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NetApp Backup and Recovery

Set up licensing for NetApp Backup and Recovery

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Set up licensing for NetApp Backup and Recovery in NetApp Console or NetApp Console local deployment by using a marketplace subscription or a bring-your-own license (BYOL) from NetApp. A valid license is required to protect workloads to object storage and to restore data from object storage. Local snapshots and replication to ONTAP secondary storage don't require a license.

A few notes about how licenses work:

  • For all workloads, you are only charged for protection to object storage (for example, when using the 3-2-1 backup architectures or disk-to-object-storage). Local snapshots and replication to ONTAP secondary storage are free.

  • No license is needed for Oracle Database workloads because it is in Preview release status.

  • When using ONTAP Volumes workloads, you can discover and restore volumes without a license. However, if you need to protect (back up) volumes to object storage, you need to purchase a license.

  • If you are using Backup and Recovery with NetApp Console local deployment, you can only purchase a bring-your-own-license (BYOL) license.

  • The NetApp Backup and Recovery bring-your-own-license (BYOL) is a floating license that you can use across all systems associated with your NetApp Console organization or account. So if you have sufficient backup capacity available from an existing BYOL license, you won't need to purchase another BYOL license.

  • If you are using a BYOL license with NetApp Console, it is recommended that you subscribe to a PAYGO subscription as well. If you back up more data than allowed by your BYOL license, or if the term of your license expires, then backup continues through your pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) subscription - there is no disruption of service.

  • When backing up on-premises ONTAP data to StorageGRID, you need a BYOL license, but there's no cost for cloud provider storage space.

Learn more about the costs related to using NetApp Backup and Recovery.

Licensing options for NetApp Backup and Recovery

You have three licensing options for NetApp Backup and Recovery:

  • Purchase a direct license, also known as a bring-your-own-license (BYOL), from NetApp. This option applies to both NetApp Console and Console local deployment.

  • Purchase an annual contract from a hyperscaler marketplace. This option applies to NetApp Console only.

  • Subscribe to a pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) license from a hyperscaler marketplace. This option applies to NetApp Console only.

30-day free trial

A 30-day NetApp Backup and Recovery free trial is available for all unlicensed workloads except ONTAP Volumes workloads. You can start the trial when you begin using a workload, before discovering its resources. After you start the trial, its status and used capacity appear under Free Trials on the NetApp Backup and Recovery home page. Only capacity protected to object storage counts toward the trial. Capacity protected with local snapshots or replication to ONTAP secondary storage isn't counted.

End the free trial

You can end the free trial for a workload at any time from the home page that appears when you log in to NetApp Backup and Recovery. If you want to continue protecting workloads to object storage after the free trial ends, you must set up a paid subscription in the Licenses and subscriptions section of the NetApp Console interface. Protection that doesn't use object storage, such as local snapshots and replication to ONTAP secondary storage, continues to work and can be managed without a paid subscription. If you don't want to continue protecting workloads to object storage, you can end the free trial without subscribing to a paid plan. You can unregister NetApp Backup and Recovery from the system before the trial ends and you won't be charged.

Steps

  1. From the NetApp Backup and Recovery home page, choose the free trial you want to end under Free trials.

  2. Select End free trial.

  3. Type end trial in the box.

  4. Select End trial to confirm.

Use a BYOL license

Bring-your-own licenses from NetApp provide 1-, 2-, or 3-year terms. You pay only for the data that you protect to object storage, calculated by the logical used capacity (before any efficiencies) of the source workloads which are being backed up to object storage. For ONTAP volumes, this capacity is also known as Front-End Terabytes (FETB). Data that is protected only with local snapshots or replication to ONTAP secondary storage doesn't count against your licensed capacity.

The BYOL NetApp Backup and Recovery license is a floating license where the total capacity is shared across all systems associated with your NetApp Console organization or account. For ONTAP volumes, you can get a rough estimate of the capacity you'll need by running the CLI command volume show -fields logical-used-by-afs for the volumes you plan to back up to object storage.

If you don't have a NetApp Backup and Recovery BYOL license, reach out to your NetApp sales representative to purchase one.

You use NetApp Console or NetApp Console local deployment to manage BYOL licenses. You can add new licenses, update existing licenses, and view license status from the Console.

Learn about adding licenses.

Use an annual marketplace subscription (applies to NetApp Console only)

You can pay for NetApp Backup and Recovery annually by purchasing an annual contract, available in several length-of-term options.

With an annual contract from a marketplace, all NetApp Backup and Recovery consumption for protection to object storage is charged against that contract.

Note the following about annual marketplace contract options:

  • Annual contracts are available as private offers in each marketplace.

  • Annual contracts enable you to back up both Cloud Volumes ONTAP data and on-premises ONTAP data.

  • You can sign up for an annual contract from the marketplace page. Set up your subscription from the Marketplace page and then associate the subscription with your AWS, Azure, or GCP credentials. Note that you'll also need to pay for your Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems using this annual contract subscription since you can assign only one active subscription to your AWS credentials in the Console.

  • If you purchase a "CVO Professional" plan, it includes unlimited backups for the licensed Cloud Volumes ONTAP system, and those backups don't count toward the licensed capacity. This plan doesn't support backups of on-premises ONTAP data or Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems licensed through the Freemium or Essentials packages; only Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems licensed through the Professional package are supported.

    Refer to the Cloud Volumes ONTAP licensing topic to learn more about this licensing option.

When you use AWS or Azure, use these links to subscribe to an annual marketplace subscription for NetApp Backup and Recovery:

When you use GCP, contact your NetApp sales representative to purchase an annual contract.

Use a NetApp Backup and Recovery PAYGO subscription (applies to NetApp Console only)

For pay-as-you-go, you pay your cloud provider for object storage costs and NetApp backup licensing costs on an hourly basis in a single subscription. You should subscribe to NetApp Intelligent Services in the Marketplace even if you have a free trial or bring your own license (BYOL):

  • Subscribing ensures that there's no disruption of service after your free trial ends. When the trial ends, you'll be charged hourly according to the amount of data that you back up to object storage.

  • If you back up more data than allowed by your BYOL license, then data backup and restore operations continue through your pay-as-you-go subscription. For example, if you have a 10 TiB BYOL license, all capacity beyond the 10 TiB is charged through the PAYGO subscription.

You won't be charged from your pay-as-you-go subscription during your free trial or if you haven't exceeded your BYOL license.

Learn more about these capacity-based license packages.

Note the following about PAYGO marketplace contract options:

  • PAYGO contracts enable you to back up both Cloud Volumes ONTAP data and on-premises ONTAP data.

  • You can sign up for a PAYGO contract from the marketplace page. Set up your subscription from the Marketplace page and then associate the subscription with your AWS, Azure, or GCP credentials.

  • If you purchase a "CVO Professional" plan, it includes unlimited backups for the licensed Cloud Volumes ONTAP system, and those backups don't count toward the licensed capacity. This plan doesn't support backups of on-premises ONTAP data or Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems licensed through the Freemium or Essentials packages; only Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems licensed through the Professional package are supported.

    Refer to the Cloud Volumes ONTAP licensing topic to learn more about this licensing option.

Use these links to subscribe to a PAYGO contract for NetApp Backup and Recovery from your cloud provider marketplace:

Exceeding license capacity

Exceeding your licensed capacity for protection to object storage triggers PAYGO rates. Without a PAYGO subscription, you cannot create new backups to object storage, though you can still restore existing backups without a service guarantee. Local snapshots and replication to ONTAP secondary storage aren't affected. Renew your license before it expires because an expired license prevents new backups to object storage and disrupts service.

What happens when your license expires

When your Backup and Recovery license expires:

  • Backups from existing backup policies and restores continue to work.

  • You can't create new backup policies that protect to object storage or extend object storage protection to additional workloads and datastores.

  • You can still create and manage policies that don't use object storage, such as policies for local snapshots and replication to ONTAP secondary storage.

  • You can't use new Backup and Recovery features and enhancements.

  • NetApp technical support for Backup and Recovery is no longer available.

Renew your license to:

  • Create and modify backup policies that protect to object storage, including policies for application-consistent backups of databases, VMs, and Kubernetes workloads.

  • Use new Backup and Recovery features and enhancements.

  • Continue to receive NetApp technical support.