topic Upgrade and expandability options for existing system FAS3210 in ONTAP Discussions

Upgrade and expandability options for existing system FAS3210

StivV — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 14:38:34 GMT

Hi,

We have Netapp FAS3210, with software version 8.0.2 P4 7-mode.

It is connected to 4 disk shelves: 1 x DS4243 with IOM3 modules and 3 x DS14 MK4 FC with ESH4 modules.

We also have disk shelves that were connected to NetApp 2020 and NetApp 2050 that we recently retired: 1 x DS14 MK2 FC with ESH2 modules and 3 x DS14 MK2 AT with AT-FCX modules.

Is it possible to connect all 8 disk shelves to FAS3210?

I know that DS14-Mk2-AT and DS14-Mk4-FC disk shelves cannot be mixed in the same loop.

...But what are my options; do we use 2 or maybe 3 loops?
Is this setup officially supported and will there be a performance decrease?
Are there some other limitations (number of disks, protocols, number of disk shelfs…)?

I suppose that software upgrade will be necessary. Do I first upgrade software and then connect DS14 MK2 FC / DS14 MK2 AT shelfs, or is it the other way around?

Sorry in advance if I ask stupid questions or made some wrong assumptions but I don’t have almost no experience with NetApp since my primary focus were entry and midrange HP and IBM storage systems.

I would greatly appreciate your answers or at least links to public documents that describe this kind of upgrade / expansion!
Thank you!

Re: Upgrade and expandability options for existing system FAS3210

sgrant — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 12:22:27 GMT

Hello, wow some old kit 🙂

To start, I need to make you aware of some End of Support (EOS) dates for you...

FAS3210 EOS 31-Dec-18 (https://mysupport.netapp.com/info/communications/ECMP1210645.html)
DS4243 and IOM3 Shelf Parts EOS 31-Jan-2021 (https://mysupport.netapp.com/info/communications/ECMP12486665.html)
DS14 MK2 ESH2 shelf support depends upon the disks (https://mysupport.netapp.com/info/eoa/df_eoa_category_page.html?category=Storage😞
- 300GB 15k drives EOS 31-Dec-17
- 450GB 15 drives EOS 31-Jul-18
- 600GB 15k drives EOS 31-Jan-19
DS14 MK2 AT-FCX EOS 31-Dec-18 (https://mysupport.netapp.com/info/communications/ECMP1218652.html)
ONTAP 8.0 Limited Support for Data ONTAP 8.0.x ended on December 31, 2015 (https://mysupport.netapp.com/info/communications/ECMP1393686.html)
ONTAP 8.1 Limited Support for Data ONTAP 8.1.x ended on February 28, 2017

Note: ESH2 modules are not supported on Data ONTAP 8.1 or above.

Therefore to remain in a supported configuration you will need to:

Leave the old DS14 ESH2 disk shelves out of the configuraiton, they can no longer be used (unless you can upgrade the ESH2 modules to ESH4)
Attach supported disk shelves, in 3 seperate stacks/loops:
- one stack (loop) for the 1*DS4243 SAS shelf
- one loop for 3*DS14 MK4 FC shelves
- one loop for 3*DS14 MK2 AT shelves
Upgrade all firmware including disk, DQP files, shelf firmware to latest versions
Upgrade system and SP firmware to supported versions for the version of Data ONTAP
Perform an intermediatory Data ONTAP upgrade to version 8.1.4 - an upgrade straight from 8.0.4 to 8.2.5 is not supported
Upgrade to Data ONTAP 8.2.5, however only released on 04-Aug-17 see https://mysupport.netapp.com/info/communications/ECMLP2798617.html)
Attention: If you have a 3210 or 3140 storage system with Flash Cache modules installed, do not
upgrade to Data ONTAP 8.2 for 7-Mode. Flash Cache modules are not supported on 3210 or 3140
systems running Data ONTAP 8.2 for 7-Mode.

Documentaiton:

SAS Disk Shelves Installation and Service Guide: https://library.netapp.com/ecm/ecm_download_file/ECMP1119629
SAS and ACP Cabling Guide: https://library.netapp.com/ecm/ecm_download_file/ECMM1280392
DiskShelf14mk2 FC and DiskShelf14mk4 FC Hardware and Service Guide: https://library.netapp.com/ecm/ecm_download_file/ECMP1112854
Data ONTAP® 8.2 Upgrade and Revert/Downgrade Guide: https://library.netapp.com/ecm/ecm_download_file/ECMP1511541

However, for the ONTAP upgrade please refer to the AutoSupport Upgrade Advisor. This will provide step-by-step instructions as well as cautions and backout plans. My AutoSupport site can be found here: https://mysupport.netapp.com/myautosupport/dist/index.html#/search, please look under the Resources drop-down menu for any guides you may need.

Hopefully, you've all the info you need.

Cheers,

Grant.

Re: Upgrade and expandability options for existing system FAS3210

StivV — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 14:03:08 GMT

Thank you for this extensive reply!

Ok, we won’t use old DS14 ESH2 in this system. Disk from this shelf may still prove useful as replacement disks 😉 … since with Data ONTAP 8.1.2, the software upgrade includes new disk shelf firmware versions for DS14mk2 AT and DS4243 disk shelves that provide enhanced disk error detection and prediction capabilities. After upgrading to this version of Data ONTAP, we might experience an increase in the number of disk failures for certain disk shelf and disk models.

And thank you again for links to latest documentation!