#AFF A250 vs ASA A250 - Do both support symmetric active-active for SAN?

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

thorn sky
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Some confusion when trying to decide between the two offerings. Do both support symmetric active-active? The AFF product page would lead me to believe so.
https://www.netapp.com/data-storage/aff-a-series/

Is the documentation correct or would you need the ASA personality in order to have symmetric active-active?

worn echo
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ASA is the only one that offers Symmetric

wooden python
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Hmm, you're right.
"High Availability: Active-active and symmetric active-active (SAN-only) host connectivity"

That shouldn't be on a page dedicated to AFF.
ASA is no AFF (anymore).

worn echo
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Hey Guys, after talking with Bell, i'm going to submit a req to get that page and the ASA page clarified. Sorry about that.

thorn sky
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What is the failover time for the AFF on fiber channel? Trying to decide between the ASA and the AFF.

worn echo
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see starting at the top of bottom of page 6 / top of page 7.

thorn sky
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Is there a similar doc for the AFF?

worn echo
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Let me see what I can find.

worn echo
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page 10

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ONTAP 9 continues code optimizations and enhancements that have reduced the time ONTAP HA pairs
require to take over and give back partner workloads. When operating in an AFF prescribed SAN
configuration, planned takeovers and givebacks complete within 2 to 10 seconds.

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That doc is good reading as well in general.

wooden python
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Ask your NetApp partner. There is a presentation which compares the impact to IOPS during failover and how fast it recovers with AFF and ASA.

worn echo
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or NetApp account team too

thorn sky
young inlet
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Unless you want/need all your nodes in the same cluster and need NAS protocols

dim valley
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sorry for adding a question to a old post - but I am curious, is there a hardware difference between ASA and AFF controllers?

hard maple
dim valley
worn echo
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With any platform, the AFF / ASA and either the C or A versions share the same hardware. eg the AFF A250 / C250 and ASA A250 / C250 all have the same chassis / controllers. Disk type and boot Profiles are the difference.

river cloud
# thorn sky If you are going to run in a the prescribed SAN configuration would you be bette...

I have found, in the field, the ASA only supporting 2 nodes to be a real limitation and issue that is frustrating. One of the best features of CDOT is cluster expansion and volume move operations. Especially for SAN.

Add new LIFs, update reporting nodes, rescan storage from the host, move the volume.

No need for front-end/host migrations ever again. And with ASA we can't do that. I have had a few customers replace/refresh their ASA hardware and there is no migration path for them without host-level operations 😦

hard maple
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Is there something I’m missing?

wooden python
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You can't mix ASA with AFF though in one cluster.