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Using Oracle Linux 8.1 with NetApp ONTAP
Installing the Linux Unified Host Utilities
The NetApp Linux Unified Host Utilities software package is available on the NetApp Support Site in a 64-bit .rpm file.
Installing the Linux Unified Host Utilities is strongly recommended, but not mandatory. The utilities do not change any settings on your Linux host. The utilities improve management and assist NetApp customer support in gathering information about your configuration.
If you have a version of Linux Unified Host Utilities currently installed you should upgrade it or, you should remove it and use the following steps to install the latest version.
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Download the 64-bit Linux Unified Host Utilities software package from the NetApp Support Site to your host.
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Use the following command to install the software package:
rpm -ivh netapp_linux_unified_host_utilities-7-1.x86_64
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You can use the configuration settings provided in this document to configure cloud clients connected to Cloud Volumes ONTAP and Amazon FSx for ONTAP. |
SAN Toolkit
The toolkit is installed automatically when you install the NetApp Host Utilities package. This kit provides the sanlun utility, which helps you manage LUNs and HBAs. The sanlun command returns information about the LUNs mapped to your host, multipathing, and information necessary to create initiator groups.
In the following example, the sanlun lun show command returns LUN information.
# sanlun lun show all
Example output:
controller(7mode/E-Series)/ device host lun vserver(cDOT/FlashRay) lun-pathname filename adapter protocol size Product ------------------------------------------------------------------------- data_vserver /vol/vol1/lun1 /dev/sdb host16 FCP 120.0g cDOT data_vserver /vol/vol1/lun1 /dev/sdc host15 FCP 120.0g cDOT data_vserver /vol/vol2/lun2 /dev/sdd host16 FCP 120.0g cDOT data_vserver /vol/vol2/lun2 /dev/sde host15 FCP 120.0g cDOT
SAN Booting
If you decide to use SAN booting, it must be supported by your configuration. You can use the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool to verify that your OS, HBA, HBA firmware and the HBA boot BIOS, and ONTAP version are supported.
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Map the SAN boot LUN to the host.
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Verify multiple paths are available.
Remember, multiple paths will only be available after the host OS is up and running on the paths.
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Enable SAN booting in the server BIOS for the ports to which the SAN boot LUN is mapped.
For information on how to enable the HBA BIOS, see your vendor-specific documentation.
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Reboot the host to verify the boot is successful.
Multipathing
For Oracle Linux 8.1 the /etc/multipath.conf file must exist, but you do not need to make specific changes to the file. Oracle Linux 8.1 is compiled with all settings required to recognize and correctly manage ONTAP LUNs.
You can use the multipath -ll command to verify the settings for your ONTAP LUNs.
There should be two groups of paths with different priorities. The paths with the higher priorities are Active/Optimized, which means they are serviced by the controller where the aggregate is located. The paths with the lower priorities are active but are non-optimized because they are served from a different controller. The non-optimized paths are only used when no optimized paths are available.
The following example displays the correct output for an ONTAP LUN with two Active/Optimized paths and two Active/non-Optimized paths:
# multipath -ll 3600a098038303634722b4d59646c4436 dm-28 NETAPP,LUN C-Mode size=10G features='3 queue_if_no_path pg_init_retries 50' hwhandler='1 alua' wp=rw |-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=50 status=active | |- 16:0:6:35 sdwb 69:624 active ready running | |- 16:0:5:35 sdun 66:752 active ready running |-+- policy='service-time 0' prio=10 status=enabled |- 15:0:0:35 sdaj 66:48 active ready running |- 15:0:1:35 sdbx 68:176 active ready running
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Do not use an excessive number of paths to a single LUN. No more than 4 paths should be required. More than 8 paths might cause path issues during storage failures. |
Recommended Settings
The Oracle Linux 8.1 OS is compiled to recognize ONTAP LUNs and automatically set all configuration parameters correctly.
The multipath.conf file must exist for the multipath daemon to start, but you can create an empty, zero-byte file using the command:
touch /etc/multipath.conf
The first time you create this file, you might need to enable and start the multipath services.
# systemctl enable multipathd # systemctl start multipathd
There is no requirement to add anything directly to the multipath.conf file, unless you have devices that you do not want to be managed by multipath or you have existing settings that override defaults.
You can add the following syntax to the multipath.conf file to exclude the unwanted devices.
Replace the <DevId> with the WWID string of the device you want to exclude. Use the following command to determine the WWID:
blacklist {
wwid <DevId>
devnode "^(ram|raw|loop|fd|md|dm-|sr|scd|st)[0-9]*"
devnode "^hd[a-z]"
devnode "^cciss.*"
}
In this example, sda is the local SCSI disk that we need to add to the blacklist.
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Run the following command to determine the WWID:
# /lib/udev/scsi_id -gud /dev/sda 360030057024d0730239134810c0cb833
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Add this WWID to the blacklist stanza in the
/etc/multipath.conf:blacklist { wwid 360030057024d0730239134810c0cb833 devnode "^(ram|raw|loop|fd|md|dm-|sr|scd|st)[0-9]*" devnode "^hd[a-z]" devnode "^cciss.*" }
You should always check your /etc/multipath.conf file for legacy settings, especially in the defaults section, that may be overriding the default settings.
The following table shows the critical multipathd parameters for ONTAP LUNs and the required values. If a host is connected to LUNs from other vendors and any of these parameters are overridden, they will need to be corrected by later stanzas in the multipath.conf file that apply specifically to ONTAP LUNs. If this is not done, the ONTAP LUNs may not work as expected. These defaults should only be overridden in consultation with NetApp and/or OS vendor and only when the impact is fully understood.
| Parameter | Setting |
|---|---|
detect_prio |
yes |
dev_loss_tmo |
"infinity" |
failback |
immediate |
fast_io_fail_tmo |
5 |
features |
"2 pg_init_retries 50" |
flush_on_last_del |
"yes" |
hardware_handler |
"0" |
no_path_retry |
queue |
path_checker |
"tur" |
path_grouping_policy |
"group_by_prio" |
path_selector |
"service-time 0" |
polling_interval |
5 |
prio |
"ontap" |
product |
LUN.* |
retain_attached_hw_handler |
yes |
rr_weight |
"uniform" |
user_friendly_names |
no |
vendor |
NETAPP |
The following example shows how to correct an overridden default. In this case, the multipath.conf file defines values for path_checker and no_path_retry that are not compatible with ONTAP LUNs. If they cannot be removed because of other SAN arrays still attached to the host, these parameters can be corrected specifically for ONTAP LUNs with a device stanza.
defaults {
path_checker readsector0
no_path_retry fail
}
devices {
device {
vendor "NETAPP "
product "LUN.*"
no_path_retry queue
path_checker tur
}
}
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To configure Oracle Linux 8.1 RedHat Enterprise Kernel (RHCK), use the recommended settings for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.1. |
Known Problems and Limitations
There are no known issues for Oracle Linux 8.1.
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For Oracle Linux (Red Hat compatible kernel) known issues, see the known issues for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.1. |
Release Notes
ASM Mirroring
ASM mirroring might require changes to the Linux multipath settings to allow ASM to recognize a problem and switch over to an alternate failure group. Most ASM configurations on ONTAP use external redundancy, which means that data protection is provided by the external array and ASM does not mirror data. Some sites use ASM with normal redundancy to provide two-way mirroring, normally across different sites. See Oracle Databases on ONTAP for further information.