On Apr 5, 2007, at 11:29 AM, John Foley wrote:
new data that will be going on there - but I believe NetApp says that 28 disks is the max for an aggregate.
I think you are referring to raid groups John, and yes when using Flexible volumes on Ontap 7.x or higher, the max raid group size is 28 or 26 data and 2 parity (RAID-DP).
You can certainly increase the aggregate past 28 drives however you will be using 2 additional parity drives and an additional raid group. Here is a good overview of aggregate/volume/qtree setup:
http://now.netapp.com/NOW/knowledge/docs/ontap/rel712/html/ontap/ mgmtsag/2qset2.htm
So, question is - anyone out there using more than 28 (like 42 !)
Yes, we have very large aggregates in use spanning many shelves :)
disks in an aggregate ? Is it possible ? recommended ? I thought that the more disks the better in an aggregate for performance reasons, but I thought I'd see what you all say !
The more spindles allocated the better for the most part, be beware of loop layout, LUN/Qtree and volume layout. Open a case with NetApp if you want to get into the nitty gritty with respect to your specific requirements and needs.