NetApp Data ONTAP

ONTAP - OS for data storage and management.

2021: NVMe/TCP support

On October 22, 2021, NetApp, an international manufacturer of cloud data management solutions and services, announced an update to its hybrid cloud products that help businesses modernize IT infrastructures and optimize digital transformation. Hybrid Cloud NetApp solutions enable customers to use data services both on-prem and in the cloud, and to use their data anywhere and anytime.

According to the company, in the updated version of ONTAP, the company optimized malware protection, expanded data management capabilities and added NVMe/TCP support to optimize performance. The company NetApp also announced the expansion of Digital Wallet service functionality for NetApp Cloud Manager and the optimization of data management services, which simplifies administration in the hybrid cloud and uses additional operating options to more effectively control costs. In addition, services open up the possibility of using local and hybrid cloud resources with proper efficiency.

According to an IDC study, by October 2021, approximately 70% of enterprise IT customers plan to upgrade their storage infrastructures in the next two years to support next-generation workloads. However, the key operating capability will be to optimize the placement of workloads in traditional local and cloud environments. noted Eric Burgener, Vice President, Research, IDC Infrastructure Systems Group

Among the updated decisions submitted by NetApp:

• ONTAP Data Management Software Update: The updated version of ONTAP allows enterprises to independently protect against attacking software through machine learning-based functionality, which is built-in algorithms for proactive detection and accelerated data recovery. The upgrade also provides enterprise-level performance for SAN and today's NVMe/TCP-enabled workloads, enhanced object storage, and simplified management. In addition, the updated version of ONTAP will be used in the NetApp AFF A900 - a next-generation all-flash system with adequate fault tolerance for business-critical workloads.
• Updated Data Services: With the updated Digital Wallet features available in NetApp Cloud Manager, it becomes more transparent for customers to use licenses for data services in a hybrid cloud with prepaid credits to optimize deployment and avoid procurement problems. Additional updates include optimization of NetApp Cloud Backup and Cloud Data Sense services, simplified deployment of Cloud Volumes ONTAP with user-ready templates, fully integrated Active IQ and deeper integration with Cloud Insights NetApp and ONTAP software to support workloads in Kubernetes.
• More flexibility in consumption: The popularity of NetApp Keystone Flex Subscription - local storage as a service with native cloud integration - continues to grow. The company provides service support on four continents, including petabytes of storage deployed within a little less than one year from launch. In addition, NetApp now offers the next level of conditional free service for Cloud Volumes ONTAP, giving users access to a full, indefinite ONTAP license in the cloud for workloads requiring less than 500 GB of disk space. This level of flexibility in consumption enables organizations to leverage enterprise-level data services for small workloads, such as Kubernetes clusters, at zero initial cost. Organizations need to subscribe only when workloads become larger.
• More convenient access to hybrid cloud professionals: NetApp also extends support and professional service offerings, making it easier for customers to access experts to get step-by-step instructions when migrating to a hybrid cloud. With SupportEdge Advisor for Cloud, the data center support model now extends to cloud services with fast and direct access to specialists. The NetApp Flexible Professional Services (FlexPS) service is now also available to customers who require both ongoing and urgent support when migrating to a hybrid cloud. This offering is subscription-based and enables organizations to get the help they need to develop and build a Data Fabric strategy, implement solutions, and optimize their hybrid cloud with predictable costs and no procurement delays.

2019: NetApp ONTAP 9.6

On May 13, 2019, NetApp announced the release of NetApp ONTAP 9.6, an AFF A320 mid-tier storage system with support for the end-to-end NVMe protocol, as well as the expansion of the service line to increase the profitability of these enterprises.

According to the developer, Flash NetApp solutions and built-in cloud connectivity, part of the Data Fabric strategy, provide the simplicity, operational efficiency, and protection you need to innovate, get high performance, and support the most demanding applications and technologies, such as artificial intelligence and 5G networks. NetApp ensures that businesses can build their own Data Fabric, which includes the public cloud, private cloud, and data center. With NetApp solutions, Data Fabric can deliver user-defined applications and analytics that deliver competitive advantage.

"As enterprises move to new, more data-centric business models where data is a key strategic resource, data availability requirements also increase. NetApp solutions for flash and built-in cloud connectivity, combined with Data Fabric's strategy, deliver the simplicity, flexibility, availability, and performance businesses need to successfully digitally transform, work in a hybrid cloud, and create innovative business opportunities. "

"We understand that innovations such as 5G networks are becoming more and more relevant and are necessary for enterprises to generate, assemble, and distribute massive volumes of data. NetApp ONTAP helps businesses overcome the challenges posed by big data technologies and state-of-the-art innovations with an intelligent, robust solution that enables businesses to maximize their data. "

According to the developer, ONTAP 9.6 data management software allows companies of all sizes to maximize data profitability and take advantage of new digital capabilities, speeding up applications, providing simplicity and increasing protection for an infrastructure ready to meet the challenges of the future. ONTAP 9.6 offers the following functionality:

• The extended NVMe over Fibre Channel (NVMe/FC) ecosystem as of May 2019 includes VMware ESXi, Microsoft Windows and Oracle Linux hosts in addition to RedHat and SUSE Linux with storage channel stability. This allows enterprises to extend NVMe/FC performance to most workloads.
• FabricPool supports the Google cloud platform and Alibaba cloud in addition to Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS and IBM cloud storage. This enables enterprises to reduce the cost of core storage by automatically splitting cold data into any major public or private StorageGrid cloud.
• NetApp FlexCache software supports NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, enabling companies to take advantage of FlexCache when implementing hybrid clouds.
• Encryption of network traffic for NetApp SnapMirror and FlexCache technology improves the security of data replication and remote caching.
• Support for NetApp MetroCluster IP NetApp FAS AFF and entry-level systems helps enterprises maintain business continuity at a lower cost, enabling them to take advantage of existing IP client networks connecting data centers.

According to May 2019, the expanded line of NetApp services includes:

• SupportEdge Prestige offers customer-oriented technical support at the administrative level, which helps solve technical problems faster through priority call routing. Each customer is assigned a group of experts NetApp; it receives specialized reports, tools, and assessments of health"" storage environments.
• The Tiered Deployment Service accelerates the profitability of the NetApp solution and reduces the risk of installation or configuration errors. Three options, including Basic, Standard, and Advanced deployment, are configured according to the customer's business requirements.
• Managed Upgrade Service is a remote service that reduces the risks of security and uninterrupted operation of the software by using all necessary security patches and hardware and software updates.

2018

NetApp ONTAP 9.5

On October 30, 2018, the company NetApp announced the release of ON ONTAP version 9.5.

According to NetApp, the ONTAP software version presented is:

• Delivers adaptive performance and consistent low latency, accelerating critical workloads with end-to-end NVMe support.
• Unify data management across any storage, whether it's flash, hard drive, or cloud.
• Automates petabyte storage load balancing for object storage, both cloud and on-prem.
• Reduces the cost of deploying storage to keep your multi-site business running.
• Improves the read performance of cached datasets in a cluster at remote sites.
• Improves storage efficiency by saving up to 15% of space for relational database applications.
• Drastically improves performance by automatically ticking between AFF and NetApp MAX Data systems on servers.

In addition to upgrading ONTAP to version 9.5, NetApp also announced the release of MAX Data, StorageGRID SG6060, as well as Solution Support for FlexPod.

NetApp ONTAP AI

On August 13, 2018, the company NetApp introduced the ONTAP AI NetApp, a system architecture artificial intelligence running on supercomputers NVIDIA DGX and A800 NetApp AFF , cloud-based, SHD all-flash which is designed to accelerate and scale transmission data in and out cloud of it, simplifying the implementation of deep learning systems and helping customers use to artificial intelligence improve corporate results.

As reported, despite the fact that many organizations are introducing the next platforms, tools and practices of artificial intelligence, most of them are not able to sufficiently control the storage of distributed data and ensure the completeness, relevance and availability of their data for artificial intelligence projects. The success of artificial intelligence projects depends on the organization's approach to data processing and storage. In order to successfully implement these projects and prepare their business for tomorrow's artificial intelligence applications, organizations must make their data transparent and gain sufficient control over it, both in the cloud and beyond.

According to the company, thanks to the NetApp Data Fabric ONTAP AI allows enterprises to create invisible data transfer to the cloud and beyond. This process integrates diverse, dynamic, and distributed data sources, ensuring their complete control and protection. With high processing power and large disk space, ONTAP AI eliminates performance bottlenecks and provides secure, uninterrupted access to data in a variety of sources and formats.

ONTAP AI is an architecture jointly developed by NetApp and NVIDIA, combining powerful solutions for GPU and Flash systems and software with optimal cloud connectivity.

Characteristics:

• Simple deployment. Accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence systems by eliminating complexity and the need for assumptions.
• Unlimited scaling. Organizations that are just beginning to implement deep learning can start with a 1:1 configuration and then scale to 1:5 or higher as data grows.
• Confidence in work. High availability solution with redundant storage space, network, and server connections.

2016

Upgrade NetApp ONTAP 9

On September 26, 2016 the Netapp company presented modernized ON NetApp ONTAP.

This version of NetApp ONTAP 9 provides a high level of security, supports highly scalable NAS containers with high performance and simplified provisioning for enterprise applications.

ONTAP 9 offers the following features:

• NetApp ONTAP FlexGroup is a highly scalable, high-performance NAS container ideal for the latest generation of computer-aided electronic device design, high-tech, oil and gas, and news and entertainment media applications. FlexGroup allows you to scale one container to 20 petabytes (about 400 billion files).
• ONTAP Cloud is now supported by Microsoft Azure. ONTAP Cloud is a software-defined storage on the Azure platform, providing customers with access to ONTAP data management services for efficient movement, protection, sharing, and other cloud data management tasks. With the integration of Azure cloud services into the enterprise data structure, customers get a more dynamic infrastructure.
• ONTAP Select - with support for serial all-flash servers.

NetApp ONTAP 9

On June 8, 2016, the company NetApp announced the release of ON ONTAP 9.

ONTAP 9 is optimized for Flash, features increased performance and improved disk utilization. Announcing the product, the company NetApp offers All-Flash Array systems on SSD 15 TB solid-state drives (SSDs), which is almost 50% more than the capacity of the most capacious on the hard drive market, on June 8, 2016.

ONTAP 9 Data Management Software NetApp View, (2016)

NetApp also announced the program FlashAdvantage 3-4-5, which implemented an effective reduction in the need for disk space in a ratio of 4:1. The patented data compression engine allows you to put more data in less space and reduces the cost of using flash systems much more efficiently than traditional compression and deduplication.

ONTAP 9 offers three options:

• ONTAP 9 for use on systems in enterprise data centers;
• ONTAP Cloud (formerly NetApp Cloud ONTAP) provides enterprise cloud data management
• ONTAP Select - software for software-defined storage systems (SDS).

ONTAP Properties 9

• ONTAP 9 can be deployed and used to handle critical workloads in 10 minutes. With advanced system monitoring, organizations can centrally manage performance, capacity, and data protection in their IT environments.
• ONTAP 9 is the ideal platform for consolidating workloads. The platform offers common data services when deploying general-purpose server hardware as software-defined storage (SDS) in addition to developed NetApp systems, converged infrastructure, third-party arrays, pre-cloud systems, and the cloud.
• Customers get a hundred times (vendor assessment - approx. TAdviser) more fault-proof drives and can meet storage requirements with new RAID protection with triple parity and compliance features.

2014

IDC, Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker – 2014Q3

Сlustered Data ONTAP 8.3

Software-defined operating system for SHD NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP in the fall of 2014 has been significantly improved and allows organizations of all sizes to increase the level of readiness, performance and efficiency. With the support of a dedicated ON NetApp MetroCluster enterprise, disaster recovery is possible without interrupting operations when failures occur at the level. DPC This will ensure that mission-critical business applications run in the event of accidental or planned disruptions. The latest version software optimizes the operation of all-flash nodes, allowing customers to achieve maximum performance without compromising the efficiency, security, and flexibility of data management. The new version has significantly higher efficiency, which reduced the cost of one gigabyte and one I/O per second for Clustered Data ONTAP and, accordingly, increased ROI.

2013: Сlustered Data ONTAP 8.2

Clustered Data ONTAP - a new version of the flagship operating system appeared in the portfolio of applications of NetApp, the developer's press service said on June 17, 2013.

The new software will allow companies, including cloud service providers, to maximize application availability and quickly deliver required services without increasing costs. Clustered Data ONTAP 8.2 eliminates all performance, availability, and efficiency constraints specific to traditional storage, helping IT to adapt its storage infrastructure to changing business and application needs without disrupting business processes.

Updated functionality

• Business continuity - Almost 100% reliability, continuous data access during planned outages, and dynamic load balancing without data migration affecting performance.
• Seamless scalability: up to 69 PB of memory and 24 controller nodes, 49,000 LUN volumes, 12,000 NAS volumes with over 100,000 client support, and a single container with up to 20 PB capacity.
• Proven Operational Efficiency: SHD A unified architecture that supports a multi-user environment that meets all the needs of enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses.

In addition

• Cost-effective and flexible models in single-node and non-switch configurations can scale infrastructure on demand without disrupting business processes.
• Granular Quality of Service (QoS) policies enable service-level application performance across multi-user and multi-workload SAN and NAS infrastructures.
• Disk-to-disk backup technology NetApp SnapVault: compression and deduplication of data with space savings, instant availability of recovered datasets (even if they are multiple PBs), applications, and virtual machines (VMs).
• Software-defined SVMs provide infrastructure flexibility by providing storage services through heterogeneous hardware pools.
• Virtualized environments Microsoft VMware and with advanced SMB 3.0 support for Microsoft Windows 2012 Hyper-V API VMware vStorage and -interfaces.
• Always access data even during controller updates.
• Supports the latest storage protocols, including SMB 3.0, pNFS v4.1, iSCSI, FCoE, and Fibre Channel.
• New assessment, data migration and optimization services and improved implementation services.
• Improved automation and tracking for the NetApp OnCommanda software package

Software-Defined Storage NetApp View

Software-Defined Storage (SDS) is a component of the new Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) model, which aims to provide IT services flexibility to application owners and improve operational efficiency of IT resources. The whole procedure is similar to the mechanism for creating virtual machines and virtualizing servers: the clustered Data ONTAP OS splits the physical storage into a number of virtual servers (Storage Virtual Machine/SVM, formerly Vserver). This allows NetApp to provide multi-user support and policy-based storage maintenance through APIs and application integration. Clustered Data ONTAP is the first storage and data management solution to take advantage of software-defined storage today.

"Today, IT directors have re-qualified from application developers and data center operators as brokers providing information services to other companies," said Jay Kidd, senior vice president and chief technical officer of NetApp. - The new role requires the use of technologies that can provide instant IT response time and improve operational resource efficiency. Today, Clustered Data ONTAP handles these tasks perfectly and becomes the foundation for taking full advantage of software-defined storage, displacing slow and inefficient approaches. Our new software delivers unmatched infrastructure flexibility and benefits across multiple platforms. "

2012

ONTAP functionality

As of November 2012, ONTAP provides the functionality required for data management and contains a high-performance internal WAFL (Write Anywhere File Layout) file system. WAFL is the part of the OS responsible for writing and reading data. It is implemented slightly differently from any other OS, being the basic function around which everything else is built. WAFL uses a method in which once recorded data blocks are not later overwritten, and if it is necessary to overwrite a data block inside a file, empty blocks are allocated from a pool of free blocks of the file system, into which a record is sent, after which the pointer is moved from old blocks to new ones in the "file placement table." This recording method allows the use of a simple and efficient snapshot creation scheme, that is, instant "state shots" of data.

Data ONTAP is a narrowly specialized system used only on NetApp systems, its ideology is very similar to that used in. Cisco IOSData ONTAP provides unified data storage, that is, support for a number of protocols, the ability to work with different controllers. Version 8.1.1, in addition to clustering, has the ability to work with more than two controllers. In addition, all Data ONTAP functionality is the same when using operating systems on small storage systems, and when installing on large ones. Systems will have different performance, but OS functionality is the same.

Intelligent data management. The storage environment needs to be intelligent and self-organizing to respond quickly to countless and ever-changing business needs.

• Automate services and analytics. A self-managed environment scales easily into a storage infrastructure with control, automation, and data analysis functions without requiring additional staff and using fully transparent processes.
• Storage efficiency. Reducing costs in an era of rampant growth assumes that efficient storage is not a luxury, but a prerequisite for achieving maximum savings with the same or higher IT performance.
  • Virtual Storage Tiering. Application availability around the clock depends on the responsiveness of your data. The storage environment must be flexible, affordable to maintain, and extremely efficient. With self-managed data services, a mixed storage pool can store frequently requested data on Flash drives and less requested data on SATA drives. With automation with Flash Pools, Data ONTAP intelligence is ideal for a wide range of workloads without the complexity of data classification.

Immortality of operations. The information lifecycle should be much longer than the life of individual infrastructure components to ensure continuity of operations and 24/7 access to data.

• Continuous operations. Storage environments can NetApp operate without service interruptions. Uninterrupted operation during scheduled upgrades, maintenance, expansion, or even complete hardware replacement means that critical software environments such as Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, Oracle, SAP, VMware, Citrix, and Red Hat will not be interrupted.
• Built-in data protection. Companies need thoughtful access to important information, and data and hardware security includes many aspects. Multi-level protection involves preventing unauthorized access to data and enforcing strict rules against it.
• Integrated data protection. Set-Up and Forget data protection increases efficiency by eliminating the human factor and the need for ongoing architecture, storage, and security policy changes to meet service levels.

Infinite scalability. By growing their business, customers can be confident that storage performance, capacity, and scalability are potentially limitless, low investment, and always meet current needs.

• Easy to scale. When you expand your system, you don't need to hire additional staff and sacrifice performance or disk space. Unlimited volume. One volume can be expanded to 20 PB without auxiliary tools.
• Unified architecture. Using the same architecture for a wide variety of tasks will make it easier to make changes if storage requirements are revised. NetApp is a pioneer in creating a unified storage architecture, and Data ONTAP is a unique platform for horizontal scaling, providing extensive cluster-based management and data protection capabilities. This allows companies to easily perform both horizontal and vertical scaling of the system from a simple level to a complex one within a single cluster. In addition, for remote offices, we offer Data ONTAP Edge, an inexpensive storage system that runs on a VMware virtual machine vSphere and complements the FAS and V-Series NetApp as a directly connected storage system.
• Secure multi-user environment. Reliable data separation in cloud environments takes virtualization to a new level, taking another step towards cloud computing. As a result of close collaboration between NetApp, Cisco, and VMware, a solution has been developed to create a secure multi-user environment that separates shared server and storage infrastructures.

Data ONTAP 8

• The eight key buying criteria provide the foundation for a distributed IT infrastructure that enables customers to efficiently deliver on-demand information services and keep pace with changing business requirements.
• These criteria are scalability, unified architecture, built-in data protection, well-thought-out caching, continuity of operations, secure shared ownership, storage efficiency, and the ability to automate and analyze the services provided. Data ONTAP, which uses the most advanced technologies of NetApp, is the optimal platform for creating distributed information infrastructures.
• Data ONTAP 8 is currently the only platform that supports two modes of operation, while having enterprise-class functionality and flexibility, thereby meeting the individual needs of the business and allowing a smooth transition to a distributed information infrastructure.
• Migrating to Data ONTAP 8 makes it possible to create distributed storage infrastructures that can handle increasing amounts of data, providing increased flexibility, performance, and efficiency while reducing service costs.

Data ONTAP 8.01

The Data ONTAP 8.01 operating system supports Unified Connect functionality, which provides the ability to transmit traffic from various storage protocols - FCoE, iSCSI, NFS, CIFS - through a single communication channel formed by a converged network adapter. An adapter that is installed in disk arrays NetApp is also released. It can work with 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches, including the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series, Brocade 8000, and Brocade DCX directors with 24-port FCoE cards.

• Unified architecture. NetApp is the developer of the first industrial unified storage architecture managed by Data ONTAP 8. While the company's competitors are only beginning to move towards unification, NetApp offers a unique unified storage platform that is currently unparalleled and ideal for users transitioning to a distributed information infrastructure. The number of such users is constantly growing, and the leading position in the direction chosen by NetApp about a decade ago allows it to be sure that its solutions meet the current and future needs of customers in scalable, efficient and flexible infrastructures.
• Two operating modes. The Data ONTAP 8 platform allows users to choose from two modes of operation that best suit their needs and move to a distributed information infrastructure. Data ONTAP 8 7-Mode combines a new 64-bit scalable architecture with the functionality and unified storage architecture that NetApp customers rely on. In cluster mode, the system provides the development of a traditional cluster architecture and provides the unique capabilities necessary to simplify data management processes, support continuous operation, and transition to a distributed information infrastructure.
• Scalability. The 64-bit architecture on which the Data ONTAP 8 platform is based provides increased performance, dual-mode support, advanced multi-core processing, and next-generation hardware. All this will allow users to reach the predicted level of performance and adapt to the growing needs of the business. Using multi-mode clustered systems that can include up to 24 nodes, users can expand their infrastructure to meet growing needs, ranging from low to high-level systems.
• Efficiency. The Data ONTAP 8 platform allows users to optimize their existing infrastructure resources and improve storage efficiency. To do this, it includes the unique development of NetApp in the field of efficient storage technologies, including thin provisioning and deduplication.
• Flexibility. The Data ONTAP 8 platform can handle any amount of data - from file to block - allowing users to easily manage the rapidly expanding flow of information and move to a distributed information infrastructure. By supporting multiple protocols within a single platform, users can work simultaneously with multiple protocols, adapting to external changes. In addition, the system supports both traditional high availability systems built on the basis of two nodes, as well as new cluster systems, which can include up to 24 nodes. This enables users to choose the best solution for themselves, regardless of the current needs for a distributed information infrastructure.

Data ONTAP 8.1.1

Unlike the classic Data ONTAP 7-mode, built on the architecture of dual high-availability controllers, Cluster-mode allows you to build multi-node storage clusters with a single namespace (Global Namespace). It presents existing systems as a single set of nodes (cluster nodes), each of which controls its own storage space. A separate file or logical disk, of course, cannot exceed the capacity of a pool (unit) controlled by a pair of controllers, but can be accessed from any cluster controller. The cluster is managed as a whole, and each new controller inherits the settings of the entire cluster. A single storage space can be partitioned into multiple independent virtual storage servers (Vservers).

This approach allows you to almost endlessly increase the performance and capacity of the resulting cluster, dynamically allocate resources as necessary, carry out upgrades without interrupting the entire system, guarantee the availability and continuity of services in the 24x7x365 mode.

Data ONTAP 7G

Operating system (OS) Data ONTAP 7G improves NetApp FAS and V-Series performance and provides a fully virtualized data management environment. Using thin provisioning technology ON , Data ONTAP 7G creates storage pools. The simple Data ONTAP 7G virtualized management environment interface allows you to create virtual volumes, make changes quickly, and improve storage utilization.

The function of removal of duplication of data realized in NetApp Data ONTAP 7G is completely Integrated and delivers the highest efficiency of primary storage as well as backup and archive storage. One of the industry's best instant copy technologies, NetApp Snapshot is one of the standard features of Data ONTAP 7G. Snapshot provides robust data protection and fast application disaster recovery with minimal additional cost and maximum scalability. RAID- DP's innovative dual parity technology (RAID 6 implementation) protects data from dual disk failures and provides the performance you need to run the most demanding applications optimally.