multipath.conf is incorrect

a573

Hello,

The QNAP setting in multipath.conf is incorrect. The settings cannot be called correctly because the product attribute is different. It seems to work with default values.

I will feed back my experience to XCP-NG project.

product attribute - [Underbar is incorrect. Space is correct]

/etc/multipath.xenserver/multipath.conf.old

device {
                vendor                  "QNAP"
                product                 "iSCSI_Storage"
        }

/etc/multipath.xenserver/multipath.conf

device {
                vendor                  "QNAP"
                product                 "iSCSI Storage"
        }

I was editing multipath.conf to give priority to multipathing sessions.
I started debugging because the settings didn't apply. You have noticed a difference in the call string "iSCSI Storage".

[16:30 xxxxxxxxx etc]# multipath -ll
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx dm-0 QNAP    ,iSCSI Storage   
size=20T features='1 queue_if_no_path' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
|-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=9 status=active
| `- 9:0:0:0  sdb 8:16 active ready running
`-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=1 status=enabled
  `- 10:0:0:0 sdc 8:32 active ready running

By replacing the underscore with a space, the setting is now recognized correctly and the session can be given priority.

device {
                vendor                  "QNAP"
                product                 "iSCSI Storage"
                path_grouping_policy    "failover"
                path_selector           "round-robin 0"
                path_checker            readsector0
                prio                    weightedpath
                prio_args               "hbtl 9:0:0:0 9 10:0:0:0 1"
                uid_attribute           ID_SERIAL
        }

My Storage: TS-432PXU-RP
Version: 5.0.0.1828 Build 20211020

stormi

Do you know whether the value changed during QNAP's product history? I wouldn't want to break it for older devices.

a573

I don't know if the QNAP specifications have changed.
I searched past information.

I found another post of 2019 year. In this post, it was "iSCSI Storage". (Spaced)
https://www.reddit.com/r/qnap/comments/fv514j/iscsi_vendor_and_product_for_multipathd_config/

I found official QNAP report of 2018 year. it was "iSCSI Storage". (Spaced)
https://www.qnap.com/ja-jp/how-to/tutorial/article/configuring-linux-iscsi-storage-with-qnap-es-nas

I found Citrix forum of 2018 year. it was "iSCSI Storage". (Spaced)
https://discussions.citrix.com/topic/394780-how-to-use-iscsi-target-directly-in-xenserver/page/2/

It's not smart, but you might be able to follow both old and new by listing two blocks of underbars and spaces. In my debugging, I made a distinction between underbars and spaces, so I thought it would be solved by writing two blocks.

I put two blocks in my server's multipath.conf, check it and reply. Please give me some time.
Are there any commands or logs you would like me to check?

stormi

I'm not knowledgeable in multipathing so I couldn't tell.

I'd be interested in hearing from other QNAP users who'd use multipathing.

The source of this configuration file is https://github.com/xapi-project/sm/blob/master/multipath/multipath.conf. You may try to open an issue or a pull request there to try and reach the developer who originally added the QNAP section.

It would be probably very useful to also reach for QNAP developers themselves and ask them about this. Maybe they'll answer that there never was an underscore and then we'd know for sure.

a573

I wrote two blocks of underscores and spaces in my QNAP environment.
A forward match was detected and two blocks were read as separate configurations.
This method lists both old and new, so I don't think there will be any problems if old QNAPs use underscores.

I will try to contact github.

stormi

@a573 I'm confident creating two blocks would work, but if the one with an underscore is bogus, I'd rather not keep it. Especially when we'll have to contribute the fix upstream, and they'll want a clean config.