Required MetroCluster IP components and naming conventions
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When planning your MetroCluster IP configuration, you must understand the required and supported hardware and software components. For convenience and clarity, you should also understand the naming conventions used for components in examples throughout the documentation.
Supported software and hardware
The hardware and software must be supported for the MetroCluster IP configuration.
When using AFF systems, all controller modules in the MetroCluster configuration must be configured as AFF systems.
Hardware redundancy requirements in a MetroCluster IP configuration
Because of the hardware redundancy in the MetroCluster IP configuration, there are two of each component at each site. The sites are arbitrarily assigned the letters A and B, and the individual components are arbitrarily assigned the numbers 1 and 2.
ONTAP cluster requirements in a MetroCluster IP configuration
MetroCluster IP configurations require two ONTAP clusters, one at each MetroCluster site.
Naming must be unique within the MetroCluster configuration.
Example names:
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Site A: cluster_A
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Site B: cluster_B
IP switch requirements in a MetroCluster IP configuration
MetroCluster IP configurations require four IP switches. The four switches form two switch storage fabrics that provide the ISL between each of the clusters in the MetroCluster IP configuration.
The IP switches also provide intracluster communication among the controller modules in each cluster.
Naming must be unique within the MetroCluster configuration.
Example names:
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Site A: cluster_A
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IP_switch_A_1
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IP_switch_A_2
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Site B: cluster_B
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IP_switch_B_1
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IP_switch_B_2
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Controller module requirements in a MetroCluster IP configuration
MetroCluster IP configurations require four or eight controller modules.
The controller modules at each site form an HA pair. Each controller module has a DR partner at the other site.
Each controller module must be running the same ONTAP version. Supported platform models depend on the ONTAP version:
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New MetroCluster IP installations on FAS systems are not supported in ONTAP 9.4.
Existing MetroCluster IP configurations on FAS systems can be upgraded to ONTAP 9.4.
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Beginning with ONTAP 9.5, new MetroCluster IP installations on FAS systems are supported.
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Beginning with ONTAP 9.4, controller modules configured for ADP are supported.
Example names
The following example names are used in the documentation:
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Site A: cluster_A
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controller_A_1
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controller_A_2
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Site B: cluster_B
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controller_B_1
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controller_B_2
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Gigabit Ethernet adapter requirements in a MetroCluster IP configuration
MetroCluster IP configurations use a 40/100 Gbps or 10/25 Gbps Ethernet adapter for the IP interfaces to the IP switches used for the MetroCluster IP fabric.
Platform model |
Required Gigabit Ethernet adapter |
Required slot for adapter |
Ports |
|---|---|---|---|
AFF A900, ASA A900, and FAS9500 |
X91146A |
Slot 5, Slot 7 |
e5b, e7b |
AFF A700 and FAS9000 |
X91146A-C |
Slot 5 |
e5a, e5b |
AFF A800, AFF C800, ASA A800, and ASA C800 |
X1146A/onboard ports |
Slot 1 |
e0b. e1b |
FAS8300, AFF A400, ASA A400, ASA C400, and AFF C400 |
X1146A |
Slot 1 |
e1a, e1b |
AFF A300 and FAS8200 |
X1116A |
Slot 1 |
e1a, e1b |
FAS2750, AFF A150, ASA A150, and AFF A220 |
Onboard ports |
Slot 0 |
e0a, e0b |
FAS500f, AFF A250, ASA A250, ASA C250, and AFF C250 |
Onboard ports |
Slot 0 |
e0c, e0d |
AFF A320 |
Onboard ports |
Slot 0 |
e0g, e0h |
AFF A70 |
X50132A |
Slot 2 |
e2a, e2b |
AFF A90 and AFF A1K |
X50132A |
Slot 2, Slot 3 |
e2b, e3b Note: Ports e2a and e3a must remain unused. Using these ports for front-end networks or peering is not supported. |
Pool and drive requirements (minimum supported)
Eight SAS disk shelves are recommended (four shelves at each site) to allow disk ownership on a per-shelf basis.
A four-node MetroCluster IP configuration requires the minimum configuration at each site:
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Each node has at least one local pool and one remote pool at the site.
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At least seven drives in each pool.
In a four-node MetroCluster configuration with a single mirrored data aggregate per node, the minimum configuration requires 24 disks at the site.
In a minimum supported configuration, each pool has the following drive layout:
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Three root drives
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Three data drives
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One spare drive
In a minimum supported configuration, at least one shelf is needed per site.
MetroCluster configurations support RAID-DP and RAID4.
Drive location considerations for partially populated shelves
For correct auto-assignment of drives when using shelves that are half populated (12 drives in a 24-drive shelf), drives should be located in slots 0-5 and 18-23.
In a configuration with a partially populated shelf, the drives must be evenly distributed in the four quadrants of the shelf.
Drive location considerations for AFF A800 internal drives
For correct implementation of the ADP feature, the AFF A800 system disk slots must be divided into quarters and the disks must be located symmetrically in the quarters.
An AFF A800 system has 48 drive bays. The bays can be divided into quarters:
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Quarter one:
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Bays 0 - 5
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Bays 24 - 29
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Quarter two:
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Bays 6 - 11
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Bays 30 - 35
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Quarter three:
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Bays 12 - 17
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Bays 36 - 41
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Quarter four:
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Bays 18 - 23
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Bays 42 - 47
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If this system is populated with 16 drives, they must be symmetrically distributed among the four quarters:
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Four drives in the first quarter: 0, 1, 2, 3
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Four drives in the second quarter: 6, 7, 8, 9
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Four drives in the third quarter: 12, 13, 14, 15
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Four drives in the fourth quarter: 18, 19, 20, 21
Mixing IOM12 and IOM 6 modules in a stack
Your version of ONTAP must support shelf mixing. Refer to the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool (IMT) to see if your version of ONTAP supports shelf mixing.
For further details on shelf mixing, see Hot-adding shelves with IOM12 modules to a stack of shelves with IOM6 modules