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Increasing storage availability by using ACP

ACP, or Alternate Control Path, is a protocol that enables Data ONTAP to manage and control a SAS disk shelf storage subsystem. It uses a separate network (alternate path) from the data path, so management communication is not dependent on the data path being intact and available.

You do not need to actively manage the SAS disk shelf storage subsystem. Data ONTAP automatically monitors and manages the subsystem without operator intervention. However, you must provide the required physical connectivity and configuration parameters to enable the ACP functionality.

Note: You can install SAS disk shelves without configuring ACP. However, for maximum storage availability and stability, you should always have ACP configured and enabled.

After you enable ACP, you can use the storage show acp and acpadmin list_all commands to display information about your ACP subsystem.

Because ACP communication is on a separate network, it does not affect data access in any way.