Skip to main content
AI Data Engine

Known limitations of AI Data Engine

Contributors netapp-dbagwell
PDFs

Known limitations identify platforms, devices, or functions that are not supported by this release of the product, or that do not interoperate correctly with it. Review these limitations carefully.

Known limitations for AIDE software on third-party server deployments

These limitations apply specifically to deployments of AIDE software on third-party servers using customer-managed hardware.

Deployment model limitations

  • Three-node clusters only

    Deployments of AIDE software on third-party servers require exactly three nodes. You cannot deploy with fewer nodes or scale beyond three nodes.

  • Homogeneous hardware required

    All nodes in an AIDE software on third-party servers cluster must have identical hardware specifications (same CPU model, memory, network configuration, and server model). Mixed hardware configurations are not supported.

  • RHEL 9.7 only

    Deployments of AIDE software on third-party servers support Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9.7 LTS only. Other Linux distributions are not supported.

  • Single-site deployments only

    AIDE software on third-party servers supports single-site cluster deployments only. Multi-site, stretched-cluster, and geographically distributed cluster topologies are not supported. All three nodes in an AIDE software on third-party servers cluster must reside in the same physical site with low-latency interconnects.

    Note To catalog metadata from data stored at remote sites, use ONTAP cluster peering to connect remote ONTAP clusters to your AIDE cluster.

Feature scope limitations

  • No GPU-dependent services

    This release of AIDE software on third-party servers does not support GPU-based services including vectorization, OCR (optical character recognition), and enrichment capabilities.

  • No data collections

    Creating data collections requires full AIDE deployment with GPU resources. AIDE software on third-party servers provides metadata cataloging only.

  • No RAG endpoints

    Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) endpoints for semantic search require full AIDE deployment. AIDE software on third-party servers does not support vector embeddings or semantic search capabilities.

  • No guardrail policy enforcement at retrieval time

    Guardrail policies for retrieval-time redaction and access control require full AIDE with vectorization capabilities.

Upgrade paths

  • Rollback behavior is release specific

    Rollback to a previously installed AIDE software bundle version is allowed when supported by the target release guidance. Follow the documented rollback procedure for your release.

Operating system and software management

  • Additional software not supported

    Running applications or services other than AIDE software on third-party server nodes is not supported.

ONTAP and storage requirements

  • ONTAP 9.18.1 or later required

    AIDE software on third-party servers requires ONTAP 9.18.1 or later. Earlier ONTAP versions are not supported.

  • AFX storage required

    AIDE software on third-party servers must connect to NetApp AFX storage systems. Support for other ONTAP platforms is not available.

Known limitations for AIDE 9.18.1U0/U1 initial release

These limitations apply to the Metadata Engine, data compute nodes, and management workflows in AIDE 9.18.1U0/U1.

Compute node requirements and management

  • Minimum NetApp DCN requirement

    AIDE clusters require exactly three NetApp DCN nodes for Metadata Engine functionality. Clusters with fewer than three NetApp DCN nodes cannot enable Metadata Engine features.

  • No support for adding NetApp DCN nodes using NetApp Console

    NetApp DCN node upgrades and additions must be performed using ONTAP System Manager, not through NetApp Console.

Supported data sources

  • No support for ONTAP S3 buckets or StorageGRID as data sources

    Only ONTAP volumes (local or remote) are supported as data sources for workspaces and metadata cataloging. ONTAP S3 buckets and StorageGRID objects cannot be added to workspaces and are not indexed by the Metadata Engine in this release.

  • No support for workspace creation with FlexCache volumes

    FlexCache volumes cannot be added as data sources to workspaces.

Software update and revert limitations

  • Manual software updates for NetApp DCN nodes only

    Automatic software updates for NetApp DCN clusters are not supported in AIDE 9.18.1. NetApp DCN software can only be updated by uploading the image from a local client. Downloading images from external servers (HTTP/FTP) is not supported.

  • No revert of NetApp DCN cluster software

    NetApp DCN cluster software cannot be reverted to an earlier version. Only upgrades to later versions are allowed.

  • No ONTAP revert of AFX storage clusters

    AFX storage clusters cannot be reverted to earlier ONTAP versions. Only upgrades to later versions are allowed.

Workspace lifecycle and access configuration

  • No soft delete or restore for workspaces

    Deleting a workspace is permanent. There is no option to restore deleted workspaces.

  • No support for OIDC configuration during initial cluster setup

    OIDC/OAuth configuration must be performed after cluster creation using ONTAP System Manager.

Related information