Can I change the LUN type from image to linux?

Applies to

Data ONTAP 7 and earlier

Answer

A Logical Unit Number (LUN) was created with the wrong multiprotocol type. For example, a Windows LUN has type image or Solaris and AIX.
lun show -v
/vol/lunwindos/engcsvdd1.lun 25.0g (26847313920) (r/w, online, mapped)
Serial#: Vqm7WZ2UZR/K
Share: none
Space Reservation: enabled
Multiprotocol Type: image
ngcsvn2.eng.netapp.com=0

A Windows LUN was configured with the multiprotocol type of image when it should have been set to type linux. Is there anyway to change this without disrupting the LUN?

It is usually not possible to modify the LUN type after a LUN has been created. A workaround is to create a new LUN and use host tools to copy data from the old to the new LUN.

When changing the LUN type, please consult NetApp Technical Support before doing so. Some operating systems (for example, Solaris, Windows) will not convert and cause corruption.

The following types define a few different characteristics of the LUN

• The LUN's SCSI Disk Geometry
  • Windows and vld type luns have: 255 tracks/cylinder/63 sectors/track
  • All other (image, solaris, aix, hpux, netware, vmware, linux) luns have: 16 tracks/cylinder/128 sectors/track
• The size of the prefix & suffix streams which are used for:
  • Allow multiprotocol (storage area network(SAN) &network-attached storage(NAS)) access to the same data.
    Data in the prefix and suffix are not visible to a NAS client if NAS access is enabled on the lun.
  • Allowing files to be converted into luns where the OS requires a disk label, we don't support this on every OS

Additional Information

See BUG 171446 - Changing os-type on a LUN can prevent host clients from accessing LUN data