Overview
ISO/IEC 11002:2008 - Information technology - Multipath management (API) defines a vendor-neutral Application Programming Interface (API) for managing SCSI multipathing features. The standard exposes the management interfaces described in ISO/IEC 14776‑453 (SPC‑3) plus common vendor-specific extensions to standard capabilities. It covers an OS-independent library and plugin model, object-based representations of initiators, target ports, target port groups (TPGs), logical units (LUs) and paths, and the API calls needed to query and control multipath behavior.
The standard explicitly excludes multipathing between interconnect devices (e.g., Fibre Channel switches) and transport-specific multipathing such as iSCSI multiple connections per session.
Key Topics
- Object model and IDs: standardized object types and OID lists for MP libraries, plugins, initiator ports, target ports, TPGs, LUs and paths.
- Target Port Groups (TPGs): representation of SCSI TPGs, symmetric/asymmetric multipath access and LU affinity concepts.
- Load balancing and failover: API support to get/set load-balance types, path weights, enable/disable paths, and manage failover/failback behavior.
- Auto-probing and auto-failback: discovery of driver-supported behaviors and controls to enable/disable automated operations.
- Events and notifications: registration APIs for object visibility and property change events to support reactive management tools.
- Library/plugin architecture: OS-independent implementation model with plugin registration and management functions.
- Constants, structures and APIs: detailed definitions (MP_STATUS, MP_PATH_STATE, MP_* properties) and function set (examples: MP_GetLibraryProperties, MP_GetMPLogicalUnitProperties, MP_SetLogicalUnitLoadBalanceType, MP_EnablePath, MP_RegisterPlugin).
- Implementation guidance: compliance, multi-threading, structure packing, device-name conventions and developer examples (Annexes include coding examples).
Applications and Users
ISO/IEC 11002 is intended for organizations and professionals involved in enterprise storage and multipath I/O management:
- Storage array and HBA vendors implementing multipath management hooks and proprietary load-balance options.
- Operating system and driver developers building multipath libraries or plugins that need a standardized interface.
- Middleware vendors (multipathing daemons, SAN management tools, hypervisor platforms) that orchestrate path selection, failover and load balancing.
- Storage administrators and integrators using tools that rely on standardized APIs for diagnostics, automation and monitoring.
Practical uses include configuring LU-to-TPG mappings, automating failover policies, integrating vendor plugins into a multipath daemon, and enabling consistent multipath monitoring across heterogeneous environments.
Related Standards
- ISO/IEC 14776‑453 (SPC‑3) - Primary commands-3 for SCSI (basis for MP management interfaces)
- SCSI family standards and vendor-specific multipathing extensions (for transport-specific details consult relevant SCSI and transport standards)
Keywords: ISO/IEC 11002, multipath management API, SCSI multipathing, SPC‑3, target port group, load balancing, multipath I/O, auto-failback, plugin API.