topic Re: Timeout for unqualified drives in ONTAP Hardware

Timeout for unqualified drives

AdrianMyatt — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 23:39:39 GMT

I won't go into the history of "why" we have to do this but we have a requirement to temporarily use drives not supplied by NetApp and I have been trying to identify the limitations of this approach with little success.

What I need to know is:

1. How long will an unqualified drive work in a FAS2050 before the system shuts it down? 24 and 72 hours have been suggested in my searches.

2. What exactly is it that shuts down? Does the drive simply go offline, will the entire shelf stop working or is it the entire Filer that halts?

Many Thanks,

Adrian

Re: Timeout for unqualified drives

ekashpureff — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 11:26:25 GMT

Adrian -

It's 72 hours, and then the system halts.

Unqualified Disks

The Data ONTAP operating system automatically detects unqualified disks.

If you attempt to use an unqualified disk and you use Data ONTAP 7.2.1, 7.2.2, or 7.2.3, the operating system responds by issuing a “delay forced shutdown” warning. The warning gives you 72 hours to remove and replace the unqualified disk before a forced system shutdown occurs. In Data ONTAP 7.2.4 and later, you receive a console warning.

In addition, when the Data ONTAP operating system detects an unqualified disk, it takes these actions:

Provides notification through syslog entries, console messages, and the AutoSupport support tool
Generates an automatic error message and performs a delayed forced shutdown if the /etc/qual_devices file is modified
Marks unsupported disks as “unqualified”

I hope this response has been helpful to you.

At your service,

Eugene E. Kashpureff, Sr.
Independent NetApp Consultant http://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenekashpureff
Senior NetApp Instructor, IT Learning Solutions http://sg.itls.asia/netapp
(P.S. I appreciate 'kudos' on any helpful posts.)

Re: Timeout for unqualified drives

AdrianMyatt — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 12:04:59 GMT

Hi, Eugene

Many Thanks for that! It should give us the time we need to recover the system and replace the unqualified drives.

Kudos sent!

Regards,

Adrian

Re: Timeout for unqualified drives

ekashpureff — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 12:51:52 GMT

Adrian -

You're very welcome.

Always happy when I can be of help.

Thank you very much for the Kudos !

At your service,

Eugene E. Kashpureff, Sr.
Independent NetApp Consultant http://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenekashpureff
Senior NetApp Instructor, IT Learning Solutions http://sg.itls.asia/netapp