When expanding an existing Dynamic Disk Pool (DDP), SANtricity enforces specific rules to maintain data integrity and pool consistency. The new drives must have a compatible security type; for example, you cannot mix Full Disk Encryption (FDE) drives with non-encrypting drives within the same pool. Additionally, the new drives must have a capacity that is equal to or greater than the capacity of the smallest drive currently in the DDP. If a larger capacity drive is added, only a portion of its capacity equivalent to the other drives will be utilized by the pool.

C. if the drives are from the same manufacturer: This is not a requirement. As long as the drives are qualified for the E-Series system and meet other criteria, they can be from different manufacturers.

D. if the drives have the same firmware level: While recommended for consistency, this is not a strict prerequisite. SANtricity manages drive firmware and can operate with drives at different compatible firmware levels.

1. NetApp E-Series SANtricity 11.70 System Manager Online Help

Section: "Add drives to a volume group or disk pool".

The documentation states: "You can add drives of the same media type

security type

and sector size. You can add drives that have a larger capacity than the existing drives in the disk pool

but the additional capacity is not used." This directly supports options A and B.

2. NetApp Technical Report TR-4768: E-Series Best Practices for Performance and Availability

Section 3.2

"Dynamic Disk Pools".

This report details DDP configuration guidelines

emphasizing the importance of matching drive attributes. It notes: "All drives in a DDP must be of the same security type (FDE

FIPS

or unsecured)." It also implicitly supports the capacity rule as a fundamental aspect of pool expansion.

3. NetApp E-Series and EF-Series SANtricity 11.80 Command Line Interface (CLI) and API Guide

Page 131

add drives to diskPool command.

The guide for the CLI command to add drives specifies the constraints for the operation

which include matching drive security and interface types. The capacity rules are an inherent part of the DDP algorithm managed by the controller.