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Decide whether to use this aggregate relocation procedure

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There are several aggregate relocation (ARL) methods for upgrading controller hardware. This ARL procedure describes how to upgrade an HA pair of controllers in AFF and FAS storage systems introduced in ONTAP 9.15.1 or later with new controllers while keeping the existing data and disks. This is a complex procedure that should be used only by experienced ONTAP administrators.

To help you decide if this ARL procedure is suitable for your controller hardware upgrade, you should review all of the following circumstances for supported and unsupported upgrades.

Supported upgrades for this ARL procedure

You can use this ARL procedure to upgrade a pair of nodes under the following circumstances:

  • You're running ONTAP 9.15.1 or later.

  • You don't want to add the new controllers as a new HA pair to the cluster and migrate the data using the volume move procedure.

  • You're experienced in administering ONTAP and are comfortable with the risks of working in the diagnostic privilege mode.

  • Your hardware upgrade combination is listed in the supported model matrix.

Note You can use NetApp Storage Encryption (NSE), NetApp Volume Encryption (NVE), and NetApp Aggregate Encryption (NAE) with this procedure.

Upgrades not supported for this ARL procedure

You cannot use this ARL procedure to upgrade a pair of nodes under the following circumstances:

  • You're performing one of the following upgrades:

    Existing controller Replacement controller

    AFF A250

    AFF A50, AFF A30

    AFF A800

    AFF A70, AFF A90

    AFF C250

    AFF C30, AFF C60

    AFF C800

    AFF C80

    To perform upgrade an upgrade listed in the above table, see References to link to Use "system controller replace" commands to upgrade controller models in the same chassis.

  • You're upgrading a V-Series system or FlexArray Virtualization storage system using an external array for backend storage. Contact technical support for options to upgrade a V-series or FlexArray system.

  • You're upgrading a MetroCluster FC or IP configuration. To upgrade a MetroCluster configuration, see References to link to the MetroCluster Upgrade and Expansion documentation.

Supported system upgrade combinations

The following table shows the supported controller upgrade combinations using ARL for AFF and FAS systems introduced in ONTAP 9.15.1 or later. If your controller upgrade combination isn't listed, contact technical support.

Existing controller Replacement controller Supported beginning with ONTAP…​

AFF A400

AFF A50 2

9.16.1

AFF A300

AFF A50 2

9.16.1

AFF A220, AFF A150

AFF A20 2

9.16.1 1

FAS8200, FAS8300, FAS9000

FAS70, FAS90, FAS50

9.15.1P3 for FAS70, FAS90

9.16.1P2 for FAS50

FAS8700

FAS70, FAS90

9.15.1P3

FAS9500

FAS90

9.15.1P3

AFF A300, AFF A400, AFF A700

AFF A70 2 , AFF A90 2, AFF A1K

9.15.1

AFF A900

AFF A90 2, AFF A1K

9.15.1

1 To upgrade to an AFF A20, you must first convert an AFF A150 or AFF A220 to a DS224C shelf by swapping controller module with an IOM12 module. See Convert an original node to a drive shelf.

2 The AFF A20, AFF A50, AFF A70, and AFF A90 are integrated systems with two controllers in an HA configuration and onboard disks in a single chassis:

  • If you're upgrading to an AFF A20, AFF A50, AFF A70, or AFF A90 with internal drives, you must remove ownership of these internal drives before you upgrade. After completing the upgrade, you can assign the internal drives to the AFF A20, AFF A50, AFF A70, or AFF A90 nodes and use them for creating data aggregates. You don't have to migrate root or data aggregates to internal drives.

  • If you're upgrading to an AFF A20, AFF A50, AFF A70, or AFF A90 without internal drives, you don't need to assign internal drives after completing the upgrade.

Choose a different hardware upgrade procedure

Related information

Refer to References to link to the ONTAP 9 Documentation.