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we have a working Netapp with ESXi (VMWare 5.5) setup. With multiple VMs running on 3 ESXi Systems but they are residing entirely on Netapp Storage.

We are thinking of moving this entire setup to private Cloud consists of HP Nimble cloud storage. This cloud is currently owned by one of our departments and are ready to give us space(in terms of storage) and ESXis(VMI Cluster) to run our VMs on a rental basis. So immediate advantage for us is more space, more network speed, DR Setup and not anymore worry about the hardware.

Ofcourse it is in discussion phase but I still would like to ask you experts following questions.

  1. Netapp Storage is all about data plus its configuration (Snapshot, User Quota Policies, Export Rules etc.). When we talk about storage space in cloud, then how are we going to control/administrate the configuration parts listed above? Or will this not be anymore possible to administrate? And the Cloud administrators take this control in their hands and we have to be dependant on them for every configuration changes? This is very important factor.

  2. Will VMs running on Netapp Storage be migrated without much efforts? Is there any documented method for this?

Your view on this will be really helpful.

Thanx in advance.

Regards,

Admin

Sachin H
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1 Answers1

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On point #1, a common way to provide multi-tenant administrator access on NetApp is to create a separate SVM [1] (Storage Virtual Machine) that a tenant administrator can use to manage volume capacity, snapshots, quotas, etc.

For #2, a common migration path for moving VMware VMs is to use Storage vMotion [2]. The private cloud provider can remap the ESXi hosts in your environment to be managed under their vCenter Server first. Then from there, they will have the ability to (non-disruptively, in most cases) move the VMs from your old NetApp datastores to new datastores on their array. They can do the same for vMotioning these VMs over to their managed ESXi hosts.

[1] https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap/concepts/storage-virtualization-concept.html

[2] https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.vcenterhost.doc/GUID-AB266895-BAA4-4BF3-894E-47F99DC7B77F.html

Taylor Riggan
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  • Thanks for your reply. Point 1> We already have SVM setup on NetApp (FAS2720 9.7P9). So you mean to say a tenant administrator will be administrating this task of managing volume/snapshots etc. I am being original administrator of our Netapp, should I be worried that once netapp is in cloud, we will loose administrative control over our storage? – Sachin H Feb 03 '23 at 13:09
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    Level of administrative access will depend on the cloud provider. Some will give you full admin rights, others will limit you to only volume/share/export level access. – Taylor Riggan Feb 03 '23 at 14:06
  • Exactly this is what important for me to know is. I am sorry to provide the cloud name now and not in original post as I did not have this information. The cloud they are using is HP Nimble cloud solution. So is there any facility available in that to tailor a sub-administrative access to manage the storage chunk on our own? – Sachin H Feb 10 '23 at 13:53
  • I have to admit, I'm not at all familiar with Nimble or what HP as built with Nimble as a cloud solution. Looks like you've posted this over on Server Fault and are getting good answers there. Good luck! – Taylor Riggan Feb 10 '23 at 14:36