topic Re: Does root volume\aggregate need to be separate from data aggregates in cluster mode in ONTAP Discussions

Does root volume\aggregate need to be separate from data aggregates in cluster mode

adencool — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 23:01:07 GMT

This is my first rodeo with Clustered Data ONTAP after years of 7-Mode.

We have a new FAS2554 2-node cluster with clusternotap 8.3.

i have 20 x 2tb sata disks (and 4 ssd)

I see both nodes grabbed the 3 disks for ONTAP root volume and aggregate.

So this leaves me with 6 disks for data Aggregates for each controller, so a total of 5.5tb or around 11tb in total

we were sold this device, stating that we would have 23tb usable space!

So my question is... Does cDOT force you to have a dedicated root aggregate for the root volume? or is there some thing we should be doing to get close to the space required?

Re: Does root volume\aggregate need to be separate from data aggregates in cluster mode

aborzenkov — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 13:00:35 GMT

Yes. In cDOT each node must have root volume on dedicated aggregate.

8.3 introduced Advanced Disk Partitioning, where small part of each disk is used for root aggregate and the rest - for data. This leaves you with almost full disk capacity for data. Actually, this should be default on new installation - I am surprised you did not get it.

Re: Does root volume\aggregate need to be separate from data aggregates in cluster mode

adencool — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 20:02:35 GMT

ok ive just checked and the system was running 8.2.3

ive now upgraded to 8.3

as the system is unused, is zeroing the disks the fastest way to rerun setup on the system?

Re: Does root volume\aggregate need to be separate from data aggregates in cluster mode

aborzenkov — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 05:48:23 GMT

You must reinstall each node to use ADP. On your model when you go to Special Boot menu and select 4, in Data ONTAP 8.3 it will automatically partition all disks assigned to the controller into root and data parts and create root aggreate from root partitions. It makes sense to do "set-defaults" in loader prompt before. Root partition size is computed automatically based on number of disks, so be sure to perform assignment as need in maintenance mode before starting installation.

Re: Does root volume\aggregate need to be separate from data aggregates in cluster mode

aborzenkov — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 08:46:55 GMT

For some reasons could not find it previously: https://kb.netapp.com/support/index?page=content&id=1015004

Re: Does root volume\aggregate need to be separate from data aggregates in cluster mode

adencool — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 16:25:53 GMT

Thanks i zero'ed the system, and now its setup correctly