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Configure ONTAP on a new cluster with System Manager

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System Manager provides a simple and easy workflow for setting up a new cluster and configuring your storage.

About this task

This procedure applies to FAS, AFF, and current ASA systems. If you have an ASA r2 system (ASA A1K, ASA A70, or ASA A90), follow these steps to use System Manger to set up an ONTAP cluster. ASA r2 systems provide a simplified ONTAP experience specific to SAN-only customers.

In some cases, such as certain MetroCluster deployments or clusters that require IPv6 network addressing, you might need to use the ONTAP CLI to set up a new cluster. Click here for more details about these requirements, as well as steps for cluster setup with the ONTAP CLI.

Before you begin

  • You should have installed, cabled and powered on your new storage system according to the installation and setup instructions for your platform model.
    See the AFF and FAS documentation.

  • Cluster network interfaces should be configured on each node of the cluster for intra-cluster communication.

  • You should be aware of the following System Manager support requirements:

    • When you set up node management manually using the CLI, System Manager supports only IPv4 and does not support IPv6. However, if you launch System Manager after completing your hardware setup using DHCP with an auto assigned IP address and with Windows discovery, System Manager can configure an IPv6 management address.

      In ONTAP 9.6 and earlier, System Manager does not support deployments that require IPv6 networking.

    • MetroCluster setup support is for MetroCluster IP configurations with two nodes at each site.

      In ONTAP 9.7 and earlier, System Manager does not support new cluster setup for MetroCluster configurations.

  • You should gather the following information:

    • Cluster management IP address

    • Network subnet mask

    • Network gateway IP address

    • Domain Name Services (DNS) server IP addresses

    • Network Time Protocol server IP addresses

Steps to configure ONTAP on a new cluster with System Manager

Assign a node-management IP address

Windows System

You should connect your Windows computer to the same subnet as the controllers. This will automatically assign a node-management IP address to your system.

Step

  1. From the Windows system, open the Network drive to discover the nodes.

  2. Double-click the node to launch the cluster setup wizard.

Other systems

You should configure the node-management IP address for one of the nodes in your cluster. You can use this node-management IP address to launch the cluster set up wizard.

See Creating the cluster on the first node for information about assigning a node-management IP address.

Initialize the cluster

You initialize the cluster by setting an administrative password for the cluster and setting up the cluster management and node management networks. You can also configure services like a DNS server to resolve host names and an NTP server to synchronize time.

Steps

  1. On a web browser, enter the node-management IP address that you have configured: "https://node-management-IP"

    System Manager automatically discovers the remaining nodes in the cluster.

  2. Under Initialize storage system, enter the cluster name and admin password.

  3. Under Networking, enter the cluster management IP address, subnet mask, and gateway.

  4. If you want to use the Domain Name Service to resolve host names, select Use Domain Name Service (DNS); then enter the DNS server information.

  5. If you want to use the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to keep times synchronized across your cluster, under Others, select Use time services (NTP); then enter the NTP server information.

  6. Click Submit.

What's next

After you initialize your cluster, you can run Active IQ Config Advisor to validate your configuration and check for common configuration errors.

Create your local tier

Create local tiers from the available disks or SSDs in your nodes. System Manager automatically calculates the best tier configuration based on your hardware.

Steps

  1. Click Dashboard and then click Prepare Storage.

    Accept the storage recommendation for your local tier.

Configure protocols

Depending on the licenses enabled on your cluster, you can enable the desired protocols on your cluster. You then create network interfaces using which you can access the storage.

Steps

  1. Click Dashboard and then click Configure Protocols.

    • Enable iSCSI or FC for SAN access.

    • Enable NFS or SMB for NAS access.

    • Enable NVMe for FC-NVMe access.

Provision Storage

After configuring protocols, you can provision storage. The options you see depend on the licenses that are installed.

Steps

  1. Click Dashboard and then click Provision Storage.

Configure ONTAP on a new cluster video