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Can a CIFS volume be used as a shared disk in a WSFC

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ontap-9
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Applies to

  • ONTAP 9
  • Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC)

Answer

  • Yes, a CIFS volume can be used as a shared disk in a WSFC.
  • However, there are several important considerations and limitations to be aware of:
    • Workgroup Mode Limitations:
      • If the CIFS server is configured in workgroup mode, it does not support the Witness protocol or Continuous Availability (CA) shares.
      • This means that although CIFS volumes can be used, the high availability features offered by CA shares will not be available.
    • Delayed Service Failover:
      • When using CIFS volumes as shared storage in a WSFC, there may be increased service failover times due to default ONTAP file locking timeouts.
      • This can result in errors when trying to start the service on the second node.

Additional Information

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