NetApp
Cluster : Storage > Aggregates : Configuring aggregates : Creating aggregates
Creating aggregates
You can create an aggregate or a Flash Pool to provide storage for one or more FlexVol volumes.
Before you begin 
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You must have enough spare disks to create an aggregate.
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You must be aware of platform-specific and workload-specific best practices for the Flash Pool SSD tier size and configuration.
For more information, see Technical Report 4070: NetApp Flash Pool Design and Implementation Guide.
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If you want to create a Flash Pool, all the nodes in the cluster must be running Data ONTAP 8.1.1 or later.
Note: If the cluster is in a mixed-version state and some of the nodes are running Data ONTAP 8.1, you should use the command-line interface to create the Flash Pool.
About this task 
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You cannot combine disks of different sizes when creating an aggregate or a Flash Pool using System Manager.
You can initially create an aggregate with disks of the same size and add disks of a different size later.
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You cannot combine disks with different checksum types when creating an aggregate or a Flash Pool using System Manager.
You can initially create an aggregate with a single checksum type and add storage of a different checksum type later.
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You cannot combine disks of different sizes when creating an aggregate or a Flash Pool using System Manager even if there are enough spare disks of different sizes.
Using the Create Aggregate wizard, you can perform the following:
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Enable a Flash Pool.
Note: You cannot downgrade or revert the Data ONTAP version on your storage system after the Flash Pool is enabled.
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Specify the disk group to include.
The minimum hot spare rule is applied to the disk group having the largest disk size.
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Specify the capacity disk size and the number of capacity disks to include.
For storage systems running Data ONTAP 8.1 or a later version in the 8.1 release family, the minimum number of disks for RAID-DP is 3 and for RAID4 is 2. For storage systems running Data ONTAP 8.2, the minimum number of disks for RAID-DP is 5 and for RAID4 is 3.
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Specify the cache disk size and the number of cache disks to include.
The cache disk size and the number of cache disks that you can include are based on the selected disk group.
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Specify the type of disks to include.
All existing HDDs and SSDs that you want to include in the aggregate must be of the same size.
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Specify the RAID type for the RAID groups on the aggregate.
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Specify the RAID group size.
Steps 
1.
From the Home tab, double-click the appropriate storage system.
2.
Expand either the Cluster or the Nodes hierarchy in the left navigation pane.
3.
In the navigation pane, click Storage > Aggregates.
4.
Click Create.
5.
Type or select information as prompted by the wizard.
6.
Confirm the details and click Finish to complete the wizard.
Result 
The aggregate is created with the specified configuration and added to the list of aggregates in the Aggregates window.
Related reference 
Aggregates window
Related Link:  
TR 4070: NetApp Flash Pool Design and Implementation Guide

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