Changes to ONTAP limits and defaults

06/26/2024 Contributors

Learn about some of the changes to limits and defaults implemented in ONTAP 9 releases. NetApp strives to help its customers understand the most important limits that change with each ONTAP release.

ONTAP defaults

Feature Default change Changed in release…

Feature	Default change	Changed in release…
`vserver object-store-server user show` command	In releases prior to ONTAP 9.15.1, the `vserver object-store-server user show` command would return the S3 user's secret keys. The command will no longer return secret key data for S3 users.	ONTAP 9.15.1
NAS audit	NAS audit configuration allows retaining all audit log records by default. A revised value for the rotate-limit parameter ensures the audit log is sized properly for the volume supporting it.	ONTAP 9.15.1
Space allocation	Space allocation is enabled by default for newly created VMware and Hyper-V LUNs and is disabled for all newly created LUNs not used by VMware and Hyper-V.	ONTAP 9.15.1
NVMe/TCP automated host discovery	Host discovery of controllers using the NVMe/TCP protocol is automated by default.	ONTAP 9.14.1
AES encryption for Kerberos-based communication	AES encryption for authentication is enabled by default for Kerberos-based communication with SMB servers. You can disable AES encryption manually if your environment does not support it.	ONTAP 9.13.1
RAID aggregate	Beginning with ONTAP 9.12.1, the system controller will not shut down by default after 24 hours if any aggregate is degraded. If a user changes the `raid.timeout` option, the system controller will continue to shut down after the expiration of `raid.timeout` hours.	9.12.1
TLS 1.1 disabled by default	TLS 1.1 is disabled by default for new installations of ONTAP. Systems that are upgraded to ONTAP 9.12.0 and later that already have TLS 1.1 enabled are not affected as the upgrade will leave TLS 1.1 in an enabled state. However, if you're upgrading clusters with FIPS enabled, TLS 1.1 is not supported with FIPS beginning with ONTAP 9.11.1, thus TLS 1.1 will automatically be disabled. When disabled by default, TLS 1.1 can be manually enabled as needed.	ONTAP 9.12.0
TLS 1.0 disabled by default	TLS 1.0 is disabled by default for new installations of ONTAP. Systems that are upgraded to ONTAP 9.8 and later that already have TLS 1.0 enabled are not affected as the upgrade will leave TLS 1.0 in an enabled state. However, if you're upgrading clusters with FIPS enabled, TLS 1.0 is not supported with FIPS beginning with ONTAP 9.8, thus TLS 1.0 will automatically be disabled. When disabled by default, TLS 1.0 can be manually enabled as needed.	ONTAP 9.8

vserver object-store-server user show command

In releases prior to ONTAP 9.15.1, the vserver object-store-server user show command would return the S3 user's secret keys. The command will no longer return secret key data for S3 users.

ONTAP 9.15.1

NAS audit

NAS audit configuration allows retaining all audit log records by default. A revised value for the rotate-limit parameter ensures the audit log is sized properly for the volume supporting it.

ONTAP 9.15.1

Space allocation

Space allocation is enabled by default for newly created VMware and Hyper-V LUNs and is disabled for all newly created LUNs not used by VMware and Hyper-V.

ONTAP 9.15.1

NVMe/TCP automated host discovery

Host discovery of controllers using the NVMe/TCP protocol is automated by default.

ONTAP 9.14.1

AES encryption for Kerberos-based communication

AES encryption for authentication is enabled by default for Kerberos-based communication with SMB servers. You can disable AES encryption manually if your environment does not support it.

ONTAP 9.13.1

RAID aggregate

Beginning with ONTAP 9.12.1, the system controller will not shut down by default after 24 hours if any aggregate is degraded. If a user changes the raid.timeout option, the system controller will continue to shut down after the expiration of raid.timeout hours.

9.12.1

TLS 1.1 disabled by default

TLS 1.1 is disabled by default for new installations of ONTAP. Systems that are upgraded to ONTAP 9.12.0 and later that already have TLS 1.1 enabled are not affected as the upgrade will leave TLS 1.1 in an enabled state. However, if you're upgrading clusters with FIPS enabled, TLS 1.1 is not supported with FIPS beginning with ONTAP 9.11.1, thus TLS 1.1 will automatically be disabled. When disabled by default, TLS 1.1 can be manually enabled as needed.

ONTAP 9.12.0

TLS 1.0 disabled by default

TLS 1.0 is disabled by default for new installations of ONTAP. Systems that are upgraded to ONTAP 9.8 and later that already have TLS 1.0 enabled are not affected as the upgrade will leave TLS 1.0 in an enabled state. However, if you're upgrading clusters with FIPS enabled, TLS 1.0 is not supported with FIPS beginning with ONTAP 9.8, thus TLS 1.0 will automatically be disabled. When disabled by default, TLS 1.0 can be manually enabled as needed.

ONTAP 9.8

ONTAP limits

Feature	Limit change	Changed in release…
SnapMirror active sync	SnapMirror active sync supports 80 volumes in a consistency group	ONTAP 9.15.1
SnapMirror asynchronous	Consistency groups using SnapMirror asynchronous protection support up to 80 volumes in a consistency group.	ONTAP 9.15.1
File System Analytics	To mitigate performance issues, ONTAP enforces that 5-8% of a volume's capacity must be free when enabling File System Analytics.	ONTAP 9.15.1
SVM data mobility	The maximum number of supported volumes per SVM with SVM data mobility increases to 400 and the number of supported HA pairs increases to 12.	ONTAP 9.14.1
FlexGroup rebalancing	The minimum configurable file size for FlexGroup rebalancing operations is increased from 4 KB to 20 MB.	ONTAP 9.14.1 ONTAP 9.13.1P1 ONTAP 9.12.1P10
FlexVol and FlexGroup volume size limit	The maximum supported FlexVol and FlexGroup volume constituent size on AFF and FAS platforms is increased from 100 TB to 300 TB.	ONTAP 9.12.1P2
LUN size limit	The maximum supported LUN size on AFF and FAS platforms is increased from 16 TB to 128 TB. The maximum supported LUN size in SnapMirror configurations (Synchronous and Asynchronous) is increased from 16 TB to 128 TB.	ONTAP 9.12.1P2
FlexVol volume size limit	The maximum supported volume size on AFF and FAS platforms is increased from 100 TB to 300 TB. The maximum supported FlexVol volume size in SnapMirror Synchronous configurations is increased from 100 TB to 300 TB.	ONTAP 9.12.1P2
File size limit	The maximum supported file size for NAS file systems on AFF and FAS platforms is increased from 16 TB to 128 TB. The maximum supported file size in SnapMirror Synchronous configurations is increased from 16 TB to 128 TB.	ONTAP 9.12.1P2
Cluster volume limit	Increase the ability for controllers to more fully utilize CPU and memory and increase maximum volume count for a cluster from 15,000 to 30,000.	ONTAP 9.12.1
SVM-DR relationships for FlexVol volumes	For FlexVol volumes, the maximum number of SVM-DR relationships has increased from 64 to 128 (128 SVMs per cluster).	ONTAP 9.11.1
SnapMirror synchronous	The maximum number of SnapMirror synchronous operations allowed per HA pair has increased from 200 to 400.	ONTAP 9.11.1
NAS FlexVol volumes	The cluster limit for NAS FlexVol volumes has increased from 12k to 15k.	ONTAP 9.10.1
SAN FlexVol volumes	The cluster limit for SAN FlexVol volumes has increased from 12k to 15k.	ONTAP 9.10.1
SVM-DR with FlexGroup volumes	A maximum of 32 SVM-DR relationships is supported with FlexGroup volumes. The maximum number of volumes supported in a single SVM in an SVM-DR relationship is 300, which includes the number of FlexVol volumes and FlexGroup constituents. The maximum number of constituents in a FlexGroup cannot exceed 20. SVM-DR volume limits are 500 per node, 1000 per Cluster (including FlexVol volumes and FlexGroup constituents).	ONTAP 9.10.1
Auditing-enabled SVMs	The maximum number of auditing-enabled SVMs supported in a cluster has been increased from 50 to 400.	ONTAP 9.9.1
SnapMirror Synchronous	The maximum number of supported SnapMirror Synchronous endpoints per HA pair has increased from 80 to 160.	ONTAP 9.9.1
FlexGroup SnapMirror topology	FlexGroup volumes support two or more fanout relationships; for example, A to B, A to C. Like FlexVol volumes, FlexGroup fanout supports a maximum of 8 fanout legs and cascading up to two-levels; for example, A to B to C.	ONTAP 9.9.1
SnapMirror concurrent transfer	The maximum number of asynchronous volume-level SnapMirror concurrent transfers has increased from 100 to 200. Cloud-to-cloud SnapMirror transfers has increased from 32 to 200 on high-end systems and from 6 to 20 SnapMirror transfers on low-end systems.	ONTAP 9.8
FlexVol volumes limit	The space consumed by FlexVol volumes has increased from 100 TB to 300 TB for All-Flash SAN Array.	ONTAP 9.8

Feature

Limit change

Changed in release…

SnapMirror active sync

SnapMirror active sync supports 80 volumes in a consistency group

ONTAP 9.15.1

SnapMirror asynchronous

Consistency groups using SnapMirror asynchronous protection support up to 80 volumes in a consistency group.

ONTAP 9.15.1

File System Analytics

To mitigate performance issues, ONTAP enforces that 5-8% of a volume's capacity must be free when enabling File System Analytics.

ONTAP 9.15.1

SVM data mobility

The maximum number of supported volumes per SVM with SVM data mobility increases to 400 and the number of supported HA pairs increases to 12.

ONTAP 9.14.1

FlexGroup rebalancing

The minimum configurable file size for FlexGroup rebalancing operations is increased from 4 KB to 20 MB.

ONTAP 9.14.1
ONTAP 9.13.1P1
ONTAP 9.12.1P10

FlexVol and FlexGroup volume size limit

The maximum supported FlexVol and FlexGroup volume constituent size on AFF and FAS platforms is increased from 100 TB to 300 TB.

ONTAP 9.12.1P2

LUN size limit

The maximum supported LUN size on AFF and FAS platforms is increased from 16 TB to 128 TB. The maximum supported LUN size in SnapMirror configurations (Synchronous and Asynchronous) is increased from 16 TB to 128 TB.

ONTAP 9.12.1P2

FlexVol volume size limit

The maximum supported volume size on AFF and FAS platforms is increased from 100 TB to 300 TB. The maximum supported FlexVol volume size in SnapMirror Synchronous configurations is increased from 100 TB to 300 TB.

ONTAP 9.12.1P2

File size limit

The maximum supported file size for NAS file systems on AFF and FAS platforms is increased from 16 TB to 128 TB. The maximum supported file size in SnapMirror Synchronous configurations is increased from 16 TB to 128 TB.

ONTAP 9.12.1P2

Cluster volume limit

Increase the ability for controllers to more fully utilize CPU and memory and increase maximum volume count for a cluster from 15,000 to 30,000.

ONTAP 9.12.1

SVM-DR relationships for FlexVol volumes

For FlexVol volumes, the maximum number of SVM-DR relationships has increased from 64 to 128 (128 SVMs per cluster).

ONTAP 9.11.1

SnapMirror synchronous

The maximum number of SnapMirror synchronous operations allowed per HA pair has increased from 200 to 400.

ONTAP 9.11.1

NAS FlexVol volumes

The cluster limit for NAS FlexVol volumes has increased from 12k to 15k.

ONTAP 9.10.1

SAN FlexVol volumes

The cluster limit for SAN FlexVol volumes has increased from 12k to 15k.

ONTAP 9.10.1

SVM-DR with FlexGroup volumes

A maximum of 32 SVM-DR relationships is supported with FlexGroup volumes.
The maximum number of volumes supported in a single SVM in an SVM-DR relationship is 300, which includes the number of FlexVol volumes and FlexGroup constituents.
The maximum number of constituents in a FlexGroup cannot exceed 20.
SVM-DR volume limits are 500 per node, 1000 per Cluster (including FlexVol volumes and FlexGroup constituents).

ONTAP 9.10.1

Auditing-enabled SVMs

The maximum number of auditing-enabled SVMs supported in a cluster has been increased from 50 to 400.

ONTAP 9.9.1

SnapMirror Synchronous

The maximum number of supported SnapMirror Synchronous endpoints per HA pair has increased from 80 to 160.

ONTAP 9.9.1

FlexGroup SnapMirror topology

FlexGroup volumes support two or more fanout relationships; for example, A to B, A to C. Like FlexVol volumes, FlexGroup fanout supports a maximum of 8 fanout legs and cascading up to two-levels; for example, A to B to C.

ONTAP 9.9.1

SnapMirror concurrent transfer

The maximum number of asynchronous volume-level SnapMirror concurrent transfers has increased from 100 to 200. Cloud-to-cloud SnapMirror transfers has increased from 32 to 200 on high-end systems and from 6 to 20 SnapMirror transfers on low-end systems.

ONTAP 9.8

FlexVol volumes limit

The space consumed by FlexVol volumes has increased from 100 TB to 300 TB for All-Flash SAN Array.

ONTAP 9.8

Changes to ONTAP limits and defaults

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ONTAP defaults

ONTAP limits