NetApp® Workload Factory continues to expand its functionality, making it easier to design, deploy, and operate Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSx for ONTAP) workloads. Here are the latest, major feature updates, presented in NetApp INSIGHT 2025.
Here’s an overview of what we’ll cover:
- Storage workload updates
- Decrease SSD capacity on FSx for ONTAP
- VMware workload updates
- Expedite relocations with the new Amazon EVS migration advisor
- Compare deployment costs using the new Amazon EVS TCO calculator
- Database workload updates
- Support for self-managed Oracle databases
- Simplify Microsoft SQL Server logs with the AI-powered log analyzer
- Smarter workload management with Workload Factory
Storage workload updates
Decrease SSD capacity on FSx for ONTAP
In its latest update, Workload Factory now supports the new SSD decreasing capability in second-generation FSx for ONTAP systems.
Decreasing SSD storage capacity seamlessly, without performance degradation, migrations, or starting from scratch is a major advancement in cloud storage flexibility. With the SSD decreasing feature, IT teams can downsize FSx for ONTAP storage post-deployment, improving cost efficiency and agility.
Workload Factory now gives you a clear way to carry out this operation. In the Adjust SSD capacity option that is available in the Storage workload Dashboard, Workload Factory shows the potential savings and recommends the adjustment for each file system. Then you can decide if and how much to decrease.
Read more about decreasing SSD capacity in FSx for ONTAP.
VMware workload updates
Expedite relocations with the new Amazon EVS migration advisor
Amazon Elastic VMware Service (Amazon EVS) helps extend VMware environments to AWS, and using FSx for ONTAP as external storage for it provides even more cost and performance benefits. Now Workload Factory makes it easy to scope a projected Amazon EVS migration to FSx for ONTAP external storage with the Workload Factory Amazon EVS migration advisor.
The Workload Factory Amazon EVS migration advisor gives you sizing, configuration, and cost analysis—helping you confirm that your Amazon EVS deployment’s storage layer will be well-architected from day one.
This feature has two modes: Manual mode and Inventory upload mode. With manual mode, you provide Workload Factory with your VM capacity, throughput, IOPS, and storage efficiency. With inventory upload mode, your inventory and VM data are uploaded to Workload Factory, providing it with your entire configuration.
Once you’ve selected a mode, Workload Factory will generate a tailored migration plan that you can review and export to share with other stakeholders. There’s even a single button to provision the scoped FSx for ONTAP system to help you get started. Or, you can use CloudFormation templates Workload Factory provides to accelerate your relocation. The result: faster, more secure, and cost-effective VMware workload relocations without replatforming or downtime.
Read more about the Amazon EVS migration advisor.
Compare deployment costs using the new Amazon EVS TCO calculator
Since Amazon EVS uses vSAN to pool local disks across ESXi hosts, storage and compute are tightly coupled, forcing organizations that need to scale storage to buy a corresponding amount of compute. That leads to underutilized resources and inflated costs. Using FSx for ONTAP as external storage breaks this limitation by decoupling storage from compute.
To help you visualize and estimate the savings FSx for ONTAP offers, Workload Factory now offers an Amazon EVS total cost of operation (TCO) calculator.
This tool compares vSAN scaling versus scaling with FSx for ONTAP as external storage, providing cost breakdowns, efficiency insights, and savings projections. Whether you’re planning a new migration or optimizing an existing cluster, the calculator brings transparency and clarity to VMware cost planning on AWS.
Read more about the Amazon EVS TCO calculator.
Database workload updates
Support for self-managed Oracle databases
For Oracle users running self-managed deployments, migrating to and operating in AWS just got easier: Workload Factory now supports using Oracle databases with FSx for ONTAP storage.
Workload Factory introduces various benefits for this critical database workload:
- Oracle detection: From the Inventory tab in the Database workload, Workload Factory can detect Oracle databases linked to your AWS account. This addition enhances visibility into one of the most widely used enterprise database platforms, helping teams to manage mixed environments.
- Dashboards and inventory: Get a full understanding of your database’s current storage configuration, policies, and performance with easy-to-understand dashboards in Workload Factory. You’ll see protection status, volume capacities, storage efficiencies, and other details that surface important information and highlight areas that need attention.
- Well-architected status: Workload Factory provides an automatic evaluation of your database against Oracle best practices and AWS and NetApp well-architected standards for storage. Find out where your deployment doesn’t align, and remediate with a single button. This allows you to continuously optimize your Oracle database.
Find out more about Workload Factory support for Oracle databases.
Simplify Microsoft SQL Server logs with the AI-powered log analyzer
Microsoft SQL Server is a cornerstone of enterprise applications. Still, its logs are difficult and time-consuming to interpret—even for specialized DBA experts—slowing down problem resolution and creating bottlenecks.
NetApp Workload Factory now addresses this challenge with its SQL Server log analyzer, an Agentic AI–powered feature for self-managed SQL Server deployments using FSx for ONTAP storage. The analyzer translates complex SQL Server log errors into plain, human-readable insights, enriches them with contextual data, identifies root causes, and provides actionable remediation steps. Instead of spending hours deciphering obscure error codes, DBAs and even non-specialist users can pinpoint issues and resolve them with confidence.
For seasoned DBAs, this means significant time savings and more bandwidth for strategic initiatives. For DevOps teams and generalist IT staff, it unlocks the ability to troubleshoot independently—reducing dependency on scarce database experts.
Read more about the SQL Server log analyzer capability in Workload Factory.
Smarter workload management with Workload Factory
The recent updates to Workload Factory extend its role as a central hub for designing, deploying, and optimizing FSx for ONTAP workloads. From storage elasticity with in-place SSD decreases and VMware migration acceleration with the Amazon EVS migration advisor to new support for Oracle databases and intelligent database diagnostics with SQL Server log analysis, these capabilities are all about one thing: reducing operational friction while improving cost efficiency, agility, and resilience.
By consolidating these functions into a single, workload-centric platform, Workload Factory gives IT teams, DBAs, and cloud architects a faster path to well-architected outcomes.
Try Workload Factory today to see how it can simplify your next AWS storage project. Get started here.
