Tiering data from on-premises ONTAP clusters to Azure Blob storage

Contributors netapp-tonacki

Free space on your on-prem ONTAP clusters by tiering inactive data to Azure Blob storage.

Quick start

Get started quickly by following these steps, or scroll down to the remaining sections for full details.

One Prepare to tier data to Azure Blob storage

You need the following:

  • An on-prem ONTAP cluster that’s running ONTAP 9.4 or later and has an HTTPS connection to Azure Blob storage. Learn how to discover a cluster.

  • A Connector installed in an Azure VNet or on your premises.

  • Networking for a Connector that enables an outbound HTTPS connection to the ONTAP cluster in your data center, to Azure storage, and to the Cloud Tiering service.

Two Set up tiering

In BlueXP, select an on-prem working environment, click Enable for the Tiering service, and follow the prompts to tier data to Azure Blob storage.

Three Set up licensing

After your free trial ends, pay for Cloud Tiering through a pay-as-you-go subscription, an ONTAP Cloud Tiering BYOL license, or a combination of both:

Requirements

Verify support for your ONTAP cluster, set up your networking, and prepare your object storage.

The following image shows each component and the connections that you need to prepare between them:

An architecture image that shows the Cloud Tiering service with a connection to the Connector in your cloud provider, the Connector with a connection to your ONTAP cluster, and a connection between the ONTAP cluster and object storage in your cloud provider. Active data resides on the ONTAP cluster, while inactive data resides in object storage.

Note Communication between the Connector and Blob storage is for object storage setup only. The Connector can reside on your premises, instead of in the cloud.

Preparing your ONTAP clusters

Your ONTAP clusters must meet the following requirements when tiering data to Azure Blob storage.

Supported ONTAP platforms

  • When using ONTAP 9.8 and later: You can tier data from AFF systems, or FAS systems with all-SSD aggregates or all-HDD aggregates.

  • When using ONTAP 9.7 and earlier: You can tier data from AFF systems, or FAS systems with all-SSD aggregates.

Supported ONTAP version

ONTAP 9.4 or later

Required application access parameter

The cluster admin user must have “console” Application access. You can verify this using the ONTAP command security login show. "console" should appear in the Application column for the "admin" user. Use the security login create command to add console application access if necessary. See the "security login" commands for details.

Cluster networking requirements

  • The ONTAP cluster initiates an HTTPS connection over port 443 to Azure Blob storage.

    ONTAP reads and writes data to and from object storage. The object storage never initiates, it just responds.

    Although ExpressRoute provides better performance and lower data transfer charges, it’s not required between the ONTAP cluster and Azure Blob storage. But doing so is the recommended best practice.

  • An inbound connection is required from the Connector, which can reside in an Azure VNet or on your premises.

    A connection between the cluster and the Cloud Tiering service is not required.

  • An intercluster LIF is required on each ONTAP node that hosts the volumes you want to tier. The LIF must be associated with the IPspace that ONTAP should use to connect to object storage.

    When you set up data tiering, Cloud Tiering prompts you for the IPspace to use. You should choose the IPspace that each LIF is associated with. That might be the "Default" IPspace or a custom IPspace that you created. Learn more about LIFs and IPspaces.

Supported volumes and aggregates

The total number of volumes that Cloud Tiering can tier might be less than the number of volumes on your ONTAP system. That’s because volumes can’t be tiered from some aggregates. Refer to the ONTAP documentation for functionality or features not supported by FabricPool.

Note Cloud Tiering supports FlexGroup volumes, starting with ONTAP 9.5. Setup works the same as any other volume.

Discovering an ONTAP cluster

You need to create an on-prem ONTAP working environment in BlueXP before you can start tiering cold data.

Learn how to discover a cluster.

Creating or switching Connectors

A Connector is required to tier data to the cloud. When tiering data to Azure Blob storage, you can use a Connector that’s in an Azure VNet or on your premises. You’ll either need to create a new Connector or make sure that the currently selected Connector resides in Azure or on-prem.

Verify that you have the necessary Connector permissions

If you created the Connector using BlueXP version 3.9.7 or greater, then you’re all set.

If you created the Connector using an earlier version of BlueXP, then you’ll need to edit the permission list to add 2 required permissions:

Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/managementPolicies/read
Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/managementPolicies/write

Preparing networking for the Connector

Ensure that the Connector has the required networking connections. A Connector can be installed on-prem or in Azure.

Steps

  1. Ensure that the network where the Connector is installed enables the following connections:

    • An outbound internet connection to the Cloud Tiering service over port 443 (HTTPS)

    • An HTTPS connection over port 443 to Azure Blob storage

    • An HTTPS connection over port 443 to your ONTAP cluster management LIF

  2. If needed, enable a VNet service endpoint to Azure storage.

    A VNet service endpoint to Azure storage is recommended if you have an ExpressRoute or VPN connection from your ONTAP cluster to the VNet and you want communication between the Connector and Blob storage to stay in your virtual private network.

Preparing Azure Blob storage

When you set up tiering, you need to identify the resource group you want to use, and the storage account and Azure container that belong to the resource group. A storage account enables Cloud Tiering to authenticate and access the Blob container used for data tiering.

Cloud Tiering supports only the General Purpose v2 and Premium Block Blob types of storage accounts.

The Blob container must be in a region that supports Cloud Tiering.

Note If you are planning to configure Cloud Tiering to use a lower cost access tier where your tiered data will transition to after a certain number of days, you must not select any life cycle rules when setting up the container in your Azure account. Cloud Tiering manages the life cycle transitions.

Tiering inactive data from your first cluster to Azure Blob storage

After you prepare your Azure environment, start tiering inactive data from your first cluster.

What you’ll need

An on-premises working environment.

Steps

  1. Select an on-prem cluster.

  2. Click Enable for the Tiering service.

    If the Azure Blob tiering destination exists as a working environment on the Canvas, you can drag the cluster onto the Azure Blob working environment to initiate the setup wizard.

    A screenshot that shows the Enable option that appears on the right side of the screen after you select an on-prem ONTAP working environment.

  3. Define Object Storage Name: Enter a name for this object storage. It must be unique from any other object storage you may be using with aggregates on this cluster.

  4. Select Provider: Select Microsoft Azure and click Continue.

  5. Complete the steps on the Create Object Storage pages:

    1. Resource Group: Select a resource group where an existing container is managed, or where you would like to create a new container for tiered data, and click Continue.

    2. Azure Container: Add a new Blob container to a storage account, or select an existing container, and click Continue.

      When using an on-prem Connector, you must enter the Azure Subscription that provides access to the existing container or new container that will be created.

      The storage account and containers that appear in this step belong to the resource group that you selected in the previous step.

    3. Access Tier Life Cycle: Cloud Tiering manages the life cycle transitions of your tiered data. Data starts in the Hot class, but you can create a rule to move the data to the Cool class after a certain number of days.

      Select the access tier that you want to transition the tiered data to and the number of days before the data will be moved, and click Continue. For example, the screenshot below shows that tiered data is moved from the Hot class to the Cool class after 45 days in object storage.

      If you choose Keep data in this access tier, then the data remains in the Hot access tier and no rules are applied. See supported access tiers.

      A screenshot showing how to select another access tier where data is moved after a certain number of days.

      Note that the life cycle rule is applied to all blob containers in the selected storage account.

      Verify that you have the necessary Connector permissions for the life cycle management feature.

    4. Cluster Network: Select the IPspace that ONTAP should use to connect to object storage, and click Continue.

      Selecting the correct IPspace ensures that Cloud Tiering can set up a connection from ONTAP to your cloud provider’s object storage.

  6. On the Tier Volumes page, select the volumes that you want to configure tiering for and launch the Tiering Policy page:

    • To select all volumes, check the box in the title row (button backup all volumes) and click Configure volumes.

    • To select multiple volumes, check the box for each volume (button backup 1 volume) and click Configure volumes.

    • To select a single volume, click the row (or edit pencil icon icon) for the volume.

      A screenshot that shows how to select a single volume

  7. In the Tiering Policy dialog, select a tiering policy, optionally adjust the cooling days for the selected volumes, and click Apply.

    Learn more about volume tiering policies and cooling days.

    A screenshot that shows the configurable tiering policy settings.

Result

You’ve successfully set up data tiering from volumes on the cluster to Azure Blob object storage.

What’s next?

Be sure to subscribe to the Cloud Tiering service.

You can review information about the active and inactive data on the cluster. Learn more about managing your tiering settings.

You can also create additional object storage in cases where you may want to tier data from certain aggregates on a cluster to different object stores. Or if you plan to use FabricPool Mirroring where your tiered data is replicated to an additional object store. Learn more about managing object stores.