Definition
There can be multiple paths between a SCSI initiator and a SCSI target. Multiple paths between a host and a storage device are useful to provide more fault-tolerance as well as to improve system throughput. Multi-pathing software ensures that the same target volume is not seen as two separate LUNs by the host.
Key Points
The multiple paths can be configured in active-active or active-standby modes. In the active-active mode, both paths are actively transferring data. In the active-standby mode, the standby path does not actively transfer data. Some multi-pathing software allows for dynamic load balancing of traffic between the multiple paths. Typically, the storage controller vendor also provides the multi-pathing driver that runs on the host, and this software is usually limited to only operating with the vendor’s storage devices. Software vendors are beginning to provide multi-pathing software that can interoperate with storage controllers from multiple storage vendors.
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Voruganti, K. (2018). Multi-pathing. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8265-9_532
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