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Why does E-Series Volume Group volume capacity increase take such a long time?

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Applies to

  • NetApp E-Series
  • Volume Groups

Answer

Adding capacity to  a volume when using traditional Volume Group instead of Disk Pools can take long time depending of which volume is expanded. From SANtricity > Operations in Progress, it shows weeks or even months before completing the capacity increase
  • If  the expansion is for volume A for example, the new blocks have to be contiguous in traditional Volume Group, so the system will need to reallocate volumes B, C and D to make space for A to grow.
  • If the expansion is for the last volume with contiguous free space, then the system would not need to reallocate the rest.

volume_increase.png

Additional Information

  • Add capacity to a Disk Pool or Volume Group
  • The volume capacity increase process needs to be finished before space can be seen on the host.
  • Even if only one volume is being increased all volumes that have to be moved to allow that expansion to occur will show under the operations in progress under the volume expansion. 
  • We have to move the volumes around the volume being expanded to make space for the expansion in a volume group. 
  • There are 2 options to reduce waiting time:
    • Increase the speed of Modification Priority
      • This will have to be performed on every volume that is part of the expansion, including the volumes that are not being expanded but being moved. 
      • Increasing the modification priority will divert performance to the modification process from array performance. 
      • Please remember to return to the default setting once done. 
    • Replace volume group with Dynamic Disk Pool (DDP). This requires a backup of the existing data so the volume group can be deleted and replaced with a DDP.

 

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