Converting Ontap 7mod to Cmod

[SON01LAM02]

Hi, we have a netapp box FAS2240-4 currently running 7 mode 8.1.1RC1 on both controllers.  I just wonder if:

1) we can covert one of the controller to Ontap Cmod 8.2.x on.

2) As I understand, after converting to Cmod we will need to have all new licenses for Cmod, if yes, how do we get these licenses? Can we contact support guys from Netapp for these licenses.

Thanks

[shane_bradley]

unfortunately there isnt an easy way to do this migration. To go cDoT you have to physically migrate your datasets onto a cluster. It would be easier to wait until you upgrade at this point in time.

They use to do free license conversions from 7 to cDoT, not sure if thats still the case.

[SON01LAM02]

Hi, Thanks for the Answer.

But I just a little confuse what you meant by "waiting until you upgrade at this point in time".  Did you mean I need to upgrade my box to 7mode 8.2.1 first and then do a convert to cmod 8.2.1 or you meant just get a new system with Cmod install on it?

And we are ok to completely wipe out all our data and configuration to do this conversion, is it possible in this case?

Thanks

[DOMINIC_WYSS]

And we are ok to completely wipe out all our data and configuration to do this conversion, is it possible in this case? 

yes, then it is. see this KB:

https://kb.netapp.com/support/index?page=content&id=1013517

I recommend to update to 8.2.1 first, then convert to cDOT.

open a case at Netapp and ask for the new 8.2 license keys  (they are the same for 7-Mode and cDOT, but different from 8.1)

[SON01LAM02]

Thanks for quick reply.

Sorry just another quick question, since you mentioned that, we need a new license key for 8.2.  Is that mean when we upgrade from 8.1.1RC1 7-mode to 8.2.1 RC1 7 mode, we will also need a new set of license keys in this case if we don't convert to cmod.

Thanks

[DOMINIC_WYSS]

you don't need them when upgrading from 8.1 to 8.2, it will automatically convert the installed licenses.

but even if you stay on 7-mode, I recommend to ask Netapp for the keys. to have them documented just in case you need them in the future.

btw: why are you using RCs? these are just release candidates. current GA versions are 8.1.4P4 and 8.2.1P2, current RC is 8.2.2RC2.

[SON01LAM02]

Hi, I think I was miss understand the term so I was thinking RC1 is the latest for 8.1.1 release at that time.  Anyway, will that be a problem to now upgrade directly from this 8.1.1RC1 version to 8.2.1P2?

Is it require to run upgrade from 8.1.1RC1 to 8.1.4P4 first and then to 8.2.1P2?

Thanks

[DOMINIC_WYSS]

no, you can go directly to 8.2.1P2

[shane_bradley]

Why upgrade to 8.2.1 first? you have to wipe the array clean so the 7-m version has little to nothing to do wth the cDoT  version

[SON01LAM02]

Hi, Sorry, for not being clear,  look like this discussion get a little further.  Because the model FAS2240-4 has 2 controllers, so I was planing to convert one controller to cDot and Keep the other as 7mod for testing purpose (since these 2 controllers does not has HA config, it is independent from each other).  Anyway, just wonder since i'm running 8.1.1RC1, is it possible to upgrade directly to 8.1.4P4? or I have to do some extra step like get my box update to the 8.1.1 GA version first then start the upgrade.

Thanks

[shane_bradley]

are they seperate FAS2240's or are they a single chassis with two controllers?

If they are two completely seperate chassis and controllers then no problem. If they are a two controllers in the same physical chassis then it wont be supported but would probably work. (possibly unpredictably) .

Upgrading from 8.1.1RC1 to 8.1.4P4 is supported as far as i remember, if you have access to myASUP then you can generate an upgrade plan from there based on your latest autosupport data. i think the jump up upgrades were from 8.0.x to 8.2.x ??

Theres no point upgrading the controller that you're planning on converting to cDoT. talk to your account team and they can get you eval licenses for cDoT you will need to zero the disks out and install the new OS. which is not that hard, but could be daunting if you've never done cDoT before.

[aborzenkov]

Well, KB article mentioned says "do no attempt this procedure unless you are running 8.2". I do not have enough background to question it, although I recently installed 8.2.1 C-Mod on 3170 running 7G without any apparent issues.

[shane_bradley]

Which one? the one linked says

Prerequisites:

• This procedure only works with Data ONTAP 8.x

I've done 7mode to clustered on 8.0 and above (even converted a 10.0.2 GX cluster to 7.1) no problems at all.

[aborzenkov]

Strictly speaking it says “You must be running a minimum OS version of Data ONTAP 8.1.y”, but you are right, it is not 8.2 - was answering from memory. Sorry.

[DOMINIC_WYSS]

Why upgrade to 8.2.1 first? 

because 8.1 was a shitty cDOT version. so update first to start with a fresh and less buggy version.

besides that, for a new cDOT user, it's much simpler to do an update on 7-Mode than on cDOT.

[aborzenkov]

Which update? You install new software anyway, you can install cDOT 8.2.x; there is no real dependency on previous 7-Mode version.

[shane_bradley]

That makes zero sense. You dont need to upgrade first because you're reinstalling the software as a part of the conversion. upgrading it first to then wipe and zero the drives serves no point what so ever.

[DOMINIC_WYSS]

because you're reinstalling the software as a part of the conversion. 

no you don't reinstall. you just set the cdot flag in the bootloader and wipe the filer with the boot menu selection 4.

what it will do is: zero all disks, create a new root aggr, create a new root vol and copy Ontap from flash to the new root vol.

so if you update first and wipe afterwards, you'll get a clean and shiny cDOT 8.2.1 without reinstalling ontap.

if you don't update first, you'll start with the old cDOT 8.1, where even the initial setup wizard has bugs.

[shane_bradley]

or you could  install via the boot menu? like in the proceedure

in the end though it doesnt really matter, you're achieving the same goal with the same steps in a slightly different order.

[shane_bradley]

Also the process for upgrading a cDoT cluster is about the same as with 7-mode, with the added benefit that one command will push the code onto all controllers.

[NetApp_SEAL]

One word. "netboot".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsE4G77OB7Q

I just recently used the NetApp KB for a client DR site where we were re-purposing a FAS3220 from 7-Mode to cDOT.

The only difference between what I ended up having to do vs. the KB was that there were no existing roots on the FAS3220. The KB doesn't cover that part. The software installing process from the boot menu in the KB isn't a netboot image. If you don't have a root, you can't install software.

I found the YouTube link which has the slightly different process at the start using the netboot image. Just remember that you have to extract the netboot image first before pointing to it. That process worked like a charm.