How to expand or resize the netapp lun which is having snapmirror

Below are the simple steps to expand the or resize the snapmirror lun.

Step 1:  Note down the source volume name and destination volume name

Step 2: ssh into both source and destination netapp controller

Step 3: On the destination or target netapp ssh session  run the below command

            a. priv set advanced
            b. snapmirror break "destination volume name"
            c. vol options "destination volume name" fs_size_fixed off
            d. vol size "destination volume name"  1000g  ( here I am resizing the lun from 500 to 1000 GB)
                 Note: please change the size of the lun according to the requirement
           e.  vol options " destination volume name" fs_size_fixed on

step 4. On the source netapp ssh session run the below command

            a. priv set advanced
            b. vol options "source volume name" fs_size_fixed off
            c. vol size "source volume name"  1000g  ( here I am resizing the lun from 500 to 1000 GB)
                 Note: please change the size of the lun according to the requirement
           d. vol options " source volume name" fs_size_fixed on
       
step 5. On the destination netapp ssh session run the below command
     
           a.snapmirror resync -S sourcefiler:sourcevolumename targetfiler:targetvolumenane

How to add the spare disk on netapp filer

Here is the steps to add the disk as spare disk on netapp

1. SSH into the controller
2. turn off the auto assign option by running the command options disk.auto_assign off
3. Put the new hard drive on one of the empty slots on disk shelf
4. run the command disk show -n  , this will show the newly added disk as not owned by any controller
5. run this command disk assign oa.00.8  to assign the controller where 0a is the controller identification ,00 is the disk shelf number and 8 is the disk number
6. Turn on the auto assign option by running the command options disk.auto_assign on
7. run disk show , you will be seeing the new disk as spare
8. for some reason you want to remove that hard drive you can unassign the disk by running the command disk assign 0a.00.8 -s unowned -f


 

sim.vmdk was not found error while powering on netapp simulator on esxi host

Today I tried to deploy the netapp simulator 8.2 on my lab . When I tried to power on the simulator it failed with the error  " Mydataontap-sim.vmdk was not found "

Solution :

ESXI server is not loading the vmkernel multiextent module  , we have to load this manually.

Here is the steps to  load that manually

1. login to the ESXi SSH session
2. run the command  vmkload_mod multiextent

Registering Vcenter on Virtual storage console

Go to the virtual storage console registration url

               https://localhost:8143/Register.html

Please replace the  localhost with the server name which has virtual storage console .

update the host name  under plugin service information ( this host name should be the server name which has virtual storage console)

update the vcenter  information and click register.

How to Install UCS director on Vsphere Environment

Here are the steps to import the UCS director to the Vsphere Environment :

1.Right click on the vcenter and click deploy ovf template .If you are using native vsphere client then click file deploy ovf template .

2. Browse to the OVF file location and click open  and click next
3. Accept the end user license agreement
4. select the host or cluster and click next
5. select the datastore and select the disk format as thick if it is production ,thin if it is for lab
6. choose the proper port group for the network
7. In the ip address box check dhcp if you are suing dhcp if not leave that unchecked.
8. click finish
9. Once the vm is imported , power on the vm.
10.During the appliance start , it will prompt you for the  configuration of dhcp ip or static ip  ,if you want to use dhcp then enter  no , if you want to use static ip enter yes
11.provide the ip address, gateway  and netmask
12. enter yes to continue
13.once the server is up , open the browser with the ip configured during the install.
14.default user name and password for the GUI is admin /admin
15.default user name and password for the CLI is shelladmin / changeme

How to Add license to the UCS director

Here is the steps to add the License to the UCS Director

1. Save the .lic file on the desktop
2. open the UCS director using any of the browsers
3. default user name for the ucs director admin and default password is admin for GUI access
4. Navigate to administrator ----> license

5. Click update license
6.browse to the .lic file and click upload

7. once it is uploaded, then click submit

Reclaiming Thin provisioned Disk

Issue: esxi environment storage disk is showing the free space properly by from the netapp view it is not showing the proper free space. For example 100 Gb lun (named as lun1) is presented to the esxi server this lun is a thin provisioned lun from netapp. Created a 25 GB vm on the 100 Gb lun (lun1) , now the free space in that lun (lun1) is 75 GB which is good. Storage vmotioned that vm to the another lun (named lun2). Now the free space on the lun1 should be 100 GB from ESXI view as well as NetApp storage view but I am seeing 100 GB free from esxi view but NetApp storage view is still showing 75 is free and 25 GB in use.

 Root Cause: VAAI unmap is disabled by default in ESXI host due to the performance impact. This VAAI feature inform the storage array that the vm files is moved or deleted and allow the array to reclaim the blocks.

Workaround : to reclaim the free space , we have to use vmkfstools .Before running the reclaims command on the esxi host couple of things we need to check couple of things
1.verify the hardware acceleration status on the esxi storage tab which should show as supported or unknown if you disable the VAAI option from NetApp side.
2. not down the device id naa.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX , this can be noted from the esxi storage tab view or get into the ssh and run the below command

esxcli storage core device list | more

3.run this command on ssh session to see the lun is a thin provisioned lun or not

esxcli storage core device list –d naa.xxxxxxxxxxx 
at the end of the line check
                   Thin provisioning status : yes
                   Attached filters : VAAI_filter
                   VAAI status:supported (it may show unknown if it is disabled from Netapp)
1. Now we need to check if the delete is supported on that lun.run the below command on ssh to check this

esxcli storage core device vaai status get –d naa.XXXXXXXXXX

 last line of the result should show Delete status :supported

2. To reclaim the space run the below command on ssh .Navigate to the vmfs path by running the command.

Cd /vmfs/volumes/lun1/
Vmkfstools -y xx ( example vmkfstools –y 50 ------ to reclaim 50% of free space)

Note :don’t put reclaim percentage as 100 , because this will completely occupy your free space till the reclaim process get completed and if you have any other vm running on the same lun will go down if it doesn’t have enough space.

( where xx is the percentage of free space you want to reclaim) , for example consider a scenario that you have 100 GB lun name lun1. You have two vm each 25 GB disk , so you have 50 Gb free and 50 GB used. Now let vmotion one of the vm to another lun call this as lun2. Now lun 1 have 75 GB free space. If you want to put the reclaim percentage then put 50 which will create a balloon disk of size 37.5 GB ( 50 % of 75 GB) . putting 100% is not recommended as it may take the other vm down due to the space issue).

Virtual Storage Console: Host NetApp discovery hangs at terminating stale tasks @ 15%

Where this error shows:
1. In vsphere client it shows the task is hangs @ 15 % with terminating stale task.
2. Under Virtual storage console , any of the host is showing as unknown or disconnected.

 Cause for this issue:
1. Any of the ESXI host in the vsphere is in not responding or disconnected state.
2. Double check the account Permission used in adding the vsphere to the vsc.

 How to fix this issue:
1. Goto VSC and right click on the host which is showing as disconnected or not responding and click skip option and make sure you have check the small box in it. The host status should show as skipped if skip option is selected.
2. If the esxi host is permanently down then remove that from vsphere client.
3. Check the account permission used for the vsc console configuration having proper access to the vcenter.

     This is a bug in 4.1 version of VSC for vcenter version 5 and it is fixed in 4.2. the bug id is 592931. Here is the bug detail

http://support.netapp.com/NOW/cgi-bin/bol?Type=Detail&Display=592931