topic Re: NetApp Volume Encryption - Failed to start conversion on volume. Retry later or reboot the node. in ONTAP Discussions

NetApp Volume Encryption - Failed to start conversion on volume. Retry later or reboot the node.

juanfproact — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 12:44:26 GMT

We have recently acquired the NVE license for an existing system FAS2750 running ONTAP 9.4P5. The idea is to perform the "volume encryption conversion start" command on all existing volumes. We already have Onboard Key Manager enabled.

When we try to run the encryption conversion in any volume we receive the following error:

clustermad::*> volume encryption conversion start -vserver SVM_CIFS -volume CIFS_Data_01

Error: command failed: Failed to start conversion on volume "CIFS_Data_01" in Vserver "SVM_CIFS". Reason: Node "clustermad-02" failed to allocate encryption resources. Please retry later or reboot the node.

Has anyone been able to solve this error without rebooting the system?

Re: NetApp Volume Encryption - Failed to start conversion on volume. Retry later or reboot the node.

CHRISMAKI — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 16:56:19 GMT

That's an interesting one, are you able to create a new, encrypted volume from scratch on either node?

I'm wondering if this is support ticket-worthy, the only hardware requirement as far as I know is the processor needs to support the AES-NI instruction set which the one in the FAS2750 definitely does.

Re: NetApp Volume Encryption - Failed to start conversion on volume. Retry later or reboot the node.

juanfproact — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:41:19 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

If we try to enable encryption by creating a new volume we get the same error:

clustermad::> volume create -vserver SVM_CIFS -volume vol_TEST_NVE -aggregate aggr0_SAS_01 -size 5g -encrypt true
Error: command failed: Node "clustermad-02" failed to allocate encryption resources. Please retry later or reboot the node.

Re: NetApp Volume Encryption - Failed to start conversion on volume. Retry later or reboot the node.

CHRISMAKI — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:06:06 GMT

Have you tried rebooting the node yet? Sounds like it might need it and better to reboot it under your terms than if it decides to core dump and reboot on its terms.

If you have already rebooted it, I suggest opening up a support ticket.

Re: NetApp Volume Encryption - Failed to start conversion on volume. Retry later or reboot the node.

CHRISMAKI — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 17:30:41 GMT

Just confirmed with a buddy of mine in support, and this is a result of being low on cache memory, reboot is the recommended course of action.

Re: NetApp Volume Encryption - Failed to start conversion on volume. Retry later or reboot the node.

juanfproact — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 08:59:31 GMT

Hi CHRISMAKI

Thank you for your help!