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---Problem Description---
Running mkinitrd on multipath SAN boot system builds an initramfs without the multipath drives
included, so the system will orphan the paths to the SAN boot LUN.
The workaround was to run dracut directly as follows:
dracut -f -a multipath --include /etc/multipath /etc/multipath
---uname output---
Linux iopx3650lgpl3.storage.tucson.ibm.com 2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Sep 1 01:33:01 EDT 2010
x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Machine Type = x3650 7979-MC1
---Steps to Reproduce---
On a RHEL 6 system installed with mpath option,
cp /boot/initramfs-2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64.img
/boot/initramfs-2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64.img.orig
mkinitrd /boot/initramfs-2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64.img 2.6.32-71.el6.x86_64
mount both images -o loop, then diff the trees
The hba driver is brocade, the system is multipath SAN boot.
As the in distro brocade driver is only supported by brocade for install, after install the system
must be upgraded to the brocade driver.
The issue occurs when rebuilding the intramfs from mkinitrd. The resulting intramfs lacks the
multipath driver as well as /etc/multipath.conf and /etc/multipath hence the need for the dracut
workaround.
Additoinal Info
----------------
It seems that if the system only has a single lun attached, in these cases the boot LUN, mkinitrd
works, it's only after attaching multiple luns that mkinitrd fails.
Additionally to clarify, this was initially detected on a system in which we were required to use
the out of box brocade hba drivers, so to SAN boot multipaths a mkinitrd is required, and exposed
the issue.