Managing multipath configuraton in data center using remote access controller

1. An information handling system (IHS) comprising:

a network interface in communication with a management console via a network;

system storage;

a host processor subsystem in communication with the network interface and the system storage and which executes a system dependent (SD) multipath agent of an operating system to configure multipath access to a storage area network (SAN) according to one or more system dependent multipath configuration (SDMC) files and any system independent multipath configuration (SIMC) files contained in the system storage; and

a remote access controller (RAC) service module comprising:

a persistent storage that is separate from the system storage; and

a remote access controller (RAC) coupled to the persistent storage, the system storage via a RAC service manager executed by the host processor subsystem, and the network interface to perform out-of-band processing for the IHS and comprising a service processor which executes a system independent (SI) multipath agent that causes the RAC to:

receive an out-of-band communication containing a multipath solution from the management console;

store the multipath solution in the persistent memory;

access the one or more SDMC files in the system storage;

create the one or more SIMC files based on the multipath solution and the one or more SDMC files;

store the one or more SIMC files in the system storage; and

trigger the SD multipath agent to configure access to the SAN according to the one or more SDMC and SIMC files.

2. The IHS of claim 1 , wherein the multipath solution comprises: (i) a plurality of host bus adapters (HBAs) available for multipathing; (ii) a plurality of storage network controllers available for multipathing; (iii) a selected multipathing policy; (iv) identification of one or more local operating system (OS) utilities that identify World Wide Names (WWNs) of presented SAN volumes; and (v) at least one default timeout value.

3. The IHS of claim 1 , wherein the SI multipath agent of the RAC configures the RAC to:

determine whether one or more SDMC files exists in the system storage; and

in response to determining that the no SDMC files exist in the system storage:

create the one or more SDMC files;

store the one or more SDMC files in the system storage; and

trigger the SD multipath agent to configure multipath access to the SAN according to the one or more SDMC files.

4. The IHS of claim 1 , wherein the SI multipath agent configures the RAC to:

monitor the IHS to determine whether a change has occurred in at least one of available multipath hardware and multipath policy from what is contained in the persistent storage;

in response to determining that the change affects an available path to the SAN for the IHS specified in the SDMC file:

update the one or more SIMC files based on the multipath solution, the change, and the SDMC file; and

store the updated one or more SIMC files in the system storage.

5. The IHS of claim 4 , wherein the RAC communicates the change via the network to a network entity, in response to determining that the change has occurred to the available multipath.

6. The IHS of claim 1 , wherein the RAC creates the one or more SIMC files by implementing the multipath solution according to a best practice contained in persistent storage.

7. A method of configuring an Information Handling System (IHS) to adaptively access a multipath storage area network (SAN), the method comprising:

receiving, by a remote access controller (RAC) of the IHS, an out-of-band communication containing a multipath solution from a management console;

storing the multipath solution in persistent memory accessible to the RAC;

accessing one or more system dependent multipath configuration (SDMC) files in system storage that is separate from the persistent storage and that is accessible by a system dependent (SD) multipath agent of an operating system;

creating, by the RAC, one or more system independent multipath configuration (SIMC) files based on the multipath solution and the one or more SDMC files;

storing the one or more SIMC files in the system storage; and

triggering a SD multipath agent to configure access to the SAN according to the one or more SDMC and SIMC files.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the multipath solution comprises: (i) a plurality of host bus adapters (HBAs) available for multipathing; (ii) a plurality of storage network controllers available for multipathing; (iii) a selected multipathing policy; (iv) identification of one or more local operating system (OS) utilities that identify World Wide Names (WWNs) of presented storage area network (SAN) volumes; and (v) at least one default timeout value.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining whether one or more SDMC files exists in the system storage; and

in response to determining that no SDMC files exist in the system storage:

creating, by the RAC, the one or more SDMC files;

storing the one or more SDMC files in the system storage; and

triggering the SD multipath agent to configure multipath access to the SAN according to the one or more SDMC and SIMC files.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

monitoring, by the RAC, the IHS to determine whether a change has occurred in at least one of available multipath hardware and multipath policy from what is contained in the persistent storage;

in response to determining that the change affects an available multipath to the SAN for the IHS specified in the SDMC file:

updating, by the RAC, the one or more SIMC files based on the multipath solution and the SDMC file in the system storage; and

storing the updated one or more SIMC files in the system storage.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising communicating, out-of-band, the change, via the network to a network entity, in response to determining that the change has occurred to the available multipath.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein creating the one or more SIMC files further comprises implementing the multipath solution by the RAC according to a best practice contained in persistent storage.

13. A remote access controller (RAC) service module of an information handling system (IHS), the RAC service module comprising:

a persistent storage that is separate from a system storage of the IHS; and

a remote access controller (RAC) coupled to: (i) the persistent storage; (ii) a system storage via a RAC service manager executed by a host processor subsystem of the IHS; and (iii) a network interface of the IHS to perform out-of-band processing for the IHS, the RAC comprising a service processor which executes a system independent (SI) multipath agent that causes the RAC to:

receive an out-of-band communication containing a multipath solution from a management console over a network via the network interface;

store the multipath solution in the persistent memory;

access the one or more system dependent multipath configuration (SDMC) files in the system storage;

create the one or more system independent multipath configuration (SIMC) files based on the multipath solution and the one or more SDMC files;

store the one or more SIMC files in the system storage; and

trigger a SD multipath agent of a host operating system and executed by the host processor subsystem to configure access to a storage area network (SAN) according to the one or more SDMC and SIMC files.

14. The RAC of claim 13 , wherein the multipath solution comprises: (i) a plurality of host bus adapters (HBAs) available for multipathing; (ii) a plurality of storage network controllers available for multipathing; (iii) a selected multipathing policy; (iv) identification of one or more local operating system (OS) utilities that identify World Wide Names (WWNs) of presented SAN volumes; and (v) at least one default timeout value.

15. The RAC of claim 13 , wherein the SI multipath agent:

determines whether one or more SDMC files exists in the system storage; and

in response to determining that no SDMC files exist in the system storage:

creates, by the RAC, the one or more SDMC files;

stores the one or more SDMC files in the system storage via the RAC service manager; and

triggers the SD multipath agent to configure multipath access to the SAN according to the one or more SDMC and SIMC files.

16. The RAC of claim 13 , wherein the SI multipath agent:

monitors the IHS to determine whether a change has occurred in at least one of available multipath hardware and multipath policy that affects an available path to the SAN for the IHS;

in response to determining, by the RAC, that the change affects an available path to the SAN:

updates the one or more SIMC files based on the multipath solution, the change, and the SDMC file; and

stores the updated one or more SIMC files in the system storage.

17. The RAC of claim 16 , wherein the SI multipath agent out-of-band communicates the change via the network to a network entity in response to determining that the change has occurred to the available multipath.

18. The RAC of claim 13 , wherein the SI multipath agent creates the one or more SIMC files by implementing the multipath solution according to a best practice contained in persistent storage.