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Examples showing when Data ONTAP can use array LUNs

After an array LUN has been assigned to a storage system, it can be added to an aggregate and used for storage or it can remain a spare LUN until it is needed for storage.

No storage system owns the LUNs yet

In this example, the storage array administrator made the array LUNs available to Data ONTAP. However, system vs1 has not yet been configured to "own" any of the LUNs. Therefore, it cannot read data from or write data to any array LUNs on the storage array.

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Only some array LUNs are owned

In this example, vs1 was configured to own array LUNs 1 and 2, but not array LUNs 3 and 4. LUNs 3 and 4 are still available to Data ONTAP, however, and can be assigned to a storage system later.

Data ONTAP used the smallest of the two array LUNs, LUN 1, for the root volume. System vs1 can read data from and write data to LUN 1, because LUN 1 is in an aggregate. LUN 2 remains a spare LUN because it has not yet been added to an aggregate. System vs1 cannot read data from and write data to LUN 2 while it is a spare.

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After you perform initial setup of the storage system, you could configure vs1 to also own LUN 3, LUN 4, both, or neither, depending on your storage needs.

Ownership of LUNs in an HA pair

In this example, two storage systems running Data ONTAP are configured in an HA pair. In an HA pair, only one node can be the owner of a particular LUN, but both nodes must be able to see the same LUNs so that the partner can take over if the owning node becomes unavailable.

LUN 1 through LUN 4 were created on the storage array and mapped to the ports on the storage array to which the storage systems are connected. All four LUNs are visible to each node in the HA pair.

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Assume that during initial setup vs1 was assigned ownership of LUN 1 and LUN 2. LUN 1 was automatically added to the root volume, so LUN 1 is now "in use" by vs1. LUN 2 remains a spare until it is explicitly added to an aggregate on vs1. Similarly, assume that during initial setup vs2 was assigned ownership of LUN 3 and LUN 4, with LUN 3 assigned to the root volume. LUN 4 remains a spare LUN until it is explicitly added to an aggregate.

The key points of this example are as follows: