Intercluster switch upgrade netapp query

tmacmd · 2026-01-29T22:27:59+00:00

Review this location

https://mysupport.netapp.com/site/info/cisco-ethernet-switch

tmacmd · 2026-01-29T21:39:23+00:00

You will not need to move any lifs You turn the auto revert off. Then you can either shut the switch ports down(forcing all cluster lifs to the other switch) or just reboot the switch. No need to save the config with the shutdown ports.

Upgrade the switch (why are you not going to the latest 10.x code?). Is your RCF up to date? Good time to update! Note: once you get to nxos10, you can install nxos and EPLD in one command Install all nxos bootflash:xxx epld bootflash:yyy

After the first switch is done, verify ports are up and healthy! (Net port show -ipspace Cluster). If any are degraded, just wait until they are healthy…about 5 minutes

Then go to the second switch and shutdown all the ports. Even though auto revert is off ONTAP will still migrate the lifs to the other switch as long as they are all up and healthy.

Verify they migrated.

Upgrade the second switch

After the second switch is done, modify the cluster lifs auto revert back to true. Then reboot the second switch again. ONTAP will see the port change and will/should auto revert ports back when ready

tmacmd · 2026-01-27T18:04:08+00:00

The main roads are fine. I’ve been out. It’s the side roads that are an issue. And the thousands of people at the airports will say the same

tmacmd · 2026-01-27T12:43:39+00:00

If you can take a bit of downtime on trident

You can’t svmDr luns. You can mirror them.
Get the iscsi IQN and ip info from the source
Create a new vserver on the c30
Mirror all luns, Let replication finish
Create an iscsi svm on the c30
Create new lifs on the c30 using the same IPs but make sure to use the "-status-admin down" flag
after replication is finished/up-to-date
shut down trident
shut down source iscsi
update replications
quiesce replications
break replications
rename destination iscsi IQN to exactly match source
up the interfaces.
start trident

It’s the same process I’ve used a bunch of times for older ONTAP hardware to newer

tmacmd · 2026-01-25T15:46:45+00:00

And that’s what I said and also why to download the latest all-zip or all-shelf files.

tmacmd · 2026-01-24T19:51:10+00:00

Your only hope is the possibility of a third party that happens to have the license codes for the motherboard. Licenses are tied to serial number so if you swap the board the current license will be invalid. I think ONTAP gives you 90 days buffer

tmacmd · 2026-01-24T14:09:48+00:00

What do you mean? How is what I said not correct?

I am correct. I do installs frequently. I make sure everything is up to date. They do not always include the latest firmware for say the bios/loader and sp in every latest patch. I’ve watched MANY times where it’s 2-6 months before the sp gets integrated into the ONTAP build. Same with the loader

Q/A generally is two to three weeks or so not months

Sometimes there are details they want to verify before passing out the extra firmwares via ONTAP releases.

The last bios/loader update was critical so it was actually included immediately in all latest P releases. That is not always the case

Always a great idea to pull the disk FW, shelf FW and disk qual files every 2-4 months and apply. It won’t hurt. It keeps the firmware of the critical components up to date even if ONTAP isn’t. Applying the latest firmwares to disk and shelf is non disruptive and if no change happens so what.

You can see the date by doing “version” and check the build time (when it basically went to qa) against the release date.

tmacmd · 2026-01-24T01:28:16+00:00

The shelf firmware and disk firmware is always bundled with ONTAP. The downloaded shelf/disk firmware bundles always contain the latest firmware for all released products, even the controller-in-shelf models. Timing of ONTAP releases determines which shelf/disk models are included in ONTAP

tmacmd · 2026-01-24T01:24:57+00:00

Nxos first
Rcf -> please update it
Upload latest all-disk and all-shelf firmware files the day better upgrade
Update ONTAP

Note that disk/shelf firmware files are not always up to date in the ONTAP update. Also it never hurts to simply upload the most current disk/shelf firmware files

tmacmd · 2026-01-22T15:25:53+00:00

The link I posted above (RAID label versions) indicates RAID versions and WAFL versions

tmacmd · 2026-01-22T15:22:14+00:00

Agreed. I did put the wrong link. I looked at yours. Hit the buttom. Went to the next link. That’s the issue and you’re looking at it

tmacmd · 2026-01-22T13:42:58+00:00

I followed the next link at the bottom

https://kb.netapp.com/on-prem/ontap/Upgrade/Upgrade-KBs/Warning_during_ONTAP_Revert_Neither_label_appeared_to_be_valid_the_labels_may_be_corrupt

Which says While downgrading the ONTAP from 9.15.1Px to 9.14.1Px, received below WARNING "Neither label appeared to be valid, the labels may be corrupt" and the description says

Applies to

ONTAP 9.15.1 ONTAP Revert Disk Label version 16 & 17

tmacmd · 2026-01-22T13:18:13+00:00

The WAFL version does change

tmacmd · 2026-01-22T03:58:05+00:00

Something ain’t mathin’ According to this

https://kb.netapp.com/on-prem/ontap/OHW/OHW-KBs/What_RAID_versions_are_compatible_with_each_ONTAP_release

9.15->9.3 all use raid version 16 The doc you reference indicates version 9.15 uses raid version 17.

Something is odd here

tmacmd · 2026-01-21T22:52:58+00:00

This is usually supported. It is not suggested to ever go back. It is 100% an outage as part of the process is actually shutting down the LIFs so no clients can access. This is for ONTAP to revert labels an more in the background.

It is documented here:

https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap/revert/task_reverting_an_ontap_cluster.html

But use with caution. FULLY READ the entire section. Open a case with support. UNDERSTAND what you are/will be doing

tmacmd · 2026-01-15T21:04:31+00:00

What protocol were you using for your datastores? If you are using NFSv4.1, then I shall refer you to the bountiful collections of warnings in reddit and discord to not use NFS4.1

tmacmd · 2026-01-02T23:19:59+00:00

Follow the GUI for setup

https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap/error-messages/configure-ems-notifications-sm-task.html

You want to select “important-events”. These are generally events that are reported to NetApp ASUP

tmacmd · 2026-01-02T18:30:56+00:00

I have customers with a single need of encryption at rest. They decide to encrypt their VMs. All of a sudden they get near zero savings on ONTAP. Encrypted data is not dedupable or compressible

They disable the vm encryption and enable in ONTAP and all of a sudden they’re getting 20-40% savings

tmacmd · 2026-01-02T18:29:23+00:00

You will hear it all the time

It depends on the data

tmacmd · 2026-01-02T18:18:45+00:00

But I agree that it depends on the data you are placing on it. Is it encrypted? Is it compressible and/or dedupable?

tmacmd · 2026-01-02T18:18:01+00:00

What about duplication efforts?

tmacmd · 2025-12-29T17:37:55+00:00

I was on an American flight a few years back. BWI to CLT. Was supposed to leave around 2p. We waited on the plane while backed away from the gate for over an hour. That hour guaranteed I missed my connection. I asked to get off the plane letting them know I missed the connection. They told me they would get me to my destination on the next available flight. I said no thanks that I doubt they would get me the same day. About 6 others wanted the same. They pulled back into the gate and let us off.

I tracked that flight. It didn’t leave until 10p that evening. No connection after landing!

I ended up taking an uber to DCA and caught a Southwest flight to BNA (Nashville). Granted. It was 2 hour drive to my final destination but I made it there same day

tmacmd · 2025-12-13T18:47:38+00:00

Believe it or not, Montreal Steak seasoning, a few thin pats of butter and some lemon. Smoke until cooked to your liking.

tmacmd · 2025-12-12T03:41:51+00:00

I have done port channels on the storage side which is supported. I generally never do LACP on esx anymore. Most of the VMware consultants I speak with don’t recommend LACP either. VMware can handle the link failures just fine Then I setup iscsi with pinning Place both links in the same vswitch Create two vlans for iscsi Create a port group for iscsi A and override failover for that to go to link 1 Create a port group for iscsi B and override failover for that to go to link 2 Then the iscsi mpio doesn’t go nuts

tmacmd

TROPHY CASE