Aggregate expansion

[AlexeyF]

Hi

We have a followig configuration: 

AFF250 with 10 disks of 13,97TB.

ADPv2 is in place.

2 data aggregates of 9 partitions each 6,94 TiB in size.

We've just added 8 disks which appear as spares, not partitioned.

Tryig to expand the aggregate via GUI (ONTAP 9.10) I get the following estimation message:

     Adding drives to local tier "aggr02" will increase its capacity by approximately 25 TiB

I wonder how is it going to expand the aggregate?

I would expect 8 partitions of 6,94 TiB added to the existing raid group what would result in 8x6,94TiB

Can I do it manually via command line?

Have not found any documentation other than Add capacity to a local tier (add disks to an aggregate) (netapp.com) but it is not detailed enough.

Thanks in advance for your advices.

[SpindleNinja · Accepted solution]

It'll partition the drives and add the partition to the aggr.  the remaining partition should get assigned to the partner node. 

You can do it via CLI, I prefer it actually.   The -simulate true flag is very helpful.  

You'll end up with 17 disks in the raid group and a shared spare. 

[AlexeyF]

why then only 25TB instead of  55TB (8x6,94TB)?

[SpindleNinja]

by "13,97TB". I'm assuming you mean 15.3TB NVMe Drives? 

Good question.. checking maths - 

10 total disks looks to be - 43.7 TiB useable per data aggr.   RG size is 9x6.9TiB partitions 

18 total disks looks to be - 91.11 TiB useable per data aggr. RG size is 17x6.9TiB partitions 

But I would check it via the CLI - could be a GUI bug? 

[AlexeyF]

CLUSTER02::> storage aggregate add-disks -aggregate aggr02 -diskcount 8 -simulate true

Error: command failed: Failed to add disks to aggregate "aggr02". Reason: Not enough spares on node Node2.

4 new disks are owned by Node1 and other 4 new disks are owned by Node2

1 spare already partitioned is in 1.0.4

The command would work only with max 5 disks:

storage aggregate add-disks -aggregate aggr02 -diskcount 5 -simulate true

Disks would be added to aggregate "aggr02" on node "Node2" in the following manner:

First Plex

RAID Group rg0, 5 disks (block checksum, raid_dp)
Usable Physical
Position Disk Type Size Size
---------- ------------------------- ---------- -------- --------
shared 1.0.4 SSD-NVM 6.94TB 6.94TB
shared 1.0.5 SSD-NVM 6.94TB 6.94TB
shared 1.0.6 SSD-NVM 6.94TB 6.94TB
shared 1.0.7 SSD-NVM 6.94TB 6.94TB
shared 1.0.8 SSD-NVM 6.94TB 6.94TB

Aggregate capacity available for volume use would be increased by 31.23TB.

The following disks would be partitioned: 1.0.5, 1.0.6, 1.0.7, 1.0.8.
Warning: Not enough spares of disk type SSD-NVM on node  Node2.

So maybe should first add 4 disks to every aggregate, it will partition them and therefore permit to add another 4 disks ?

[andris]

You shouldn't have to... what is your spare partition/disk situation, now?
You still need to maintain spares after the aggregate expansions.

nodeshell CLI "sysconfig -r" for each node might provide more clarity.

Or open a technical case for formal assistance...

[AlexeyF]

So, adding 4 disks first (those 4 owened by the aggregates node) to one aggregate and the other 4 to another aggregates has partitioned them and I could add another 4 disk partitions to each aggregate (owened by partner node) afterwards.

It has added 25TBx2 though instead of 6.94TBx4x2.

[LoriAlexander]

Does swapping aggregates (adding 2, removing 2) affect the ONTAP One licensing cost to the customer?

[SpindleNinja]

Nope,  licensing is just at the raw capacity level.  not the config.  

[LoriAlexander]

so if they add capacity, then it would cost them??

[SpindleNinja]

Yes, if you add physical disks to a system it has licensing + support in the capacity expansion quote.   

Please reach out directly if you have question on quotes.