NetApp ONTAP ─ we will break it down

NetApp ONTAP Cloud is a software subscription solution. NetApp ONTAP storage combines customer data management with a powerful enterprise-level data warehouse software solution. Quite a lot and in detail over the past year versions of ONTAP 9 and 9.2 have been described. However, there is a certain lack of basic information about the technologies themselves, especially for new users. Their brief description is given in this article.

What does Data ONTAP mean?

Before turning to technical details, it is curious to consider some versions of the origin of the ONTAP “letter combination” itself. In his community on the NetApp website, someone, hiding behind the nickname NetApp_Staff, chose to laugh it off, although, as you know, in every joke ... This is how he explained the origin of the term .

“Data ONTAP is a kind of acronym. Some acronyms are just pretty. It is clear that the goal is always to invent a special word, and in many cases they are chosen almost at random. Something like that happened with ONTAP.
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The acronym itself had no meaning. Moreover, the Data ONTAP combination was inspired by ... beer. The idea was that the data should flow freely, just like beer from a keg pierced by a tap.

We, at NetApp, like this name, because it perfectly describes what people think of the data. They should be there and then when you need them. ” Add to this that “on tap” also means “ready for immediate use or use; at hand. "

In the comments to this explanation, someone knowledgeable noticed that in the office of the company it was the custom to drink a mug or two on Fridays. But seriously, some have written that the acronym stands for nothing more than “Open Network Technology for Appliance Products”.

There was also a version related to the fact that the company's stock symbol (NTAP) is part of ONTAP. Well, it is unlikely. But since we mentioned the ticker, let's take a look at the NetApp stock price itself for the entire period after their initial release.


It’s hard to find a more stable company than NetApp. From March 2001 to the present, she has not experienced significant shocks.

What is ONTAP Cloud

The Cloud Storage Environment (CSE) on ONTAP Cloud implements the following features.

- Non-destructive, two-node support and high availability counteracts unplanned storage failures in the cloud.

- Used storage systems NAS and SAN, with support for NFS, CIF and iSCSI.

- The technologies of data deduplication, “thin volumes” (thin provisioning) and data compression are used.

- NetApp Snapshot Zero-impact technology almost instantly backs up data without requiring additional storage resources.

- NetApp SnapMirror technology integrates a hybrid cloud environment by linking local FAS repositories to the ONTAP Cloud environment.

- Advanced data management tools (OnCommand Management Suite) and their monitoring (OnCommand Insight) are managed from OnCommand System Manager.

- Accessibility of applications is ensured by copying them through special “availability zones”.

How ONTAP Cloud Works on AWS Computing and Storage Resources

ONTAP Cloud is the version of the Data ONTAP virtual machine. It is designed to work on top of the Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) in various computing systems (compute instance). See more here . In the Russian-language IT literature is often used tracing "instansy". On the Amazon Web Services site, they are defined as follows.

Amazon EC2 instance types . Amazon EC2 provides a wide range of instance types optimized for various use cases. Instance types include various combinations of components such as a processor, memory, storage subsystem, and networking capabilities. They allow you to select the appropriate set of resources for the applications used by the client. Each type of instance includes one or more of its sizes, which allows you to scale resources in accordance with the requirements of the target workload.

AWS Elastic Block Storage (EBS) is typically used as storage. EBS storage volumes create the equivalent of a Data ONTAP storage node that runs in the cloud.

ONTAP Cloud is a variant of the Amazon Machine (Amazon Machine Instance, AMI), which is deployed via the OnCommand Cloud Manager from AWS Marketplace *.


AWS Marketplace Fragment

AWS has cloud data centers in many regions around the world. The client can choose for himself the best data center and availability zone in accordance with his requirements. ONTAP Cloud is virtual and can work in one regional data center, moving to another remote data center if necessary. When copying data using technology SnapMirror. In this case, data that is managed within the ONTAP Cloud environment is moved.

ONTAP Cloud vs. Ebs

EBS storage can be thought of as similar to DAS storage for standard servers. In fact, EBS provides “raw storage capacity” for Amazon EC2 servers.

EBS has some features and capabilities that are somewhat wider than what DAS typically offers, but they are still limited and do not contain any data replication tools.

They provide snapshots of the repository. These snapshots affect the storage performance, and they also create a complete replica of the storage in S3, for which the customer pays.

ONTAP Cloud Storage is a managed storage environment that uses EBS raw storage as the basis for its work. ONTAP Cloud takes over EBS storage, manages it using Data ONTAP storage OS and, besides the storage itself, provides the following additional features.

- Using multiple protocols (NFS, CIF, iSCSI).

- Data Protection (Data Protection) Snapshot copies, SnapMirror, SnapVault.

- Storage efficiency (Data efficiency) ─ Data deduplication, compression, thin provisioning. These features can reduce the number of EBS storage units you need to buy.

- Management ─ Unified Manager, System Manager, WFA, Insight, etc ...

- FlexClone technology.


How FlexClone Technology Works

NetApp Snapshots uses zero-copy technology. It involves operations in which the processor does not perform the task of copying data from one memory area to another. The term is used to describe technologies that help reduce the number of copies between intermediate buffers. See more here .

NetApp Snapshots have no effect on performance. Copies store only change data, minimizing storage usage.

Data protection in ONTAP Cloud

ONTAP Cloud includes SnapMirror replication software that moves data between Data ONTAP locations. Data can be moved from one availability zone to another.

For this, the client needs to have other Data ONTAP environments in the secondary availability area. This secondary location may be another location of the ONTAP Cloud, or it may be the location of a NetApp Private Storage.

SnapMirror can be used to move data between Data ONTAP platforms, including the “data center to cloud”, “cloud to data center” and “between clouds” (or “between cloud regions”) directions.

OnCommand Cloud Manager

NetApp Cloud ONTAP How It Works


OnCommand Cloud Manager provides a simple wizard-based interface for deploying and monitoring Storage Virtual Machines in Cloud ONTAP and NetApp Private Storage

OnCommand Cloud Manager provides management of the storage environment in a hybrid cloud, including ONTAP Cloud and clustered platforms based on Data ONTAP.

It simplifies the operational management of the “data fabric” (Data Fabric), including the configuration, support and monitoring of each data storage node, ─ both virtual devices and real physical hardware.

Actually, OnCommand Cloud Manager implements the deployment environment for ONTAP Cloud, which offers installation with a few mouse clicks and automatically selects and assigns cloud resources for each case.

Deploying ONTAP Cloud, Cloud Manager uses AWS credentials to select the EC2 virtual machine and EBS storage that match the client's request.

Various types of AWS credentials include passwords (passwords), access keys (access keys), multifactor authentication (multi-factor authentication), paired keys (key pairs), certificates (certificates). See more here .

ONTAP Cloud can only be deployed through the Cloud Manager. It handles all actions performed to ensure that all AWS resources, ─ both computational and storage, are properly assigned to a specific ONTAP Cloud location. Attempting to deploy ONTAP Cloud by any other method will result in failure from the very beginning.

Cloud Manager is the central control point for the cloud-based hybrid environment and can manage ONTAP clustered environments, regardless of its location. It can work both in the AWS cloud and on the on-premise solution in the data center at the client’s site.

There are two main differences between the versions of ONTAP Cloud, and they depend on the way in which the software is received and installed. OnCommand Cloud Manager is available as AMI on the AWS Marketplace (the AMI version is deployed for the EC2 cloud), or can be downloaded from the NetApp support website. Cloud Manager is available to NetApp customers for free.

Cloud Manager can be used with any clustered Data ONTAP based platforms. It provides configuration, management and monitoring for this environment, but it requires the deployment of ONTAP Cloud and includes advanced features that apply only to the ONTAP Cloud (such as installation, acquisition of cloud resources, installation of a network to work in the cloud, etc.). Cloud Manager also manages the SnapMirror relationship between the ONTAP Cloud and on-premises FAS solutions.

ONTAP Cloud Purchase Models

ONTAP Cloud is available on the AWS Marketplace in several purchase options. It can be paid by the hour with a prepayment (pay-as-you-go), or you can buy a subscription from NetApp.

According to the hourly model, the purchase is made directly in the AWS Marketplace and consists of a fee for ONTAP Cloud software, support and AWS resources. In a subscription model, a customer buys a six-month or one-year subscription from a NetApp sales representative and then activates subscription and support through the Cloud Manager to access the ONTAP Cloud. This approach is called BYOL (Bring Your Own License). Amazon, in this case, bills only for using and ensuring the smooth operation of EC2 and EBS resources.

ONTAP Cloud can be run whenever it is needed. With an hourly scheme, the client pays only for the real time of his work in the ONTAP Cloud and can always disconnect if it is not necessary.

However, if you need to maintain your current data, payment is always charged, otherwise the data will be lost. That is, in the subscription model, the client pays for long-term data management, but only for the actual AWS resources used when ONTAP Cloud is running. The ONTAP Cloud options available to the user are as follows.


Cloud ONTAP service purchase models

- Explore . Provides the full power of Data ONTAP in a preconfigured solution for applications that require relatively small resources. Provides up to 2TB of storage capacity. Corresponds to M4.XL and M3.XL instances for EC2.

- Standard . Provides the full power of Data ONTAP with flexible performance and resources. It has wider application support and up to 10 TB of capacity. Corresponds to instances M4.2XL, M3.2XL and R3.XL for EC2.

- Premium . Provides the full power of Data ONTAP for applications that require large resources. Supports up to 368 TB of capacity. Corresponds to the R3.2XL instance for EC2.

- High Availability (HA) . In a high availability configuration, ONTAP Cloud supports up to 360 TB.

- BYOL . In this configuration, ONTAP Cloud has advanced options, supports up to 360TB and all types of EC2 instances ─ M3.XL, M3.2XL, R3.XL, R3.2XL, M4.XL and M4.2XL.

ONTAP Cloud Explore and Standard are full versions of NetApp ONTAP. The purchase includes many of the main and most important features of Data ONTAP (SnapShot Copies, FlexClone volumes, SnapMirror data replication, data deduplication, etc.). Also included are OnCommand Cloud Manager and the NetApp Software Support Plan enterprise level support plan.

ONTAP Cloud High Availability (HA) is a version of ONTAP Cloud that can be configured as a two-node (two node) solution in the cloud.

If a non-destructible environment is required for applications, ONTAP Cloud HA allows you to build a two-node solution with failover support. It supports the work of the storage in case of an unplanned failure of one of the nodes, as well as a planned one (for example, when upgrading the system without stopping it).

For pricing, contact netapp@muk.ua