Now you can create, handle, and again up your Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP FlexGroup volumes utilizing the AWS Administration Console, the Amazon FSx CLI, and the AWS SDK. FlexGroups could be as massive as 20 petabytes and provide higher efficiency for demanding workloads. Earlier than this launch you can solely create them utilizing the ONTAP CLI and the ONTAP REST API (these choices stay out there). Additionally new to this launch is the power to create Amazon FSx backups of your FlexGroup volumes.

FlexVol and FlexGroup
FSx for ONTAP helps two quantity types:

FlexVol – Assist for as much as 300 TiB of storage, making these volumes a superb match for general-purpose workloads.

FlexGroup – Assist for as much as 20 PiB of storage and billions of information per quantity, making these volumes a superb match for extra demanding digital design automation (EDA), seismic evaluation, and software program construct/take a look at workloads.

Utilizing FlexGroups
I’ll use the AWS Administration Console to create a brand new file system. I choose Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, and click on Subsequent:

I choose Customary create, enter a reputation for my file system (FS-Jeff-1), and choose Single-AZ because the deployment sort:

I can use the really helpful throughput capability, or I can specify it explicitly:

As you may surmise from the values above, the throughput is set by the variety of excessive availability (HA) pairs that might be used to host your file system. A single-AZ file system could be hosted on as much as 6 such pairs; a multi-AZ file system should reside on a single pair. To be taught extra about these choices go to New – Scale-out file methods for Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP.

After making my choices for Community & safety, Encryption, and Default storage digital machine configuration, I choose the FlexGroup quantity model, assign a reputation to the preliminary quantity, and both settle for the really helpful variety of constituents or specify it myself:

On the following web page I assessment my selections and click on Create file system:

The creation course of is an effective time for a lunch break. Once I return the preliminary quantity (Vol1) of my file system is able to use. I can create further FlexVol or FlexGroup volumes as wanted:

Issues to Know
Listed below are a few issues to bear in mind about FlexGroup volumes:

Constituents – Though every FlexGroup quantity can have as many as 200 constituents, we advocate 8 per HA pair. Given the 300 TiB per-constituent dimension restrict, this lets you create volumes with as much as 2.4 PiB of storage per HA pair. ONTAP will steadiness your information throughout constituents routinely.

File Counts – In case you are utilizing NFSv3 and count on to retailer many billions of information on a FlexGroup quantity, remember to allow 64-bit identifiers on the storage digital machine related to the file system.

Backups – Beginning as we speak you can even create backups of FlexGroup volumes, giving you a similar fully-managed built-in choices that you have already got for FlexVol volumes.

NetApp System Supervisor – You should utilize the ONTAP CLI and the browser-based NetApp System Supervisor to carry out superior operations in your ONTAP file methods, storage digital machines, and volumes. The administration endpoint and administrator credentials can be found on the File system particulars web page:

Areas – Each quantity types can be found in all AWS Areas the place Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP is supported.

Pricing – You pay for the SSD storage, SSD IOPS, and throughput capability that you simply provision, with separate fees for capability pool utilization, backups, and SnapLock licensing; see the Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP Pricing web page to be taught extra.

— Jeff;