NetApp's Cloud Volumes ONTAP on Google Cloud

Re-platforming legacy file systems to be hosted across different architectures such as on-premises data centers, private/public clouds, multicloud environments, and edge locations brings various benefits. A common use case is to utilize private, on-premises storage infrastructure for critical data, while leveraging public cloud storage for advanced data warehouse modernization. A hybrid setup also enables businesses to store data where it makes the most sense for their operations while also benefiting from the flexibility and scalability to support changing business needs.

However, data administration of such a diverse and distributed environment can be a challenge, particularly when data is stored in silos and is often inaccessible to those who need it most. A typical solution to this is leveraging a unified data control plane that enables collaboration, data synchronization, and mobility across different storage locations and cloud environments.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP implements optimized storage footprints across an entire enterprise data estate for unified access and sharing.

Through the unified BlueXP control plane,

users can manage data across on-premises data centers, multiple public clouds, and edge locations, so data can easily move between different environments and always be available to those who need it, no matter where they are located.

Integrated data resiliency and protection features

Cloud Volumes ONTAP offers integrated data resiliency and protection features, and API automation to reduce management complexity and resource waste.

Since disparate systems follow different semantics and access protocols, various file formats often lead to data silos and data duplication. As an example, an environment may include Windows servers using the SMB protocol and Linux machines relying on the NFS protocol for shared file access, and any information that has to be shared between the systems needs to be stored in duplicate and somehow kept in sync.

Although configuring Linux machines to access shares over SMB and mounting NFS shares on Windows is possible, the approach is effort-intensive and mostly impractical for production-grade setups. Some legacy file-stores also lack the ability to support multiple versions of tools and engines, making it difficult to integrate cloud and on-prem environments for seamless I/O operations.

The common solution to address this challenge is to leverage a separate file service for each protocol. But that duplicates service and storage costs, and creates new synchronization issues, data silos, and complications.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP reduces the complexity of managing multiple file systems by making data accessible to all users.

The Cloud Volumes ONTAP multiprotocol access feature enables seamless data sharing between NFS and SMB file systems as well as S3 and iSCSI protocols without the need for complex configurations or manual file conversions.

For seamless interoperability that enables the same file to be shared between Windows and Linux systems, Cloud Volumes ONTAP also takes care of mapping authentication mechanisms, locking policies and security settings.

The continuous growth of cyber security threats in the cloud has compounded data protection and security challenges for businesses. Catering to remote resources through distributed cloud-based file systems introduces novel risks such as data breaches, cyberattacks, and unauthorized access.
In addition to security concerns, local hardware failures, data center outages, human errors, and natural disasters are other points of continuous concern that lead to data loss or service disruptions.

The cloud’s shared responsibility model isn’t a silver bullet either: businesses are still susceptible to security breaches, regulatory violations, and data loss.

NetApp has a range of data protection and data governance features that help Cloud Volumes ONTAP users address security and compliance demands.

NetApp Snapshot™ technology creates point-in-time copies for quick data recovery

BlueXP backup and recovery creates lightweight backups in object storage

Automatic disaster recovery processes leverage SnapMirror® data replication to create geographically redundant DR environments, with seamless syncs and failover / failback operations

BlueXP ransomware protection automatically monitors, detects, and alerts on attempts to lock your files

BlueXP classification with Cloud Data Sense automatically categorizes your data by sensitivity level so you can protect and report on highly regulated data

The transformation to centralized cloud storage often leads to bad user experience on account of the high latency, particularly for companies that need to distribute data across multiple regions. Access times are further slowed down by geographical distance.

Businesses can use high-capacity servers and network ports as well as advanced caching techniques to improve data access times and reduce the remote file storage footprint. However, copying data from the central repository to disparate locations can silo data and add new complications.

NetApp services that can help minimize access latencies include:

Edge Caching for caching data at the edge of the network reduces access latencies and enables collaboration among distributed users accessing the same file from remote locations. Central file locking makes sure collaboration happens in real time, while preventing multiple users from making changes separately so file data stays consistent.

FlexCache Volumes create local caches of frequently accessed data, reducing the need to access remote file storage and improving overall data access times. Cloud bursting through FlexCache helps scale storage infrastructure dynamically by using cloud resources during periods of high demand. This can help ensure optimal performance and reduce access latencies, even during periods of peak usage.

Enterprise-scale file shares depend on high performance networks and servers to ensure reliable data transfer at low latencies for seamless real-time collaboration, regardless of location.

When multiple teams collaborate on files, a locking mechanism is required to avoid creating conflicting versions. Caching also helps users get quick access to files. However, the cloud provider file services don’t provide either of these features.
Cloud-based file shares are also expected to handle high-demand workloads that require large scale data transfers and real-time data processing which can be complex to configure.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP enables high-performance access to file shares, no matter where your users are located.

The NetApp Write Anywhere File Layout (WAFL) layout schedules multiple writes on the same disk array as needed, reducing the time it takes to perform a write request.

NVMe caching uses Flash Cache™, a locally attached NVMe instance store, to help Cloud Volumes ONTAP minimize latency. Leveraging intelligent NVMe caching for General Purpose SSD data also helps achieve faster read response times without requiring the use of I/O credits, subsequently improving performance for read-intensive workloads.

Edge caching allows frequently accessed files to be cached locally in remote locations, eliminating latency. File locking mechanism prevents multiple users from making changes simultaneously to avoid file integrity issues.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP can be deployed on high-performance infrastructure to meet the demands of even the most compute-intensive workloads.

High availability is a crucial factor for enterprise storage systems that require data accessibility even in the event of hardware failures, cloud outages, and other disruptions.

However, the major cloud provider availability options can’t guarantee zero data loss, and uptime is a matter of service level agreements.

The Cloud Volumes ONTAP high availability configuration guarantees that distributed cloud file shares remain continuously accessible with minimized downtime.

Multi-zone, dual-node configuration keeps data accessible with a RPO = 0 and RTO < 60 seconds

Seamless failover and failback processes ensure one node takes over when the other fails, then non-disruptively fails back to dual-mode operation after recovery.

Storage efficiency is a critical concern to prevent spiraling storage costs. Limited storage capacity also impacts application performance and availability, resulting in suboptimal response times.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP provides several storage orchestration features to help manage distributed file shares more efficiently.

Thin Provisioning, data compression, and deduplication minimize data storage consumption, lowering storage, bandwidth, and overhead costs.

Data tiering moves infrequently accessed data to object storage, and instantly tiers it back to block storage when needed. Reduces storage costs dramatically without impacting performance

As enterprises embrace Kubernetes, many are seeking ways to integrate existing storage platforms with it.

Managing persistent storage for Kubernetes workloads is often challenging, especially when dealing with distributed file shares at scale. While the cloud-based Kubernetes services can handle this for you, integrating such services with existing storage infrastructure can be a more complex undertaking.

NetApp supports seamless integration between Kubernetes and ONTAP storage infrastructure:

Dynamic persistent volume provisioning lets Cloud Volumes ONTAP volumes act as persistent storage for stateful applications running within Kubernetes clusters and using familiar Kubernetes tools and APIs

Full integration with the cloud-provider Kubernetes services Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, or Google GKE