Understanding 32-bit and 64-bit aggregates

Aggregates are either 32-bit or 64-bit. 64-bit aggregates have much larger size limits than 32-bit aggregates. 32-bit and 64-bit aggregates can coexist on the same storage system or cluster. They interoperate for some Data ONTAP features but not all.

32-bit aggregates have a maximum size of 16 TB, while 64-bit aggregates have a maximum size of up to 100 TB, depending on the storage system model. For the maximum 64-bit aggregate size of your storage system model, see the System Configuration Guide.

You decide the format of an aggregate when you create it. By default, newly created aggregates are 64-bit.

You can cause 32-bit aggregates to be converted to 64-bit aggregates by increasing their size beyond 16 TB, if there is sufficient free space in the aggregate to support the conversion.

All aggregates created using versions of Data ONTAP earlier than 8.0 are 32-bit aggregates.

You can determine whether an aggregate is a 32-bit aggregate or a 64-bit aggregate by using the storage aggregate show command.