ONTAP Tools for VMware 10.5 (Part 2 of 3): Protecting your VMware vSphere and VCF Deployments

[ChanceBingen]

Introduction:

In last week's blog, we were excited to announce the latest version of NetApp ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere. The 10.5 update is designed to simplify and secure your VMware Cloud Foundation storage operations. This release includes several new customer-requested features that enhance security, resilience, automation, and manageability for modern enterprise environments.

In this second installment in our three-part series, we will take a look at what’s new in data protection with the return of NetApp MetroCluster support, expanded support for VMware Live Site Recovery (vLSR, formerly Site Recovery Manager, or SRM), and interoperability with the SnapCenter Plugin for VMware (SCV) using complex hierarchical consistency groups for distributed applications.

If you missed the previous post, you can find it here:

ONTAP Tools for VMware 10.5 (Part 1 of 3): Hardening Your VMware Private Cloud - NetApp Community

New Data Protection Features in This Release

1. MetroCluster Support

Business continuity just got easier. With MetroCluster support, you can now leverage synchronous replication for mission-critical workloads, both SAN and NAS, ensuring high availability and business continuity across sites or other failure domains.

• Storage Backend Onboarding:
  • Both source and destination clusters must be onboarded for provisioning to work after a MetroCluster switchover event. This can be done either globally in the ONTAP tools Manager UI (the example below), or locally within the vCenter remote plugin UI.
    
    
    
    
• UI Enhancements:
  • MetroCluster configuration and peer details are shown in storage backend views.
    
    
    
• Switchover/Switchback Handling:
  
  • Storage discovery must be triggered post-switch to maintain provisioning workflows. This will allow ONTAP tools to understand which SVM context is currently controlling the storage.
    
    
    
• API Updates:
  
  • APIs now return MetroCluster configuration details for clusters and storage backends.

2.    SRM/SRA with Hierarchical Consistency Groups (CG)

• The integration of VMware Live Site Recovery Manager (VLSRM, or just SRM) and Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) now supports hierarchical consistency groups. This means you can orchestrate complex recovery scenarios with backup functionality, fully interoperable with SnapCenter (SC) and SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere (SCV).
• Upgrades require a new SRA adapter with updated certificate handling. The updated adapter can be found on the ONTAP tools 10.5 download page(login required), along with the ONTAP tools OVA and upgrade ISOs.

3.    VMFS Replication with Hierarchical CG

SC and SCV backups are interoperable, giving you granular control and flexibility for virtual machine storage.

• Hierarchical CGs can be created by SC or SCV.
• Snapshots from SMas (SnapMirror active sync), SC, and SCV workflows are listed separately in ONTAP and can also be recovered by NetApp Disaster Recovery.

Conclusion:

The latest NetApp ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere deliver robust enhancements for business continuity, disaster recovery, and data protection. With new features like MetroCluster support, hierarchical consistency groups, and expanded interoperability with SnapCenter, IT teams can now achieve greater security, resilience, and automation for their VMware private cloud environments. These advancements empower organizations to confidently protect mission-critical workloads and streamline storage operations.

Ready to get started?

You can download ONTAP tools here: https://mysupport.netapp.com/site/products/all/details/otv10/downloads-tab

And if you are new to ONTAP tools, be sure to check out my installation cheat sheet here: https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap-apps-dbs/vmware/vmware-vvols-checklist.html