- Workload factory is now accessible via the BlueXP console
- New supported workload: Builders
- General storage workloads
- Replicate data from on-premises ONTAP systems to FSx for ONTAP
- Database workloads
- New functionality: Continuous optimization
- Terraform comes to Codebox for SQL Server deployment
- New workflow: PostgreSQL server creation
- Generative AI workloads
- Add data guardrails for filtering sensitive data
- Clone existing knowledge bases
- VMware workloads
- Quick and detailed analysis modes
- Select specific virtual machines for analysis
- And there’s more to come
As we close out 2024, it’s a good time to update everyone on the new features that were recently added to BlueXP™ workload factory on AWS. These are powerful new capabilities that will make managing and deploying your workloads using Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSx for ONTAP) much easier in 2025!
Workload factory is now accessible via the BlueXP console
While it’s still available as a standalone console, BlueXP users can now access workload factory directly through the BlueXP console.
This support gives BlueXP users direct access to all of workload factory’s functions without opening up a separate console window, which is going to make things much easier. The functionality is exactly the same using the service this way.
Here you can see where to access the workload factory options in the BlueXP menu:
New supported workload: Builders
The software building process is one of the most critical workloads in the IT landscape. But when working with large scale datasets, the pace of development and delivery can become extraordinarily slow. Workload factory now brings its guardrails, automation, and optimization to support this important workload. Most importantly, workload factory enables faster build pipelines by providing easy access to FSx for ONTAP lightweight cloning technology.
The workflow is simple: Starting with the build data in an FSx for ONTAP volume, workload factory provides a self-service delivery system for DevTest teams to consume cloned volumes and for admins to define the lifetime of the clones.
Workload factory can also be accessed directly from the Perforce Helix Visual Client (P4V) graphical user interface. That makes it easy for users to access cloned software builds without leaving that console.
Note that the builders workload is brand new to workload factory. We’ll be adding many more useful integrations and features for software builders in upcoming releases.
General storage workloads
General storage remains the bedrock workload for FSx for ONTAP, and workload factory continues to expand its support for this all-purpose use case.
Replicate data from on-premises ONTAP systems to FSx for ONTAP
Now workload factory will let you replicate the data stored in your on-premises NetApp® ONTAP® storage systems to FSx for ONTAP. This makes it easy for on-premises customers to use AWS data services without migrating entire workloads to AWS. One example of this would be replicating an on-premises volume to AWS to serve as the data source for an Amazon Bedrock generative AI chatbot.
There are two steps to the process: Discovering your on-premises ONTAP clusters and replicating the volumes from ONTAP to FSx for ONTAP.
First, to discover your ONTAP clusters, you’ll need to be running ONTAP 9.8 or later and have a link associated with the on-premises cluster. Your connectivity needs to resemble the diagram shown below:
This step is a prerequisite to replicating volumes to FSx for ONTAP.
Now, to replicate volumes from your on-premises ONTAP to FSx for ONTAP you’ll need to discover your on-premises cluster and a previously deployed FSx ONTAP instance.
Select the Discover button:
After the ONTAP on-premises system is discovered, you can click the “View” button to see the volumes and replicate them to an FSx for ONTAP system. The data is replicated using SnapMirror®, ONTAP’s built-in replication technology. The FSx for ONTAP volume is a read-only mirror copy that remains in sync with the on-premises volume.
Database workloads
Databases remain the backbone of enterprise IT, and workload factory continues to expand its support for this workload with the addition of several new capabilities.
New functionality: Continuous optimization
The workload factory continuous optimization feature makes it easier to assess, optimize, and protect database workloads running on FSx for ONTAP. You can read about the continuous optimization capability in depth in this post.
With the continuous optimization feature, workload factory automatically analyzes the infrastructure resources used for your databases and creates a report about their current cost, performance, security, and resiliency. The report also shows how these elements would perform if workload factory’s best-practice recommendations were implemented. Each category is given a score showing the difference between the current deployment and the recommendation, with a button to implement the recommendation.
Here you can see view of a single database instance with an overall optimization score for the instance, an optimization score per category, specific optimization recommendations, and the option to implement the optimization recommendations:
Your report results are downloadable so they can be shared throughout your organization and the results can be filtered by category, status, and severity.
Terraform comes to Codebox for SQL Server deployment
Now you can automate end-to-end SQL Server deployments that adhere to AWS, ONTAP, and Microsoft best practices using an additional infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tool: Terraform.
Terraform joins CloudFormation, the AWS CLI, and the RESTful API as options for auto-generated code snippets in the workload factory Codebox. All you need to do is copy the snippet and use it in your existing IaC workflows.
New workflow: PostgreSQL server creation
Workload factory continues to expand its support for databases with its latest update: you can now use workload factory to create standalone PostgreSQL databases to run on FSx for ONTAP as the storage.
Here you can see the database creation screen for PostgreSQL:
Generative AI workloads
The future is in generative AI (GenAI), and workload factory has added some new features to help you support your GenAI applications and the data they run on.
Add data guardrails for filtering sensitive data
With the help of BlueXP classification, workload factory now offers data guardrails when you add a new data source to your GenAI knowledge base.
Using data guardrails, workload factory scans the data during ingestion, removing any personally identifiable information from the dataset so that it isn’t included in the knowledge base and mistakenly exposed by the application.
You can read more about the new data guardrails capability in this post.
Clone existing knowledge bases
A new functionality in workload factory is the ability to clone existing GenAI knowledge bases. With the cloning function, you can perform tests on a knowledge base without the time, effort, and added costs of creating a new knowledge base from scratch.
All you have to do is select the target knowledge base’s menu options, select the Snapshot option in the drop-down menu, and choose “Clone Knowledge base.” A clone knowledge base will be created instantly.
Remember, these clones are lightweight and will only consume minimal space for the copy and any changes made to it. That makes them an excellent and cost-effective resource for DevTest teams that want to build multiple test environments that include the entire working knowledge base.
Here you can see how to access the cloning option from the menu for the knowledge base you select:
VMware workloads
This update adds more options about how you get details about your existing VMware environment to facilitate your migration to FSx for ONTAP.
Quick and detailed analysis modes
The VMware migration advisor wizard in workload factory now has two options for assessing your environment: Quick assessment and Detailed planning.
The Quick assessment uses RVTools for a speedy summary of your deployment, while the Detailed planning option uses PowerShell for a more comprehensive assessment of your VMware workload.
Having these two options serves different customer needs. Quick assessment offers a faster onboarding process for users who are getting started while Detailed planning provides a more in-depth and detailed analysis that will appeal to advanced users.
Select specific virtual machines for analysis
Now you have an option to select which virtual machines (VMs) workload factory will include in your migration plan. This functionality gives you more flexibility in designing the migration, allowing you to design partial or phased migrations.
Here you can see several VMs selected from the entire deployment that workload factory has detected:
And there’s more to come
That’s it for the updates in 2024, but there’s a lot more to come from workload factory. We’re releasing updates every month, and transforming workload factory into the most powerful service option for deploying workloads on FSx for ONTAP.
Learn more about BlueXP workload factory latest updates in the workload factory release-notes, or start workload factory now.