Before you can create FlexCache volumes and use them to access data in their origin volumes, you must ensure that both your origin and caching systems meet the hardware and software requirements for the FlexCache functionality.
The requirements for the caching system and the origin system are different.
For the caching system, the following requirements must be met:
- If you want to cache a 7-Mode volume, ensure that the caching system has one of the following versions of Data ONTAP:
- Data ONTAP 7.0.5 or later in the 7.0 release family
- Data ONTAP 7.2.1 or later in the 7.2 release family
- Any version in the Data ONTAP 7.3 release family
- Data ONTAP 8.x or later operating in 7-Mode
Note: Systems running Data ONTAP 8.0 or 8.1 clustered releases or any version in the Data ONTAP 10.0 release family cannot serve as caching systems.
Note: The caching and origin systems do not need to have the same version of Data ONTAP.
- The caching system for a clustered Data ONTAP volume must have Data ONTAP 8.x or later operating in 7-Mode.
- The caching system must have a valid NFS license, with NFS enabled.
Note: The NFS license is not required when the caching system is an SA system.
- The licensed_feature.flexcache_nfs.enable option must be set to on.
For the origin system, the following requirements must be met:
- The system must have one of the following versions of Data ONTAP:
- Data ONTAP 7.0.1 or later in the 7.x release families
- Any version in the Data ONTAP 8.x release families
- Data ONTAP 10.0.4 or later in the 10.0 release family
Note: If your origin system is running Data ONTAP 10.0 or Data ONTAP 8.x, your caching system must have Data ONTAP 7.2.1 or later.
- For caching a clustered Data ONTAP volume, the origin system must be running clustered Data ONTAP 8.2 or later.
- The origin system must have a valid NFS license, with NFS enabled.
- The flexcache.access option must be set to allow access to FlexCache volumes.
Note: For more information about this option, see the na_protocolaccess(8) man page.
If the origin volume is in a vFiler unit, you must set this option for the vFiler context.
- The flexcache.enable option must be set to on.
Note: If the origin volume is in a vFiler unit, you must set this option for the vFiler context.
For information about configuring and managing FlexCache volumes in a clustered Data ONTAP environment, see the Clustered Data ONTAP Logical Storage Management Guide
