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Install and maintain

Overview of controller module replacement - AFF A300

Contributors netapp-martyh thrisun dougthomp netapp-jsnyder

You must review the prerequisites for the replacement procedure and select the correct one for your version of the ONTAP operating system.

  • All drive shelves must be working properly.

  • If your system is in an HA pair, the healthy controller must be able to take over the controller that is being replaced (referred to in this procedure as the “impaired controller”).

  • If your system is in a MetroCluster configuration, you must review the section Choosing the correct recovery procedure to determine whether you should use this procedure.

    If this is the procedure you should use, note that the controller replacement procedure for a controller in a four or eight node MetroCluster configuration is the same as that in an HA pair. No MetroCluster-specific steps are required because the failure is restricted to an HA pair and storage failover commands can be used to provide nondisruptive operation during the replacement.

  • This procedure includes steps for automatically or manually reassigning drives to the replacement controller, depending on your system's configuration.

    You should perform the drive reassignment as directed in the procedure.

  • You must replace the failed component with a replacement FRU component you received from your provider.

  • You must be replacing a controller module with a controller module of the same model type. You cannot upgrade your system by just replacing the controller module.

  • You cannot change any drives or drive shelves as part of this procedure.

  • In this procedure, the boot device is moved from the impaired controller to the replacement controller so that the replacement controller will boot up in the same version of ONTAP as the old controller module.

  • Any PCIe cards moved from the old controller module to the new controller module or added from existing customer site inventory must be supported by the replacement controller module.

  • It is important that you apply the commands in these steps on the correct systems:

    • The impaired controller is the controller that is being replaced.

    • The replacement controller is the new controller that is replacing the impaired controller.

    • The healthy controller is the surviving controller.

  • You must always capture the controller's console output to a text file.

    This provides you a record of the procedure so that you can troubleshoot any issues that you might encounter during the replacement process.