topic Re: Adding NEW 2246 to existing 3210 in ONTAP Hardware

Adding NEW 2246 to existing 3210

tfe_ep_pau — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 05:23:49 GMT

Hello all

I have an existing 3210 system (dual controller single chassis) with 6 4246 or 4243 connected to it. All drive shelves have 1TB SATA drives installed that are running at 3gb link speed.

I have two open SAS ports located at 2a and 2d on both controllers and I would like to use these ports to connect a new 2246 SAS drive shelf and use the 6Gb\s link speed.

I beleive I have two stacks running on these controllers, stack one using 0a and 0b ports and stack two using 2b and 2c ports.

Can someone take a look at the show storage shelf output and tell me if I am right our wrong?

First question is can I do this the way the system is currently configured?

Second question is if the link speed is 3Gb\s does that automatically make the drive shelves 4243's?

Here is the output of show storage shelf from both controllers so you can seehow it is currently configured.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Re: Adding NEW 2246 to existing 3210

tfe_ep_pau — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 05:06:49 GMT

I dont see the files I attached so I am uploading them again.

Re: Adding NEW 2246 to existing 3210

aborzenkov — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 06:39:40 GMT

Yes, you can connect new stack online. Make sure to double check shelf numbers before doing it; changing them after you have connected shelves will most probably require downtime.

Re: Adding NEW 2246 to existing 3210

mdervovic — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 09:08:49 GMT

When checking the attached output, it looks like all Shelves running with 3Gb/s Link speed.
If mixing shelves with IOM6 and IOM3 in one Stack, the link speed gets throttled on all shelves in this stack to 3 Gb/s.

Because of that, if performance is a factor, shelves with different link speeds should be separated in different stacks.

Also keep in mind, that there should be only one conversion between shelf modules, so prevent a configuration like:
IOM6->IOM3->IOM6 and daisy-chain the new DS2246 shelves to the DS4246.

There is also a statement about this in the Storage Subsystem FAQ:

CAN DS2246, DS4246 AND DS4243 BE MIXED IN THE SAME STACK?
DS224, DS4246 & DS4243 can be mixed into the same stack. However, when going from IOM3 to IOM6, you can’t have more than one transition.
https://fieldportal.netapp.com/Core/DownloadDoc.aspx?documentID=75058&contentID=81763

Cheers,

--Markus

Re: Adding NEW 2246 to existing 3210

tfe_ep_pau — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 10:41:40 GMT

Thanks very much for the info!!!