In this NetApp training tutorial, I will give a guided tour of the FAS8000 series platforms which comprise the FAS8020, FAS8040, FAS8060 and FAS8080 EX models. I will also explain the hardware architecture and available ports on the back of the controllers. Scroll down for the video and also text tutorial.
NetApp FAS8000 – FAS8020, FAS8040, FAS8060, FAS8080 Video Tutorial

Alejandro Carmona Ligeon
This is one of my favorite courses that I have done in a long time. I have always worked as a storage administrator, but I had no experience in Netapp. After finishing this course, even co-workers with more experience started asking me questions about how to set up or fix things in Netapp.
You can see my previous post for a tour of the FAS2500 platforms.
The FAS8020 Controller
The FAS8020 comes with two controllers in a single 3RU chassis, which provides High Availability. Controller 1 is at the top:
NetApp FAS8020 Platform - Controller 1
Controller 2 is underneath:
NetApp FAS8020 Platform - Controller 2
The platform has dual redundant power supplies, one on the left and one on the right of the chassis:
FAS8020 Dual redundant power supplies
Looking at the ports, starting on the left of each controller we have two SAS ports for connectivity to disk shelves:
FAS8020 onboard SAS ports
Then two 10Gb Ethernet ports for client data access over CIFS, NFS or iSCSI:
FAS8020 onboard 10Gb Ethernet ports
Next are two Unified Target Adapter (UTA) ports. These can be configured as either 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports which include support for Fiber Channel over Ethernet, or they can be configured as native Fibre Channel ports. The correct transceiver (Ethernet or Fibre Channel) has to be fitted.
FAS8020 onboard UTA ports
Then there is a pair of lower bandwidth 1Gb Ethernet ports:
FAS8020 onboard 1Gb Ethernet ports
Next is the Ethernet management port:
FAS8020 Management port
Under the Management port is the Alternate Control Path (ACP) port. It's an Ethernet port which, along with our SAS ports, provides connectivity to external disk shelves. The ACP connection is not mandatory but it is highly recommended. When used, the data plane traffic (the actual data reads and writes) is carried over the SAS connections, and the control plane traffic (control commands between the controller and shelf) are carried over the ACP connections. If ACP is not used, the SAS connections are capable of carrying both control and data traffic.
FAS8020 ACP port
Next is an unused USB port (included for possible future functionality):
FAS8020 USB port
And finally the console port. This provides direct management access without the need for IP connectivity, and can be used for the initial setup of this system and also for out of band management access. The console port is used for management traffic only.
FAS8020 Console port
The port numbering is labelled on the back of the controller, so you can see for example the first two 10Gb Ethernet ports are 'e0a' and 'e0b'. ‘e’ stands for Ethernet, and there is a ‘0’ to signify it is an onboard port. The ports are sequentially named and numbered ‘e0a’, ‘e0b’, ‘e0c’ etc.
The FAS8000 platforms have PCIe slots where we can fit expansion cards to increase the number of available ports. 1Gb Ethernet, 10Gb Ethernet, UTA and Fibre Channel cards are available for client access, SAS cards are available for connectivity to disk shelves, and FlashCache cards are available to increase the memory cache.
FAS8020 expansion slots
If an expansion card is fitted in our of the expansion slots, for example if we put a four port Ethernet card in slot 1, those ports would be named ‘e1a’, ‘e1b’, ‘e1c’ and ‘e1d’.
FAS8020 Expansion Slot 1
The FAS8040 Controller
The controllers for the FAS8040, FAS8060, and FAS8080 EX all look physically identical. They all have exactly the same ports in the back. The difference is in the amount of memory on the different controllers - the FAS8080 has more memory than the FAS8060, and the FAS8060 has more memory than the FAS8040. The higher the model number the more powerful the controller, the more load it can handle and the more disk drives it can accommodate.
The FAS8040 comes with two controllers for High Availability in a single 6U chassis.
Looking at the ports on the back of the FAS8040, starting on the left there are four SAS ports:
FAS8040 onboard SAS ports
Then four 10Gb Ethernet ports, 'e0a' to 'e0d':
FAS8040 onboard 10Gb Ethernet ports
Then four UTA ports, 'e0e' to 'e0h' if they're configured as Ethernet ports, or '0e' to '0h' if they're configured as Fibre Channel ports:
FAS8040 onboard UTA ports
With the NetApp port naming convention, Ethernet ports start with an 'e' for example 'e0g', Fiber Channel ports are not prefixed with a letter, for example '0g'.
There are four expansion slots available per controller for additional interfaces:
FAS8040 expansion slots
Looking at the rest of the ports, next are four 1Gb Ethernet ports:
FAS8040 onboard 1Gb Ethernet ports
Then the Management port:
FAS8040 Management port
The ACP port:
FAS8040 ACP port
And finally the Console port:
FAS8040 Console port
FAS8060 (Single Enclosure)
The FAS8060 can either be purchased as a single chassis enclosure, where it looks physically identical to a FAS8040, or in dual enclosures where it looks physically identical to a FAS8080. This is what the single chassis enclosure model looks like:
FAS8060 (Single Enclosure)
As mentioned earlier, the controllers for the FAS8040, the FAS8060, and the FAS8080 look identical. They’re the same size and have the same ports on the back.
When deployed in a single enclosure, the FAS8060 is different than the FAS8040 in that it has more memory so it can handle more load.
FAS8060 (Dual Enclosure) and FAS8080 EX
The other option for the FAS8060 is to purchase it in two different chassis enclosures. With the two chassis option, the controller fits in the top slot, and underneath there is an IO expansion module which provides eight additional expansion slots.
When deployed in dual enclosures, the FAS8060 looks exactly the same as the FAS8080 EX:
FAS8060 (Dual Enclosure) and FAS8080 EX
When you buy the FAS8060 dual enclosure or the FAS8080 EX, it comes as two separate identical chassis. You will get two of the enclosures pictured above. There are eight expansion slots in the IO expansion modules, so that gives you an additional 16 expansion slots across the two chassis.
With the single chassis FAS8000 platforms, the High Availability connection between the two controllers is internal in the chassis with no need for external cabling.
Obviously this isn’t possible with the dual enclosure models because the two controllers are in separate chassis. The FAS8060 dual enclosure and the FAS8080 EX have two HA ports in the bottom right corner of the IO expansion module. The two enclosures are cabled together using these ports to provide High Availability.
FAS8060 (Dual Enclosure) and FAS8080 EX - HA Ports
Additional Resources
NetApp FAS8000 Product Documentation
NetApp FAS8000 Series Datasheet
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