This page provides an overview of the ONTAP-mode for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes.
About ONTAP-mode
The Flex Unified service level offers a storage pool deployment mode, called ONTAP-mode, that lets you use the pool as an ONTAP system.
In ONTAP-mode, you manage the storage pool as you manage an ONTAP storage system. You must be familiar with ONTAP concepts, administration, and operations to use its features effectively. For more information, see the ONTAP 9 documentation about configuring resources and features. Additional information and training courses are available. If you are new to ONTAP-based storage management, consider using Flex Unified Default-mode instead.
Deployment and architecture
You can deploy an ONTAP-mode storage pool using the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, Terraform, or Google APIs. A NetApp Volumes Flex Unified ONTAP-mode storage pool corresponds to an ONTAP cluster.
The deployment includes:
An ONTAP cluster with one active/passive high availability (HA)-pair
An aggregate
All necessary logical interfaces (LIF) for network access
For large capacity pools, the service deploys six active-passive HA-pairs to manage FlexGroups.
Managed service aspects
NetApp Volumes is a managed service. The service provider manages the virtual infrastructure for your Flex Unified ONTAP-mode system. You can't directly manage the hardware components of your storage pool, such as nodes, aggregates, or network interfaces. The service automatically performs ONTAP upgrades.
Increasing the pool's capacity might trigger an upgrade of the underlying virtual machines (VMs) to provide additional CPU and RAM for better performance. These upgrades might result in brief I/O pauses.
Storage pool configuration and management
When deploying the pool, you define the following:
The Google project that owns the pool.
The Google zone where the pool is deployed. For regional pools, you can specify a replica zone. A regional pool corresponds to a stretched MetroCluster.
The network (VPC) the pool is connected to using private service access.
The capacity and throughput and IOPS capabilities of the pool.
A CMEK policy to use if you want to encrypt your data with customer-managed encryption keys instead of Google-owned and Google-managed encryption keys.
Auto-tiering settings.
After creating the pool, you can increase its capacity or change the performance. This updates the underlying aggregate as needed. For regional pools, you can initiate a zone switch, which corresponds to a MetroCluster switchover and switchback.
ONTAP-level operations
You must perform any actions beyond storage pool management at the ONTAP level. These actions include:
Creating and managing volumes.
Creating and managing shares and export policies.
Creating and managing snapshots.
Creating and managing replications.
Changing SVM, volume, protocol, and share settings.
Managing value-added features that are available in ONTAP-mode but not in Default-mode.
Feature management overview
The following table provides an overview of the features controlled using the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes API or ONTAP API:
| Feature | Google Cloud NetApp Volumes APIs (Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, Terraform) |
ONTAP REST API |
|---|---|---|
| Storage pool | Yes | No |
| Volume | No | Yes |
| Snapshot | No | Yes |
| Backup (includes Backup Policy, Backup Vault) | Yes | No |
| CMEK | Yes | No |
| Auto-tiering (pool settings) | Yes | No |
| Auto-tiering (per volume settings) | No | Yes |
| Active Directory | No | Yes |
| HostGroup (initiator group) | No | Yes |
| Volume replication | No | Yes |
| Volume migration | No | Yes |
| External replication | No | Yes |