Dedup on a FAS2020

[padraig_sweeney]

Hi all

Hopefully an easy one for you, I've got a FAS2020 running DataONTAP 7.2.4L1and I've got a de-dup license now.  Question: do I need to upgrade in order to implement dedup?  And if so, I guess its best to go to DataONTAP 7.3.4.  Any gotchas I should look out for?  (This is a XenServer backend)

- Padraig.

[Darkstar]

You don't need to update, however, 7.3.1+ is strongly recommended for dedup.

It has to do with the dedup metadata, which was stored in the volume in 7.2, and so took up space in every snapshot you make, drastically reducing the effective dedup rates.

Since 7.3.x (I think it is 7.3.1) the dedup metadata is stored in the aggregate and doesn't get caught in any volume snapshots. You need a bit mor pace in the aggregate though.

I would also suggest upgrading to 7.3.x generally because 7.2.4L1 was one of the first OS releases for the 2020 (all *L releases are kinda "special") and a lot has changed/improved since then.

-Michael

[padraig_sweeney]

Thanks Michael, this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

- Padraig.

[rorzmcgauze]

I would look to upgrading to 7.3.2 minimum as it contained several performance improvements.

Also there is a 1TB (actually 1000GB) volume limit on the 2020 so I would suggest you keep you volumes slightly below this. If you need to have more data in there then do what I suggest to alot of our customers.

Put close 700-800 GB in the volume and dedupe this. (it will take a hours /days depending on load file count etc) what ever this has freed up space wise to up with new data and run again (wont take as long) proceed through this method until vol full. You can then chech with the sis command to see your savings.