How to import disks or an aggregate from a foreign (or old) system on a NetApp

If you have an disk shelf from another controller/HA pair, and you want to re-use it on another system - you can get it hooked up just fine but the disks will not be "available" to be used in a new aggregate...if they were part of an another system.

This is because of the "system ID" that is tied to the drives.  You can view this by typing

disk show -v

In the "owner" column you will see the controller that used to "own" the disk.  You must change this in order to re-use the disk on the new system.  Replace the disk numbers and controller name as is appropriate for your environment.

disk assign 1b.10.00 -o newcontroller -f

disk assign 1b.10.01 -o newcontroller -f

..

disk assign 1b.10.xx -o newcontroller -f

It goes really quick if you do this in notepad and then paste it all in.  If you connected all the disks - after a bunch of errors - you should see that you have a foreign aggregate.

You can rename the aggregate and bring it online...

aggr rename aggrold(foreign) aggrnew

...or destroy it and reuse the disks.

aggr destroy aggrold(foreign)

You should also zero the disks immediately if you plan to reuse them so you aren't waiting as long for the aggregate to come online.

disk zero spares

You can watch the status of the disk zeroing by typing

aggr status -s

You can go and create a new aggregate now, and it will come online when the disks finish zeroing.