topic Re: Add spare disks to an aggregate in Network and Storage Protocols

Add spare disks to an aggregate

PLROD1906 — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 06:06:31 GMT

I just put online my FAS2220, I like the system a lot. I have one controller with 6 disks, the system uses 5 disks for RAID DP, 3 for data usage and 2 for parity, and 1 as spare. Since I am using the SAN in a lab environment, I want to use the spare for data usage. what is the best way to achieve that?

Agg0 was already created for me, I edited the aggregate and add the spare disk for usable storage, it appears as a white disk in the aggregate, but my storage has not increase. I feel like that I am missing something. See attachment

By the way, I am new to the NetApp environment. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Re: Add spare disks to an aggregate

billshaffer — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:01:38 GMT

I admit I'm not at all familiar with doing this from the GUI. Can you provide the CLI output of sysconfig -r?

Bill

Re: Add spare disks to an aggregate

PLROD1906 — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:11:08 GMT

There it is:

SSGSAN1> sysconfig -r

Aggregate aggr0 (online, raid_dp) (block checksums)

Plex /aggr0/plex0 (online, normal, active)

RAID group /aggr0/plex0/rg0 (normal, block checksums)

RAID Disk Device HA SHELF BAY CHAN Pool Type RPM Used (MB/blks) Phys (MB/blks)

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

dparity 0a.00.0 0a 0 0 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

parity 0a.00.1 0a 0 1 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data 0a.00.2 0a 0 2 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data 0a.00.3 0a 0 3 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data 0a.00.4 0a 0 4 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

Spare disks

RAID Disk Device HA SHELF BAY CHAN Pool Type RPM Used (MB/blks) Phys (MB/blks)

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

Spare disks for block checksum

spare 0a.00.5 0a 0 5 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

SSGSAN1>

Re: Add spare disks to an aggregate

billshaffer — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:28:16 GMT

Okay, so this shows what you initially described - 6 drives, one aggregate with 3 data + 2 parity, and one spare.

Not sure what you did when you say you "edited the aggregate and add the spare disk for usable storage", but it does not appear to have worked.

Your attachment seems to indicate that the raid group size of the aggregate is 6 - verify that with aggr options aggr0, and check the raidsize option. You want it to be > 5 - otherwise when you add a drive it will start a new parity group, which means it will want to eat up two more parity drives. If the raidsize is too small you can change it with aggr options aggr0 raidsize <new_raid_size>.

Then, aggr add aggr0 -d 0a.00.5. sysconfig -r should show no spares, and another data drive in the aggregate, and you should see your additional space.

Warning - if a drive fails, you don't have a spare and the system can't rebuild, so you'll want to watch this. If you lose two drives, the system enters a degraded state. NetApp, by default, will shut down every 24 hours in this state. If you want this not to happen, set the raid.timeout option to 0.

Hope that helps.

Bill

Re: Add spare disks to an aggregate

PLROD1906 — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:17:31 GMT

I don't want to create another aggregate, I just want to add the spare disk to the current one. I understand the ramifications, this storage system is going to be in a lab environment, we can survive if a drive or 2 fail. Thanks for your answer.

Re: Add spare disks to an aggregate

billshaffer — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:28:18 GMT

The command I gave you will add the spare disk to aggr0. Creating a new aggregate would be aggr create -d ..

Re: Add spare disks to an aggregate

PLROD1906 — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:39:21 GMT

Thanks Bill, it worked beautifully well. Though it appears i didn't gain much space. here is the new system config:

root@192.168.6.6's password:

SSGSAN1> aggr raidsize?

aggr: No such command "raidsize?".

The following commands are available; for more information

type "aggr help <command>"

add mirror rename split

copy offline restrict status

create online scrub undestroy

destroy options show_space verify

media_scrub

SSGSAN1> aggr add aggr0 -d 0a.00.5

WARNING! Continuing with aggr add will result in a

low spares disk condition for one or more RAID groups.

Are you sure you want to continue with aggr add? y

Mon Apr 1 21:32:48 GMT [SSGSAN1:raid.vol.disk.add.done:notice]: Addition of Disk /aggr0/plex0/rg0/0a.00.5 Shelf 0 Bay 5 [NETAPP X302_WVULC01TSSM NA00] S/N [WD-WCAW34437338] to aggregate aggr0 has completed successfully

Addition of 1 disk to the aggregate has completed.

SSGSAN1> Mon Apr 1 21:32:48 GMT [SSGSAN1:raid.rg.spares.low:warning]: /aggr0/plex0/rg0

Mon Apr 1 21:32:48 GMT [SSGSAN1:callhome.spares.low:error]: Call home for SPARES_LOW

Mon Apr 1 21:33:00 GMT [SSGSAN1:monitor.globalStatus.nonCritical:warning]: There are not enough spare disks.

SSGSAN1> sysconfig -r

Aggregate aggr0 (online, raid_dp) (block checksums)

Plex /aggr0/plex0 (online, normal, active)

RAID group /aggr0/plex0/rg0 (normal, block checksums)

RAID Disk Device HA SHELF BAY CHAN Pool Type RPM Used (MB/blks) Phys (MB/blks)

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

dparity 0a.00.0 0a 0 0 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

parity 0a.00.1 0a 0 1 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data 0a.00.2 0a 0 2 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data 0a.00.3 0a 0 3 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data 0a.00.4 0a 0 4 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data 0a.00.5 0a 0 5 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

Spare disks (empty)

SSGSAN1> SSGSAN1> sysconfig -r

SSGSAN1> not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> Aggregate aggr0 (online, raid_dp) (block checksums)

Aggregate not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> Plex /aggr0/plex0 (online, normal, active)

Plex not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> RAID group /aggr0/plex0/rg0 (normal, block checksums)

RAID not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1>

SSGSAN1> RAID Disk Device HA SHELF BAY CHAN Pool Type RPM Used (MB/blks) Phys (MB/blks)

RAID not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> --------- ------ ------------- ---- ---- ---- ----- -------------- --------------

--------- not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> dparity 0a.00.0 0a 0 0 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

dparity not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> parity 0a.00.1 0a 0 1 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

parity not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> data 0a.00.2 0a 0 2 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> data 0a.00.3 0a 0 3 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> data 0a.00.4 0a 0 4 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> data 0a.00.5 0a 0 5 SA:A - BSAS 7200 847555/1735794176 847884/1736466816

data not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1>

SSGSAN1> Spare disks (empty)

Spare not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1> SSGSAN1>

SSGSAN1> not found. Type '?' for a list of commands

SSGSAN1>

SSGSAN1> sysconfig -r Aggregate aggr0 (online, raid_dp) (block checksums)