Getting Started with Flex Unified on Google Cloud NetApp Volumes

[sajith]

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes now introduces the Flex Unified service level—bringing file and block workloads together under a single, fully managed storage experience. With Flex Unified, enterprises can provision NAS (NFS, SMB) and SAN (iSCSI) volumes from the same storage pool, streamlining operations, unifying data management, and simplifying cloud migrations.

If you’re looking to consolidate your storage environment, migrate on‑premises NAS/SAN workloads seamlessly, or deploy mission‑critical applications with enterprise-grade guarantees, Flex Unified offers the flexibility, performance, and simplicity required for modern cloud environments.

In this blog post, we’ll walk through:

• Setting up a Google Cloud NetApp Volumes Flex Unified storage pool
• Provisioning NAS volumes
• Provisioning  iSCSI volumes 
• Mounting  both volumes  to a Windows client

About the Flex Unified Service Level

Flex Unified eliminates the need to maintain separate storage pools or services based on protocol requirements. With this model, you can consolidate your data estate, apply consistent protection policies, and simplify operational workflows across your organization.

 

Why Choose Flex Unified?

• Unified support for file and block workloads in a single storage pool
• Consistent operations aligned with compliance and regulatory needs
• Seamless migration from on‑premises NetApp environments
• Enterprise-grade SAN and NAS performance delivered as a managed service
• Independent scaling of capacity and performance
• High availability across zonal and regional configurations
• Ideal for modernization, cloud bursting, and hybrid deployments

Flex Unified File Preview and iSCSI block storage is available in 15 Google Cloud regions.  

Setting up a Google Cloud NetApp Volumes Flex Unified storage pool

Whether you require NAS volumes, SAN volumes, or both, you must set up a storage pool to host the volumes.

 

Prerequisites: Set Up Your Google Cloud Environment

Before you begin provisioning storage, ensure the following prerequisites are in place:

• A Google Cloud project
• Billing enabled for the project
• The NetApp Volumes API enabled
• Properly configured VPC network
• Required IAM permissions
• An Active Directory policy configured

Refer to the NetApp Volumes access setup guide for detailed steps.

Create a Storage Pool

A Flex Unified storage pool allows you to provision capacity, throughput, and IOPS independently—providing optimal tuning for diverse workloads. The capacity can range from 1TiB to 425TiB, the throughput can range from 64MBps to 5120 MBps, and IOPS can range from 1024 to 160k. Although this can be changed on the fly, be sure you know what your application needs.

1. Go to the NetApp Volumes page in the Google Cloud console.
2. Select Storage Pools from the left menu.
3. Click Create to begin.
4. Provide the required details:
• Name: Enter a name for the storage pool
• Description: (Optional)
• Location: Choose your region
• Service Level: Select Flex
• Type: Choose Unified
• Availability: Select Zonal or Regional
• Zone / Replica Zone: Choose appropriate zones
• Capacity, Throughput, IOPS: Configure based on workload needs
• Active Directory Policy: Select the AD policy for the region
• Auto‑tiering: (Optional) Enable and set the hot‑tier threshold
5. Click Create to finish.

Note: Once set, the Active Directory policy cannot be modified.

Each unified storage pool includes three IP addresses:

• One for NFS and SMB NAS access
• Two for iSCSI block access

Provisioning NAS Volumes (NFS/SMB)

Flex Unified supports high‑performance NAS workloads with:

• NFS v3, v4.0, v4.1, v4.2
• Kerberos-based secure authentication
• SMB for Windows workloads
• Volumes up to 300 TiB

 

Create an SMB Volume

1. Go to Volumes in the NetApp Volumes console.
2. Click Create.
3. Select the unified storage pool that you created previously.
4. Fill in the following information:
• Volume details: Enter a name and (optionally) a description.
• Protocol configuration:
• Select SMB as the protocol.
• Enable SMB encryption and access-based enumeration (Optional) if required.
• Select Hide SMB Share (Optional) if SMB share needs to be made non-browsable.
• Share Name: Enter the share name for the SMB volume.
• Capacity configuration: Enter the size of the volume that you need.
• Snapshot configuration (Optional) :
• Select Make snapshot directory visible if snapshots needs to be visible on the SMB client.
• Select Allow scheduled snapshots and configure the required scheduled snapshots configuration.
• Backup configuration (Optional): Configure scheduled backup configuration if required.
5. Click Create.

Your SMB volume is now ready to mount. Refer to the Mount Instructions on the volume details page for Windows SMB client steps.

 

Create a iSCSI Volume in a Flex Unified Storage Pool 

To create an iSCSI volume, you must first create a host group. iSCSI initiator information must be obtained before creating a host group.

A host group is a regional collection of iSCSI initiators (iSCSI Qualified Names [IQNs]) that can be granted access to specific volumes. Host groups simplify access management by allowing you to control which iSCSI volumes specific hosts can access. By grouping initiators, you can efficiently manage permissions and streamline storage provisioning for multiple hosts.

Obtain iSCSI initiator information

The iSCSI client provides required initiator information needed to create the host group. To obtain the IQN for a Windows client, follow these steps:

1. Open iSCSI Initiator (iscsicpl.exe) from the Windows Start menu.
2. Go to the Configuration tab.
3. Copy the initiator name (it looks something like iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:your-hostname).

 

Create a host group

1. In the NetApp Volumes console, click Host Groups.
2. Click Create.
3. Enter a name and (optionally) a description.
4. Under Location, select the region name.
5. Under Configuration, select Windows as the operating system.
6. Click Continue to proceed to adding the IQN information.
7. Paste in your Windows client’s IQN in the Host field.
8. Click Create.

Provision a SAN Volume (iSCSI)

Flex Unified also provides fully managed iSCSI block storage—ideal for:

• High‑performance databases
• Enterprise applications
• Mission‑critical workloads

NetApp Volumes delivers SAN‑class reliability without complex storage management.

 

SAN Volume Limits

• Up to 128 TiB per volume
• Supported on Linux and Windows iSCSI clients

 

Create an iSCSI Volume

1. Go to Volumes in the NetApp Volumes console.
2. Click Create.
3. Select your unified storage pool.
4. Provide the following:
• Volume Details: Name and optional description
• Capacity: Enter the required size
• Protocol: iSCSI 
• Operating System: Select Windows
• Host Groups:
• Check Map Host Groups to the Volume
• Choose the relevant host group
5. Click Create.

Host configuration

Mount a SMB volume on Windows Server

SMB volumes can be mounted using either File Explorer or the Windows CLI. Below section explains how to mount the SMB volume using the Windows File Explorer.

Mount using File Explorer

1. Open Start → My Computer or This PC
2. Click Map Network Drive
3. Select an available Drive letter
4. In the Folder field, enter the SMB path in the format:

\\<smb-server-address>\<share-name>

5. (Optional) Check Reconnect at sign‑in to remount at startup
6. Click Finish

Your SMB volume will now be available as a mapped network drive.

Mount an iSCSI volume on Windows Server

NetApp Volumes provides two paths to the iSCSI volume. It is recommended that you install the multipath feature on Windows Server. There are also some other settings that help prevent your applications from being affected by any disruptions on the storage side. It is recommended that you download and install the NetApp Windows Host Utilities 8.0 from the NetApp Support Site.

When you install NetApp Windows Host Utilities, select the option to install support for Multipath I/O, as shown in following screenshot. Restart Windows Server after the Host Utilities installation is complete.

Discover the iSCSI volume on Windows Server 

iSCSI works with an initiator target model. The Windows iSCSI Initiator software adds the iSCSI initiator functionality to Windows Server.

 

Discover and configure the iSCSI volume

1. Open iSCSI Initiator (iscsicpl.exe) on your Windows client.
2. In the Discovery tab, click Discover Portal and enter the IP address of the NetApp Volumes.
3. In the Targets tab, select the target IQN name and click Connect.
4. A new dialog box appears. Select the option Enable Multipath and click Advanced.
5. A new dialog box appears. Select the target portal IP from the menu and click OK.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for the second target portal IP.

 

Initialize and format the new disk

1. Open Disk Management (compmgmt.msc).
2. When prompted, initialize the new disk.
3. Right-click the new disk, select New Simple Volume, and follow the wizard to format and to assign a drive letter.

And that’s it—your NetApp Volumes SMB and iSCSI volumes are now attached and ready to use!

 

What’s Next?

With NetApp Volumes Flex Unified, you can:

• Consolidate NAS and SAN workloads
• Apply consistent data protection policies
• Scale performance and capacity independently
• Run mission‑critical workloads with enterprise-grade reliability
• Use snapshots, clones, and cross‑region replication for data protection
• Modernize infrastructure without added operational complexity

Excited to explore Flex Unified further?
Connect with a specialist to experience the latest innovations in Google Cloud NetApp Volumes.