Snapmirror Protect Creating Destination Volumes on Same Aggregate

[jimb32]

I am snapmirroring volumes from a 8040 FAS to our new AFF that tiers to a Storage Grid. We want to get all of the volumes onto the AFF and retire the FAS. We have 2 aggregates on the AFF. When I create the snapmirror protection group using the GUI on the source (FAS), it always puts the destination volume on the same aggregate on the AFF. So now the 1st aggregate is full and the 2nd aggregate has 0 volumes on it.  Shouldn't the snapmirror protect process choose the aggregate that has less volumes and more free space? I don't think I should have to continually move destination volumes around and I don't think I should have to manually create a dp volume and then run it via command line. Any ideas why it's not using the empty aggregate? 

[hmoubara]

Hello,

Can you share the syntax for the snapmirror relationship that you have created.

When creating a snapmirror relationship you will need to identify the destination svm and volume.

https://docs.netapp.com/ontap-9/topic/com.netapp.doc.exp-sm-ic-cg/GUID-A90952B2-8176-4964-8B61-DCE3EE761D90.html

Thanks 

[jimb32]

Thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned we are running ONTAP 9.7 on all arrays so the GUI doesn't allow for choosing the  volume any longer. You only select the cluster and SVM. ONTAP is supposed to select an aggregate in the cluster based on space availability.

[Mjizzini]

Creating the destination volume first will give you the ability to place it on the designated aggregate for it.

Many variable play a role in that decision. Which node or aggregate you want the volume to live on. which life will be mainly used to access the volume.

Is the empty aggregate owned by another node?

Does the Cluster Management LIF lives on the node that own the full aggregate?

If the above are correct, maybe migrating the Cluster Management LIF to the partner will change the behavior.