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Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) Root Volume Protection workflow

The Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) Root Volume Protection workflow enables you to create load-sharing mirrors on every node of a cluster to protect the SVM root volume, which is a NetApp best practice for NAS-enabled Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs, formerly known as Vservers).

This workflow enables you to protect the root volume of an SVM with FlexVol volumes and not an Infinite Volume.

Every SVM has a root volume that serves as the entry point to the namespace provided by that SVM. The root volume of any SVM is a FlexVol volume that resides at the top level of the namespace hierarchy and contains directories that are used as mount points, the paths where data volumes are junctioned into the namespace. These directories do not often change.

In the unlikely event that the root volume of the SVM is unavailable, NAS clients cannot access the namespace hierarchy and therefore cannot access data in the namespace. For this reason, it is a NetApp best practice to create a load-sharing mirror for the root volume on each node of the cluster so that the namespace directory information remains available in the event of a node outage or failover.

Note: This workflow does not work if any SnapMirror relationship already exists in the root volume.

The following sections provide details about the workflow and how to execute the workflow:

Prerequisites for executing the Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) Root Volume Protection workflow

You must ensure that certain requirements are met before executing the Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) Root Volume Protection workflow. You must be a cluster administrator for executing this workflow.

  • Your system must be running clustered Data ONTAP.
    Note: This workflow is qualified to work with Data ONTAP 8.2.1 and later.
  • OnCommand Workflow Automation (WFA) 3.0 must be installed.
  • You must have added OnCommand Unified Manager 6.1 or later as a data source in WFA and obtained the latest Unified Manager data.
  • You must have NAS clients using CIFS or NFSv3.

    NFSv4 clients are not supported with read-only load-sharing mirrors.

  • The cluster must already be created and the cluster time must be synchronized with an NTP server.

What happens when you execute the Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) Root Volume Protection workflow

The Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) Root Volume Protection workflow enables you to protect your SVM namespace root volume by creating a load-sharing mirror volume on every node in the cluster, creating a mirror relationship to each load-sharing mirror volume, and initializing the set of load-sharing mirror volumes.

After you have initialized the load-sharing mirror, you should verify the initialization by manually updating the set of load-sharing mirrors.

Note: The workflow does not include the verification procedure.

The following illustration displays the tasks involved in executing the workflow:

Executing the Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) Root Volume Protection workflow

The Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) Root Volume Protection workflow enables you to create a load-sharing mirror volume on every node in the cluster, create a mirror relationship to each load-sharing mirror volume, and initialize the set of load-sharing mirror volumes.

Before you begin

You must have reviewed the requirements for executing the workflow.

Steps

  1. Log in to WFA by providing the necessary credentials.
  2. Click Portal > Data Protection > Storage Virtual Machine Root Volume Protection.
    Tip: You can use the filter () to locate the workflow.
  3. Click the Execute icon ().
    The Execute Workflow 'Storage Virtual Machine Root Volume Protection' dialog box is displayed.
  4. Select the cluster name.
  5. Select the SVM name.
  6. Optional: Click Preview to validate your workflow before executing it.
  7. Click Execute.
    You can also schedule the workflow for execution at a later date and time by selecting the Choose Date and Time for Execution check box.