Support for non-disruptive storage VM migration from ASA r2 systems to ASA and AFF systems

You can non-disruptively migrate a storage virtual machine (VM) from a 2-node ASA r2 cluster to a 2-node ASA or a 2-node AFF cluster. Existing host mappings and storage unit configurations for LUNs and namespaces are maintained during migration, reducing operational effort and risk.

Support for improved performance after migrating storage VMs from an ASA system to an ASA r2 system

ONTAP reduces additional read latency and CPU usage that can occur after storage virtual machines (VMs) are migrated from an ASA system to an ASA r2 system.

Support for FC-SP-3 authentication and encryption with Broadcom secure HBAs

ONTAP supports Fibre Channel Security Protocol 3 (FC-SP-3) authentication and encryption on Broadcom secure HBAs with ASA r2 systems. FC-SP-3 support enables hardware-level end-to-end encryption and device authentication to protect data in flight between FC and NVMe/FC SAN hosts and ONTAP storage systems while aligning with T11 Fibre Channel security standards.

Support for web-management availability protection and precluster enhancements

Improvements are implemented that preserve web[1] management API availability during connection floods. Precluster Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) handling is also enhanced so that a node-management LIF can maintain and renew DHCP connectivity while waiting for cluster setup.

Support for automatic migration of storage VM volume encryption keys

When you enable an external key manager on a data storage VM, ONTAP automatically migrates that storage VM's volume encryption keys from the admin-scope key manager to the new data storage VM key manager. This simplifies the transition to external key management and removes the need for a separate manual migration step in the standard workflow.

MAV Groups Support

MAV approval groups can include identity provider (IdP), Active Directory (AD), and LDAP (nsswitch) groups as approvers, in addition to individual administrators. Supported group types include Entra ID, ADFS, AD domain groups, and LDAP groups. Adding or removing users in the IdP, AD, or LDAP directory does not require any changes to the MAV configuration.

SNMP support for SHA-512

ONTAP supports SHA-512 authentication for SNMPv3 users. This enhancement lets you use stronger SNMPv3 authentication for external SNMP clients and for switch monitoring, including switches that require SHA-512 authentication.

Support for simplified reporting of storage efficiency data reduction rate

The storage efficiency data reduction rate (DRR) provides a more precise assessment of ONTAP storage efficiency space savings by including only reducible data. In ONTAP 9.19.1 and earlier, the DRR includes both reducible and non-reducible data.

Support for SAN copy offload performance improvements

ONTAP improves SAN copy offload performance for eligible NVMe and SCSI copy workloads. Contact your NetApp representative for details.

Automatic Dedupe Scheduler (ADS) Optimization

Automatic Dedupe Scheduler (ADS) is improved to allow more concurrent dedupe sessions per node as well as smarter and more targeted throttling to better balance client I/O. Dedupe activity on DP volumes (from SnapMirror transfers) and Global Dedupe sessions is managed more optimally alongside regular volume dedupe which reduces contention and metadata growth. You can benefit from storage efficiency savings, especially under mixed workloads, with no configuration changes required. This feature is enabled by default.

Support for certificate expiration alerts

System Manager displays a dashboard health alert 30 days before a cluster or storage virtual machine (SVM) certificate expires and updates it daily with the days remaining before expiration.

Support for user password expiration alerts

If the role associated with a user account is configured for password expiration alerts, the user receives a top-of-page banner alert in System Manager immediately after logging in, beginning 14 days before the password expires. The alert is updated each time the user logs in to show the number of days remaining until the password expires.

Support for additional AutoSupport alerts

System Manager displays new AutoSupport alerts that can help you address AutoSupport configuration issues.