into SPB0

C5 path loged into SPB1

As currently its only showing :3 paths active.

Open Zoning = no zones used - all ports see all other ports. Some FC switches come set that way.

glen

I would also consider running:

powermt save

Having skimmed the thread, it is possible the reason for the behavior (returning paths upon reboot) could have been a result of not saving the configuration after running powermt check.  Just to mention it, when performing the same tasks via the GUI (equivalent of check/restore) as discussed in this thread, when closing the PP console, it will have detected changes and then prompt you to save your configuration.