Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP
This reference captures information addressing common gotchas and frequently asked questions for Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP to support accurate model responses. It is not a complete specification. The authoritative source for current specifications, limits, quotas, and API behavior is the Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP User Guide, Amazon FSx API Reference, Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP product page, and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP FAQs. Retrieve current specifications, limits, and quotas from those pages before citing specifics; cite figures only from those pages.
1. Overview
What it is: Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP provides fully managed shared storage built on NetApp's popular ONTAP file system, bringing the familiar features, performance, and APIs of on-premises NetApp to AWS as a fully managed service. It offers multi-protocol access (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, NVMe-over-TCP, and the Amazon S3 API via S3 Access Points), and is designed to deliver sub-millisecond latencies and tens of GB/s of throughput along with ONTAP's rich data management capabilities (like snapshots, data cloning, SnapMirror replication, deduplication, compression, and automatic tiering).
Well-suited for: enterprise NAS migrations, especially from NetApp, and any workload that needs more than one access protocol or the broadest set of enterprise data-management, security, and resiliency features from a single system, such as general-purpose file shares and home directories, multi-protocol shares, business-critical databases (such as SAP HANA, Oracle, and SQL Server), VMware datastores, line-of-business applications (such as medical imaging and product lifecycle management), and hybrid or disaster-recovery workloads.
See When to choose Amazon FSx and How Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP works.
2. Service Information
You MUST retrieve information from the linked documentation in the below table before answering any user question on the related topic.
| Topic | Example service characteristics, features, and actions | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
| Access and protocols | NFS; SMB; iSCSI and NVMe-over-TCP (block protocols, limited by HA-pair count); S3 Access Points; concurrent NFS and SMB; Storage Virtual Machines; volume security style; Active Directory and LDAP identity | Accessing your FSx for ONTAP data |
| Deployment and availability | Single-AZ HA; Multi-AZ | Availability, durability, and deployment options |
| Storage classes | SSD; capacity pool | Managing storage capacity (storage tiers) |
| Data protection and management | tiering policies; snapshots; SnapMirror (ONTAP-to-ONTAP data replication); FlexClone (clones); FlexCache (caching); deduplication; compression; compaction; thin provisioning; SnapLock WORM; backups | Protecting your data |
| Performance | SSD IOPS baseline and limits; throughput capacity; scale-out with HA pairs; utilization-gated tiering | Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP performance |
| Security | AWS KMS at rest; in-transit via Nitro, Kerberos, IPsec; vscan; SnapLock; file-access auditing; QoS; administrative credentials | Security in Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP |
| Health and monitoring | CloudWatch metrics; alarms; ONTAP EMS events; AWS CloudTrail | Monitoring Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP |
| Pricing | SSD storage; SSD IOPS; throughput capacity; capacity pool storage and requests; backup storage; S3 Access Points requests; Multi-AZ premium (not exhaustive, review pricing page for the full list of pricing dimensions) | Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP pricing |
Related services and integrations
You MUST retrieve information from the linked documentation in the below table before answering any user question on the related service.
| Example service | Example characteristics and common workloads | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
| S3 Access Points for FSx | S3 API access to file data; per-access-point IAM and POSIX; concurrent NFS and S3 | Accessing your data via Amazon S3 access points |
| Non-NetApp NAS migration | Dell PowerScale/Isilon, Qumulo, VAST, Pure; rsync, Robocopy, NetApp CloudSync | Migrating to Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP |
3. Troubleshooting
You MUST retrieve information from the linked documentation in the below table before providing the user with any guidance on the related area.
| Example area | Example errors | Example fixes | Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access and permissions | NFS identities unresolved; SMB fails without AD | join the SVM to Active Directory and configure LDAP | Enabling multiprotocol workloads, Active Directory in FSx for ONTAP |
| Migration | SnapMirror from a non-NetApp source | use AWS DataSync (AWS-native, recommended), rsync, Robocopy, or NetApp CloudSync | Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP FAQs |
| Capacity and scaling | tuning not aligned with SSD utilization; per-volume tiering-policy fine-tuning | keep SSD utilization in range; fine-tune the tiering policy per volume for the workload | Volume storage capacity |
| Connectivity and networking | access issues for Multi-AZ file systems from a peered or on-premises network; iSCSI or NVMe LUN unavailable | for Multi-AZ file systems, NFS, SMB, and ONTAP management endpoints use floating IP addresses, so access from a peered VPC or on-premises requires AWS Transit Gateway (VPC Peering, Direct Connect, and Site-to-Site VPN cannot route to floating IPs); Single-AZ endpoints are secondary IPs in the VPC CIDR and do not require Transit Gateway; iSCSI, NVMe, and inter-cluster (SnapMirror) endpoints use VPC-CIDR IPs and work over VPC Peering; for LUNs verify igroup and mapping | Routing to Multi-AZ file systems, Creating an iSCSI LUN |