Retype

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By using this capability, you can change the current storage template of a volume to a target storage template. You can change the volume properties like QoS, provisioning, SLO/workload, etc. You can also choose to migrate the volume to another pool specified in the target template.

To retype a volume perform the following steps:

Navigate to Storage > Data volumes (or) Boot volumes.
Select a volume and click Retype. PowerVC validates and lists the target templates where the volume can be retyped or migrated to.
Select either Allow storage assisted migration or Allow generic migration.
When you select Allow storage assisted migration option, the volume is migrated if the target storage template points to a different pool. For details, see considerations section.

In a case where backend storage provider cannot migrate the volume, select Allow generic migration option. A new volume is created with the selected target template. The original volume data is copied to the new volume by using the Fibre Channel connectivity on PowerVC. Make sure the Fibre channel connectivity exists between PowerVC and storage. There is no validation performed on PowerVC for this option. For details on connectivity setup, see Requirements section of Exporting and importing images topic.

Considerations

Consider the following before you retype a volume.

Retype is only supported for SVC, Hitachi, and PowerMax storage types. PowerMax SRDF is currently not supported.
For available volumes, retype can be performed using the Storage Assisted Migration.
For Hitachi, Storwize®, and PowerMax, a volume can be migrated without selecting any migration options.
Retype is allowed for either available or in-use volumes. Some storage types might have restriction for in-use volumes.
You cannot retype a volume that is part of a group.
You cannot retype a volume that is in-use and has multiattach enabled.
Generic migration for in-use volumes is not supported.
Retype is not supported for base template enabled with pool mirroring.
Retype is supported from base template to replication enabled template and vice versa on Storwize for Global Mirror and Global Mirror Change Volume.
When performing retype from base template to replication enabled template of Storwize, you can choose to retain the auxiliary volume by running powervc-config storage svc-retain-aux-vol --enable --restart command. Check the command help for details.
Retype of a volume on Storwize having mirror pool to non-mirror pool or vice versa is not allowed if pool change is required. For such a scenario only volume copy operation is allowed.
If volume does not have a storage template assigned, a warning message appears to set the template ID. You can set the template by running powervc-config storage set-template command or to use Set storage template option on the user interface.
Retype or migration is not allowed for volumes that have snapshots.
PowerVC might prompt an error message if retype or migration is not supported by the storage backend.
Retype for in-use volumes are not supported in Pure Storage.

Retype support matrix for available volumes in Pure Storage.

Table 1. Retype support matrix for available volumes in Pure Storage
Source replication	Target	migration_policy	Supported/Not supported
async	base	pure driver retype flow
sync	base	generic migration flow	Not supported
trisync	base	generic migration flow	Not supported
base	async	pure driver retype flow
base	sync	generic migration flow
base	trisync	generic migration flow
async	sync	generic migration flow	Not supported
async	trisync	generic migration flow	Not supported
sync	async	generic flow	Not supported
sync	trisync	pure driver retype flow
trisync	async	generic flow	Not supported
trisync	sync	pure driver retype flow

To list the possible target template for retype operation, PowerVC uses retype-validation API. For details, see Retype validation.