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Add local tiers (create aggregates) manually

Contributors netapp-thomi netapp-dbagwell netapp-ahibbard netapp-aherbin
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If you do not want to add a local tier (create a aggregate) using the best-practice recommendations from ONTAP, you can perform the process manually.

Before you begin

Disks must be owned by a node before they can be used in a local tier (aggregate). If your cluster is not configured to use automatic disk ownership assignment, you must assign ownership manually.

System Manager

Beginning with ONTAP 9.11.1, if you do not want to use the configuration recommended by System Manager to create a local tier, you can specify the configuration you want.

Steps

  1. In System Manager, click Storage > Tiers.

  2. From the Tiers page, click Add local tier icon to create a new local tier:

    The Add Local Tier page shows the recommended number of local tiers that can be created on the nodes and the usable storage available.

  3. When System Manager displays the storage recommendation for the local tier, click Switch to Manual Local Tier Creation in the Spare Disks section.

    The Add Local Tier page displays fields that you use to configure the local tier.

  4. In the first section of the Add Local Tier page, complete the following:

    1. Enter the name of the local tier.

    2. (Optional): Check the Mirror this local tier check box if you want to mirror the local tier.

    3. Select a disk type.

    4. Select the number of disks.

  5. In the RAID Configuration section, complete the following:

    1. Select the RAID type.

    2. Select the RAID group size.

    3. Click RAID allocation to view how the disks are allocated in the group.

  6. (Optional): If the Onboard Key Manager has been installed, you can configure it for encryption in the Encryption section of the page. Check the Configure Onboard Key Manager for encryption check box.

    1. Enter a passphrase.

    2. Enter the passphrase again to confirm it.

    3. Save the passphrase for future use in case the system needs to be recovered.

    4. Back up the key database for future use.

  7. Click Save to create the local tier and add it to your storage solution.

CLI

Before you create aggregates manually, you should review disk configuration options and simulate creation.

Then you can issue the storage aggregate create command and verify the results.

What you'll need

You must have determined the number of disks and the number of hot spare disks you need in the aggregate.

About this task

If root-data-data partitioning is enabled and you have 24 solid-state drives (SSDs) or fewer in your configuration, it is recommended that your data partitions be assigned to different nodes.

The procedure for creating aggregates on systems with root-data partitioning and root-data-data partitioning enabled is the same as the procedure for creating aggregates on systems using unpartitioned disks. If root-data partitioning is enabled on your system, you should use the number of disk partitions for the -diskcount option. For root-data-data partitioning, the -diskcount option specifies the count of disks to use.

Note When creating multiple aggregates for use with FlexGroups, aggregates should be as close in size as possible.

The storage aggregate create man page contains more information about aggregate creation options and requirements.

Steps

  1. View the list of spare disk partitions to verify that you have enough to create your aggregate:

    storage aggregate show-spare-disks -original-owner node_name

    Data partitions are displayed under Local Data Usable. A root partition cannot be used as a spare.

  2. Simulate the creation of the aggregate:

    storage aggregate create -aggregate aggregate_name -node node_name -raidtype raid_dp -diskcount number_of_disks_or_partitions -simulate true

  3. If any warnings are displayed from the simulated command, adjust the command and repeat the simulation.

  4. Create the aggregate:

    storage aggregate create -aggregate aggr_name -node node_name -raidtype raid_dp -diskcount number_of_disks_or_partitions

  5. Display the aggregate to verify that it was created:

    storage aggregate show-status aggregate_name

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