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SnapMirror licensing overview

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Beginning with ONTAP 9.3, licensing has been simplified for replicating between ONTAP instances. In ONTAP 9 releases, the SnapMirror license supports both vault and mirror relationships. You can use a SnapMirror license to support ONTAP replication for both backup and disaster recovery use cases.

Prior to the ONTAP 9.3 release, a separate SnapVault license was needed to configure vault relationships between ONTAP instances, where the DP instance could retain a higher number of Snapshot copies to support backup use cases with longer retention times, and a SnapMirror license was needed to configure mirror relationships between ONTAP instances, where each ONTAP instance would maintain the same number of Snapshot copies (that is, a mirror image) to support disaster recovery use cases to make cluster failovers possible. Both SnapMirror and SnapVault licenses continue to be used and supported for ONTAP 8.x and 9.x releases.

While SnapVault licenses continue to function and are supported for both ONTAP 8.x and 9.x releases, the SnapMirror license can be used in place of a SnapVault license and can be used for both mirror and vault configurations.

For ONTAP asynchronous replication, beginning with ONTAP 9.3 a single unified replication engine is used to configure extended data protection mode (XDP) policies, where the SnapMirror license can be configured for a mirror policy, a vault policy, or a mirror-vault policy. A SnapMirror license is required on both the source and destination clusters. A SnapVault license is not required if a SnapMirror license is already installed. The SnapMirror asynchronous perpetual license is included in the ONTAP One software suite that's installed on new AFF and FAS systems.

Data protection configuration limits are determined using several factors, including your ONTAP version, hardware platform, and the licenses installed. For more information, see Hardware Universe.

SnapMirror synchronous license

Beginning with ONTAP 9.5, SnapMirror synchronous relationships are supported. You require the following licenses for creating a SnapMirror synchronous relationship:

  • The SnapMirror synchronous license is required on both the source cluster and the destination cluster.

    The SnapMirror synchronous license is part of the ONTAP One license suite.

    If your system was purchased before June 2019 with a Premium or Flash Bundle, you can download a NetApp master key to get the required SnapMirror synchronous license from the NetApp Support Site: Master License Keys.

  • The SnapMirror license is required on both the source cluster and the destination cluster.

SnapMirror cloud license

Beginning with ONTAP 9.8, the SnapMirror cloud license provides asynchronous replication of Snapshot copies from ONTAP instances to object storage endpoints. Replication targets can be configured using both on-premises object stores as well as S3 and S3-compatible public cloud object storage services. SnapMirror cloud relationships are supported from ONTAP systems to pre-qualified object storage targets.

SnapMirror cloud is not available as a standalone license. Only one license is needed per ONTAP cluster. In addition to a SnapMirror cloud license, the SnapMirror asynchronous license is also required.

You require the following licenses for creating a SnapMirror cloud relationship:

  • Both a SnapMirror license and a SnapMirror cloud license for replicating directly to the object store endpoint.

  • When configuring a multi-policy replication workflow (for example, Disk-to-Disk-to-Cloud), a SnapMirror license is required on all ONTAP instances, while the SnapMirror cloud license is only required for the source cluster which is replicating directly to the object storage endpoint.

Beginning with ONTAP 9.9.1, you can use System Manager for SnapMirror cloud replication.

A list of authorized SnapMirror cloud third-party applications is published on the NetApp web site.

Data Protection Optimized license

Data Protection Optimized (DPO) licenses are no longer being sold, and DPO is not supported on current platforms; however, if you have a DPO license installed on a supported platform, NetApp continues to provide support until the end of availability of that platform.

DPO is not included with the ONTAP One license bundle, and you cannot upgrade to the ONTAP One license bundle if the DPO license is installed on a system.

For information about supported platforms, see Hardware Universe.