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NetApp virtualization solutions

Learn about ONTAP storage architecture for Proxmox Virtual Environment

Contributors sureshthoppay netapp-jsnyder
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NetApp ONTAP integrates with Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE) to provide enterprise-grade storage capabilities through NAS and SAN protocols. ONTAP delivers advanced data management features including snapshots, cloning, replication, and ransomware protection for virtualized workloads running on Proxmox VE clusters.

Solution architecture

The solution architecture includes the following key components:

  • Proxmox VE cluster: A cluster of Proxmox VE nodes that provide virtualization capabilities and manage virtual machines (VMs) and containers.

  • NetApp ONTAP storage: A high-performance, scalable storage system that provides shared storage for the Proxmox VE cluster.

  • Network infrastructure: A robust network setup that ensures low-latency and high-throughput connectivity between Proxmox VE nodes and ONTAP storage.

  • NetApp Console: A centralized management interface for managing multiple NetApp storage systems and data services.

  • Proxmox Backup Server: A dedicated backup solution for Proxmox VE that integrates with ONTAP storage for efficient data protection.

The following diagram shows the high-level architecture of the lab setup:

Proxmox VE with NetApp ONTAP Architecture

ONTAP features for Proxmox VE

ONTAP provides a comprehensive set of enterprise storage features that enhance Proxmox VE deployments. These features span data management, protection, efficiency, and protocol support across both NAS and SAN storage architectures.

Core data management features

  • Scale-out cluster architecture

  • Secure authentication and RBAC support

  • Zero trust multi-admin support

  • Secure multitenancy

  • Data replication with SnapMirror

  • Point-in-time copies with snapshots

  • Space-efficient clones

  • Storage efficiency features including deduplication and compression

  • Trident CSI support for Kubernetes

  • SnapLock for compliance

  • Tamperproof snapshot copy locking

  • Ransomware protection with autonomous threat detection

  • Data-at-rest and data-in-flight encryption

  • FabricPool to tier cold data to object storage

  • NetApp Console and Data Infrastructure Insights integration

  • Microsoft Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX)

NAS protocol features

  • FlexGroup volumes provide scale-out NAS containers with high performance, load distribution, and scalability

  • FlexCache distributes data globally while providing local read and write access

  • Multiprotocol support enables the same data to be accessible via both SMB and NFS

  • NFS nConnect allows multiple TCP sessions per connection to increase network throughput and utilize high-speed NICs

  • NFS session trunking provides increased data transfer speeds, high availability, and fault tolerance

  • SMB multichannel provides increased data transfer speeds, high availability, and fault tolerance

  • Integration with Active Directory and LDAP for file permissions

  • Secure connections with NFS over TLS

  • NFS Kerberos authentication support

  • NFS over RDMA for low-latency access

  • Name mapping between Windows and Unix identities

  • Autonomous ransomware protection with built-in threat detection

  • File System Analytics for capacity and usage insights

SAN protocol features

  • Stretch clusters across fault domains with SnapMirror active sync (always check the Interoperability Matrix Tool for supported configurations)

  • ASA models provide active-active multipathing and fast path failover

  • Protocol support for FC, iSCSI, and NVMe-oF

  • iSCSI CHAP mutual authentication

  • Selective LUN mapping and portsets for enhanced security