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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 content describes how to upgrade storage controllers in an HA pair by converting the existing system to the replacement system, keeping the existing system chassis, disks, and the data stored on the disks. You should only use this complex procedure if you're an experienced ONTAP administrator.

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 for this ARL upgrade

You can use this ARL procedure under the following circumstances:

  • Your controller upgrade is listed in the supported systems matrix.

  • You have verified with your NetApp sales representative that you have received the hardware that you need for the controller upgrade:

    • Two AFF A90, AFF A70, or AFF C80 controllers and all I/O modules. The required lengths of 100GbE cables.

    • Two AFF A50, AFF A30, AFF C30, or AFF C60 controllers and I/O modules and the required cables

    • ASA A150, AFF A150, or FAS2820 controller

    • ASA A900, AFF A900, or FAS9500 controller and NVRAM modules and parts

  • You're running the minimum ONTAP version for your upgrade. For more information, refer to the supported system upgrade combinations.

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

  • Your systems are running ONTAP 9.15.1 or later, and they are using Ethernet switches to connect to Ethernet-attached storage.

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

Not supported for this ARL upgrade

You cannot use this ARL procedure under the following circumstances:

  • You want to add the new controllers as a new HA pair to the cluster and migrate the data by using volume moves.

  • You're upgrading a MetroCluster IP configuration.

    To upgrade a MetroCluster IP configuration, see References to link to the MetroCluster Upgrade and Expansion content.

Supported system upgrade combinations

The following table shows the supported systems matrix for performing a controller upgrade by converting the existing system to the replacement system, keeping the existing system chassis, disks, and the data stored on them.

Caution This procedure strictly applies to the following upgrade configurations. Don't use this procedure to perform an upgrade between any other system combinations. For all other controller models, refer to References to link to Use "system controller replace" commands to upgrade controller hardware running ONTAP 9.8 or later and Using aggregate relocation to manually upgrade controller hardware running ONTAP 9.8 or later.
Existing system Replacement system Supported ONTAP versions

AFF A70 1

AFF A90

9.18.1 and later

AFF A30 1

AFF A50

9.18.1 and later

AFF A20 1

AFF A30 3, AFF A50

9.18.1 and later

AFF C30 1

AFF C60

9.18.1 and later

FAS70 1

FAS90

9.18.1 and later

AFF C250 1

AFF C30, AFF C60

9.16.1

AFF A250 1

AFF A30, AFF A50

9.16.1

AFF C800 1

AFF C80

9.16.1

AFF A800 1

AFF A90 or AFF A70

9.15.1 and later

AFF A220 configured as an All SAN Array (ASA)

ASA A150

9.13.1P1 and later

AFF A220

AFF A150

9.10.1P15, 9.11.1P11, 9.12.1P5 and later

AFF A200

AFF A150

9.10.1P15, 9.11.1P11 and later 2

AFF C190

AFF A150

9.10.1P15, 9.11.1P11, 9.12.1P5 and later

FAS2620

FAS2820

9.11.1P7 or later patch releases (FAS2620) 2

9.13.1 and later (FAS2820)

FAS2720

FAS2820

9.13.1 and later

AFF A700 configured as an ASA

ASA A900

9.13.1P1 and later

AFF A700

AFF A900

9.10.1P10, 9.11.1P6 and later

FAS9000

FAS9500

9.10.1P10, 9.11.1P6 and later

1 When you upgrade to a system introduced in ONTAP 9.15.1 or later, ONTAP converts the storage efficiency of all existing thin-provisioned volumes, including those not using storage efficiency, and applies the new storage efficiency features that make use of the hardware offload functionality. This is an automatic background process, with no visible performance impact to the system. Learn more.

2 The AFF A200 and FAS2620 systems don't support ONTAP versions later than 9.11.1.

Note

NetApp strongly recommends, when possible, that you have the same ONTAP version on the old and replacement systems.

The minimum ONTAP versions in the preceding table are mandatory. These ONTAP versions have the Service Processor or baseboard management controller (BMC) firmware version that is required to support mixing controller types within a chassis during an upgrade.

3 There are certain port connection requirements for an AFF A20 to AFF A30 upgrade in a two-node switchless cluster configuration:

  • The AFF A20 supports X60132A (4-port 10/25GbE CX7) and X60131A (2-port 10/25GbE CX6-LX) for cluster interconnect.

  • The AFF A30 supports only X60130A (2-port 100GbE CX6-DX) for cluster interconnect.

  • Use a temporary 10/25GbE card to temporarily connect from the AFF A20 to the AFF A30. A 4-port or 2-port 10/25GbE card supports clustering on the AFF A20. It is recommended to use the same card in the AFF A20 and AFF A30. If you don't have a new card, you can use the card from the AFF A20 as a temporary cluster interconnect.

  • When AFF A30 node3 comes online, it puts the HA IC ports on 100GbE and tries to place the cluster LIFS on 10/25GbE ports. ONTAP detects these ports as connected to the AFF A20. If ONTAP does not detect these ports automatically, you can manually modify the temporary cluster ports. Then, if required, you can move the cluster LIFs to the temporary cluster ports.

  • After you upgrade AFF A20 node1 and AFF A20 node2 goes down in preparation for upgrade, you need to remove the connections from the temporary 10/25GbE cluster ports and use only the 100GbE shared cluster ports. When AFF A30 node3 and node4 are connected over 100GbE ports, the connections come up and you can complete the upgrade.

Choose a different hardware upgrade procedure

Related information

Refer to References to link to the ONTAP 9 Documentation.