Supported configurations for Cloud Volumes ONTAP in AWS
Several Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations are supported in AWS.
Supported number of nodes
Cloud Volumes ONTAP is available in AWS as a single-node system and as a high-availability (HA) pair of nodes for fault tolerance and nondisruptive operations.
Upgrading a single-node system to an HA pair is not supported. If you want to switch between a single-node system and an HA pair, then you need to deploy a new system and replicate data from the existing system to the new system.
Supported storage
Cloud Volumes ONTAP supports several types of EBS disks, and S3 object storage for data tiering. The maximum storage capacity is determined by the license that you choose.
Storage support by license
Each license supports a different maximum system capacity. The maximum system capacity includes disk-based storage plus object storage used for data tiering. NetApp doesn’t support exceeding this limit.
The following tables list the supported storage and EC2 machine type combinations for each license. For the latest EC2 instance specifications, including vCPU, memory, network bandwidth, and Amazon EBS bandwidth, refer to Amazon EC2 instance types.
Cloud Volumes ONTAP can run on either a Reserved or On-demand EC2 instance. Solutions that use other instance types aren't supported.
| Freemium | Capacity-based license (Essentials and Professional) | |
|---|---|---|
Maximum system capacity 1 |
500 GiB |
Flexible 2 |
Supported machine types |
C5 series
C5a series
C5d series
C5n series
M5 series
M5a series
M5d series
M5dn series
M5n series
M6id series
M6idn series
R5 series
R5d series
|
|
Supported disk types |
|
|
Cold data tiering to S3 |
Supported |
|
-
For an HA pair, the capacity limit is for the entire HA pair. It's not per node. For example, if you use the PAYGO Premium license, you can have up to 368 TiB of capacity between both nodes.
-
For some configurations, disk limits prevent you from reaching the capacity limit by using disks alone. In those cases, you can reach the capacity limit by tiering inactive data to object storage. For information about disk limits, refer to storage limits.
With capacity-based licensing, each Cloud Volumes ONTAP system supports tiering to object storage. The total tiered capacity can scale up to the cloud provider's bucket limit. While the license does not impose capacity restrictions, you should follow the FabricPool Best Practices to ensure optimal performance, reliability, and cost efficiency when configuring and managing tiering.
-
Enhanced write performance is enabled when using SSDs with all Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations, except for PAYGO Explore.
-
Tiering data to object storage isn't recommended when using Throughput Optimized HDDs (st1).
-
Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations in AWS Local Zones support only the General Purpose SSD (gp2) disk type. No other disk types are supported in AWS Local Zones.
-
The r5.12xlarge instance type has a known limitation with supportability. If a node unexpectedly reboots due to a panic, the system might not collect core files used to troubleshoot and root cause the problem. The customer accepts the risks and limited support terms and bears all support responsibility if this condition occurs. This limitation affects newly deployed HA pairs and HA pairs upgraded from 9.8. The limitation does not affect newly deployed single-node systems.
-
While these EC2 instance types support more than 64 vCPUs, Cloud Volumes ONTAP supports up to 64 vCPUs.
-
AWS Local Zones are supported in the following EC2 instance type families with sizes xlarge to 4xlarge: M5, C5, C5d, R5, and R5d. You should refer to AWS for the latest and complete details about supported EC2 instance types in Local Zones.
High write speed isn't supported with these instance types in AWS Local Zones.
-
These instance types require ONTAP 9.16.1 GA or later.
| PAYGO Explore | PAYGO Standard | PAYGO Premium | Node-based BYOL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Maximum system capacity |
2 TiB |
10 TiB |
368 TiB 2 |
368 TiB per license 2 |
Supported machine types |
M5 series
M6id series
M6idn series
|
M5 series
M5a series
M6id series
M6idn series
R5 series
|
C5 series
C5a series
C5d series
C5n series
M5 series
M5a series
M5d series
M5dn series
M5n series
M6id series
M6idn series
R5 series
R5d series
|
C5 series
C5a series
C5d series
C5n series
M5 series
M5a series
M5d series
M5dn series
M5n series
M6id series
M6idn series
R5 series
R5d series
|
Supported disk types |
|
|||
Cold data tiering to S3 |
Not supported |
Supported |
||
-
For an HA pair, the capacity limit is for the entire HA pair. It's not per node. For example, if you use the PAYGO Premium license, you can have up to 368 TiB of capacity between both nodes.
-
For some configurations, disk limits prevent you from reaching the capacity limit by using disks alone. In those cases, you can reach the capacity limit by tiering inactive data to object storage. For information about disk limits, refer to storage limits.
With capacity-based licensing, each Cloud Volumes ONTAP system supports tiering to object storage. The total tiered capacity can scale up to the cloud provider's bucket limit. While the license does not impose capacity restrictions, you should follow the FabricPool Best Practices to ensure optimal performance, reliability, and cost efficiency when configuring and managing tiering.
-
Enhanced write performance is enabled when using SSDs with all Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations, except for PAYGO Explore.
-
Tiering data to object storage isn't recommended when using Throughput Optimized HDDs (st1).
-
Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations in AWS Local Zones support only the General Purpose SSD (gp2) disk type. No other disk types are supported in AWS Local Zones.
-
The r5.12xlarge instance type has a known limitation with supportability. If a node unexpectedly reboots due to a panic, the system might not collect core files used to troubleshoot and root cause the problem. The customer accepts the risks and limited support terms and bears all support responsibility if this condition occurs. This limitation affects newly deployed HA pairs and HA pairs upgraded from 9.8. The limitation does not affect newly deployed single-node systems.
-
While these EC2 instance types support more than 64 vCPUs, Cloud Volumes ONTAP supports up to 64 vCPUs.
-
AWS Local Zones are supported in the following EC2 instance type families with sizes xlarge to 4xlarge: M5, C5, C5d, R5, and R5d. You should refer to AWS for the latest and complete details about supported EC2 instance types in Local Zones.
High write speed isn't supported with these instance types in AWS Local Zones.
-
These instance types require ONTAP 9.16.1 GA or later.
Support for Flash Cache and high write speed
The following table identifies which supported EC2 instance types support Flash Cache and high write speed.
| Supported instance | Flash Cache | High write speed |
|---|---|---|
c5.9xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
c5.18xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
c5a.12xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
c5d.4xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
c5d.9xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
c5d.18xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
c5n.9xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
c5n.18xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
m5.xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported (single node only) |
m5.2xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
m5.4xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
m5.16xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
m5a.2xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
m5a.16xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
m5d.8xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m5d.12xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m5dn.4xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m5dn.12xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m5dn.24xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m5n.2xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
m6id.xlarge |
Supported * |
Supported (single node only) |
m6id.2xlarge |
Supported * |
Supported |
m6id.4xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m6id.8xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m6id.16xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m6id.32xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m6idn.xlarge |
Supported * |
Supported (single node only) |
m6idn.2xlarge |
Supported * |
Supported |
m6idn.4xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m6idn.8xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m6idn.16xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
m6idn.32xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
r5.xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported (single node only) |
r5.2xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
r5.8xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
r5.12xlarge |
Not supported |
Supported |
r5d.2xlarge |
Supported |
Supported |
* Flash Cache is supported on m6id.xlarge, m6id.2xlarge, m6idn.xlarge, and m6idn.2xlarge. However, these instance types have fewer than 16 core processors and are not recommended for high-performance or memory-intensive workloads. Under heavy load, they may restart due to memory constraints. To avoid this, use an instance type with a higher core count and larger memory.
The following notes provide general guidance about supported instance behavior and deployment options.
-
Some instance types include local NVMe storage, which Cloud Volumes ONTAP uses as Flash Cache. Flash Cache speeds access to data through real-time intelligent caching of recently read user data and NetApp metadata. It's effective for random read-intensive workloads, including databases, email, and file services. Compression must be disabled on all volumes to take advantage of the Flash Cache performance improvements. Learn more about Flash Cache.
-
Cloud Volumes ONTAP supports high write speed with all supported instance types when using a single-node system. When using an HA pair, high write speed is supported only with supported instance types. Learn more about choosing a write speed.
-
When you choose an EC2 instance type, you can specify whether it is a shared instance or a dedicated instance.
Supported disk sizes
In AWS, an aggregate can contain up to 6 disks that are all the same size. But if you have a configuration that supports the Amazon EBS Elastic Volumes feature, then an aggregate can contain up to 8 disks. Learn more about support for Elastic Volumes
| General Purpose SSDs (gp3 and gp2) | Provisioned IOPS SSDs (io1) | Throughput Optimized HDDs (st1) |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
c4, m4, and r4 instances no longer supported
Cloud Volumes ONTAP no longer supports the c4, m4, and r4 EC2 instance types in AWS.
If your system runs on a c4, m4, or r4 instance, change it to a c5, m5, or r5 instance before you upgrade to this release.
For more information, refer to the following resources:
Supported regions
For AWS region support, see Cloud Volumes Global Regions.