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Response #8
You create your volume group (or dynamic disk pool) and volumes (i.e. LUNs) on top of that.
If you have access to Field Portal, you can find more detailed info here:
https://fieldportal.netapp.com/e-series.aspx#150496
This is a good picture from one of the presos describing the architectural difference between FAS & E-Series:
Qtrees
Overview
Reference: NetApp
Qtrees represent the third level at which node storage can be partitioned. Disks are organized into aggregates which
provides pools of storage. In each aggregate, one or more flexible volumes can be created. Traditional volumes may also
be created directly without the previous creation of an aggregate. Each volume contains a file system. Finally, the volume
can be divided into qtrees.
Information
Reference: NetApp
The qtree command creates qtrees and specifies attributes for qtrees.
A qtree is similar in concept to a partition. It creates a subset of a volume to which a quota can be applied to limit its
size. As a special case, a qtree can be the entirevolume. A qtree is more flexible than a partition because you can change
the size of a qtree at any time.
In addition to a quota, a qtree possesses a few other properties.
A qtree enables you to apply attributes such as oplocks and security style to a subset of files and directories rather than to
an entire volume.
Single files can be moved across a qtree without moving the data blocks. Directories cannot be moved across a qtree.
However, since most clients use recursion to move the children of directories, the actual observed behavior is that
directories are copied and files are then moved.
Qtrees represent the third level at which node storage can be partitioned. Disks are organized into aggregates which
provides pools of storage. In each aggregate, one or more flexible volumes can be created. Traditional volumes may also
be created directly without the previous creation of an aggregate. Each volume contains a file system. Finally, the volume
can be divided into qtrees.
If there are files and directories in a volume that do not belong to any qtrees you create, the node considers them to be
in qtree 0. Qtree 0 can take on the same types of attributes as any other qtrees.
You can use any qtree command whether or not quotas are enabled on your node.
More Information
Reference: NetApp Forum
There are 5 things you can do with a qtree you cant do with a directory and thats why they arent just called directories:
Oplocks
Security style
Quotas
Snapvault
Qtree SnapMirror
RAID-DP
Understanding RAID-DP disk types
Reference: Understanding RAID disk types
Data ONTAP classifies disks as one of four types for RAID: data, hot spare, parity, or dParity. The RAID disk type is determined
by how RAID is using a disk; it is different from the Data ONTAP disk type.
Data disk: Holds data stored on behalf of clients within RAID groups (and any data generated about the state of the
storage system as a result of a malfunction).
Spare disk: Does not hold usable data, but is available to be added to a RAID group in an aggregate. Any
functioning disk that is not assigned to an aggregate but is assigned to a system functions as a hot spare disk.
Parity disk: Stores row parity information that is used for data reconstruction when a single disk drive fails within
the RAID group.
dParity disk: Stores diagonal parity information that is used for data reconstruction when two disk drives fail within
the RAID group, if RAID-DP is enabled.
RAID Groups and Aggregates
Reference: RAID Groups and Aggregates
In the course of teaching Netapps Data ONTAP Fundamentals course I have noticed that one of the areas that students
sometimes struggle with are RAID groups as they exist in Data ONTAP.
To begin with, Netapp uses dedicated parity drives, unlike many other storage vendors. Parity information is constructed
for a horizontal stripe of WAFL blocks in a RAID group within an aggregate and then written to disk at the same time the
data disks are updated. The width of the RAID group the number of data disks is independent of the parity disk or disks.
Take a look at this print screen from Filerview:
Notice that the RAID group size is 16. This is the default RAID group size for RAID-DP with Fibre Channel disks. Notice also
that the number of disk in Aggr1 is actually 5.
When I created aggr1 I used the command:
aggr create aggr1 5
This caused Data ONTAP to create an aggregate named aggr1 with five disks in it. Lets take a look at this with the
following command:
sysconfig r
If you notice aggr1, you can see that it contains 5 disks. Three disks are data disks and there are
two parity disks, parity and dparity. The RAID group was created automatically to support the aggregate. I have
a partial RAID group in the sense that the RAID group size is 16 (look at the Filerview screen shot). I only asked for an
aggregate with 5 disks, so aggr1 has an aggregate with one RAID group and 5 disk drives in it.
It is fully usable in this state. I can create volumes for NAS or SAN use and they are fully functional. If I need more space, I
can add disks to the aggregate and they will be inserted into the existing RAID group within the aggregate. I can add 3
disks with the following command:
aggr add aggr1 3
Look at the following output:
So, given a large pool of HDDs, the NetApp storage administrator has to figure out the best layout and the optimal number
of HDDs to get to the capacity he/she wants. And there is also a best practice to set aside 2 hot spare HDDs for a RAID-DP
configuration with every 30 or so HDDs so that they can be used in the event of HDD failures. Also, it is best practice to
take the default recommended RAID group size most of the time as opposed to the maximum size.
I would presume that this is all getting very confusing, so let me show that with an example. Lets use the common 2TB SATA
HDD and lets assume the customer has just bought a 100 HDDs FAS6000. From the table above,
the default (and recommended) RAID group size is 14. The customer wants to have maximum usable capacity as well. In
a step-by-step guide,
1. Consider the hot sparing best practice. The customer wants to ensure that there will always be enough spares, so
using the rule-of-thumb of 2 spare HDDs per 30 HDDs, 6 disks are kept aside as hot spares. That leaves 94
HDDs from the initial 100 HDDs.
2. There is a root volume, rootvol, and it is recommended to put this into an aggregate of its own so that it gets
maximum performance and availability. To standardize, the storage administrator configures 3 HDDs as 1 RAID
group to create the rootvol aggregate, aggr0. Even though the total capacity used by the rootvol is just a few
hundred GBs, it is not recommended to place user data into rootvol. Of course, this situation cannot be avoided
in most of the FAS2000 series, where a smaller HDDs count are sold and implemented. With 3 HDDs used up as
rootvol, the customer now has 91 HDDs.
3. With 91 HDDs, and using the default RAID group size of 14, for the next aggregate of aggr1, the storage
administrator can configure 6 x full RAID group of 14 HDDs (6 x 14 = 84) and 1 x partial RAID group of 7
HDDs. (Note that as perthis post, theres nothing wrong with partial RAID groups).
4. RAID-DP requires 2 disks per RAID group to be used as parity disks. Since there are a total of 7 RAID
groups from the 91 HDDs, 14 HDDs are parity disks, leaving 77 HDDs as data disks.
This is where the rightsized capacity comes back into play again. 77 x 2TB HDDs is really 77 x 1.69TB = 130.13TB from an
initial of 100 x 2TB = 200TB.
If you intend to create more aggregates (in our example here, we have only 2 aggregates aggr0 and aggr1), there will be
more consideration for RAID group sizing and parity disks, further reducing the usable capacity.
More RAID Information
Reference: Playing with NetApp final usable capacity
An aggregate, for the uninformed, is the disks pool in which the flexible volume, FlexVol, is derived. In a simple picture
below.
We can easily quantify the overall usable in the little formula that I use for some time:
Rightsized Disks capacity x # Disks x 0.90 x 0.95 = Total Aggregate Usable Capacity
Then remember that each volume takes a 20% Snapshot reserve overhead. Thats what you have got to play with when it
comes to the final usable capacity.
Though the capacity is not 100% accurate because there are many variables in play but it gives the customer a way to
manually calculate their potential final usable capacity.
Please note the following best practices and this is only applied to 1 data aggregateonly. For more aggregates, the same
formula has to be applied again.
1. A RAID-DP, 3-disk rootvol0, for the root volume is set aside and is not accounted for in usable capacity
2. A rule-of-thumb of 2-disks hot spares is applied for every 30 disks
3. The default RAID Group size is used, depending on the type of disk profile used
4. Snapshot reserves default of 5% for aggregate and 20% per FlexVol volumes are applied
5. Snapshots for LUNs are subjected to space reservation, either full or fractional. Note that there are considerations of
2x + delta and 1x + delta (ask your NetApp engineer) for iSCSI and Fibre Channel LUNs, even though snapshot
reserves are adjusted to 0% and snapshots are likely to be turned off.
Another note to remember is not to use any of those Capacity Calculators given. These calculators are designed to give
advantage to NetApp, not necessarily to the customer. Therefore, it is best to calculate these things by hand.
Regardless of how the customer will get as the overall final usable capacity, it is the importance to understand the NetApp
philosophy of doing things. While we have perhaps, went overboard explaining the usable capacity and the nitty gritty that
comes with it, all these things are done for a reason to ensure simplicity and ease of navigating data management in the
storage networking world. Other NetApp solutions such as SnapMirror and SnapVault and also the SnapManager suite of
product rely heavily on this.
Right-Sizing
See Part 11 for more information on Right-Sizing.
Other Posts in this Series:
See the NetApp From the Ground Up A Beginners Guide Index post for links to all of the posts in this series.
As always, if you have any questions or have a topic that you would like me to discuss, please feel free to post a comment at
the bottom of this blog entry, e-mail at will@oznetnerd.com, or drop me a message on Twitter (@OzNetNerd).
Note: This website is my personal blog. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and not those of my
employer.
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