OnTAP Tools - 9.13 or 10.0?

[TMADOCTHOMAS]

We are currently running OnTAP Tools 9.11. I see that I can upgrade to 9.13 easily enough, but 10.0 seems to be a different animal altogether. The link belong talks about migrating from 9.x to 10, but I can't find information on upgrading. Does a separate OVA need to be deployed to 'upgrade' to 10? If so I can't find that documented anywhere. The article below talks about being able to migrate from 9.11 "D4", but not from 9.12 or 9.13. If I upgrade to 9.13, will I be able to migrate to 10? Can anyone provide clarity? Thanks in advance.

https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap-tools-vmware-vsphere-10/migrate/migrate_to_ng.html

[TMADOCTHOMAS]

FYI, opened a case to try to get an answer.

[prcpa8w3p]

We are looking to deploy OTV in our environment. Checked the InterOp Matrix tool and were running VMware vCenter server 8.0 Update 2 and ONTAP 9.13.1Px. We don't currently plan on using either SRM/SRA or vVol features.

Which should we choose and why? What are the major differences between the two versions?

1. 9.13P1

2. 10.0

[prcpa8w3p]

Nevermind - I see the following article details out OTV 10.0: 

https://community.netapp.com/t5/Tech-ONTAP-Blogs/Announcing-General-Availability-of-ONTAP-tools-for-VMware-vSphere-10-0/ba-p/447616

[RajivJain]

9.13P1 is existing OTV product with monolith architecture. This version of OTV has all the protocol support though I noticed, you are not planning to use them.

10.0 is new architected OTV with microservices support. This drop supports vVols. In next set of releases, we are coming up with further feature support, stay tuned.

[prcpa8w3p]

https://community.netapp.com/t5/Tech-ONTAP-Blogs/Announcing-General-Availability-of-ONTAP-tools-for-VMware-vSphere-10-0/ba-p/447616

[prcpa8w3p]

We are looking to deploy OTV in our environment. Checked the InterOp Matrix tool and we're running VMware vCenter server 8.0 Update 2 and ONTAP 9.13.1Px with both NFS and FC datastores. We don't currently plan on using either SRM/SRA or vVol features.

Based on the InterOp matrix tool results, we must proceed with 9.13P1 as it currently supports FC, 10.0 unfortunately does not. *sad face*

[RajivJain]

OTV 10.0 is the first drop of OTV NG. IN upcoming releases, we are coming with support for migration from 9.12 and 9.13.

[prcpa8w3p]

@RajivJain What does "NG" mean?

Also, can you please confirm when will OTV 10.x be supported in the following configuration:

Protocol: FC

VMware vCenter Server: 8.0u2/u3

VMware ESXi: 8.0u2/u3

ONTAP: 9.13.1Px

[TMADOCTHOMAS]

It's been over a year since I first posted this. I'm revisiting the topic - do I patch 9.13 or upgrade to 10.3? The article below contains this confusing sentence: "You should migrate ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 9.xx setup only if the setup is servicing the VASA Provider feature alone." Does this mean we should only migrate if we use VASA Provider (which we don't)?

Article: https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap-tools-vmware-vsphere-10/migrate/migrate-to-latest-ontaptools.html

The ONLY feature we use in OnTAP Tools is clicking "Edit ESXi Host Settings" to verify and/or set host settings to match NetApp best practices. That's it. Is that feature still available in 10.x? Any suggestions?

[ChanceBingen]

Yes, that feature is in 10.x as well.

What we mean by migrating may require some explanation.

Because 10.x and 9.x are completely different application architectures, there is no upgrade path. But you can do a side-by-side migration. However, you really only need to do that if you are using vVols. Otherwise, you can just uninstall the old one and do a clean install of the new one.

One other thing to consider, eventually 9.x will reach end of support and there will be no new 9.x releases. So, at some point, 10.x will be the path forward.

Keep in mind that a single 10.x does require more resources than a single 9.x, however, 10.x supports multiple vCenters, whereas 9.x requires a separate ONTAP tools for each vCenter. So in the end, for most customers, it ends up being that 10.x actually consumes fewer overall resources.

[TMADOCTHOMAS]

Thanks @ChanceBingen ! It seems the KB is clearer now and says what you just said. I may revisit going ahead and uninstalling 9.x and replacing it with 10.x based on this.