By default, the take-over partner node automatically gives back storage when the off-line node is brought back on line, thus restoring the high-availability pair relationship. In most cases, this is the desired behavior. If you need to disable automatic giveback - for example, if you want to investigate the cause of the takeover before giving back – you need to be aware of the interaction of non-default settings.

If you want to…	Use this command…
Enable automatic giveback so that giveback occurs as soon as the taken-over node boots, reaches the Waiting for Giveback state, and the Delay before Auto Giveback period has expired. The default setting is true.	`storage failover modify ‑node nodename ‑auto‑giveback true`
Disable automatic giveback. The default setting is true. Note: Setting this parameter to false does not disable automatic giveback after takeover on panic; automatic giveback after takeover on panic must be disabled by setting the `‑auto‑giveback‑after‑panic` parameter to false.	`storage failover modify ‑node nodename ‑auto‑giveback false`
Disable automatic giveback after takeover on panic (this setting is enabled by default).	`storage failover modify ‑node nodename ‑auto‑giveback‑after‑panic false`
Delay automatic giveback for a specified number of seconds (the default is 600). This option determines the minimum time that a node remains in takeover before performing an automatic giveback.	`storage failover modify ‑node nodename ‑delay‑seconds seconds`

If you want to…

Use this command…

Enable automatic giveback so that giveback occurs as soon as the taken-over node boots, reaches the Waiting for Giveback state, and the Delay before Auto Giveback period has expired.

The default setting is true.

storage failover modify ‑node nodename ‑auto‑giveback true

Disable automatic giveback. The default setting is true.

Note: Setting this parameter to false does not disable automatic giveback after takeover on panic; automatic giveback after takeover on panic must be disabled by setting the ‑auto‑giveback‑after‑panic parameter to false.

storage failover modify ‑node nodename ‑auto‑giveback false

Disable automatic giveback after takeover on panic (this setting is enabled by default).

storage failover modify ‑node nodename ‑auto‑giveback‑after‑panic false

Delay automatic giveback for a specified number of seconds (the default is 600). This option determines the minimum time that a node remains in takeover before performing an automatic giveback.

storage failover modify ‑node nodename ‑delay‑seconds seconds

How variations of the storage failover modify command affect automatic giveback

The operation of automatic giveback depends on how you configure the parameters of the storage failover modify command.

The following table lists the default settings for the storage failover modify command parameters that apply to takeover events not caused by a panic.

Parameter	Default setting
`-auto-giveback true \| false`	`true`
`-delay-seconds integer (seconds)`	600
`-onreboot true \| false`	`true`

Parameter

Default setting

-auto-giveback true | false

true

-delay-seconds integer (seconds)

600

-onreboot true | false

true

The following table describes how combinations of the -onreboot and -auto-giveback parameters affect automatic giveback for takeover events not caused by a panic.

`storage failover modify` parameters used	Cause of takeover	Does automatic giveback occur?
`-onreboot true` `-auto-giveback true`	reboot command	Yes
halt command, or power cycle operation issued from the Service Processor	Yes
`-onreboot true` `-auto-giveback false`	reboot command	Yes
halt command, or power cycle operation issued from the Service Processor	No
`-onreboot false` `-auto-giveback true`	reboot command	N/A In this case, takeover does not occur
halt command, or power cycle operation issued from the Service Processor	Yes
`-onreboot false` `-auto-giveback false`	reboot command	No
halt command, or power cycle operation issued from the Service Processor	No

storage failover modify parameters used

Cause of takeover

Does automatic giveback occur?

-onreboot true

-auto-giveback true

reboot command

Yes

halt command, or power cycle operation issued from the Service Processor

Yes

-onreboot true

-auto-giveback false

reboot command

Yes

halt command, or power cycle operation issued from the Service Processor

-onreboot false

-auto-giveback true

reboot command

N/A
In this case, takeover does not occur

halt command, or power cycle operation issued from the Service Processor

Yes

-onreboot false

-auto-giveback false

reboot command

halt command, or power cycle operation issued from the Service Processor

The -auto-giveback parameter controls giveback after panic and all other automatic takovers. If the -onreboot parameter is set to true and a takeover occurs due to a reboot, then automatic giveback is always performed, regardless of whether the -auto-giveback parameter is set to true.

The -onreboot parameter applies to reboots and halt commands issued from ONTAP. When the -onreboot parameter is set to false, a takeover does not occur in the case of a node reboot. Therefore, automatic giveback cannot occur, regardless of whether the -auto-giveback parameter is set to true. A client disruption occurs.

The effects of automatic giveback parameter combinations that apply to panic situations.

The following table lists the storage failover modify command parameters that apply to panic situations:

Parameter	Default setting
`-onpanic true \| false`	`true`
`-auto-giveback-after-panic true \| false` (Privilege: Advanced)	`true`
`-auto-giveback true \| false`	`true`

Parameter

Default setting

-onpanic true | false

true

-auto-giveback-after-panic true | false

(Privilege: Advanced)

true

-auto-giveback true | false

true

The following table describes how parameter combinations of the storage failover modify command affect automatic giveback in panic situations.

`storage failover` parameters used	Does automatic giveback occur after panic?
`-onpanic true` `-auto-giveback true` `-auto-giveback-after-panic true`	Yes
`-onpanic true` `-auto-giveback true` `-auto-giveback-after-panic false`	Yes
`-onpanic true` `-auto-giveback false` `-auto-giveback-after-panic true`	Yes
`-onpanic true` `-auto-giveback false` `-auto-giveback-after-panic false`	No
`-onpanic false` If `-onpanic` is set to `false`, takeover/giveback does not occur, regardless of the value set for `-auto-giveback` or `-auto-giveback-after-panic`	No

storage failover parameters used

Does automatic giveback occur after panic?

-onpanic true
-auto-giveback true
-auto-giveback-after-panic true

Yes

-onpanic true
-auto-giveback true
-auto-giveback-after-panic false

Yes

-onpanic true
-auto-giveback false
-auto-giveback-after-panic true

Yes

-onpanic true
-auto-giveback false
-auto-giveback-after-panic false

-onpanic false
If -onpanic is set to false, takeover/giveback does not occur, regardless of the value set for -auto-giveback or -auto-giveback-after-panic

A takeover can result from a failure not associated with a panic. A failure is experienced when communication is lost between a node and its partner, also called a heartbeat loss. If a takeover occurs because of a failure, giveback is controlled by the -onfailure parameter instead of the -auto-giveback-after-panic parameter.

When a node panics, it sends a panic packet to its partner node. If for any reason the panic packet is not received by the partner node, the panic can be misinterpreted as a failure. Without receipt of the panic packet, the partner node knows only that communication has been lost, and does not know that a panic has occurred. In this case, the partner node processes the loss of communication as a failure instead of a panic, and giveback is controlled by the -onfailure parameter (and not by the -auto-giveback-after-panic parameter).

For details on all storage failover modify parameters, see the ONTAP manual pages.