Chapter 5. Managing Multipath I/O for Devices / 5.8. Configuring User-Friendly Names in /etc/multipath.conf
Prev5.7. Adding Support for the Storage Subsystem to /etc/multipath.conf 5.9. Tuning the Failover for Specific Host Bus AdaptersNext

5.8. Configuring User-Friendly Names in /etc/multipath.conf

The default name used in multipathing is the UUID of the logical unit as found in the /dev/disk/by-id directory. You can optionally override this behavior with user-friendly names instead. User-friendly names can be set via the ALIAS directive in the multipath.conf file.

[Important]Important

We recommend that you do not use aliases for the root device, because the ability to seamlessly switch off multipathing via the kernel command line is lost because the device names differ.

For an example of multipath.conf settings, see the /usr/share/doc/packages/multipath-tools/multipath.conf.synthetic file.

  1. In a terminal console, log in as the root user.

  2. Enter the following command (all on one line, of course):

    cp /usr/share/doc/packages/multipath-tools/multipath.conf.synthetic /etc/multipath.conf

  3. Open the /etc/multipath.conf file in a text editor.

  4. Uncomment the Defaults directive and its ending bracket.

  5. Uncomment the user_friendly_names option, then change its value from No to Yes.

  6. Specify names for devices using the ALIAS directive.

  7. Save your changes, then close the file.

SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server Storage Administration Guide 10
Prev5.7. Adding Support for the Storage Subsystem to /etc/multipath.conf Home5.9. Tuning the Failover for Specific Host Bus AdaptersNext