Managing your volumes in Google Cloud NetApp Volumes can take a fair bit of brain power, especially if you are new to using file services. Whether you are a developer looking to add a persistent volume to your project, or an enterprise storage administrator moving apps to the cloud, there are multiple steps and reading the documentation can take time.
If you use Cloud console for the NetApp Volumes features we support, you can get help with Gemini Cloud Assist. Our integration there helps you across various aspects of product usage, from understanding fundamental concepts to helping you troubleshoot problems. It can explain product concepts, guide you on best practices, and provide instructions on using Cloud console and gcloud CLI.
But what if you love the look of a command mode prompt, and thrill to issuing direct commands on a computer? I’ll admit, I’ve loved computer commands since my early MS-DOS days. GUIs are fine, but I find commands more efficient. Gemini Cloud Assist can help you with commands and makes it easy for you to copy and paste them into a shell. But what if this intelligence lived right inside the Google Cloud shell? It does as the Gemini CLI!
This CLI does reasonably well out of the box. But what if you want the most educated advisor, with few hallucinations? That’s where the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes MCP server can help. You can install it as a Gemini CLI Extension, or install it in your VS Code environment. Let’s take a closer look at using it as a CLI extension.
Getting started
The NetApp Volumes MCP server is currently hosted for Preview as a public repository under NetApp in GitHub: https://github.com/NetApp/gcnv-mcp-server The README includes instructions for installing it in Cloud shell:
- Authenticate with Google Cloud
- Install the MCP server
- Confirm it’s installed and registered
- Start Gemini!
Once the MCP server is installed, you can use it to create resources like pools and volumes, configure policies for Active Directory, CMEK, or backups, and work with data protection features like snapshots, volume replications, or backups. You can also use the power of Gemini to filter and summarize resources using the data it has available to it, like this:
If you use Cloud shell, give the MCP server a try and tell us what you think. You can provide feedback at ng-gcnv-mcp-feedback@netapp.com.
Here's a diagram showing the installation workflow, as well as how you might interact with it.
