Specifications
VMware, Inc. 275
Chapter 9 Storage and File Systems
vmhba1:0:6 on
vmhba1:1:6 on
vmhba1:2:6 on
Disk vmhba0:3:3 (0 MB) has 2 paths. Policy is mru.
vmhba0:3:3 on (active, preferred)
vmhba1:3:3 on
In!this!system!configuration,!the!disk!vmhba0:0:2!has!a!“fixed”!policy.!Six!paths!to!the!
disk!are!recognized!by!ESX!Server.!The!list!of!paths!indicates!the!different!physical!
routes!by!which!the!disk!can!be!accessed.
The!status!of!each!path!to!the!disk!is!indicated!in!the!second!column.!
The!report!lists!
each!path!as!on,!off,!or!dead:
! on!–!Indicates!that!the!path!is!functional!and!that!data!is!being!transferred!
successfully.
! off!–!Indicates!that!this!path!has!been!deliberately!turned!off.
! dead!–!Indicates!that!the!path!should!be!active,!but!the!software!cannot!connect!to!
the!disk!through!this!path.
The!report!lists!the!mode!of!each!path!in!the!third!column:
! preferred!–!Identifies!the!primary!path!ESX!Server!uses!to!access!the!disk.
! active!–!Identifies!the!actual!path!used!by!ESX!Server!to!access!the!disk.
The!preferred!mode!is!used!only!by!ESX!Server!to!access!fixed!policy!disks.!If!a!disk!has!
a!most‐recently!used!(MRU)!policy,!the!preferred!mode!is!displayed!in!the!report!
above,!but!ESX!Server!does!
not!use!it!to!access!the!disk.
You!can!display!the!multipathing!status!for!a!single!disk!by!specifying!it!in!the!query!
command.!For!example,!to!display!the!report!for!disk!vmhba0:0:6,!type:
# vmkmultipath -q vmhba0:0:6
Setting Your Multipathing Policy for a LUN
You!can!specify!the!default!policy!for!the!multipathing!feature.!There!are!two!policies:
! fixed!–!ESX!Server!always!uses!the!preferred!path!to!the!disk.!If!it!cannot!access!the!
disk!through!the!preferred!path,!it!tries!the!alternate!paths.!Fixed!is!the!default!
policy!for!active/active!storage!devices.
N
OTE Reports!returned!by!vmkmultipath!list!paths!to!both!physical!disks!and!storage!
controllers.!In!the!example!above,!the!“disks”!listed!as!having!no!space!available!are!
actually!storage!processors.