NetApp – Copy LUN between filers using NDMP

ndmpcopy is a wonderful command. It allows a fine-grained copy of files or directories between NetApp devices, across network, even if they do not use (or unlicensed) SnapMirror, SnapVault and the rest of the Snap* products NetApp offer.
In this example I will show how to copy a LUN from one filer to the other.

First, set the LUN to offline on the source filer. Make sure that it is not mounted, disconnected, etc – whatever prevents any major data loss. As you can deduce – setting a LUN to offline state will prevent write access to it. Also – take its parameters. For example:

lun show -v /vol/server1/data/mydb.lun

Second, create the required qtree structure. Make sure that the LUN is created at the root of either a volume or a qtree, or else.

Third, use ndmpcopy:

ndmpcopy -da root:password /vol/server1/data/mydb.lun remotefiler:/vol/server1/data/

This operation will take time.

When it completes, on the target NetApp, set priv to diag, and do the following:

  • Rename the LUN:
    mv /vol/server1/data/mydb.lun /vol/server1/data/mydb.not.lun
  • Create a hard-link LUN from a file (requires priv diag!)
    lun create -f /vol/server1/data/mydb.not.lun -t linux -o noreserve /vol/server1/data/mydb.lun
    (Command syntax: lun create -f <file_path> -t <ostype> [ -o noreserve ] [ -e space_alloc ] <lun_path>)
  • Remove the original file (it is hard-linked, so the data will not be affected)
    rm /vol/server1/data/mydb.not.lun
  • Resize, if required, the LUN to the original full size (relevant if the LUN was thin-privisioned)
    lun resize /vol/server1/data/mydb.lun 400g

You can now map the LUN to any relevant host, and obtain full access to its data.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.