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node failure, with a second Witness Node on standby.
When you expand a three-node storage cluster to a four-node cluster, capacity and performance are
increased. In a four-node cluster, Witness Nodes are no longer needed to form the cluster quorum.
You can expand to up to 64 compute nodes and 40 storage nodes.
Find more information
•
NetApp HCI Two-Node Storage Cluster | TR-4823
•
NetApp Element Plug-in for vCenter Server
•
SolidFire and Element Software Documentation Center
Nodes
Nodes are hardware or virtual resources that are grouped into a cluster to provide block
storage and compute capabilities.
NetApp HCI and Element software defines various node roles for a cluster. The four types of node roles are
management node
,
storage node
,
compute node
, and
NetApp HCI Witness Nodes
.
Management node
The management node (sometimes abbreviated as mNode) interacts with a storage cluster to perform
management actions, but is not a member of the storage cluster. Management nodes periodically collect
information about the cluster through API calls and report this information to Active IQ for remote monitoring (if
enabled). Management nodes are also responsible for coordinating software upgrades of the cluster nodes.
The management node is a virtual machine that runs in parallel with one or more Element software-based
storage clusters. In addition to upgrades, it is used to provide system services including monitoring and
telemetry, manage cluster assets and settings, run system tests and utilities, and enable NetApp Support
access for troubleshooting. As of the Element 11.3 release, the management node functions as a microservice
host, allowing for quicker updates of select software services outside of major releases. These microservices
or management services, such as the Active IQ collector, QoSSIOC for the vCenter Plug-in, and management
node service, are updated frequently as service bundles.
Storage nodes
NetApp HCI storage nodes are hardware that provide the storage resources for a NetApp HCI system. Drives
in the node contain block and metadata space for data storage and data management. Each node contains a
factory image of NetApp Element software. NetApp HCI storage nodes can be managed using the NetApp
Element Management extension point.
Compute nodes
NetApp HCI compute nodes are hardware that provides compute resources, such as CPU, memory, and
networking, that are needed for virtualization in the NetApp HCI installation. Because each server runs
VMware ESXi, NetApp HCI compute node management (adding or removing hosts) must be done outside of
the plug-in within the Hosts and Clusters menu in vSphere. Regardless of whether it is a four-node storage
cluster or a two-node storage cluster, the minimum number of compute nodes remains two for a NetApp HCI
deployment.
Summary of Contents for HCI
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