System requirements

Required hardware

Hardware required for clustering

The following tables list all the hardware required to convert your filers into a cluster. What you have in your individual filers determines what you should add for clustering. The NOW Web site at http://now.netapp.com has the most current information about hardware requirements you must consider before you add, move, or remove adapters or equipment from your filers.

Node hardware requirements

The following table lists the minimum and maximum number of Fibre Channel adapters and VI cluster adapters or cluster interconnect adapters used to cluster your filers.

Required hardware	Minimum configuration per node	Maximum configuration per node
Fibre Channel adapters FC-AL adapters FC-AL adapters-mirrored cluster Dual Fibre Channel adapters (each has a Port 1 for Channel A and a Port 2 for Channel B) Dual Fibre Channel adapters-synchronous mirroring for clusters
	2	4
	4	4
	1	2
	2	4
Cluster interconnect adapters (each has two ports: an X port and a Y port) or VI cluster adapter or VI cluster adapter (Rev. B) Note Do not mix the VI cluster adapter with the VI cluster adapter (Rev. B).	1	1
	1	1

Disk shelf hardware requirements

The following table lists the minimum and maximum hardware configurations for your disk shelves. See the NOW Web page at http://now.netapp.com for more information about disk shelf capacity.

Required hardware	Minimum	Maximum
LRCs: FC7, FC8, or FC9 disk shelves DS14 disk shelves	4 2	48 32
Disk shelves of the same type Mix of FC7, FC8, FC9, and DS14 disk shelves Caution FC7 disk shelves cannot use 18-GB, 36-GB, or 72-GB disks.	2 2	The number of disk shelves for both nodes must be no more than the maximum storage capacity for the nodes.

Required hardware

Minimum

Maximum

LRCs:
FC7, FC8, or FC9 disk shelves
DS14 disk shelves

4
2

48
32

Disk shelves of the same type
Mix of FC7, FC8, FC9, and DS14 disk shelves

Caution
FC7 disk shelves cannot use 18-GB, 36-GB, or 72-GB disks.

2
2

The number of disk shelves for both nodes must be no more than the maximum storage capacity for the nodes.

Cable requirements

The following table lists the minimum and maximum number of cables required for the various adapters you might have in your nodes. It also lists disk shelves requiring terminators.

Required hardware	Minimum	Maximum
4m cluster interconnect cables for cluster interconnect adapters or Optical cables for VI cluster adapters, separated by no more than 30 meters. or SC-SC Duplex 50/125 plenum cable for VI cluster adapters separated by more then 30 meters and less than 500 meters.	2	2
	1	1
Optical cables for dual Fibre Channel adapters 2m filer-to-shelf (HSSDC to DB-9) cables for FC-AL adapters Note If your cluster is separated by more than 30 meters, you must use a SC-SC Duplex 50/125 plenum cable to connect the disk shelves from the local node to partner's disk shelves and vice-versa.	4	8
	4	8
0.5m shelf-to-shelf (DB-9 to DB-9) cables	2	You need 2(n - l) number of cables, where n is the number of disk shelves and l is the number of loops.
Terminators for FC7 and FC8 disk shelves only	2	4