Skip to main content

Automatic healing of aggregates on MetroCluster IP configurations after switchover

Starting with ONTAP 9.5, healing is automated during negotiated switchover operations on MetroCluster IP configurations. Starting with ONTAP 9.6, automated healing after unscheduled switchover is supported. This removes the requirement to issue the metrocluster heal commands.

Automatic healing after negotiated switchover (starting with ONTAP 9.5)​

After performing a negotiated switchover (a switchover command issued without the -forced-on-disaster true option), the automatic healing functionality simplifies the steps required to return the system to normal operation. On systems with automatic healing, the following occurs after the switchover:

  • The disaster site nodes remain up.

    Because they are in switchover state, they are not serving data from their local mirrored plexes.

  • The disaster site nodes are moved to the Waiting for switchback state.

    You can confirm the status of the disaster site nodes by using the metrocluster operation show command.

  • You can perform the switchback operation without issuing the healing commands.

This feature applies to MetroCluster IP configurations running ONTAP 9.5 and later. It does not apply to MetroCluster FC configurations.

The manual healing commands are still required on MetroCluster IP configurations running ONTAP 9.4 and earlier.



Automatic healing after unscheduled switchover (starting with ONTAP 9.6)​

Automatic healing after an unscheduled switchover is supported on MetroCluster IP configurations starting with ONTAP 9.6. An unscheduled switchover is one in which in you issue the switchover command with the -forced-on-disaster true option.

Automatic healing after an unscheduled switchover is not supported on MetroCluster FC configurations, and the manual healing commands are still required after unscheduled switchover on MetroCluster IP configurations running ONTAP 9.5 and earlier.

On systems running ONTAP 9.6 and later, the following occurs after the unscheduled switchover:

  • Depending on the extent of the disaster, the disaster site nodes can be down.

    Because they are in switchover state, they are not serving data from their local mirrored plexes, even if they are powered up.

  • If the disaster sites were down, when booted up, the disaster site nodes are moved to the Waiting for switchback state.

    If the disaster sites remained up, they are immediately moved to the Waiting for switchback state.

  • The healing operations are performed automatically.

    You can confirm the status of the disaster site nodes, and that healing operations succeeded, by using the metrocluster operation show command.



If automatic healing fails​

If the automatic healing operation fails for any reason, you must issue the metrocluster heal commands manually as done in ONTAP versions prior to ONTAP 9.6. You can use the metrocluster operation show and metrocluster operation history show -instance commands to monitor the status of healing and determine the cause of a failure.