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How hardware-assisted takeover speeds up takeover

Hardware-assisted takeover speeds up the takeover process by using a node's remote management device (SP or RLM) to detect failures and quickly initiate the takeover rather than waiting for Data ONTAP to recognize that the partner's heartbeat has stopped.

Without hardware-assisted takeover, if a failure occurs, the partner waits until it notices that the node is no longer giving a heartbeat, confirms the loss of heartbeat, and then initiates the takeover.

The hardware-assisted takeover feature uses the following process to take advantage of the remote management device and avoid that wait:

  1. The remote management device monitors the local system for certain types of failures.
  2. If a failure is detected, the remote management device immediately sends an alert to the partner node.
  3. Upon receiving the alert, the partner initiates takeover.

The hardware-assisted takeover option (cf.hw_assist.enable) is enabled by default.