Flex Subscription Infrastructure

02/03/2021 Contributors Download PDF of this page

This section describes the infrastructure components used in the customer and NetApp-operated offerings for the NetApp Keystone Flex Subscription (Flex Subscription) services. The components are also classified based on whether they reside in the data versus control plane that serve to segregate user data from command and control data.

Component	Plane	Operation Model	Purpose
Storage controllers	Data	Customer and NetApp/partner	Provides storage capacity for Flex Subscription service NetApp AFF and FAS controllers are used based on capacity and performance service level requirements.
Cluster switches	Data	Customer and NetApp/partner	Provides cluster traffic pathway among three or more storage controllers. If the configuration consists of two controllers, then switchless cluster configuration is used.
Data switches	Data	NetApp/partner only	Data connectivity between user and Flex Subscription storage. Cisco Nexus 9K switches are selected to provide enough ports for Flex Subscription storage controllers and customer data network connectivity providing bandwidth and flexibility to provide 10/25/50/100 GbE connectivity.
Management switches	Control	NetApp/partner only	Flex Subscription devices’ management port connectivity. Cisco Nexus 9K 1 GbE switches are selected to provide enough ports to attach to the devices’ management ports, as well provide 10GbE data connectivity to the management servers and storage.
Firewalls	Control	NetApp/partner only	Limit access to and protect Flex Subscription management network and Flex Subscription components. Palo Alto firewalls are selected to provide segregation of the Flex Subscription management network from the customer network.
Management servers	Control	NetApp/partner only	Executes Flex Subscription monitoring and management applications: NetApp Service Engine API, NetApp Service Engine GUI, OpsRamp, Active IQ Unified Manager.
Management storage	Control	NetApp/partner only	Provides shared storage for management servers and applications. Small NAS-based storage system is selected to meet the requirements of NetApp Service Engine.
Console switch	Control	NetApp/partner only	Provides serial console access to Flex Subscription devices.

Component

Plane

Operation Model

Purpose

Storage controllers

Data

Customer and NetApp/partner

Provides storage capacity for Flex Subscription service
NetApp AFF and FAS controllers are used based on capacity and performance service level requirements.

Cluster switches

Data

Customer and NetApp/partner

Provides cluster traffic pathway among three or more storage controllers. If the configuration consists of two controllers, then switchless cluster configuration is used.

Data switches

Data

NetApp/partner only

Data connectivity between user and Flex Subscription storage.
Cisco Nexus 9K switches are selected to provide enough ports for Flex Subscription storage controllers and customer data network connectivity providing bandwidth and flexibility to provide 10/25/50/100 GbE connectivity.

Management switches

Control

NetApp/partner only

Flex Subscription devices’ management port connectivity.
Cisco Nexus 9K 1 GbE switches are selected to provide enough ports to attach to the devices’ management ports, as well provide 10GbE data connectivity to the management servers and storage.

Firewalls

Control

NetApp/partner only

Limit access to and protect Flex Subscription management network and Flex Subscription components.
Palo Alto firewalls are selected to provide segregation of the Flex Subscription management network from the customer network.

Management servers

Control

NetApp/partner only

Executes Flex Subscription monitoring and management applications: NetApp Service Engine API, NetApp Service Engine GUI, OpsRamp, Active IQ Unified Manager.

Management storage

Control

NetApp/partner only

Provides shared storage for management servers and applications.
Small NAS-based storage system is selected to meet the requirements of NetApp Service Engine.

Console switch

Control

NetApp/partner only

Provides serial console access to Flex Subscription devices.