Researches for Project 2305-I: ONTAP C to C Migration

A place to record some links on:

Project: Migrate from old FAS80X0 4-node cluster to 2 x 2-node AFF400 cluster.

• The existing 4-node cluster will need intercluster LIFs (4). Since all the existing ports are utilized we either need to create LIFs in the existing subnets, or change the setup to allow VLANs, or free up some ports for replication:
• SnapMirror Configuration and Best Practices Guide for ONTAP 9.11.1 | TR-4015
• The SnapMirror site-to-site (intercluster) traffic, does have to traverse firewalls:
• What are the firewall requirements for intercluster SnapMirror with ONTAP 9?
• SnapMirror can be throttled per relationship or you can do it per node:
• Use SnapMirror global throttling
• This is a Keystone deployment, which means we must have AIQUM, Keystone Collector Server, and access to keystone.netapp.com (for the collector):
• Keystone Collector overview (netapp.com)

NetApp Keystone Collector Architecture

• The source controllers (FAS80X0) can only go up to ONTAP 9.8, see:
• NetApp Hardware Universe
• The source cluster is on ONTAP 9.5. The new clusters will likely be 9.12.1 and SnapMirror is not supported from 9.5 to 9.12.1. It will require an upgrade to 9.7 or 9.8. For the SnapMirror supportability matrix see:
• Compatible ONTAP versions for SnapMirror relationships
• Before upgrade you should run Upgrade Advisor which is a part of ActiveIQ:
• https://activeiq.netapp.com/
• ActiveIQ will give you a recommended release to upgrade to, but if you want to check anyway:
• SU2: Minimum Recommended ONTAP releases
• Before upgrading ONTAP, since this is a 4-node switched cluster, we need to consider cluster switches. They are using CN1610 running 1.3.0.3 (should have RCF v1.2_ and these are fine to 9.11:
• Switch Compatibility Matrix - NetApp Cluster Switches
• Before upgrading ONTAP, we also need to consider OFFTAP versions. Specifically in this case SnapCenter for SQL. You will find some information in the IMT (below) but I'm struggling to find SnapCenter vs ONTAP version (seeking answers):
• https://support.netapp.com/matrix
• SVM-DR, is something we won't use for the migration due to too different ONTAP versions, but might be considered for later use:
• About SnapMirror SVM replication
• Also the current Microsoft SQL VMs using in-guest iSCSI and SnapCenter will be migrated to VMDKs, and they'll use always on SQL. This needs a PoC to test it will work as expected and scale. Some reading:
• TR-4590: Best Practice Guide for Microsoft SQL Server with ONTAP
• https://www.netapp.com/pdf.html?item=/media/8585-tr4590.pdf
• TR-4714: Best Practices for Microsoft SQL Server using SnapCenter
• https://www.netapp.com/pdf.html?item=/media/12400-tr4714pdf.pdf

To be continued...