Enhancements to ThinkSystem Storage Manager for DM Series

Features and enhancements added in ONTAP 9.11.1​

Workflows that are introduced or enhanced in Storage Manager 9.11.1 are included in the guide of Cluster Management Using ThinkSystem Storage Manager for DM Series. The following workflow is introduced in Storage Manager 9.11.1:

• Introduction of Insights feature

• Manual tier creation allowed in Storage Manager

• Enhancements for Consistency Groups

• Introduction of FlexGroup rebalancing

• Multiple Admin support

• Additional systems added to hardware visualization for DM3000H, DM5000H, and DM7000H

Features and enhancements added in ONTAP 9.10.1​

Workflows that are introduced or enhanced in Storage Manager 9.10.1 are included in the guide of Cluster Management Using ThinkSystem Storage Manager for DM Series. The following workflow is introduced in Storage Manager 9.10.1:

• Ransomware detection

• S3 SnapMirror support for DR

• Enhancements for consistency groups

• Enhancements for EMS notification management

• Enhancements for ONTAP file analysis

• Certificates can be managed from Storage Manager

Features and enhancements added in ONTAP 9.9.1​

Features and enhancements added in ONTAP 9.8​

• Elimination of classic GUI

• S3 Object Store may now be configured from Storage Manager

• SnapMirror Business Continuity added under Data Protection tab

• Support for ONTAP Mediator from ThinkSystem Storage Manage

• Support for NFS 4.2

Features and enhancements added in ONTAP 9.7​

• New simplified Management screen and processes

• Added tier options in place of aggregate view

Features and enhancements added in ONTAP 9.6​

• 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.

Features and enhancements added in ONTAP 9.5​

• 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.

Features and enhancements added in ONTAP 9.4​

• 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.