How hardware-assisted takeover speeds up takeover
Hardware-assisted takeover speeds up the takeover process by using a node's remote management device (Service Processor) to detect failures and quickly initiate the takeover rather than waiting for ONTAP to recognize that the partner's heartbeat has stopped.
Without hardware-assisted takeover, if a failure occurs, the partner waits until it notices that the node is no longer giving a heartbeat, confirms the loss of heartbeat, and then initiates the takeover.
The hardware-assisted takeover feature uses the following process to take advantage of the remote management device and avoid that wait:
The remote management device monitors the local system for certain types of failures.
If a failure is detected, the remote management device immediately sends an alert to the partner node.
Upon receiving the alert, the partner initiates takeover.
Hardware-assisted takeover is enabled by default.