Installation guide

StorageWorks Secure Path for Windows NT
6-12 123995-002 EK-WNTMP-MH. D01
6.11 Notification when No-Single-Point-of-Failure is Compromised
When a server is booted, Secure Path software interrogates each managed device for its
preferred path information, as well as expecting to discover redundant paths for each
device. In some situations, broken or malfunctioning hardware at boot time may prevent
the operation of one of the paths to one or more StorageWorks RAID Arrays. Since this
situation seriously compromises the integrity of the no-single-point-of-failure capabilities
of your configuration, Secure Path detects and distinguishes between the two possible
occurrences of this condition. Section 6.11.1 describes Secure Path notification in cases
where one or more drives cannot be accessed through their preferred path at boot time.
Section 6.11.2 describes notification in cases where all devices are accessible through
their preferred path, but the redundant path could not be discovered.
Secure Path will provide continuous automatic failover protection for any device which
still has a viable alternate path. However, to maximize the high availability potential of
your Secure Path configuration, corrective action should be undertaken immediately to
eliminate the cause of the failed alternate path. The affected server(s) will need to be
rebooted following corrective action.
In summary, when no-single-point-of-failure is compromised, as indicated by the circled
’M’ icon on one or more devices, or the information icon, Secure Path behaves as follows:
Secure Path Will… Secure Path Will Not…
•
automatically failover devices with
viable alternate paths
•
allow a multiple path device to be
reassigned to another path
•
automatically move failed-over device
back to original path if the path
appears healthy and auto-failback
option is enabled
•
allow a failover device to be manually
returned to its original path