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ONTAP user interfaces

Contributors netapp-dbagwell
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ONTAP data management software offers multiple interfaces you can use to manage your ONTAP clusters. These interface options provide different levels of access and functionality and give you the flexibility to manage your ONTAP clusters as appropriate based on your environment.

You can use any of these interfaces to administer your ONTAP clusters and perform data management operations

ONTAP System Manager

ONTAP System Manager is a web-based user interface that provides a simplified and intuitive way to manage your cluster. You can administer common operations such as storage configuration, data protection, and network setup and management. System Manager also provides risk and cluster performance monitoring and insights to help you react to cluster issues and get ahead of issues before they occur. Learn more.

The ONTAP System Manager interface was redesigned in ONTAP 9.7 to provide a more streamlined and intuitive user experience. The procedures in this documentation site describe the redesigned System Manager interface, which continues to offer more options with each ONTAP release.

Note The older System Manager interface is referred to in ONTAP documentation as System Manager Classic. The last ONTAP release in which the System Manager Classic interface is available is ONTAP 9.7.

BlueXP

Beginning with ONTAP 9.12.1, you can use the BlueXP web-based interface to manage your hybrid multicloud infrastructure from a single control plane while retaining the familiar System Manager dashboard. BlueXP enables you to create and administer cloud storage (for example, Cloud Volumes ONTAP), use NetApp's data services (for example, Cloud Backup), and control many on-premise and edge storage devices. Adding on-premises ONTAP systems to BlueXP enables you to manage all your storage and data assets from a single interface. Learn more.

ONTAP command line interface

The ONTAP command line interface (CLI) is a text-based interface that allows you to interact with a cluster, node, SVM, and more using commands. CLI commands are available based on role type. You can access the ONTAP CLI through SSH or a console connection to a node in the cluster.

ONTAP REST API

Beginning with ONTAP 9.6, you can access a RESTful API that allows you to programmatically manage and automate cluster operations. Use the API to perform various ONTAP administrative tasks, such as such as creating and managing volumes, snapshots, and aggregates, as well as monitoring cluster performance. You can access the ONTAP REST API directly using a utility such as curl or with any programming language that supports a REST client, such as Python, PowerShell, and Java. Learn more.

Note ONTAPI is a proprietary ONTAP API that precedes the ONTAP REST API. The ONTAPI interface will be disabled in future versions of ONTAP. If you are using ONTAPI, you should plan your migration to the ONTAP REST API.

NetApp toolkits and frameworks

NetApp provides client toolkits for specific development languages and environments that abstract the ONTAP REST API and make it easier to create automation code. Learn more.

In addition to these toolkits, you can create and deploy automation code using frameworks. Learn more.