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Appendix: Understanding takeover and giveback

Takeover and giveback are the operations that let you take advantage of the HA configuration to perform nondisruptive operations and avoid service interruptions. Takeover is the process in which a node takes over the storage of its partner. Giveback is the process in which the storage is returned to the partner.

  • When takeovers occur
    You can initiate takeovers manually or they can occur automatically when a failover event happens, depending on how you configure the HA pair. In some cases, takeovers occur automatically, regardless of configuration.
  • 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.
  • How automatic takeover and giveback work
    The automatic takeover and giveback operations can work together to reduce and avoid client outages.
  • What happens during takeover
    When a node takes over its partner, it continues to serve and update data in the partner's aggregates and volumes. To do this, the node takes ownership of the partner's aggregates, and the partner's LIFs migrate according to network interface failover rules. Except for specific SMB 3.0 connections, existing SMB (CIFS) sessions are disconnected when the takeover occurs.
  • What happens during giveback
    The local node returns ownership of the aggregates and volumes to the partner node after you resolve any issues on the partner node or complete maintenance operations. In addition, the local node returns ownership when the partner node has booted up and giveback is initiated either manually or automatically.
  • HA policy and how it affects takeover and giveback operations
    ONTAP automatically assigns an HA policy of CFO or SFO to an aggregate that determines how storage failover operations (takeover and giveback) occur for the aggregate and its volumes.
  • Background disk firmware update and takeover, giveback, and aggregate relocation
    Background disk firmware updates affect HA pair takeover, giveback, and aggregate relocation operations differently, depending on how those operations are initiated.
  • Types of disk ownership
    The HA or Disaster Recovery (DR) state of the system that owns a disk can affect which system has access to the disk. This means that there are several types of ownership for disks.