So. I rebuilt my lab system (again - nothing like digging into wafl until you break it - which is sadly way to easy) today. FAS-8040 cluster. I thought I would "attempt" to build the cluster entirely within the 9.8P1 GUI.
The GUI is now so "simple-(minded)", It is incapable of performing all but one of (creating the aggregate) the simplest of tasks.
>Creating the Cluster
One of the 4 cluster ports was disconnected. The GUI reported the network was in error and would not proceed. even after resolving the issue, reseating the twinax cable and rebooting all nodes. So step #1 had to be completed at the CLI. Strike 1.
>Creating the aggregates
Tiering - clinking on the tiering button configured my aggregates for me. It didn't ask if I liked it. It didn't even ask if I wanted it to do it. It just created them. OK,I won't argue the config it created was less than ideal but it removed all control and may not have been representative of what I wanted. +1 for working, -2 for not giving me feedback that we were proceeding without acknowledgement.
>Configuring the NAS (SMB/NFS) SVM
It could not configure the SVM as all of the ports were in their own separate broadcast domain. (This is real insanity!)
Go to the CLI, remove the half dozen broadcast domains that had been arbitrarily created and manually create my ifgrp, vlan.
Goddamn -> it (ONTAP! Don't bring this craziness to my CLI too!) put those in their own separate broadcast domains too! OK, remove those from the arbitrarily created broadcast domains and create a rational mgmt and data. I manually add the ports to the broadcast domain and the GUI still can't create a NAS (SMB/NFS) SVM. -1 for the GUI failing, -1 for the CLI including stupidity too.
> Configuring the FC SVM
It is capable of creating a FC domain without issue. YEAH! +1
So all of this work and the new hotness failed miserably and without mercy at almost every single step.
WTF?
I want to add to this, I recently sat through a number of NetApp courses - NFS, SMB, Performance & Security compliance.
Do you know WTF I saw? (besides ancient information going back to 9.1I) I saw ancient classes that had not been updated in YEARS, but more so I saw a progression of GUI interfaces from NetApp that ALL worked differently. The poor instructors that had to deal with the BS were apologetic. "This may not represent what the GUI on your system looks like...". I saw insanity. pure chaos. A company that can't figure out wtf it is trying to do with its GUI. Why does every single release from 9.1 on have a new interface with things in different places? It smacks of a complete lack of imagination, preparation, planning & managerial direction as well as a company flinging every piece of (GUI) poo against the wall as if that would make things somehow better.
NetApp needs to get their game together and that does not start with telling customers "It's ok, we've run this past a few mediocre people who can't tell a disk from a ram stick and they liked it.!". You guys need to get a group together and really work through this. You need to design a single interface that really works and provides a "single-pane-of-glass" interface that is relatively consistent from one release to the next. It would be great to have a consistent interface along with a "What's new!" page that covers WTF is new, but it otherwise operationally consistently and works well across releases. You want to keep the interface fresh or some other ridiculous BS - OK, theme it. I want a dark theme, a light theme and a "it actually works theme." I can tell you that right now - that "dog don't hunt".
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