MODULE 5: PHYSICAL DATA STORAGE
EXERCISE 5: CREATING AND GROWING AN AGGREGATE
In this exercise, you use the CLI and NetApp OnCommand System Manager to create and add disks to an
aggregate.
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this exercise, you should be able to:
Create an aggregate
Add disks to an aggregate
Create a flash pool
TASK 1: CREATE A NEW AGGREGATE
STEP ACTION
1. From the command line, show the aggregates:
stor aggr show
2. Show the volumes.
volume show
3. View the disks attached to each node, noticing the disks that belong to aggregates and the spare
disks that are available to create additional aggregates.
storage disk show –owner cluster1_01
storage disk show –owner cluster1_02
4. Display disks by type.
Storage disk show –type ?
storage disk show –type fcal –owner cluster1_01
storage disk show –type fcal –owner cluster1_02
storage disk show –type ssd –owner cluster1_01
storage disk show –type ssd –owner cluster1_02
5. Look at the usage information of the storage aggregate create command.
stor aggr create ?
NOTE: To help familiarize yourself with a command, you can type the command without
parameters, followed by a question mark (?).
6. Create an aggregate with the unique name n01_aggr1 (as an abbreviation of aggregate 1 on the
cluster1_01 node).
stor aggr create -aggr n01_aggr1 –node cluster1_01 –disktype
fcal -diskcount 5
NOTE: The aggregate will have the storage capacity of three disks. (Two of the disks are used
for parity for RAID-DP, which is the default RAID type.) This is only an example. In a
production environment, a RAID-DP aggregate of this size is a very inefficient use of disks.
Also, note that the –diskcount parameter cannot exceed the available number of spare disks.
E5-1 Clustered Data ONTAP Administration: Physical Data Storage
© 2013 NetApp, Inc. This material is intended only for training. Reproduction is not authorized.
STEP ACTION
7. Review the list of aggregates again.
stor aggr show
8. Review the details for the new aggregate, noticing that the new aggregate has an HA policy of
sfo.
stor aggr show –aggr n01_aggr1
TASK 2: ADD DISKS TO THE AGGREGATE
STEP ACTION
1. Add two disks to the aggregate.
aggr add-disks -aggr n01_aggr1 -diskcount 2
The aggregate now has two parity disks and five data disks.
2. Verify the number of disks in the aggregate and the expanded disk capacity.
aggr show -aggr n01_aggr1
TASK 3: USE SYSTEM MANAGER TO CREATE AN AGGREGATE
STEP ACTION
1. In NetApp System Manager, select Cluster > cluster1 > Storage > Aggregates.
You can see aggr0 for each of the nodes in your cluster, as well as the aggregate that you created
by using the CLI:
E5-2 Clustered Data ONTAP Administration: Physical Data Storage
© 2013 NetApp, Inc. This material is intended only for training. Reproduction is not authorized.
STEP ACTION
2. In the Aggregates toolbar, click Create.
The Create Aggregate Wizard appears.
3. Click Next.
4. On the Aggregate Details page, enter these aggregate properties:
a. Enter the Aggregate Name n02_aggr1 and the RAID Type RAID DP.
b. Ensure that the Enable Flash Pool checkbox is not selected.
5. Click Next.
E5-3 Clustered Data ONTAP Administration: Physical Data Storage
© 2013 NetApp, Inc. This material is intended only for training. Reproduction is not authorized.
STEP ACTION
6. Click Select Disks.
7. Create the aggregate:
a. Select cluster1_02 to host the aggregate, so that you have one non-root aggregate per node.
(Don’t use the SSDs yet.)
b. Use 10 capacity disks for the aggregate.
c. Click Save and Close.
d. Click Create.
E5-4 Clustered Data ONTAP Administration: Physical Data Storage
© 2013 NetApp, Inc. This material is intended only for training. Reproduction is not authorized.
STEP ACTION
8. Click Finish.
9. Navigate to Cluster > Storage > Aggregates and examine the new aggregate.
TASK 4: CREATE A FLASH POOL
In this task, you create a 10-disk aggregate of type “flex,” and then convert it to the HDD tier of a flash pool.
STEP ACTION
1. Type stor aggr create followed by a question mark (?).
stor aggr create ?
NOTE: There is no option to enable hybrids on the create command.
2. We create a standard aggregate of type flex first, then convert it to a Flash Pool. Create a new
10-disk aggregate on cluster1_01. This becomes the HDD tier of our Flash Pool:
stor aggr create –aggr n01_fp1 –node cluster1_01 –diskcount 10
-disktype fcal
3. Inspect the properties of the new aggregate.
stor aggr show –aggr n01_fp1
4. Enable flash pool by setting hybrid-enabled to true on n01_fp1.
stor aggr modify –aggr n01_fp1 –hybrid-enabled true
5. Check the status of your aggregate before adding the SSD tier, noticing the available size.
aggr show -aggr n01_fp1
6. Add SSDs to the aggregate and complete the flash pool.
stor aggr add-disk –aggr n01_fp1 –diskcount 5 –disktype SSD
NOTE: You can also specify a list of SSDs by using the –disklist option.
E5-5 Clustered Data ONTAP Administration: Physical Data Storage
© 2013 NetApp, Inc. This material is intended only for training. Reproduction is not authorized.
STEP ACTION
7. Explore the flash pool, noticing these properties:
The number of disks
The two RAID groups (in spite of the default RAID group size)
The available size and the total hybrid cache size
stor aggr show –aggr n01_fp1
8. In System Manager, perform these actions:
a. Select your new flash pool.
b. Below the lower pane, click the Disk Layout tab.
c. Inspect the RAID groups that were created.
END OF EXERCISE
E5-6 Clustered Data ONTAP Administration: Physical Data Storage
© 2013 NetApp, Inc. This material is intended only for training. Reproduction is not authorized.
