Storage
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TOPICShare
For every $1 invested in digital transformation programs, firms must spend another $3 modernizing legacy applications, according to the Gartner report. Today, 65% of mission-critical applications are still on premises because of the challenges that IT teams face when trying to move those workloads to the cloud. Moving applications that require Windows and Linux file shares to the cloud seems tedious and tiring.
Obstacles to successful implementation in the cloud include:
- Consistency with on-premises applications is “top priority” for enterprises when evaluating future infrastructure investments.
- Reduced cost and complexity when applications will not benefit from the massive scale of object storage and the related complexity of rearchitecting the application to use it.
- Simplest path to getting application migration “done” thanks to readily available development libraries and SDKs that handle issues for client software.
- High performance for latency-sensitive applications that work well with the low-latency, hierarchical framework of file-based storage services.
- Support for enterprise capabilities around storage, including the Microsoft SMB protocol, inline volume snapshots, rapid volume copies, and performance that’s adjustable on the fly to scale along with the needs of application lifecycles.
To address these challenges and migrate mission-critical workloads to the cloud, organizations are looking to enterprise-grade file storage services like NetApp Cloud Volumes for Google Cloud.
Cloud-Native Service with Full SMB and NFS Support
A true Google Cloud-native service offering, Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud is an enterprise-grade file services platform that frees up resources: With the platform, you have no infrastructure to manage. Instead, you just deploy volumes and go! A decade ago, an NFS and SMB supportive cloud offering of this caliber was mere conjecture, though a cloud product with multichannel support was on the minds of ambitious developers. Now, Cloud Volumes Service has been realized as the quickest and easiest way to deploy high-performing storage for your Windows file share and Linux file share applications. With the release of Cloud Volumes Service into GA at Google NEXT London and an amazing decade of cloud development in the rear view mirror (along with some hilarious memes), we’re excited to maintain the pace of development in 2020.
Now, we’re rolling out a number of much-needed features for the user community as we forge ahead into a new year. Read on to find out more about how Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud unlocks a full set of features for on-premises NFS and SMB needs.
February Update: NFSv4.1 and SMBv3 Multichannel Support Rolled Out!
In this February update, we are pleased to announce the availability of base NFSv4.1 protocol support and SMBv3 multichannel capabilities. These updates help address key user needs in the NFS and SMB protocols, enabling users to expand their workload uses with Cloud Volumes Service. With Cloud Volumes Service, users can unlock on-premises applications that require Linux file share or Windows file share access on Google Cloud. That means that users are no longer inhibited by the protocols underpinning their applications, and can instead benefit from the high performance, collaborative nature of the cloud.
NFSv4.1 support enables users to now create cloud volumes that can be accessed with the NFSv4.1 protocol.
NFSv4.1 support provides important protocol improvements, including better performance, built-in locking, and composite remote procedure calls (RPCs). The base release of NFSv4.1 support will provide local user access for cloud volumes without the need to perform advanced authentication and authorization with Kerberos and lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) configurations. Linux file share support enables customers who need the enhanced features of NFSv4.1—like file locking, more robust ACLs, and encryption in flight—to meet their security and application requirements. They can now take make the most of the NFSv4.1 capability to deploy cloud applications that require a myriad of attributes, such as high availability, databases, and multi-user access. Support for Kerberos and LDAP is forthcoming as CVS development continues in the new year (and onward!).
To learn more about NFS cloud performance, please consult our NFS Reference Architecture for Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud.
SMBv3 multichannel support significantly increases Windows file share performance.
With Cloud Volumes Service, users can now migrate their Windows workloads, as well as their Active Directory, to Google Cloud without making any changes to existing authentication requirements. This significantly decreases friction in adopting Google to migrate these Windows workloads to the cloud. For example, this capability facilitates VDI —meaning that users can switch departments and offices and still access the data they need most without constant changes to AD policies. With Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud, users amplify their application Windows file share performance with high throughput.
SMBv3 multichannel support can significantly increase the performance of Windows-based file sharing operations for Windows operating systems that support the SMBv3 protocol, such as Windows Server 2012 and higher. SMB multichannel increases network performance by leveraging multiple connections between the client system and Cloud Volumes Service. No configuration changes are needed to access this feature. Your SMBv3 clients automatically use the feature enhancement in both new and existing SMB cloud volumes, unlocking additional performance potential for your SMB workloads, including use cases around oil and gas exploration. You can get additional information about SMB multichannel cloud performance in the SMB FAQ or by reading the reference architecture for SMB.
What Does the Year Ahead Hold for Your Storage Infrastructure?
Learn more about Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud at Cloud Central, or review our performance benchmarks to see how effortlessly NetApp solutions can address your cloud application needs. We predict a fruitful year of innovation in your storage infrastructure and sturdy strides toward helping you develop, migrate, and deploy a highly efficient cloud-enabled or hybrid cloud operation. What Does the Year Ahead Hold for Your Storage Infrastructure?
