You can always check the queue_if_no_path multipath.conf option and give it a try.
This setting would be at host side, where things are ok to put a timeout of X seconds using entries such as
devices {
device {
all_devs yes
# Set timeout of queuing of 5*28 = 140 seconds
# similar to vSphere APD timeout
# no_path_retry fail
no_path_retry 28
polling_interval 5
}
Don't forget that the higher in I/O chain you go - the higher the timeout is needed, so your VM should also use multipath with that option, in addition to the host.
Yes, in fact at guest side I put a udev rule
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", ATTRS{vendor}=="QEMU*", ATTRS{model}=="QEMU HARDDISK*", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="disk", RUN+="/bin/sh -c 'echo 180 > /sys$DEVPATH/device/timeout'"
so that guest disk timeout is more than host storage.
Any other settings?
Gianluca