Google Cloud NetApp Volumes offers a vital solution for Electronic Design Automation (EDA) in hybrid environments by enabling read-caching of on-premises data directly in the cloud powered by ONTAP® FlexCache® technology. This provides significant performance and cost benefits for EDA workloads, including high-performance, scalable storage, robust data protection, and cost optimization. FlexCache specifically enhances hybrid EDA by reducing WAN latency, improving data synchronization, lowering cloud compute and data transfer costs, simplifying data management, improving bursting capabilities, and allowing for pre-warming of datasets.
How FlexCache optimizes hybrid EDA
- Accelerated data access. By caching frequently accessed EDA data in Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, FlexCache drastically reduces latency. Cloud-based compute instances access data at local speeds, eliminating WAN bottlenecks and speeding up simulations, verification, and synthesis.
- Faster job completion. Reduced data access times translate directly to faster EDA job completion. Your cloud compute resources spend less time waiting for data and more time processing, accelerating design cycles.
- Cost efficiency. Cost savings are achieved in two key areas:
- Reduced data transfer time. Faster access to cached data means that compute jobs finish faster, minimizing the time that expensive cloud compute instances are active.
- Optimized cache footprint. FlexCache allows you to cache only the essential subset of your vast EDA datasets, optimizing storage costs in Google Cloud NetApp Volumes.
- Seamless integration. Leveraging NetApp Volumes as the cache target offers a native, high-performance environment for your cached EDA data in Google Cloud.
- Simplified management. FlexCache maintains data consistency between your on-premises ONTAP source and the cloud cache, streamlining data management in your hybrid setup.
EDA hybrid-cloud reference architecture
The reference architecture graphic illustrates how an on-premises EDA computer cluster can be seamlessly extended with on-demand compute resources in Google Cloud. This hybrid model provides significant elasticity and burst capabilities, enabling EDA teams to scale their compute power as needed without massive up-front investments in on-premises hardware.
However, a critical challenge in such a setup is ensuring that the cloud-based compute cluster has efficient access to the vast datasets that are often stored on premises, such as design files, libraries, and simulation results. This is where Google Cloud NetApp Volumes based FlexCache volumes become indispensable.
Here's a breakdown of what the architecture figure illustrates.
- On-premises foundation. On the left, the figure shows the existing on-premises infrastructure, including an ONTAP system housing your core EDA data and an on-premises computer cluster running various design and simulation tools. This represents your stable, secure, and potentially highly performant core environment.
- Google Cloud extension. On the right, the architecture expands into Google Cloud. This section shows on-demand compute instances—your cloud-based computer cluster—ready to handle peak workloads or specialized tasks.
- The data access challenge. Without FlexCache, these cloud compute instances would need to continuously fetch data from the on-premises ONTAP system over a WAN. This necessity introduces significant latency, slows down compute jobs, and can lead to inefficient resource utilization.
- FlexCache as the bridge. The crucial element connecting these two environments is the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes based FlexCache volume. This component acts as an intelligent cache located directly in Google Cloud, close to your cloud compute instances.
- On-demand caching. When a cloud compute instance first requests a file that resides on the on-premises ONTAP origin, FlexCache pulls that data into the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes cache. There might be an initial latency for this first access as the data is transferred to the cache. However, subsequent accesses to that same data by any cloud instance will be served directly from the high-performance NetApp Volumes cache, eliminating WAN latency and accelerating workflows.
- Prewarming the cache. For critical projects or anticipated peak workloads, the cache can also be "prewarmed." This means that frequently accessed or essential datasets can be proactively loaded into the NetApp Volumes FlexCache cache before compute jobs even begin. This eliminates the first-access latency entirely, so that cloud compute instances hit the ground running with immediate access to all necessary data. This is particularly beneficial for large-scale simulations or verification runs where initial data loading can be a significant bottleneck.
- Write-through capability. Although FlexCache is primarily a read-caching solution, it also supports writes. If a write operation occurs on the cache volume, the data is not written directly to the cache itself but is instead sent through to the origin ONTAP volume on premises, maintaining data integrity and consistency.
In essence, the architecture highlights how NetApp FlexCache, powered by Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, enables a fluid and efficient hybrid EDA environment. It enables you to leverage the immense elasticity and burst capabilities of Google Cloud compute for your EDA workloads while maintaining your authoritative data on your premises, without compromising performance or incurring unnecessary costs due to inefficient data access.
If you’re looking for an all-cloud reference architecture, check out my other blog post, Benefits of using Google Cloud NetApp Volumes for Electronic Design Automation (EDA).
Try it for yourself
Google Cloud NetApp Volumes supports Cache volumes in allow-listed GA. Learn more in the documentation. Contact a cloud specialist to enable the feature and see the power of FlexCache in action.
