The multipath -l command shows undef and unknown states

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 3 (SLES 12 SP3)

Situation

The command multipath -l shows undef and unknown states while multipath -ll shows correct states.


node:~ # multipath -l red
red (3600140535661995164c4304bf9ef407e) dm-2 LIO-ORG,IBLOCK
size=5.0G features='1 retain_attached_hw_handler' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
`-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=0 status=active
  |- 3:0:0:0 sdb 8:16 active undef unknown
  `- 6:0:0:0 sde 8:64 active undef unknown

node:~ # multipath -ll red
red (3600140535661995164c4304bf9ef407e) dm-2 LIO-ORG,IBLOCK
size=5.0G features='1 retain_attached_hw_handler' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
`-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=1 status=active
  |- 3:0:0:0 sdb 8:16 active ready running
  `- 6:0:0:0 sde 8:64 active ready running

node:~ # echo "list paths" | multipathd -k
multipathd> list paths
hcil    dev dev_t pri dm_st  chk_st dev_st  next_check      
5:0:0:1 sdd 8:48  1   active ready  running XXXXXXXX.. 16/20
5:0:0:0 sdc 8:32  1   active ready  running XXXXXXXX.. 16/20
3:0:0:0 sdb 8:16  1   active ready  running XXXXXXXX.. 16/20
4:0:0:1 sdg 8:96  1   active ready  running XXXXXXXX.. 17/20
4:0:0:0 sdf 8:80  1   active ready  running XXXXXXXXX. 18/20
6:0:0:0 sde 8:64  1   active ready  running .......... 1/20

Resolution

Working as designed. The -l option only queries sys and device mapper, whereas -ll queries all available status options. Per the multipath(8) man page:

-l Show the current multipath topology from information fetched in sysfs and the device mapper.
-ll Show the current multipath topology from all available information (sysfs, the device mapper, path checkers ...).

The multipath -l and -ll output for the device line have the following columns:

SCSI ID, kernel device, major:minor, device-mapper state, path checker state, device state

  |- 3:0:0:0 sdb 8:16 active ready running

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