How do I use the NetApp ONTAP CLI to modify storage data tiering policies for my FSx for ONTAP volume?

Resolution

Modify the data tiering policy on your volume for your FSx for ONTAP file system.

Connect to the FSx for ONTAP management endpoint IP address through SSH

Complete the following steps:

1. Open the Amazon FSx console.

2. Select your FSx for ONTAP file system, and then choose the Administration tab.

3. Note the Management endpoint IP address. You use this IP address to connect to the cluster. To find the management endpoint IP address, see Managing file systems with the ONTAP CLI and Managing SVMs with the ONTAP CLI.

4. Connect through SSH to the cluster's management endpoint from your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance. Use PowerShell on Windows or a terminal on Linux to make the connection.

   Note: You can reach the endpoints only from within the virtual private cloud (VPC) or through an AWS Transit Gateway peered network. For more information, see Accessing data from within the AWS Cloud.

   ssh fsxadmin@management_IP

   Example:

   ssh fsxadmin@198.19.255.189  
   Password:  
   Last login time: 5/10/2022 08:37:30  
   FsxIdabcdef01234567892::>

   For information on how to use SSH in PowerShell, see PowerShell remoting over SSH on the Microsoft website.

5. Run the set command to set the privilege level in the NetApp ONTAP CLI. Changes to the privilege level apply only to the current session. These changes aren't persistent across sessions.

   FsxIdabcdef01234567892::> set -privilege advanced  
   Warning: These advanced commands are potentially dangerous; use them only when directed to do so by NetApp personnel.  
   Do you want to continue? {y|n}: y

6. Run the following command to modify the storage data tiering policies. Replace svm_name and volume_name with your Storage Virtual Machine (SVM) and volume names.

   volume modify -vserver svm_name -volume volume_name-tiering-policy <auto|snapshot-only|all|none>

   Example:

   FsxIdabcdef01234567892::*> volume modify -volume vol1 -vserver fsx -tiering-policy auto  
   Volume modify successful on volume vol1 of Vserver fsx.

Specify a minimum cooling period for auto-tiering and snapshot-only tiering policies

For volumes that use the snapshot-only or auto-tiering policy, run the volume modify command with the -tiering-minimum-cooling-days optional parameter. Make sure that you set the privilege level to advanced. Specify a value between 2 and 183 for the tiering minimum cooling days. For more information, see Modify an ONTAP volume's tiering policy and tiering minimum cooling period on the NetApp website.

The following example shows the volume modify command with the -tiering-minimum-cooling-days set to 4.

FsxIdabcdef01234567892::*> volume modify -volume vol1 -vserver fsx -tiering-policy auto -tiering-minimum-cooling-days 4  
    Volume modify successful on volume vol1 of Vserver fsx.

Important: If you don't set the privilege to advanced, then you receive an error when you try to change the tiering policy:

`"FsxIdabcdef01234567892::> volume modify -volume vol1 -vserver fsx -tiering-policy auto -tiering-minimum-cooling-days 4`  
`Error: invalid argument "-tiering-minimum-cooling-days"`

If -tiering-minimum-cooling-days is between 2 and 183 and you don't set the privilege level to advanced, then you see the error message invalid argument "-tiering-minimum-cooling-days. Because the changes to privilege-level settings apply only to the current session, you must set the privilege level for every new session.

Don't exceed your storage capacity

FSx for ONTAP's tiering functionality maintains certain thresholds that apply when tiering starts and stops. These thresholds are relative to the used capacity of your primary storage tier.

Note: It's a best practice not to use more than 80% of the storage capacity of your primary storage tier. Maintain a level that's 80% or less of storage capacity so that the tiering correctly functions and there's room for new data. If you're consistently at more than 80% of the storage capacity of your primary storage tier, then update your file system's SSD storage capacity.

The following guidelines explain how FSx for ONTAP handles tiering in different scenarios:

• Less than or equal to 50% primary storage tier: Only volumes with the All tiering policy have data that's tiered to capacity pool storage. Auto-tiering and snapshot-only policies don't tier data because tiering isn't necessary when the primary storage tier is underutilized.
• Greater than 50% primary storage tier: Auto-tiering and snapshot-only policies tier data based on the tiering minimum cooling days setting. The default number of tiering minimum cooling days is 31.
• Greater than or equal to 90% primary storage tier: When read, cold data from the capacity pool tier is no longer moved into the primary storage tier for auto-tiering and snapshot-only policies. To preserve space in the primary storage tier, keep data in the capacity pool tier.
• Greater than or equal to 98% primary storage tier: All tiering functionality stops when the primary storage tier is at or over 98%.

Related information

Volume data tiering

Set volume tiering policy on the NetApp website