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ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere 10

Manage storage backends

Contributors netapp-jani
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Storage backends are systems that the ESXi hosts use for data storage.

Discover storage

You can run the discovery of a storage backend on demand without waiting for a scheduled discovery to update the storage details immediately. For MetroCluster configurations, run ONTAP tools discovery manually after a switchover.

Follow the steps below to discover the storage backends.

Steps

  1. Log in to the vSphere client.

  2. In the shortcuts page, select NetApp ONTAP tools under the plug-ins section.

  3. In the left pane of ONTAP tools, go to Storage Backends and select a storage backend.

  4. Select the vertical ellipses menu and select Discover storage

You can track the progress in the recent tasks panel.

Modify storage backends

You can modify the storage backend credentials or the port name. You can also modify the storage backend for global ONTAP clusters using ONTAP tools Manager. If the certificate will expire in 30 days or less, ONTAP tools shows a warning. Modify the storage backend and upload the new certificate from the ONTAP administrator.

When you modify the storage backend, ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere performs a discovery of the storage backend to update the storage details.

Follow the steps in this section to modify a storage backend.

  1. Log in to the vSphere client.

  2. In the shortcuts page, select NetApp ONTAP tools under the plug-ins section.

  3. In the left pane of ONTAP tools, go to Storage Backends and select a storage backend.

  4. Select the vertical ellipses menu and select Modify to modify the credentials or the port name. You can track the progress in the recent tasks panel.

Modify global ONTAP clusters with ONTAP tools Manager as follows.

  1. Launch ONTAP tools Manager from a web browser: https://<ONTAPtoolsIP>:8443/virtualization/ui/

  2. Log in with the ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere administrator credentials you provided during deployment.

  3. Select storage backends from the sidebar.

  4. Select the Storage Backend you want to modify.

  5. Select the vertical ellipses menu and select Modify.

  6. You can modify the credentials or the port. Enter the Username and Password to modify the storage backend.

Remove storage backends

You must remove all datastores attached to the storage backend before you remove it. Follow the steps below to remove a storage backend.

  1. Log in to the vSphere client.

  2. In the shortcuts page, select NetApp ONTAP tools under the plug-ins section.

  3. In the left pane of ONTAP tools, go to Storage Backends and select a storage backend.

  4. Select the vertical ellipses menu and select Remove. Ensure that the storage backend doesn't contain any datastores. You can track the progress in the recent tasks panel.

You can perform the remove operation for global ONTAP clusters using ONTAP tools Manager.

  1. Launch ONTAP tools Manager from a web browser: https://<ONTAPtoolsIP>:8443/virtualization/ui/

  2. Log in with the ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere administrator credentials you provided during deployment.

  3. Select Storage Backends from the sidebar.

  4. Select the storage backend you want to remove

  5. Select the vertical ellipses menu and select Remove.

Drill down view of storage backend

The storage backend page lists all the storage backends. You can perform discover storage, modify, and remove operations on the storage backends that you added, but not on the individual child SVM under the cluster.

Select the parent cluster or child to view the component summary. For the parent cluster, use the actions dropdown to discover storage, modify, or remove the storage backend.

The summary page provides the following details:

  • Status of the storage backend

  • Capacity information

  • Basic information about the VM

  • Certificate details such as the certificate status and the expiry date.

  • Network information like the IP address and port of the network. For the child SVM, the information is the same as the parent storage backend.

  • Privileges allowed and restricted for the storage backend. For the child SVM, the information is the same as the parent storage backend. ONTAP tools show privileges only on the cluster-based storage backends. If you add SVM as the storage backend, privileges information is not shown.

  • The ASA r2 system cluster drill-down view doesn't include local tiers tab when the disaggregated property is set as "true" for the SVM or the cluster.

  • For ASA r2 SVM systems, the capacity portlet is not shown. The capacity portal is required only when the disaggregated property is set as "true" for the SVM or the cluster.

  • For ASA r2 SVM systems, basic information section shows the platform type.

The interface tab provides detailed information about the interface.

The local tiers tab provides detailed information about the aggregate list.