You should be aware of the features that have been added or changed in this release of Storage Manager.
Elimination of classic GUI
S3 Object Store may now be configured from Storage Manager
SnapMirror Business Contuinty added under Data Protection tab
Support for ONTAP Mediator from Storage Manage
New simplified Management screen and processes
Added tier options in place of aggregate view
MetroCluster switchover and switchback operations
Starting with Storage Manager 9.6, you can use MetroCluster switchover and switchback operations to allow one cluster site to take over the tasks of another cluster site. This capability allows you to facilitate maintenance or recovery from disasters.
Trace file access
A new Trace File Access window allows you to diagnose issues when users have problems accessing files and shares on an SVM using the CIFS or NFS protocol.
Encrypted SnapMirror
Starting with Storage Manager 9.6, you can generate a passphrase for the local cluster IPspace and use the same passphrase in the remote cluster when creating peering relationships. For security reasons, the passphrase can be modified.
FlexCache capabilities
Storage Manager now provides the capability to create, edit, view, and delete FlexCache volumes.
Fabric Pool enhancements
You can now use Alibaba Cloud and Google Cloud as object stores
for use as a cloud tier. Also, Storage Manager now
supports the All
tiering policy, which allows you to specify
that all data should be tiered to the cloud. Enhancements were made
to the Volume Performance tab of the Volume 360 page to show cloud
latency of the volume.
FlexGroup enhancements
Starting with Storage Manager 9.6, you can edit the properties of an existing FlexGroup volume, such as renaming or resizing the volume.
SnapLock volume enhancements
When creating or modifying a storage QoS policy group, you can set the minimum throughput limit for an ONTAP Select Premium system in addition to a performance-based All Flash Optimized personality.
Volume encryption
You can now enable volume encryption while editing a FlexVol volume or a FlexGroup volume. Also, this feature is enhanced to support the Rekey option to change the data encryption key of the volume.
Cluster update
Beginning with Storage Manager 9.5, you can update a cluster in MetroCluster configurations. You must perform each operation on both the clusters except for updating the cluster.
Volume replication policies
Two new policies, StrictSync and Sync, are added in Storage Manager 9.5. You can use these to policies to provide zero RPO replication with and without primary IO restriction during replication failures. You can also enable volume protection using the protection tab.
Cloud Registration
You can use Storage Manager to register the ONTAP cluster with Lenovo Data Availability Services to save data in the cloud.
SVM DR
Storage virtual machine (SVM) disaster recovery (DR) provides disaster recovery capability at the SVM level by enabling the recovery of the data that is present in the constituent volumes of the SVM and the recovery of the SVM configuration. You can use Storage Manager to create and manage mirror relationships and mirror and vault relationships between SVMs.
L2/L3 applications displayed
Starting with ONTAP 9.5, Storage Manager lists L2/L3 applications on the Applications page under different host names. Clicking on the host name opens a new window in the L2 Cockpit interface. For each application, Storage Manager also lists IOPs and latency measurements.
Virtual IP support
Starting with ONTAP 9.5, Storage Manager displays information about Virtual IP (VIP) LIFs; however, you cannot create, delete, or manage VIP LIFs from Storage Manager.
NVMe subsystems licensing requirement
Starting with ONTAP 9.5, NVMe is licensed. Storage Manager supports the licensing requirement.
Support for NVMeoF subsystems
Storage Manager supports the use of an NVMe over Fabric (NVMeoF) subsystem, which is a separate kernel object that resides in the FreeBSD kernel. NVMeoF is a specification-defined extension to NVMe that enables NVMe-based communication over connections other than PCIe. This interface allows for external storage enclosures to be connected to a server, either directly or through a switch, while still using NVMe as the fundamental communication mechanism. An NVMeoF subsystem interfaces with SAN components, WAFL, and RAS components.
NVMe multipath support
Starting with ONTAP 9.5, at least one LIF must be configured for each node in an HA pair using the NVMe protocol. You can also define two LIFs for a node. When you upgrade to ONTAP 9.5, you must ensure that a minimum of one LIF is defined for each node in an HA pair using the NVMe protocol.
FlexGroup eligible aggregates
When you create a FlexGroup, aggregates are selected by default according to best practices. For All-Flash Optimized storage systems, thin provisioning is enabled by default, and for other storage systems, thick provisioning is enabled by default. You can override the best practices defaults and select your choices from a list of eligible FabricPool aggregates.
Public SSL Certificate authentication
Starting with Storage Manager 9.5, you can view a public SSL certificate associated with an SVM. You can view the certificate details, the serial number, the start date, and the expiration date. You can also copy the certificate to the clipboard, and email the certificate details. Additionally, when you add the vsadmin user account to an SVM, a login method is automatically included that uses HTTP as the application and is authenticated with a certificate.
Qtrees appearing as directories on a FlexVol
If a FlexVol contains both qtrees and volumes, the qtrees appear as directories.
FlexCache volumes
FlexCache volumes are displayed in Storage Manager as a FlexGroup. The parent volume details are shown in the 360 page.
Deprecation of infinite volumes
Starting with ONTAP 9.5, infinite volumes are deprecated and no longer supported.
NVMe protocol
The NVM Express (NVMe) protocol is now supported by ONTAP and can be configured in Storage Manager. NVMe is an alternative protocol for block access, similar to the existing iSCSi or FC protocols.
Aggregate recommender
You can create an aggregate based on storage recommendations. Storage Manager analyzes the configuration of your storage system and provides storage recommendations such as the number of aggregates that will be created, the available nodes, and the available spare disks.
FabricPool-enabled aggregates enhancements
FabricPool-enabled aggregates have been enhanced to support the following features and functionalities:
New UI navigation for the external capacity tier menu
New Auto
caching
policy
Support for inactive (cold) data
Support for object store certificate for StorageGRID external capacity tier
Support for Microsoft Azure Blob storage external capacity tier
More information in the capacity tab of the cluster dashboard
Support ONTAP Select
Support for viewing external capacity tier, other than StorageGRID, Amazon AWS S3, and Microsoft Azure Blob storage, created using the command-line interface (CLI).
FlexGroup volumes enhancements
FlexGroup volumes include the following enhancements and new features:
Support for advanced options such as volume encryption, storage efficiency, and QoS
Protect volumes
More information in the protection tab of the cluster dashboard
Support for configuring Snapshot copies
You can configure Snapshot copies by setting a schedule to an existing Snapshot policy. Beginning with ONTAP 9.4, you can have fewer than 1024 Snapshot copies of a FlexVol volume.
Storage efficiency enhancements
The percentage of logical space used and the status of logical space reporting is now displayed in the Storage Manager Volumes window.
Removed partial support for infinite volumes
You cannot create infinite volumes and protect infinite volumes by using Storage Manager.
Support for SMB Multichannel
You can enable SMB protocol to establish multiple channels between a SMB3.0 session and transport connections, specifically for higher performance and fault tolerance and resiliency.