Editing aggregate settings
You can use the Edit Aggregate dialog box to change the aggregate name, RAID type, RAID group size, and to add capacity disks and cache disks to the aggregate. You can also convert the aggregate to a Flash Pool aggregate. However, you cannot modify the properties of a SnapLock Compliance aggregate.
Before you begin
• You must have sufficient spare disks to add additional disks to an aggregate.
About this task
When you add disks to an aggregate on storage systems running Data ONTAP 7.3.7, new disks are added only to the most recently created RAID group. When the existing RAID groups become full after the disks are added, new RAID groups are created and disks are added to the new RAID groups.
The previously created RAID groups remain at their current size unless you add the disks to them.
You cannot edit a Flash Pool aggregate that has mixed RAID types for storage systems running Data ONTAP 8.2.
Steps
1. From the home page, double-click the appropriate storage system.
2. In the navigation pane, click Storage > Aggregates.
3. Select the aggregate that you want to edit and click Edit.
4. In the Edit Aggregate dialog box, perform the appropriate steps:
If you want to... Do this...
Increase the storage
Specify the number of disks to add and click Save and Close.
The spare disks from the default disk group are added to all the RAID groups of the aggregate.
If you want to... Do this...
Specify which disks to use when increasing storage
a. Click Advanced, and select a disk group from the Advanced Disk Selection window.
The minimum hot spare rule is applied to the disk group having the largest disk size. The disk count displayed in the Advanced Disk Selection window does not include the hot spare.
b. Specify the RAID group to which you want to add the disks.
You can add disks to all RAID groups or a specific RAID group, or create a new RAID group and add the disks.
• For HDDs, you cannot add disks to all RAID groups if all the parity disks of the aggregate are not equal in size (within a ten percent tolerance range). You should create a new RAID group to add the disks, or specify an existing RAID group.
• If you select a disk group with a disk size that is smaller than the selected RAID group parity disk's size, a warning message indicating a suboptimal
configuration is displayed.
• If you select a disk group with a disk size that is larger than the selected RAID group parity disk's size, a warning message indicating a downsized
configuration is displayed.
c. Specify the number of disks to add.
d. Click Save and Close.
5. In the Edit Aggregate dialog box, perform the following steps if you want to modify the RAID type or RAID group size:
a. Click Change.
b. In the RAID Details window, specify the required details.
c. Click Save and Close.
Result
The selected aggregate is updated with the new information. The updated information is also displayed in the Details tab of the Aggregates window.
Related references
Aggregates window on page 138
Taking a plex offline
A plex can either be in an online state or in an offline state. When a plex is offline, it is not available for read or write access. You can use the Aggregate window to take a plex offline.
Before you begin
The plex must be part of a mirrored aggregate and both plexes must be online.
Steps
1. From the home page, double-click the appropriate storage system.
2. In the navigation pane, click Storage > Aggregates.
3. Select the appropriate mirrored aggregate and click Plexes in the lower pane.
4. Select the plex you want to take offline and click Offline.
5. Select the confirmation check box and click Offline.
Related references
Aggregates window on page 138
Bringing a plex online
A plex can either be in an online state or in an offline state. In the online state, the plex is available for read or write access and the contents of the plex are current. You can use the Aggregate window to bring a plex online.
Before you begin
The plex must be part of a mirrored aggregate.
Steps
1. From the home page, double-click the appropriate storage system.
2. In the navigation pane, click Storage > Aggregates.
3. Select the appropriate mirrored aggregate and click Plexes in the lower pane.
4. Select a plex you want to bring online and click Online.
5. Select the confirmation check box and click Online.
Related references
Aggregates window on page 138
Destroying a plex
You can destroy a plex if you want to stop mirroring the aggregate, or if there is a problem with the plex. You can use the Aggregate window to destroy or remove a plex from a mirrored aggregate.
Before you begin The plex must be offline.
Steps
1. From the home page, double-click the appropriate storage system.
2. In the navigation pane, click Storage > Aggregates.
3. Select the appropriate mirrored aggregate and click Plexes in the lower pane.
4. Select the plex that you want to destroy and click Destroy.
5. Click Destroy in the confirmation window.
Result
Destroying a plex results in an unmirrored aggregate, because the aggregate now has only one plex.
Related references
Aggregates window on page 138
Splitting a mirrored aggregate
You can use the Aggregate management tab to split a mirrored aggregate. You might split a mirrored aggregate to move a mirrored aggregate to another location. Splitting a mirrored aggregate removes the relationship between its two plexes and creates two independent unmirrored aggregates. After splitting, both the aggregates are online.
Steps
1. From the home page, double-click the appropriate storage system.
2. In the navigation pane, click Storage > Aggregates.
3. Select the appropriate mirrored aggregate and click Plexes in the lower pane.
4. Select a plex you want to split, and click Split.
5. Click Split in the confirmation window.
6. If you want to change the default name for the newly created aggregate, specify the new name.
7. Click Split.
Related references
Aggregates window on page 138
Upgrading to a 64-bit aggregate
For storage systems running Data ONTAP 8.1 and later, System Manager enables you to upgrade an existing 32-bit aggregate to a 64-bit aggregate by adding disks to increase their size beyond 16 TB.
Before you begin
If you want to add disks to the aggregate, you must have completed the following requirements:
• All the existing disks in the aggregate must be of the same size.
• You must have sufficient homogeneous spare disks of the same size as the existing disks in the aggregate.
About this task
You cannot upgrade a SyncMirror aggregate to 64 bit.
Steps
1. From the home page, double-click the appropriate storage system.
2. In the navigation pane, click Storage > Aggregates.
3. Select the 32-bit aggregate whose size you want to increase and click Edit.
4. Add the disks and click Save and Close.
Related references
Aggregates window on page 138
Changing the state of an aggregate
An aggregate may be online, restricted, or offline. You can use the Aggregate window to take an aggregate offline, bring it back online, or restrict access to the aggregate. An aggregate cannot be restricted or taken offline if it has FlexVol volumes or mounted volumes.
About this task
When an aggregate is online, read and write access to volumes hosted on this aggregate is allowed.
When an aggregate is offline, no read or write access is allowed. You can put the aggregate into a restricted state if you want the aggregate to be the target of an aggregate copy or SnapMirror replication operation.
Steps
1. From the home page, double-click the appropriate storage system.
2. In the navigation pane, click Storage > Aggregates.
3. Select the aggregate for which you want to modify the state.
4. From the Status menu, click the aggregate state you want.
5. In the confirmation dialog box, click Offline or Restrict, as appropriate.
Related references
Aggregates window on page 138
Converting an aggregate to a Flash Pool aggregate
You can convert a non-root aggregate that is composed of HDDs to a Flash Pool aggregate by adding one or more RAID groups composed of SSDs. The SSD tier functions as a high-performance cache to the working data set, increasing the performance of the aggregate without using SSDs for the entire aggregate.
Before you begin
• You must have identified a valid 64-bit non-root aggregate composed of HDDs to convert it to a Flash Pool aggregate.
• The aggregate must not be a SnapLock aggregate.
• The aggregate must not contain any array LUNs.
• You must have determined the SSDs you plan to add, and these SSDs must be owned by the node on which you are creating the Flash Pool aggregate.
• All the SSDs in the spare pool must be of the same size.
About this task
You should be aware of platform-specific and workload-specific best practices for Flash Pool aggregate SSD tier size and configuration. For more information, see Technical Report 4070:
NetApp Flash Pool Design and Implementation Guide.
Steps
1. From the home page, double-click the appropriate storage system.
2. In the navigation pane, click Storage > Aggregates.
3. Select the aggregate that you want to convert to a Flash Pool aggregate and click Edit.
4. Select the option for enabling Flash Pool aggregate.
5. Specify the cache disk size and the number of SSDs that you want to add to create a Flash Pool aggregate.
The default value is the minimum number of cache disks that is required to create a RAID group.
The default number of cache disks is 3 for RAID-DP and 2 for RAID4.
6. Click Save and Close.
7. Verify the changes you made to the selected aggregate in the Details tab in the Aggregates window.
Related information
TR 4070: NetApp Flash Pool Design and Implementation Guide