Cannot form 3-site cluster peering for cdot 8.3 with cross-site links on different subnets

sil — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 22:35:46 GMT

We are in the process of migrating from 7-mode to cdot 8.3 with FAS filers installed in 3 sites. We need to run snapmirror between A-B site and B-C site. There are dedicated cross site links between A-B site and B-C site for replication, they are on different subnets and are not routable due to physical limitation. With 7-mode snapmirror ran fine as we could just setup snapmirror to use the specific IP for replication.

However we are having difficulties setting up cluster peering in 8.3 cdot. In B site, we first set up one set of LIFs for replication to A site, and formed peer cluster with A site successfully. We then set up the LIFs for replication to C site, and tried to form cluster peer with C site. On C site it could complete the cluster peer create command, but on B site it failed with below error:

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b-ntap01::cluster peer> create -peer-addrs 10.0.9.156,10.0.9.157

Notice: Choose a passphraseof 8 or more characters. To ensure the authenticity of the peering relationship, use a phrase or sequence of characters that would be hard
to guess.

Enter the passphrase:
Confirm the passphrase:

Error: command failed: An introductory RPC to the peer address "10.0.9.156" failed to connect: RPC: Remote system error - No route to host. Verify that the peer address is correct and try again.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

network interface show output is as follows:

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b-ntap01::> network interface show -role intercluster

Logical Status Network Current Current Is

Vserver Interface Admin/Oper Address/Mask Node Port Home

----------- ---------- ---------- ------------------ ------------- ------- ----

b-ntap01

b-ntap01a-repa

up/up 10.0.8.184/25 b-ntap01-01 a0c true

b-ntap01a-repc

up/up 10.0.9.26/25 b-ntap01-01 a0f true

b-ntap01b-repa

up/up 10.0.8.185/25 b-ntap01-02 a0c true

b-ntap01b-repc

up/up 10.0.9.27/25 b-ntap01-02 a0f true

4 entries were displayed.

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We have verified that B site can ping A site and C site successfully. We have also verified that if we delete the LIFs for replication to A site and only set up those for C site, we can successfully form a cluster peer between B site and C site.

cluster peer ping result is as follows. It seems that it couldn't even ping its own LIF.

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b-ntap01::> cluster peer ping
Node: b-ntap01-01 Destination Cluster: a-ntap01
Destination Node IP Address Count TTL RTT(ms) Status
---------------- ---------------- ----- ---- ------- -------------------------
a-ntap01-01 10.0.8.54 1 253 0.915 interface_reachable
a-ntap01-02 10.0.8.55 1 253 0.922 interface_reachable
Node: b-ntap01-01 Destination Cluster: b-ntap01
Destination Node IP Address Count TTL RTT(ms) Status
---------------- ---------------- ----- ---- ------- -------------------------
b-ntap01-01 10.0.8.184 1 255 0.128 interface_reachable
b-ntap01-01 10.0.9.26 1 - - unreachable
b-ntap01-02 10.0.8.185 1 255 0.457 interface_reachable
b-ntap01-02 10.0.9.27 1 - - unreachable
Node: b-ntap01-02 Destination Cluster: a-ntap01
Destination Node IP Address Count TTL RTT(ms) Status
---------------- ---------------- ----- ---- ------- -------------------------
a-ntap01-01 10.0.8.54 1 253 0.688 interface_reachable
a-ntap01-02 10.0.8.55 1 253 0.676 interface_reachable
Node: b-ntap01-02 Destination Cluster: b-ntap01
Destination Node IP Address Count TTL RTT(ms) Status
---------------- ---------------- ----- ---- ------- -------------------------
b-ntap01-01 10.0.8.184 1 255 0.2 interface_reachable
b-ntap01-01 10.0.9.26 1 - - unreachable
b-ntap01-02 10.0.8.185 1 255 0.092 interface_reachable
b-ntap01-02 10.0.9.27 1 - - unreachable
12 entries were displayed.

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So is it possible to form the cluster peer relationship between B and C site in our case?

Re: Cannot form 3-site cluster peering for cdot 8.3 with cross-site links on different subnets

sil — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 08:42:48 GMT

I have solved it by upgrading to 8.3.1, which allows cluster peering by IPspace.

Maybe NetApp should update its own Clustered Data ONTAP 8.3(.1) Cluster Peering Express Guide? Even the 8.3.1 Express Gulde documentations point to the 8.3 version of cluster peering guide, which has no mention of cluster peering by IPspace. I just stumbled upon it by chance when searching for 8.3.1 cluster peering on Google, after NetApp support told me all intercluster LIFs must reside in the same subnet in 8.3.

Re: Cannot form 3-site cluster peering for cdot 8.3 with cross-site links on different subnets

NATHANKIPPEN — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 19:30:56 GMT

Thank you!!

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Cannot form 3-site cluster peering for cdot 8.3 with cross-site links on different subnets

Re: Cannot form 3-site cluster peering for cdot 8.3 with cross-site links on different subnets

Re: Cannot form 3-site cluster peering for cdot 8.3 with cross-site links on different subnets