Overview
Large enterprises and service providers require a scalable, centralized, and automation-enabled platform for storage lifecycle management as the data center landscape grows and evolves with a wide array of workloads.
We are excited to share the General Availability of ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10.0. This release is based on a redefined microservices architecture that is highly available and enables a cloud-like scale to manage Virtual Volumes. It squarely focuses on the significance of vVols and Storage Policy Based Management as the most efficient mechanism to meet the dynamic data management requirements of your virtual machines. Thus, enabling operational simplicity for customers managing large VMware vSphere infrastructure with NetApp® ONTAP®. The following blog outlines some of the key capabilities and benefits.
Cloud-like Scale
Each virtual machine is typically composed of a minimum of three Virtual Volumes (vVols), including configuration, swap, and data vVols. A vSphere administrator can effectively manage a substantial fleet of 50,000 such virtual machines, accommodating over 150,000 vVols by leveraging the advanced capabilities of ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere. It is important to note that these impressive figures are grounded in rigorous internal testing and qualification processes with scope to expand further. The introduction of modernized scale-out architecture heralds an era of unprecedented scalability, aligning seamlessly with the fundamental principles underpinning an enterprise-grade storage platform.
High Availability
ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere has been built with resiliency at multiple layers. You can choose the HA deployment mode that creates multiple VMs distributed across vSphere hosts in the VMware vSphere cluster. This ensures that an inadvertent loss of a VM or a host does not affect the day-to-day operations. You can continue with the administrative tasks as usual while the failed nodes are recovered or restarted elsewhere in the cluster. A built-in load-balancing mechanism ensures optimal distribution of tasks between the VMs, yielding the best performance outcomes with the resources allocated. HA-based deployments ensure that there is zero downtime for the control plane and provide uninterrupted services for Day-2 operations.
Multi-vCenter Management and Multi-Storage Backend Management
A single instance of ONTAP tools can now centrally manage multiple vCenters and ONTAP clusters. For large private cloud deployments, it’s common to have several instances of vCenters. For example, VMware Cloud Foundation comprises of workload domains, and each workload domain is managed by a dedicated vCenter. Similarly, multiple ONTAP clusters could be used to serve storage with varying performance and availability capabilities. In such cases, you could deploy one instance of ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere and manage the entire fleet through a centralized management plane. With a simplified yet powerful design, customers can now drastically optimize resource consumption, manageability, and overall architecture.
Multi-tenancy
Extending from the multi-vCenter and multi-cluster capabilities, ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere ensures high standards of security and isolation between each vCenter and the associated Storage Virtual Machines(SVM). This bridges the multi-tenancy capabilities of VMware Cloud Foundation and Netapp ONTAP. Each vCenter or workload domain that constitutes a tenant, can securely access only their designated SVM. Service Providers greatly benefit from multi-tenancy capabilities and are empowered to establish a shared, isolated, and highly secure infrastructure platform for their end customers.
Automation-enabled framework
With an API-first approach, ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10.0 is built for automation. It allows you to integrate with existing tooling and build end-to-end workflows to consume the features. You can choose from a range of tools such as Ansible and Terraform based on your preference and skill sets to orchestrate workflows for faster and more efficient operations. Such powerful integration capabilities help mitigate error-prone manual procedures, simplifying and easing the day of an administrator.
Summary
NetApp® ONTAP® data management software is loaded with industry-leading innovations. The new NetApp ASA platform provides continuous data access with simplified data protection and data management. ASA systems deliver better effective capacity for any workload, backed by our Storage Efficiency Guarantee. With an automation-enabled framework, ONTAP tools for VMware brings the best of Netapp ONTAP enterprise-class storage to vSphere. A redefined architecture accommodates a simplified design and ensures enterprise-grade capabilities such as high availability, security and cloud-like scalability. It truly aligns with Software-Defined Storage principles to manage storage through a Storage Policy Based Management approach based on vVols.
Next Steps
- Learn about the overall Netapp–VMware strategy: Netapp-VMware Better together
- Product download: https://mysupport.netapp.com/site/products/all/details/otv10/downloads-tab
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Documentation Set: https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap-tools-vmware-vsphere-10/index.html
18th June Update : ONTAP tools 10.1 is now GA, this release supercedes OTV 10.0 with a richer feature set and capabilities - More details here - Evolving VMware Integrations with ONTAP tools 10.1