NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Overview

• Optimize cloud storage costs and performance
• Enhance data protection, security, and compliance
• Move data between clouds
  • Same storage architecture across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud
• Software-only appliance
  • Runs ONTAP data management software on cloud

Key Features

• Storage efficiency
  • Data deduplication, compression, thin provisioning, cloning
• Protocols:
  • NFS, SMB, iSCSI, S3
• High-availability
• Data protection
  • SnapMirror—replicates on-prem data to cloud at high-speed
  • Cloud Backup—BlueXP
• Data tiering
  • High/low performance storage pools
• Application consistency
  • SnapCenter
• Data security
  • Encryption
  • Virus/ransomware protection
• Privacy compliance controls
  • Integration with Cloud Data Sense—understand data context and identify sensitive data

Editions

• Freemium
  • 500GB ONTAP storage free
• Optimized
  • ONTAP storage—low I/O
• Essentials primary
  • High I/O
• Professional
  • ONTAP stoage + backup

Disks and Aggregates

• Uses cloud storage disks—grouped into aggregates
• Aggregates provide storage to one or more volumes

Tiering

• AWS:
  • Local NVMe—flash cache
  • EBS—user data
  • S3—cold tier
• Azure:
  • Azure Managed Disks—user data
  • Azure Blob Storage—cold tier
• Google Cloud:
  • Persistent Disks—user data
  • Cloud Storage—cold tier

Tiering Policies

• snapshot-only
  • Cold snapshots moved to cold tier
  • Default cooling-off period: 2 days (configurable)
  • Moved to hot tier when accessed (if space available)
• all
  • All data immediately moved to cold tier
• auto
  • Cold user data and snapshots
  • Default cooling-off period: 31 days (configurable)
• none
  • No data moved to the cold tier

Write Speeds

• Normal—data written directly to disk
• High—data buffered in memory
  • Potential for data loss if system outage

HA Pairs

• Data synchronously mirrored between two nodes
• Uses mediator instances—comms between instances
• RPO—0 sec
• RTO—60 sec
• Multi or single AZs
• Active-active
  • Read performance higher than single node
  • Write performance same/higher than single node
• Active-passive
  • Read performance comparable to single node
  • Write performance lower than single node

Security

• Encryption at rest
  • NetApp encryption—NetApp Volume Encryption (NVE), NetApp Aggregate Encryption (NAE)
  • AWS KMS
  • Azure SSE
  • Google Cloud default encryption
• Can use NetApp encryption alongside native
  • Doubly encypted—sensitive data
• Virus scanning—Vscan
• Ransomware protection
  • Readonly snapshots
  • BlueXP detects volumes not protected by snapshot policy