Any kind of indication of Ontap 8.1 ETA?

[dejanliuit]

We have to plan this years yearly maintenance for this, normaly done during our low-period (summer break, vacation time) and I'm looking at going straight to Ontap 8.1 if it is released.

I wish to upgrade the aggregates to 64bit inplace as we only have about 25% free space left and I'm hoping that Ontap 8.1 would let us do that.

This would give us compression and this release more space instead of investing into more disk (for a while more or until next budget).

Next maintenance period is during christmas/newyears break when we have low pressure on the system, but by then we will probably be forced to invest into more disk before that.

Is there any kind of indication of when Ontap 8.1 is due? At least what quarter 2011 (if at all during this year)?

[ekashpureff]

There's an internal target date, but no public release yet.

I have no indication that 32 to 64 bit aggregate conversion will be a feature.

My clients are waiting on SnapLock Compliance certification.

Don't hold your breath waiting, upgrade to 8.0.1 ...

At your service,

Eugene E. Kashpureff
ekashp@kashpureff.org
Senior Systems Architect / NetApp Certified Instructor
http://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenekashpureff

(P.S. I appreciate points for helpful or correct answers.)

[philiparnason]

I'm waiting for this as well.  I'm 8.0.1 and the inplace upgrade to 64 bit aggregates is key for me.  Would be nice to have at least a public target date (it was initially end of last year), and if the inplace upgrade will be a feature or not.

Philip

[ANDREW_GALLANT]

I know I am replying to this post late but my SE tells me that it will be the fall. Earlier this year when I worked at Netapp in Engineering all they were working on was 8.1 code. I also hear that 8.1 will include a online 32 to 64bit migration but I can not confirm that just a roomer that I heard.

[randalldavis]

Does anyone have any recent info on this topic?

Is there a target release date set yet fo r8.1?

Will it contain a 32 to 64 convert function?

Thanks

Randall

[philiparnason]

Yes.  I heard they release THIS MONTH!  So sometime in the next 30 days!  Very excited about this.  It will also have the conversion function, but you need disks available to expand with.

[baijulal]

Note that the initial version will be RC.You might have to wait couple of months more to get the GA version.

[kristof_versluys · Accepted solution]

Data ONTAP 8.1 shall be in RC1 released on 29th of September. The GA is planned for 15/01/2012.

As with regards to the 32 to 64-bit migration. This is indeed a feature which is implemented and shall be integrated.

Also, when you go above the 16Tb limit, an aggregate shall always and automatically be upgraded to 64-bit (if on 8.1 offcourse).

SnapLock Compliance is also included.

[bjacobsen]

Can you provide any details on what the 32-bit to 64-bit aggr conversion will entail? Is it truly in-place or does it require additional available disks and an aggregate expansion?

[scottgelb]

It will be by growing over 16tb.. Not in place.

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

[philiparnason]

Can you do 32 bit to 64 bit snapmirrors?

[bjacobsen]

That's disappointing if that's the case, as I have a number of aggregates that will likely never exceed 16TB, but would benefit from a 64-bit aggregate (namely, enabling compression on certain volumes).

[scottgelb]

But you can mirror 32 to 64 which may be an alternative.

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

[CSMETVOLVO]

I suppose this is a question?

As far I know, 32-bit volumes cannot be snapmirrored with VSM to a 64-bit aggregate.

It would be great if it is possible, this allows us to take the snapshots.

[WillFulmer]

Release notes for 8.1 RC1

Support for volume SnapMirror replication between 32-bitand 64-bit volumes

Starting with Data ONTAP 8.1, you can replicate volumes byusing SnapMirror between 32-bit and 64-bit volumes. For both synchronous andasynchronous volume replication, the SnapMirror source and destination volumescan be either 32-bit or 64-bit.

[aborzenkov]

It will be by growing over 16tb.. Not in place.

If I read documentation correctly - it will be when going over 16TB and in place

Who needs 64 bit when not exceeding 16TB anyway? Espicially with possibility to replicate between 32 and 64 bit?

I would love if someone shared real life conversion experience. I have customer waiting for it for months, but they do have production databases close to 25TB in total. It would be lengthy and costly attempt to restore from backup ...

[bjacobsen]

Who needs 64 bit when not exceeding 16TB anyway? Espicially with possibility to replicate between 32 and 64 bit?

You need 64-bit aggrs for volume compression, so it would be nice to in-place convert a sub-16TB aggr to be able to utilize that.

[scottgelb]

That’s a good point.. there is a way with VSM from 32 to 64 but requires enough disk to do it….but is a way to get the volume migrated without going over 16TB…but would have been nice to have an in place conversion without the brute force. But I am happy to get 32 to 64bit finally which has been a bit of a qsm/ndmpcopy pain.

[radek_kubka]

Are we saying that (according to documentation) the only way to do an in-place migration of a 32-bit aggregate to a 64-bit one, is to increase its size over 16TB?

That's a bit odd. It's hard to believe that doing this 'normal' way (without going over 16TB) is technically any different.

I am expecting / hoping for an undocumented 'migrate_below_16t' command requiring diagnostic mode

Regards,
Radek

[scottgelb]

Yes. No in place conversion. There might be a diag method but it won't be a supported method to convert 32 to 64.

Typos Sent on Blackberry Wireless

[radek_kubka]

Hopefully it will change in ONTAP 8.1.1 (or whatever next version), as again - I can't get my head around why a 16TB+ aggregate can be converted, whilst a smaller one cannot.