LPFC FCoE LIP reset with kernel version 3.0.101-0.47.52 stuck and results in rport timeout

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 3 (SLES 11 SP3)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 4 (SLES 11 SP4)

Situation

Hardware:      ProLiant BL460c Gen8

Fibre Channel: Emulex Corporation OneConnect 10Gb FCoE Initiator (be3) (rev 01)
Emulex LightPulse Fibre Channel SCSI driver 8.3.7.10.7p
Firnware 10.2.340.19

Starting with the above kernel, doing a LIP reset, the Fabric Login never completes and the process seems to get stuck. 
This results in the multipath path checker timeout being reached, the paths being failed and finally in the rports being failed and the SCSI devices removed.
Only a reboot restores the removed devices.

Resolution

Set lpfc_fcf_failover_policy=1 as module option.

Add following line to /etc/modprobe.d/99-local.conf :

options lpfc lpfc_fcf_failover_policy=1

rebuild initrd and reboot the system.

Cause

Likely there's been a different setting for lpfc_fcf_failover_policy active.

E.g. 2 is only for switches that use a priority based FCF policy to load balance logins.

Most switches will only resent 1 or 2 FCFs for the driver to log into and the driver initially will pick the highest priority FCF that is available.
After the initial login, if lpfc_fcf_failover=1 is set it will always check the FCF that it had been logged into and use that first.
When lpfc_fcf_failover is set to 2 the driver will rescan and pick the highest priority FCF available. If the FCF are not all for the same san then you would probably lose access to your original set of luns with lpfc_fcf_failover set to 2. Using '2' here is only meant for rare scenarios and should not be used in general!

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