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This chapter discusses file striping, which concentrates the power of multiple nodes onto a single file or set of files.
File striping is provided in the current release as a technology preview; it is not supported for use with production data. Full support is expected in an upcoming release.
File striping distributes (stripes) the contents of files across multiple volumes on multiple storage aggregates on multiple nodes, increasing the throughput to the striped file or files. The components of file striping are as follows:
A striped volume, also known as a FlexVol—High Performance Option, is a set of volumes, distributed among two or more storage aggregates, that acts as a single volume from a client's perspective. To the extent possible, it is also administered as a single volume.
A volume that makes up part of a striped volume is known as a member volume. A striped volume is located on a striped aggregate, which consists of member aggregates. Nonstriped volumes cannot be located on striped aggregates.
The following operations and features are supported with file striping:
Striped volumes can distribute data across up to 20 nodes in a cluster
Manual snapshots can be created of striped volumes
Storage failover (SFO) of member volumes
At the advanced privilege level or higher, a striped volume's member volumes can be moved among member aggregates to redistribute member volumes within a striped aggregate; however, a striped volume as a whole cannot be moved to a different striped aggregate
The following limitations currently apply to file striping; these limitations are expected to be removed in upcoming releases.
A striped volume cannot be restriped (that is, have its stripes redistributed) if nodes are added to or removed from the cluster
Striped volumes cannot be mirrored for either load balancing or disaster recovery
Striped volumes cannot be moved; however, their member volumes can be moved
Striped volumes cannot be renamed
Snapshots of striped volumes cannot be created automatically on predefined schedules
Snapshots of striped volumes cannot be renamed
Snapshots of striped volumes cannot be manually promoted to read-write status; the striping engine automatically promotes snapshots to ensure data consistency in severe failure cases, such as a node failure that results in loss of NVRAM.
A striped volume cannot be the root of a virtual server
Data on striped files cannot be accessed only by using the NFS protocol. Access by using the CIFS protocol is not supported.
See the Release Notes for additional limitations on striped volumes and striped aggregates.
File striping requires a separate license. Contact your sales or support representative for details.