Release notes
Supported and unsupported features for FlexCache volumes
Suggest changes
-
PDF of this doc site
-
Cluster administration
-
Volume administration
-
Logical storage management with the CLI
-
-
NAS storage management
-
Configure NFS with the CLI
-
Manage NFS with the CLI
-
Manage SMB with the CLI
-
Manage file access using SMB
-
-
-
Security and data encryption
-
Data protection and disaster recovery
-
Collection of separate PDF docs
Creating your file...
Beginning in ONTAP 9.5, you can configure FlexCache volumes. FlexVol volumes are supported as origin volumes and FlexGroup volumes are supported as FlexCache volumes. Beginning in ONTAP 9.7 both FlexVol volume and FlexGroup volumes are supported as origin volumes. The supported features and protocols for the origin volume and the FlexCache volume vary.
Supported protocols
Protocol |
Supported at the origin volume? |
Supported at the FlexCache volume? |
|---|---|---|
NFSv3 |
Yes |
Yes |
NFSv4 |
Yes To access cache volumes using NFSv4.x protocol, both the origin and cache clusters must be using ONTAP 9.10.1 or later. The origin cluster and FlexCache cluster can have different ONTAP versions, but both should be ONTAP 9.10.1 and later versions, for example, the origin can have ONTAP 9.10.1, and the cache can have ONTAP 9.11.1. |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.10.1. To access cache volumes using NFSv4.x protocol, both the origin and cache clusters must be using ONTAP 9.10.1 or later. The origin cluster and FlexCache cluster can have different ONTAP versions, but both should be ONTAP 9.10.1 and later versions, for example, the origin can have ONTAP 9.10.1, and the cache can have ONTAP 9.11.1. |
NFSv4.2 |
Yes |
No |
SMB |
Yes |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.8. |
Supported features
Feature |
Supported at the origin volume? |
Supported at the FlexCache volume? |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Autonomous ransomware protection |
Yes Supported for FlexVol origin volumes beginning with ONTAP 9.10.1, not supported for FlexGroup origin volumes. |
No |
||
Antivirus |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7. |
Not applicable If you configure antivirus scanning at the origin, it is not required on the cache. The origin antivirus scanning detects files infected with viruses before writes are committed, regardless of the write source. For more information about using antivirus scanning with FlexCache, see the FlexCache with ONTAP technical report. |
||
Auditing |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7. You can audit NFS file access events in FlexCache relationships using native ONTAP auditing. For more information, see Considerations for auditing FlexCache volumes |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7. You can audit NFS file access events in FlexCache relationships using native ONTAP auditing. For more information, see Considerations for auditing FlexCache volumes |
||
Cloud Volumes ONTAP |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6 |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6 |
||
Compaction |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6 |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7 |
||
Compression |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6 |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6 |
||
Deduplication |
Yes |
Yes Inline deduplication is supported on FlexCache volumes beginning with ONTAP 9.6. Cross-volume deduplication is supported on FlexCache volumes beginning with ONTAP 9.7. |
||
FabricPool |
Yes |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7 |
||
FlexCache DR |
Yes |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.9.1, with NFSv3 protocol, only. FlexCache volumes must be in separate SVMs or in separate clusters. |
||
FlexGroup volume |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7 |
Yes |
||
FlexVol volume |
Yes |
No |
||
FPolicy |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7 |
Yes Supported for NFS beginning with ONTAP 9.7. Supported for SMB beginning with ONTAP 9.14.1. |
||
MetroCluster configuration |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7 |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7 |
||
Microsoft Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) |
Yes |
No |
||
NetApp Aggregate Encryption (NAE) |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6 |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6 |
||
NetApp Volume Encryption (NVE) |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6 |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6 |
||
ONTAP S3 NAS bucket |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.12.1 |
No |
||
QoS |
Yes |
Yes
|
||
Qtrees |
Yes Beginning with ONTAP 9.6, you can create and modify qtrees. Qtrees created on the source can be accessed on the cache. |
No |
||
Quotas |
Yes Beginning with ONTAP 9.6, quota enforcement on FlexCache origin volumes is supported for users and groups. |
No With FlexCache writearound mode (the default mode), writes on the cache are forwarded to the origin volume. Quotas are enforced at the origin.
|
||
SMB Change Notify |
Yes |
Yes Beginning with ONTAP 9.14.1, SMB Change Notify is supported at the cache. |
||
SnapLock volumes |
No |
No |
||
SnapMirror Asynchronous relationships* |
Yes |
No |
||
*FlexCache origins:
|
||||
SnapMirror Synchronous relationships |
No |
No |
||
SnapRestore |
Yes |
No |
||
Snapshot copies |
Yes |
No |
||
SVM DR configuration |
Yes Supported beginning withONTAP 9.5. The primary SVM of an SVM DR relationship can have the origin volume; however, if the SVM DR relationship is broken, the FlexCache relationship must be re-created with a new origin volume. |
No You can have FlexCache volumes in primary SVMs, but not in secondary SVMs. Any FlexCache volume in the primary SVM is not replicated as part of the SVM DR relationship. |
||
Storage-level Access Guard (SLAG) |
No |
No |
||
Thin provisioning |
Yes |
Yes Supported beginning with ONTAP 9.7 |
||
Volume cloning |
Yes Cloning of an origin volume and the files in the origin volume is supported beginning with ONTAP 9.6. |
No |
||
Volume move |
Yes |
Yes (only for volume constituents) Moving volume constituents of a FlexCache volume is supported with ONTAP 9.6 and later. |
||
Volume rehost |
No |
No |
||
vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI) |
Yes |
No |
||
|
In ONTAP 9 releases earlier than 9.5, origin FlexVol volumes can only serve data to FlexCache volumes created on systems running Data ONTAP 8.2.x operating in 7-Mode. Beginning with ONTAP 9.5, origin FlexVol volumes can also serve data to FlexCache volumes on ONTAP 9 systems. For information about migrating from 7-mode FlexCache to ONTAP 9 FlexCache see NetApp Technical Report 4743: FlexCache in ONTAP. |