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Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

Add HA pairs to a file system in BlueXP workload factory

Contributors netapp-rlithman
PDFs

Add high-availability (HA) pairs to scale out an FSx for ONTAP second-generation Single-AZ file system in BlueXP workload factory to increase performance and capacity. This expansion gives you more performance scalability and flexibility over first-generation file systems.

About this task

The new HA pairs get added using the same SKU and same capacity per HA pair.

Adding HA pairs isn't supported for the following:

  • Multi-AZ HA deployments or first-generation FSx for ONTAP file systems

  • FSx for ONTAP file systems with more than 5 storage VMs

  • FSx for ONTAP file systems with iSCSI LUNs

  • Configurations which have maximum or close to maximum SSD capacity or have reached IO allocation limits

Consider the following about adding HA pairs:

  • HA pair removal: HA pairs cannot be removed once added to the file system.

  • Operation time and limitations: Adding HA pairs may take approximately 30 minutes. Consider adding HA pairs during a maintenance window or during low activity periods. In addition, adding HA pairs limits other operations like adding more HA pairs, provisioning IOPS, increasing SSD capacity, and updating throughput capacity.

  • IO allocation: Automatic IO allocation depends on total storage capacity. User-configured IO allocation is multiplied by the amount of HA pairs added.

  • NVMe cache: When adding HA pairs, NVME cache is enabled by default. We recommend turning off NVMe cache for heavy workloads.

  • Number of HA pairs: We recommend expanding your file system to an even number of HA pairs for balanced data distribution across HA pairs.

  • LUN creation: LUN creation is possible on a second-generation Single-AZ file system only if LUNs don't already exist on the file system when adding HA pairs. LUN creation is only supported on a file system with 6 HA pairs or fewer.

Before you begin

Do the following before you add HA pairs to a file system:

  • Remove all iSCSI LUNs to scale out the file system.

  • Make sure that the file system has no more than 5 storage VMs.

Steps

  1. Log in using one of the console experiences.

  2. In Storage, select Go to storage inventory.

  3. In the FSx for ONTAP tab, under Information, select the pencil icon next to HA pairs.

  4. In the Add HA pairs dialog, select the number of HA pairs to add to the file system.

  5. Select Add to confirm the addition of the HA pairs.

Result

Workload factory initiates the process to add the HA pair(s) to the file system. The file system isn't available for other operations like volume creation until the HA pairs are added. You can monitor the progress of the operation in the Tracker tab.