Bug#667624: multipath-tools: Can't assign multipath aliases via /etc/multipath.conf

[Matteo Chesi]

Package: multipath-tools
Version: 0.4.8+git0.761c66f-10
Severity: minor



-- Package-specific info:
Contents of /etc/multipath.conf:
defaults {
        polling_interval    30 
        failback            immediate
        no_path_retry       5
        rr_min_io           100
        path_checker        tur
        user_friendly_names yes 
	bindings_file /etc/bindings
}
blacklist {
        devnode "^(ram|raw|loop|fd|md|dm-|sr|scd|st)[0-9]*"
        devnode "^hd[a-z]"
        device {
                vendor DELL
                product "PERC|Universal"
        }
}
devices {
       device {
               vendor                   "IBM"
               product                  "2145"
               path_grouping_policy     group_by_prio
               prio                     "alua" 
}
multipaths {
       multipath {
               wwid  360050768019001ab2800000000000536 
               alias VD_DSETPLABA_03 
       }
       multipath {
               wwid  360050768019001ab2800000000000537 
               alias VD_DSETPLABA_04 
       }
}


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 6.0.4
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 (SMP w/16 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages multipath-tools depends on:
ii  initscripts        2.88dsf-13.1          scripts for initializing and shutt
ii  kpartx             0.4.8+git0.761c66f-10 create device mappings for partiti
ii  libaio1            0.3.107-7             Linux kernel AIO access library - 
ii  libc6              2.11.3-2              Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libdevmapper1.02.1 2:1.02.48-5           The Linux Kernel Device Mapper use
ii  libncurses5        5.7+20100313-5        shared libraries for terminal hand
ii  libreadline6       6.1-3                 GNU readline and history libraries
ii  lsb-base           3.2-23.2squeeze1      Linux Standard Base 3.2 init scrip
ii  udev               164-3                 /dev/ and hotplug management daemo

multipath-tools recommends no packages.

Versions of packages multipath-tools suggests:
pn  multipath-tools-boot          <none>     (no description available)

-- no debconf information

I don't understand why multipathd doesn't assign specified (in /etc/muultipath.conf) aliases to my multipath devices.
I also see that "bindings_file" directive doesn't work (it's not in man page so I suppose that this feature isn't supported).

This is what I'm trying to do:

dsetplab02:~# /etc/init.d/multipath-tools stop
Stopping multipath daemon: multipathd.
dsetplab02:~# multipath -F
dsetplab02:~# rm /var/lib/multipath/bindings 
dsetplab02:~# multipath -l
dsetplab02:~# /etc/init.d/multipath-tools start
Starting multipath daemon: multipathd.
dsetplab02:~# multipath -l
mpath1 (360050768019001ab2800000000000537) dm-2 IBM,2145
size=1.0T features='1 queue_if_no_path' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
|-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=-2 status=active
| |- 1:0:3:1 sde 8:64  active undef running
| `- 2:0:0:1 sdg 8:96  active undef running
`-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=-2 status=enabled
  |- 1:0:0:1 sdc 8:32  active undef running
  `- 2:0:3:1 sdi 8:128 active undef running
mpath0 (360050768019001ab2800000000000536) dm-1 IBM,2145
size=1.0T features='1 queue_if_no_path' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
|-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=-2 status=active
| |- 1:0:0:0 sdb 8:16  active undef running
| `- 2:0:3:0 sdh 8:112 active undef running
`-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=-2 status=enabled
  |- 1:0:3:0 sdd 8:48  active undef running
  `- 2:0:0:0 sdf 8:80  active undef running
dsetplab02:~# cat /var/lib/multipath/bindings 
# Multipath bindings, Version : 1.0
# NOTE: this file is automatically maintained by the multipath program.
# You should not need to edit this file in normal circumstances.
#
# Format:
# alias wwid
#
mpath0 360050768019001ab2800000000000536
mpath1 360050768019001ab2800000000000537


I could assign my aliases editing "/var/lib/multipath/bindings" but it isn't the correct procedure.

Could you help me to discover if I'm doing something wrong or if I found a bug.

Thanks In Advance,
Matteo