poptart> version
NetApp Release 7.2.4L1: Wed Nov 21 00:49:33 PST 2007
poptart> aggr add aggr0 11
Aggregate size 8.48 TB exceeds limit 7.00 TB
aggr add: Can not add specified disks to the aggregate because the aggregate size limit for this system type would be exceeded.
For those with NOW access, the reason is here: FAS2020 Maximum Aggregate Size: Revised from 16TB to 8TB – not sure where they got the “8TB” in the title, though.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for data integrity, and I think that keeping the ability to run the WAFL recovery tools is a great idea, but a maximum aggregate size of nine 750GB SATA drives (per the above document) is ridiculous! Good thing you can now have four shelves with the 2020, because you’re going to need them for all the parity drives you’ll be using.
Did NetApp’s software group fail to talk to hardware (and marketing) with this product? No mention of this limitation on the FAS2000 series data sheet, of course.
As an aside, I’m following Solaris’ COMSTAR and CIFS projects with great interest. I’m really hoping they spur NetApp’s engineering group – and not just their lawyers – into action.
Update (4/17/2008): Two months out, it’s only reasonable for me to add the following: NetApp and our reseller went to great lengths to make this situation right for my employer. I don’t feel at liberty to go into specifics, since this is a personal blog, and I don’t speak for my employer (Hi Tom!), but their response was impressive. While I’m still not a fan of the 2020, the response of NetApp and our reseller was head and shoulders above what is typical for the industry.
Andy
I was alerted today to your latest blog entry by a colleague of mine. I want to reassure you that NetApp values your custom, and that we care about the issues you’re facing. As such, I would ask you to send me an email with a direct dial phone # so that we can make contact and start the process of getting these issues resolved.
To make it clear to other readers of your blog, the technical specifications do state the 8TB aggregate limit. The full specs are here;
http://www.netapp.com/products/storage-systems/enterprise-storage/fas2000/fas2000-tech-specs.html
I look forward to hearing from you.
Alex McDonald, NetApp
Alex McDonald
7 Feb 08 at 10:33 am
Alex, much appreciated. I’ll contact you from my business email address shortly. Either we missed the specs on the link you sent, or they changed during the sales process (the filer did arrive with a version of ONTAP prior to 7.2.4L1).
(Now would be a good time to remind the readers of this blog – such as my boss – that the opinions here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.)
Andy
Andy
7 Feb 08 at 12:03 pm
Is it possible to buy alternative SAS drives (ie cheaper) for FAS2020 and if so can you mix them ?
Andy Harper
6 Oct 08 at 6:29 am
That generally won’t work. NetApp restrict the disks you can use in a filer via Disk Qualification (ie only NetApp approved devices) for a couple of reasons, the less cynical of them being they have NetApp firmware on there which contains voodoo, tuning, and things like snaplock compliance implementation.
You can try putting in unqualified disks, but the filer will reject the disks either immediately or after 24 hours (i can’t remember but it all boils down to /etc/qual_devices which will explode the filer if you change it).
Also it will likely invalidate your service contract, yada yada. NetApp support is very closely tied in with your purchase, its one of the things I wish they’d seperate (and as a result get a lot more of the lower end of the market I think)
M
Mike Grice
28 Nov 08 at 4:34 am
can yu please help me to configure the netapp fas 2020 configuration detail, becuase i am new this products.
mubeen ghori
3 Mar 09 at 12:41 am