PowerVault: Combined Linux MPIO multipath.conf

Summary: This article covers multipath.conf settings for Linux based on Best Practices guides for MD and ME storage.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
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Symptoms

This file is designed with the Best Practices for Linux based Multipath Input/Output (MPIO) on PowerVault ME5, ME4, and MD3 storage. Modify the "/etc/multipath.conf" file generated by many Linux operating system distributions using these settings.

 

Refer to the Linux documentation as some Linux operating system distributions may require custom setting that can be applied before the file is put into use.

History:

  • PowerVault ME5 wording added April 25, 2022
  • PowerVault ME4 specific settings added February 11, 2020
  • MD34xx/38xx specific settings
  • MD32xx/36xx specific settings
  • Blacklisting

 

ME4 setting defaults can be found in the document called "Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Series and Linux" version (September 2018).

Other operating system best practices can be found on Dell Technologies Infohub.

There is a text and file version in the KB. The text is below, and the file is attached.

The text version must be put into a file or replaced text in the Linux hosts "multipath.conf" file.

Cause

See Resolution below.

Resolution

##Default System Values
defaults {
 user_friendly_names  yes
 find_multipaths   yes
 max_fds     8192
 polling_interval  5
 queue_without_daemon no
}

## Universal Blacklist  (recommend white-listing)
blacklist {
 device {
  vendor    "*"
  product    "*"
 }
}
## Blacklist Exceptions
blacklist_exceptions {
 device {
  vendor    "DELL"
  product    "MD32xxi"
 }
 device {
  vendor    "DELL"
  product    "MD32xx"
 }
 device {
  vendor    "DELL"
  product    "MD34xx"
 }
 device {
  vendor    "DELL"
  product    "MD36xx(i|f)"
 }
 device {
  vendor    "DELL"
  product    "MD38xx(i|f)"
 }
 device {
  vendor    "COMPELNT"
  product    "Compellent Vol"
 }
 device {
  vendor    "DellEMC"
  product    "ME4"
 }
  device {
  vendor    "DellEMC"
  product    "ME5"
 }
}
## Dell Device Configuration
devices {
 device {
  vendor                "DELL"
  product               "MD32xxi"
  path_grouping_policy  group_by_prio
  prio                  rdac
  path_checker          rdac
  path_selector         "round-robin 0"
  hardware_handler      "1 rdac"
  failback              immediate
  features              "2 pg_init_retries 50"
  no_path_retry         30
  rr_min_io             100
 }
 device {
  vendor                "DELL"
  product               "MD32xx"
  path_grouping_policy  group_by_prio
  prio                  rdac
  path_checker          rdac
  path_selector         "round-robin 0"
  hardware_handler      "1 rdac"
  failback              immediate
  features              "2 pg_init_retries 50"
  no_path_retry         30
  rr_min_io             100
 }
 device {
  vendor                "DELL"
  product               "MD36xxi"
  path_grouping_policy  group_by_prio
  prio                  rdac
  path_checker          rdac
  path_selector         "round-robin 0"
  hardware_handler      "1 rdac"
  failback              immediate
  features              "2 pg_init_retries 50"
  no_path_retry         30
  rr_min_io             100
 }
 device {
  vendor                "DELL"
  product               "MD36xxf"
  path_grouping_policy  group_by_prio
  prio                  rdac
  path_checker          rdac
  path_selector         "round-robin 0"
  hardware_handler      "1 rdac"
  failback              immediate
  features              "2 pg_init_retries 50"
  no_path_retry         30
  rr_min_io             100
 }
 device {
  vendor                "DELL"
  product               "MD34xx"
  path_grouping_policy  group_by_prio
  prio                  rdac
  path_checker          rdac
  path_selector         "round-robin 0"
  hardware_handler      "1 rdac"
  failback              immediate
  features              "2 pg_init_retries 50"
  no_path_retry         30
  rr_min_io             100
 }
 device {
  vendor                "DELL"
  product               "MD38xxi"
  path_grouping_policy  group_by_prio
  prio                  rdac
  path_checker          rdac
  path_selector         "round-robin 0"
  hardware_handler      "1 rdac"
  failback              immediate
  features              "2 pg_init_retries 50"
  no_path_retry         30
  rr_min_io             100
 }
 device {
  vendor                "DELL"
  product               "MD38xxf"
  path_grouping_policy  group_by_prio
  prio                  rdac
  path_checker          rdac
  path_selector         "round-robin 0"
  hardware_handler      "1 rdac"
  failback              immediate
  features              "2 pg_init_retries 50"
  no_path_retry         30
  rr_min_io             100
 }
 device {
  vendor "DellEMC"
  product "ME4"
  path_grouping_policy group_by_prio
  path_checker "tur"
  hardware_handler "1 alua"
  prio "alua"
  failback immediate
  rr_weight "uniform"
  path_selector "service-time 0"
  }
 device {
  vendor "DellEMC"
  product "ME5"
  path_grouping_policy group_by_prio
  path_checker "tur"
  hardware_handler "1 alua"
  prio "alua"
  failback immediate
  rr_weight "uniform"
  path_selector "service-time 0"
  }
}

Affected Products

Dell PowerVault MD3000 with Red Hat Enterprise Linux HA Clusters, Dell PowerVault MD3000i with Windows HA Clusters, Dell PowerVault MD3600i/3620i Windows HA Cluster, Dell PowerVault OEM Ready MD34XX and MD38XX, OEMR ME40XX and ME4XX , PowerVault MD3260i, PowerVault MD3400, PowerVault MD3420, PowerVault MD3460, PowerVault MD3660f, PowerVault MD3660i, PowerVault MD3800f, PowerVault MD3800i, PowerVault MD3820f, PowerVault MD3820i, PowerVault MD3860f, PowerVault MD3860i, Dell EMC PowerVault ME4012, Dell EMC PowerVault ME4024, Dell EMC PowerVault ME4084, Dell EMC PowerVault ME412 Expansion, Dell EMC PowerVault ME424 Expansion, Dell EMC PowerVault ME484, PowerVault ME5012, PowerVault ME5024, PowerVault ME5084 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000124601
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 16 Sep 2025
Version:  7
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