AIX host support for SnapMirror active sync

Transparent Application Failover for AIX is supported with SnapMirror active sync in symmetric active/active configurations.

ONTAP Foreign LUN Import (FLI) support for iSCSI protocol

ONTAP Foreign LUN Import (FLI) supports the iSCSI protocol for backend connectivity.

Support for direct-attachment FC configurations

An FC switch is not required to establish connections between FC and FC-NVMe hosts and ONTAP storage. Hosts can be directly connected to FC adapter ports on ASA r2 systems. Direct-attachment capability can be especially valuable in remote sites and hybrid environments where simplicity is key.

Support for ARP/AI with SnapMirror active sync relationships

Autonomous Ransomware Protection with Artificial Intelligence (ARP/AI) supports primary read-write storage units in SnapMirror active sync relationships on ASA r2 systems. ARP/AI runs on the active primary storage units, creates primary-only ARP snapshots, and provides machine-learning-based ransomware detection for those storage units.

Support for TLS hardware offload

You can offload Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption and decryption for your entire cluster to supported Ethernet cards. This reduces CPU overhead and improves performance for systems using TLS.

Support for global deduplication

Global deduplication extends the existing ONTAP deduplication space savings to the entire Storage Availability Zone (SAZ). By eliminating duplicate data blocks across all the storage units in the SAZ, it can significantly improve storage efficiency and reduce total cost of ownership. Global deduplication is enabled by default and operates transparently without the need for administrative configuration.

Support for storage availability zone capacity alert in System Manager

An alert is displayed in System Manager if a storage availability zone in your ASA r2 system nears capacity.

Support for modifying default settings that control automatic QoS throughput ceiling increases

You can modify the default settings that control how QoS policy groups automatically increase the QoS throughput ceiling in response to short-term needs for higher performance. These settings cannot be modified in ONTAP 9.18.1 and earlier.

Enhanced reporting for automated pre-upgrade checks

When executing automated pre-upgrade checks, errors and warning are displayed separately to help you easily identify issues that must be resolved before you upgrade.