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NetApp virtualization solutions

Learn about using ONTAP and VMware APIs for administration

Contributors netapp-jsnyder kevin-hoke
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ONTAP and VMware offer APIs for seamless integration and automation between storage and virtualization platforms. This enables streamlined provisioning, monitoring, and data protection to improve workflow consistency.

Introduction

VMware provides a range of APIs that allow administrators to interact programmatically with various VMware products and services, enhancing efficiency and consistency in operations. Additionally, NetApp ONTAP APIs provide a robust set of tools that enable administrators to automate, integrate, and optimize the management of storage environments, particularly in conjunction with VMware workloads. These APIs facilitate seamless interaction between ONTAP storage systems and VMware, enhancing efficiency, performance, and data protection.

VMware-based APIs

  • VMware vSphere API: The vSphere API is a comprehensive API that allows administrators to manage and automate VMware vSphere environments. It provides access to a wide range of vSphere features, including virtual machine provisioning, configuration, monitoring, and lifecycle management.

  • VMware vCenter Server REST API: The vCenter Server REST API provides a modern, RESTful interface for managing vCenter Server and its associated components. It simplifies automation and integration with other systems and tools.

  • VMware Cloud Foundation API: The VMware Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) APIs provide programmatic access to the various components and services within a VMware SDDC environment. These APIs enable administrators and developers to automate, manage, and integrate the different aspects of the data center, including compute, storage, networking, and management services.

  • VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Storage Awareness: VASA is a set of APIs providing integration of the storage arrays with vCenter for management and administration. The architecture is based on several components including the VASA Provider which handles communication between VMware vSphere and the storage systems. With ONTAP, the provider is implemented as part of ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere.

  • VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Array Integration: VAAI is a set of APIs that enable communication between VMware vSphere ESXi hosts and the storage devices. The API includes a set of primitive operations used by the hosts to offload storage operations to the array. VAAI can provide significant performance improvements for storage-intensive tasks.

ONTAP-based APIs

  • NetApp ONTAP REST API: The ONTAP REST API provides a modern, RESTful interface for managing ONTAP storage systems. It simplifies the automation of storage tasks such as provisioning, monitoring, and configuration. It allows for easy integration with VMware vSphere and other VMware management tools, enabling automated storage operations directly from VMware environments. It supports a wide range of operations, from basic storage management to advanced data protection and replication tasks, allowing for scalable and flexible storage management.

  • ONTAP Tools for VMware vSphere: ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere is a set of tools for integrating ONTAP and vSphere. It implements the provider functionality of the VASA API framework. ONTAP tools also includes the vCenter plug-in, a storage replication adapter (SRA) for VMware Site Recovery Manager, and a REST API server you can use to build automation applications.

Summary

In summary, with ONTAP APIs, administrators can script the creation and configuration of datastores in VMware environments, ensuring quick and consistent storage provisioning. Additionally, they can automate the creation, scheduling, and deletion of snapshots for VMware virtual machines, providing efficient data protection and recovery options. SnapMirror APIs facilitate the automation of replication relationship setup and management, ensuring robust disaster recovery solutions for VMware workloads.
Administrators can also implement scripts to monitor storage performance metrics and trigger alerts or automated actions when performance thresholds are breached, ensuring optimal storage performance for VMware workloads. By integrating ONTAP APIs with VMware APIs, such as those provided by vSphere and vRealize, administrators can achieve a seamless and highly automated management experience, enhancing the overall efficiency and reliability of their virtualized infrastructure.