Skip to main content
ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10

Quick start for ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere

Contributors netapp-jani jani
PDFs

Set up ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere with this quick start.

Complete these core tasks first to make ONTAP tools operational for initial setup and provisioning. Then complete the optional tasks based on your environment and protection requirements.

Initially, you deploy ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere as an extra-small (XS) single-node configuration that provides core services for NFS and VMFS datastores. If you need additional containers per service, higher resiliency, or vVols datastores and high availability (HA), complete this workflow first and then continue with expansion. For more information, refer to the HA deployment workflow.

One Plan your deployment

Confirm that your environment is ready for a supported deployment. Verify that your vSphere, ONTAP, and ESXi host versions are compatible with the ONTAP tools version. Allocate sufficient CPU, memory, and disk space. Based on your security rules, you might need to configure firewalls or other security controls to allow network traffic.

Ensure that vCenter Server is installed and accessible.

Two Deploy ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere

Deploy the ONTAP tools appliance to establish base services for NFS and VMFS datastores.

If you plan to expand your deployment for vVols datastores and HA, complete this workflow first. In ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10.6, CPU hot-add and memory hot-plug are enabled by default.

During deployment, review the Customize template fields carefully, especially host name, ONTAP tools IP address usage, and DNS requirements.

Three Register and install the vCenter client plug-in

Add a vCenter Server instance to register the vCenter client plug-in and apply the required privileges and roles. When you add a vCenter Server instance, ONTAP tools registers the remote plug-in, applies custom plug-in and API privileges, creates custom roles, and adds a plug-in shortcut in the vSphere user interface.

Four Configure the storage backends

Connect ONTAP storage resources so ONTAP tools can provision and manage datastores. Add a storage backend to an ONTAP cluster. In multitenant environments where a vCenter Server is associated with a tenant SVM, use ONTAP tools Manager to add the cluster. Then associate the storage backend with the vCenter Server to create a global mapping for that vCenter instance.

Add local storage backends with cluster or SVM credentials by using the ONTAP tools interface. These storage backends are limited to a single vCenter. When you use cluster credentials locally, the associated SVMs automatically map to the vCenter for vVol or VMFS management. For VMFS management, including SRA, ONTAP tools supports SVM credentials without requiring a global cluster.

Optional next tasks

Optional next tasks

One Configure ONTAP user roles and privileges

Configure custom ONTAP roles for least-privilege access instead of using the default admin account.

Two Upgrade certificates for multiple vCenter Server instances

Upgrade certificates to use trusted certificate-based communication across multiple vCenter Server instances.

Three Configure SRA protection

Enable the SRA capability to configure disaster recovery protection for NFS and VMFS datastores.

Four Enable SnapMirror active sync protection

Set up host cluster protection with SnapMirror active sync to protect VMFS datastores. In ONTAP systems, peer the required clusters and SVMs, and then configure protection in ONTAP tools. This option applies only to VMFS datastores.

Five Set up backup and recovery for your ONTAP tools deployment

Set up backup and recovery to protect ONTAP tools configuration and recover quickly from failures.

Backup is enabled by default in ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10.6 and runs every 10 minutes.