[Bug 1468897] Re: multipath creates binding for Removable(USB) drives

[Stefan Bader]

This is a problem that comes from USB and (S)ATA devices showing up as
SCSI disks and the default multipath not really expecting those mixed
environments. The best way to handle this is to add blacklisting in
/etc/multipath.conf and the most flexible seems to key on vendor/product
like this:

blacklist {
        device {
                vendor  "*"
                product "*"
        }
}
blacklist_exceptions {
        device {
                vendor  "IBM"
                product "*"
        }
}

Possibly with a bit more detail in the exceptions allowing only certain
models or so...

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1468897

Title:
  multipath creates binding for Removable(USB) drives

Status in multipath-tools package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  On a system with a multipath configuration, multipath bindings are
  being created for removable(USB) drives rendering them inaccessible as
  normal removable drives.

  in this case, the usb drive is detected as /dev/sdi:

  # lsblk|grep -A2 sdi
  sdi                        8:128  1  14.7G  0 disk  
  ├─sdi1                     8:129  1  14.7G  0 part  
  └─mpath4 (dm-9)          252:9    0  14.7G  0 mpath 
    └─mpath4-part1 (dm-10) 252:10   0  14.7G  0 part  

  # cat /etc/multipath/bindings 
  # This file was created by curtin while installing the system.
  mpath0 1IBM     IPR-0   5EC2590000000080
  # End of content generated by curtin.
  # Everything below is maintained by multipath subsystem.
  mpath1 1IBM     IPR-0   5EC2590000000060
  mpath2 1IBM     IPR-0   5EC2590000000040
  mpath3 1IBM     IPR-0   5EC2590000000020
  mpath4 1ADATA   USB Flash Drive 

  Upon trying to format /dev/sdi1:

  # mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdi1
  mke2fs 1.42.9 (4-Feb-2014)
  /dev/sdi1 is apparently in use by the system; will not make a filesystem here!

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: multipath-tools 0.4.9-3ubuntu7.2
  ProcVersionSignature: User Name 3.16.0-41.55~14.04.1-generic 3.16.7-ckt11
  Uname: Linux 3.16.0-41-generic ppc64le
  ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.10
  Architecture: ppc64el
  Date: Thu Jun 25 20:44:13 2015
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=screen
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: multipath-tools
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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