Moving an aggregate composed of array LUNs

You might want to move an aggregate composed of array LUNs to a less-loaded system to balance the load processing over the systems.

Before you begin

You should plan the number and size of your aggregates ahead of time so that you have flexibility in the amount of the workload that you can shift from one system to another.
You should ensure that the target system meets the following requirements:
- The target system must be running a version of Data ONTAP that is the same as or later than the version running on the source system.
- The target system must support the size of the aggregate being moved.

About this task

To move the aggregate composed of array LUNs from one storage system (the source) to another (the target), you need to change the ownership of each array LUN in the aggregate from the source system to the target system. You can move both aggregates and traditional volumes using this procedure.

Note: If there are vFiler units in the aggregate you want to move, you might prefer to use SnapMover to move the aggregate. When SnapMover is used to move a vFiler unit, all aggregates in the vFiler unit are moved with the vFiler unit. To use vFiler units, you must have MultiStore software and SnapMover. See the Data ONTAP MultiStore Management Guide for 7-Mode for more information.

Steps

Enter the following commands on the target system:
1. Obtain the system ID of the target system by entering either of the following commands: disk show or sysconfig
  You need to provide the target system's ID on the source system when you assign each of the array LUNs to the target system.
Enter the following commands on the source system:
1. Enter the following command to display the array LUNs that the aggregate contains: aggr status aggr_name -r
  The array LUNs that are displayed are the LUNs that you need to reassign to the target system to be able to move the aggregate.
2. Write down the names of the array LUNs in the aggregate that you want to move.
3. Enter the following command to shut down the source system: halt
4. At the boot environment prompt, enter the following command to boot the source system: bye
5. Interrupt the boot process by pressing Ctrl-C when you see the following message on the console: Press Ctrl-C for Boot menu
6. Enter Maintenance mode.
7. When prompted whether you want to continue with booting, enter the following: y
8. Enter the following command to take the aggregate offline: aggr offline aggr_name
  aggr_name is the name of the traditional volume or aggregate.
9. Enter the following and confirm that the aggregate is offline: aggr status
10. In Maintenance mode, enter the following command separately for each array LUN in the aggregate that you are moving to the target system: disk assign -s system_id_target disk_id -f
  system_id_target is the system ID of the target system (the system to which you want to move the array LUN.)
  
  disk_id is the ID of the array LUN you want to move.
  
  Note: Entering this command automatically removes ownership of the array LUN from the source system and assigns it to the target system.
Enter the following commands on the target system.
1. Enter the following command to start a scan so that the target system can recognize the LUNs you moved to it as its own: disk show
2. Enter the following command: aggr status
  The display shows the foreign aggregate as offline.
  Note: The aggregate you are moving is a foreign aggregate to the target system.
  If the foreign aggregate has the same name as an existing aggregate on the system, Data ONTAP renames it aggr_name(1), where aggr_name is the original name of the aggregate.
  Attention: If the foreign aggregate is incomplete, that is, if you have not moved all the array LUNs in the aggregate, go back to the source system to add the missing array LUNs to the aggregate you moved to the target system. Enter the following on the source system: disk assign -s system_id_target disk_id -f
3. If Data ONTAP renamed the foreign aggregate because of a name conflict and you want to change the name, enter the following command to rename the aggregate: aggr rename aggr_name new_name
  aggr_name is the name of the aggregate you want to rename.
  
  new_name is the new name of the aggregate.
  
  Example
  The following command renames the users(1) aggregate as newusers:
  aggr rename users(1) newusers
4. Enter the following command to confirm that the aggregate you moved is online: aggr status aggr_name
  aggr_name is the name of the aggregate.
On the source system, reboot the system out of Maintenance mode.