Skip to main content

Correct misaligned spare partitions in ONTAP

Contributors netapp-thomi netapp-lenida netapp-ahibbard netapp-aherbin
PDFs

When you add partitioned disks to a local tier, you must leave a disk with both the root and data partition available as a spare for every node. If you do not and your node experiences a disruption, ONTAP cannot dump the core to the spare data partition.

Note Prior to ONTAP 9.7, System Manager uses the term aggregate to describe a local tier. Regardless of your ONTAP version, the ONTAP CLI uses the term aggregate. To learn more about local tiers, see Disks and local tiers.
Before you begin

You must have both a spare data partition and a spare root partition on the same type of disk owned by the same node.

Steps

  1. Using the CLI, display the spare partitions for the node:

    storage aggregate show-spare-disks -original-owner node_name

    Note which disk has a spare data partition (spare_data) and which disk has a spare root partition (spare_root). The spare partition will show a non-zero value under the Local Data Usable or Local Root Usable column.

  2. Replace the disk with a spare data partition with the disk with the spare root partition:

    storage disk replace -disk spare_data -replacement spare_root -action start

    You can copy the data in either direction; however, copying the root partition takes less time to complete.

  3. Monitor the progress of the disk replacement:

    storage aggregate show-status -aggregate aggr_name

  4. After the replacement operation is complete, display the spares again to confirm that you have a full spare disk:

    storage aggregate show-spare-disks -original-owner node_name

    You should see a spare disk with usable space under both “Local Data Usable” and Local Root Usable.

Example

You display your spare partitions for node c1-01 and see that your spare partitions are not aligned:

c1::> storage aggregate show-spare-disks -original-owner c1-01

Original Owner: c1-01
 Pool0
  Shared HDD Spares
                              Local    Local
                               Data     Root  Physical
 Disk    Type   RPM Checksum Usable   Usable      Size
 ------- ----- ---- -------- ------- ------- --------
 1.0.1   BSAS  7200 block    753.8GB     0B   828.0GB
 1.0.10  BSAS  7200 block         0B 73.89GB  828.0GB

You start the disk replacement job:

c1::> storage disk replace -disk 1.0.1 -replacement 1.0.10 -action start

While you are waiting for the replacement operation to finish, you display the progress of the operation:

c1::> storage aggregate show-status -aggregate aggr0_1

Owner Node: c1-01
 Aggregate: aggr0_1 (online, raid_dp) (block checksums)
  Plex: /aggr0_1/plex0 (online, normal, active, pool0)
   RAID Group /aggr0_1/plex0/rg0 (normal, block checksums)
                                    Usable Physical
 Position Disk    Pool Type   RPM     Size     Size Status
 -------- ------- ---- ---- ----- -------- -------- ----------
 shared   1.0.1    0   BSAS  7200  73.89GB  828.0GB (replacing,copy in progress)
 shared   1.0.10   0   BSAS  7200  73.89GB  828.0GB (copy 63% completed)
 shared   1.0.0    0   BSAS  7200  73.89GB  828.0GB (normal)
 shared   1.0.11   0   BSAS  7200  73.89GB  828.0GB (normal)
 shared   1.0.6    0   BSAS  7200  73.89GB  828.0GB (normal)
 shared   1.0.5    0   BSAS  7200  73.89GB  828.0GB (normal)

After the replacement operation is complete, confirm that you have a full spare disk:

ie2220::> storage aggregate show-spare-disks -original-owner c1-01

Original Owner: c1-01
 Pool0
  Shared HDD Spares
                             Local    Local
                              Data     Root  Physical
 Disk   Type   RPM Checksum Usable   Usable      Size
 ------ ----- ---- -------- -------- ------- --------
 1.0.1  BSAS  7200 block    753.8GB  73.89GB  828.0GB