In this tutorial we will look at the steps involved in removing an HA nodepair from an existing Clustered Data Ontap system
We will simulate an HA node pair removal from a 4 node Clustered Data Ontap system with the following setup:
- Cluster Name: VMLABNETAPP
- Node 1: VMLABNETAPP-01
- Node 2: VMLABNETAPP-02
- Node 3: VMLABNETAPP-03
- Node 4: VMLABNETAPP-04
The HA pair that we wish to remove from this setup is VMLABNETAPP-01 and VMLABNETAPP-02
Netapp Clustered Ontap Node Removal
The following is a list of pre-requisites that are required before the actual cluster unjoin command is run
Netapp – Basic Pre-Requisites
From the HA pair that you wish to decomission, do the following
- Either re-assign all data lifs to another HA pair within the same cluster. If the LIF is no longer in use it can be disabled and then deleted
- Modify failover-groups to remove the HA pair’s physical ports
Netapp – Reassigning Epsilon
To check which node is epsilon, you can run the following commands:
VMLABNETAPP::> set -priv advanced
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster show -epsilon *
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster modify -node VMLABNETAPP-01 -epsilon false
and we’ll set VMLABNETAPP-03 as epsilon true
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster modify -node VMLABNETAPP-03 -epsilon true
Let’s verify our new settings
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster show -epsilon *
Netapp – Moving the Cluster Ring Master
First we’ll check which node is the Master
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster ring show
VMLABNETAPP::*> system node modify -node VMLABNETAPP-02 -eligibility false
We then set VMLABNETAPP-01 eligibility to false, this will force the master role to move to either node 3 or 4
VMLABNETAPP::*> system node modify -node VMLABNETAPP-01 -eligibility false
If we have a look at the cluster ring show command again we can see that the master has changed and that VMLABNETAPP-01 and VMLABNETAPP-02 are set as inactive
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster ring show
Netapp – Storage Failover
Because this is a 4-node cluster we need to disable Storage Failover (SFO) on each node. This command can be done in admin privilege mode.
VMLABNETAPP::> storage failover modify -node VMLABNETAPP-01 -enabled false
VMLABNETAPP::> storage failover modify -node VMLABNETAPP-02 -enabled false
Netapp – Cluster Unjoin
Before we remove VMLABNETAPP-01 and VMLABNETAPP-02, the only objects that should be left on these 2 nodes should be the root vol and root aggregate along with the node management lif. If you have double checked and everything is correct you can proceed to run the following command in advanced privilege node
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster unjoin -node VMLABNETAPP-01 (Ontap 9.3)
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster remove-node -node VMLABNETAPP-01 (Ontap 9.4 and later)
Warning: This command will unjoin node “VMLABNETAPP-01” from the cluster. You must unjoin the failover partner as well. After the node is successfully unjoined, erase its configuration
and initialize all disks by using the “Clean configuration and initialize all disks (4)” option from the boot menu.
Do you want to continue? {y|n}: y
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster unjoin -node VMLABNETAPP-02 (Ontap 9.3)
VMLABNETAPP::*> cluster unjoin -node VMLABNETAPP-02 (Ontap 9.4 and later)
Warning: This command will unjoin node “VMLABNETAPP-02” from the cluster. You must unjoin the failover partner as well. After the node is successfully unjoined, erase its configuration
and initialize all disks by using the “Clean configuration and initialize all disks (4)” option from the boot menu.
Do you want to continue? {y|n}: y
Disclaimer:
All the tutorials included on this site are performed in a lab environment to simulate a real world production scenario. As everything is done to provide the most accurate steps to date, we take no responsibility if you implement any of these steps in a production environment.