7-Mode Transitions Enabled Again in 9.6P7 and 9.7P2

[TMADOCTHOMAS]

I noticed while reading notes on 9.6P7 and 9.7P2 that the TDP SnapMirror type has been restored! That is a huge game-changer and somewhat shocking it was ever dropped, considering 7-mode is supported for the next couple of years.

Reason for this thread: I'm wondering if anyone from NetApp can shed light on whether the 7-Mode Transition Tool will now follow suit and be supported in OnTAP 9.6P7+ and 9.7P2+? Having TDP is great, but it's not a truly complete solution without the 7MTT.

We have four offices running 2220s for another year, running 7-mode, and I want to be able to transition them to a new system at that time that can use the 7MTT.

[SpindleNinja]

Not internal,  but from what i've heard is that it will continue to be supported until 7mode is no longer support.   

[TMACMD]

Unless 7MTT checks and validates the destination ONTAP version, the updated 7MTT may just work. If it does not, I would not be surprised if an update to 7MTT is forthcoming.

It may check the version and keep going. As long as it can create the TDP mirror...all good.

Worst case in the short term, use the Manual TDP SnapMirror guide.

[TMADOCTHOMAS]

Great to hear @SpindleNinja ! Thank you. Hopefully we can get definitive word on this at some point and see the IMT updated to reflect it.

Thanks @TMACMD , great points. I tend to agree although I wouldn't want to buy a system with 9.6/9.7 and be surprised. I suppose I will be testing this in the simulator if it's not spelled out in the IMT.

Thanks again to NetApp for restoring this much-needed functionality.

[pedro_rocha]

I wanted to know the same... need to migrate 7-mode to 9.6 clusters and even downgraded them to 9.5 in order to use 7mtt.

[Ontapforrum]

Thanks guys for this topic. I wasn't aware that 'TDP' is re-introduced by NetApp.

Interesting observation: (Did some testing)
According to this Public Bug info: TDP is re-enabled on 9.6P7 & 9.7P2:

1) I do not see 9.6P7 as valid available version for Download. The max patchable version is : 9.6P6. Don't know why P7 is mentioned in the BUG (Is P7 is under production ? I doubt)

2) 9.7P2 : I tested 'TDP' and it works! - So this information holds true.

BUGID:
https://mysupport.netapp.com/site/bugs-online/product/ONTAP/BURT/1291281

Regarding 7MTT: I tested 7MTT 3.3.1 with 9.7P2, and it error's out as un-supported. So that concludes, 7MTT is not supported anymore. Screenshot attached.

Request to NetApp : It is worth updating the BUG, and add a Note that 7MTT is not supported back. Also, please clarify on 9.6P7 version, cannot seem to see this version.

Thanks!

[TMACMD]

There is a way to allow the current 7MTT to work with ONTAP 9.7P2. There is a configuration file that needs to be updated. 

9.6P7 is due to be released anytime. It’s mentioned in the bug since it is fixed there. In sure they are just finalizing QA on the release before publishing it. 

[Ontapforrum]

Considering BUG is Public and ONTAP 9.7P2 is out and available to download,  it is surprising to see no information is provided that says 'configuration' tweak is needed to enable 7MTT tool work with it.

Also, the BUG does not say a word about 7MTT, it is only stating 'TDP' which works fine with 9.7P2. I think a note in the BUG about the forthcoming release of 9.6P6 would be much useful. 

[TMACMD]

*ANY* ONTAP controller that can use 9.6Panything can also go to 9.7Panything. You can always uprade.

If you were to read through the DOCs for 7MTT, you will find that TDP is a Transition Data Protection Mirror. It is the ONLY supported Mirror used with 7MTT. Therefore, if TDP works, the 7MTT will work. When they release an updated version of 7MTT there will be no issues. In the meantime, if you *really* need it to work:

Use ONTAP 9.5 (where TDP is still supported with 7MTT) or Upgrade to ONTAP 9.7P2 and use the Manual SnapMirror method (still uses TDP) or Upgrade to 9.7P2 and do a search on how to tweak 7MTT into thinking 9.7P2 is supported (until the updated version of 7MTT comes out)

[SuperTeam]

It's not always that trivial to upgrade from 9.6 to 9.7, you have to check carefully the IMT and make sure that all of your configurations are still supported in the new version. Plus if you have replication you need to take into account upgrading the destinations first.

Not that quite simple.

[TMACMD]

The 7MTT is for transitioning from 7-Mode to ONTAP. In the VAST majority of cases, the destination ONTAP is a net-new installation. As such, the upgrade is TRIVIAL and of course the IMT should always be checked unless you have a simple scenario: NAS protocols.

As for your comment on replication, that was fixed in ONTAP 9.3/9.4. XDP is the method used now and has been available since ONTAP 8.3. It became the default for SnapMirror on 9.1 or 9.3 and for SVM-DR in 9.4. You should "upgrade" any DP mirrors to XDP then a single (9.6 -> 9.7) or dual release upgrade (9.5 -> 9.7) is a non-issue.

https://docs.netapp.com/ontap-9/topic/com.netapp.doc.pow-dap/GUID-0810D764-4CEA-4683-8280-032433B1886B.html?cp=7_3_7_3

[TMADOCTHOMAS]

@Ontapforrum , the link to 9.6P7 can be found below:

https://mysupport.netapp.com/site/products/all/details/ontap9/downloads-tab/download/62286/9.6P7

@pedro_rocha I had to do the same thing last fall! I was deploying OnTAP Select and was going to deploy 9.6, then discovered this new restriction and had to re-deploy to 9.5. The whole reason we were deploying it was to transition from a 7-mode system!

[TMADOCTHOMAS]

To update this thread ...

According to a poster in the thread below, the 7MTT will be updated soon to allow transitions to 9.6 and 9.7.

https://community.netapp.com/t5/Data-ONTAP-Discussions/OnTAP-9-6-and-7MTT/td-p/149675