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Supported configurations for Cloud Volumes ONTAP in AWS

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Several Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations are supported in AWS.

Supported disks in AWS

In addition to the storage for user data, the NetApp also purchases cloud storage for system data in AWS.

Internal disks for system data

The following internal disks are used for system data in AWS:

  • Three disks per node for boot, root, and core data:

    • 47 GiB io1 disk for boot data

    • 140 GiB gp3 disk for root data

    • 540 GiB gp2 disk for core data

  • For HA pairs:

    • Two st1 EBS volumes for the mediator instance, one of approximately 8 GiB as root disk, and one of 4 GiB as data disk

    • One 140 GiB gp3 disk in each node to contain a copy of the root data of the other node

      Note In some zones, the available EBS disk type can only be gp2.

  • One EBS snapshot for each boot disk and root disk

    Note Snapshots are created automatically upon reboot.

  • When you enable data encryption in AWS using the Key Management Service (KMS), the boot and root disks for Cloud Volumes ONTAP are encrypted, as well. This includes the boot disk for the mediator instance in an HA pair. The disks are encrypted using the CMK that you select when you add a Cloud Volumes ONTAP system.

Tip In AWS, NVRAM is on the boot disk.

AWS storage for user data

In AWS, Cloud Volumes ONTAP uses EBS storage for user data and local NVMe storage as Flash Cache on some EC2 instance types.

EBS storage

In AWS, an aggregate can contain up to 6 disks that are all the same size. But if you have a configuration that supports the Amazon EBS Elastic Volumes feature, then an aggregate can contain up to 8 disks. Learn more about support for Elastic Volumes.

The maximum disk size is 16 TiB.

The underlying EBS disk type can be either General Purpose SSDs (gp3 or gp2), Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1), or Throughput Optimized HDD (st1). You can pair an EBS disk with Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) to low-cost object storage.

Note Tiering data to object storage is not recommended when using Throughput Optimized HDDs (st1).
Local NVMe storage

Some EC2 instance types include local NVMe storage, which Cloud Volumes ONTAP uses as Flash Cache.

Supported disk sizes

In AWS, an aggregate can contain up to 6 disks that are all the same size. But if you have a configuration that supports the Amazon EBS Elastic Volumes feature, then an aggregate can contain up to 8 disks. Learn more about support for Elastic Volumes

General Purpose SSDs (gp3 and gp2) Provisioned IOPS SSDs (io1) Throughput Optimized HDDs (st1)

  • 100 GiB

  • 500 GiB

  • 1 TiB

  • 2 TiB

  • 4 TiB

  • 6 TiB

  • 8 TiB

  • 16 TiB

  • 100 GiB

  • 500 GiB

  • 1 TiB

  • 2 TiB

  • 4 TiB

  • 6 TiB

  • 8 TiB

  • 16 TiB

  • 500 GiB

  • 1 TiB

  • 2 TiB

  • 4 TiB

  • 6 TiB

  • 8 TiB

  • 16 TiB

Disk provisioning for aggregates in AWS

In the case of an aggregate in AWS that supports Elastic Volumes, it also increases the size of the disks in a RAID group. Learn more about support for Elastic Volumes.

Disk size selection for aggregates in AWS

When the Console creates new aggregates for Cloud Volumes ONTAP in AWS, it gradually increases disk sizes as aggregate numbers increase to maximize system capacity before reaching AWS data disk limits.

For example, the Console might choose the following disk sizes:

Aggregate number Disk size Max aggregate capacity

1

500 GiB

3 TiB

4

1 TiB

6 TiB

6

2 TiB

12 TiB
Note This behavior does not apply to aggregates that support the Amazon EBS Elastic Volumes feature. Aggregates that have Elastic Volumes enabled are comprised of one or two RAID groups. Each RAID group has four identical disks that have the same capacity. Learn more about support for Elastic Volumes.

You can choose the disk size yourself by using the advanced allocation option.

Supported number of nodes

Cloud Volumes ONTAP is available in AWS as a single-node system and as a high-availability (HA) pair of nodes for fault tolerance and nondisruptive operations.

Upgrading a single-node system to an HA pair is not supported. If you want to switch between a single-node system and an HA pair, then you need to deploy a new system and replicate data from the existing system to the new system.

Supported storage

Cloud Volumes ONTAP supports several types of EBS disks, and S3 object storage for data tiering. The maximum storage capacity is determined by the license that you choose.

Storage support by license

Each license supports a different maximum system capacity. The maximum system capacity includes disk-based storage plus object storage used for data tiering. NetApp doesn’t support exceeding this limit.

The following tables list the supported storage and EC2 machine type combinations for each license. For the latest EC2 instance specifications, including vCPU, memory, network bandwidth, and Amazon EBS bandwidth, refer to Amazon EC2 instance types.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP can run on either a Reserved or On-demand EC2 instance. Solutions that use other instance types aren't supported.

Capacity-based licenses
Freemium Capacity-based license (Essentials and Professional)

Maximum system capacity 1
(disks + object storage)

500 GiB

Flexible 2

Supported machine types
C5 series

  • c5.9xlarge

  • c5.18xlarge 7

C5a series

  • c5a.12xlarge

C5d series

  • c5d.4xlarge 8

  • c5d.9xlarge

  • c5d.18xlarge 7

C5n series

  • c5n.9xlarge

  • c5n.18xlarge 7

M5 series

  • m5.xlarge 8

  • m5.2xlarge 8

  • m5.4xlarge 8

  • m5.16xlarge

M5a series

  • m5a.2xlarge

  • m5a.16xlarge

M5d series

  • m5d.8xlarge

  • m5d.12xlarge

M5dn series

  • m5dn.4xlarge

  • m5dn.12xlarge

  • m5dn.24xlarge 7

M5n series

  • m5n.2xlarge

M6id series

  • m6id.xlarge 9

  • m6id.2xlarge 9

  • m6id.4xlarge 9

  • m6id.8xlarge 9

  • m6id.16xlarge 7,9

  • m6id.32xlarge 7,9

M6idn series

  • m6idn.xlarge 9

  • m6idn.2xlarge 9

  • m6idn.4xlarge 9

  • m6idn.8xlarge 9

  • m6idn.16xlarge 7,9

  • m6idn.32xlarge 9

R5 series

  • r5.xlarge 8

  • r5.2xlarge 8

  • r5.8xlarge

  • r5.12xlarge 6

R5d series

  • r5d.2xlarge

Supported disk types

  • General Purpose SSD (gp3 and gp2) 3,5

  • Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) 3

  • Throughput Optimized HDD (st1) 4

Cold data tiering to S3

Supported

  1. For an HA pair, the capacity limit is for the entire HA pair. It's not per node. For example, if you use the PAYGO Premium license, you can have up to 368 TiB of capacity between both nodes.

  2. For some configurations, disk limits prevent you from reaching the capacity limit by using disks alone. In those cases, you can reach the capacity limit by tiering inactive data to object storage. For information about disk limits, refer to storage limits.

    With capacity-based licensing, each Cloud Volumes ONTAP system supports tiering to object storage. The total tiered capacity can scale up to the cloud provider's bucket limit. While the license does not impose capacity restrictions, you should follow the FabricPool Best Practices to ensure optimal performance, reliability, and cost efficiency when configuring and managing tiering.

  3. Enhanced write performance is enabled when using SSDs with all Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations, except for PAYGO Explore.

  4. Tiering data to object storage isn't recommended when using Throughput Optimized HDDs (st1).

  5. Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations in AWS Local Zones support only the General Purpose SSD (gp2) disk type. No other disk types are supported in AWS Local Zones.

  6. The r5.12xlarge instance type has a known limitation with supportability. If a node unexpectedly reboots due to a panic, the system might not collect core files used to troubleshoot and root cause the problem. The customer accepts the risks and limited support terms and bears all support responsibility if this condition occurs. This limitation affects newly deployed HA pairs and HA pairs upgraded from 9.8. The limitation does not affect newly deployed single-node systems.

  7. While these EC2 instance types support more than 64 vCPUs, Cloud Volumes ONTAP supports up to 64 vCPUs.

  8. AWS Local Zones are supported in the following EC2 instance type families with sizes xlarge to 4xlarge: M5, C5, C5d, R5, and R5d. You should refer to AWS for the latest and complete details about supported EC2 instance types in Local Zones.

    High write speed isn't supported with these instance types in AWS Local Zones.

  9. These instance types require ONTAP 9.16.1 GA or later.

Other licenses
PAYGO Explore PAYGO Standard PAYGO Premium Node-based BYOL

Maximum system capacity
(disks + object storage)

2 TiB

10 TiB

368 TiB 2

368 TiB per license 2

Supported machine types
M5 series

  • m5.xlarge 8

M6id series

  • m6id.xlarge 9

M6idn series

  • m6idn.xlarge 9
M5 series

  • m5.2xlarge 8

M5a series

  • m5a.2xlarge

M6id series

  • m6id.2xlarge 9

M6idn series

  • m6idn.2xlarge 9

R5 series

  • r5.xlarge 8
C5 series

  • c5.9xlarge

  • c5.18xlarge 7

C5a series

  • c5a.12xlarge

C5d series

  • c5d.4xlarge 8

  • c5d.9xlarge

  • c5d.18xlarge 7

C5n series

  • c5n.9xlarge

  • c5n.18xlarge 7

M5 series

  • m5.4xlarge 8

  • m5.16xlarge

M5a series

  • m5a.16xlarge

M5d series

  • m5d.8xlarge

  • m5d.12xlarge

M5dn series

  • m5dn.4xlarge

  • m5dn.12xlarge

  • m5dn.24xlarge 7

M5n series

  • m5n.2xlarge

M6id series

  • m6id.4xlarge 9

  • m6id.8xlarge 9

  • m6id.16xlarge 7,9

  • m6id.32xlarge 7,9

M6idn series

  • m6idn.4xlarge 9

  • m6idn.8xlarge 9

  • m6idn.16xlarge 7,9

  • m6idn.32xlarge 9

R5 series

  • r5.2xlarge 8

  • r5.8xlarge

  • r5.12xlarge 6

R5d series

  • r5d.2xlarge
C5 series

  • c5.9xlarge

  • c5.18xlarge 7

C5a series

  • c5a.12xlarge

C5d series

  • c5d.4xlarge 8

  • c5d.9xlarge

  • c5d.18xlarge 7

C5n series

  • c5n.9xlarge

  • c5n.18xlarge 7

M5 series

  • m5.xlarge 8

  • m5.2xlarge 8

  • m5.4xlarge 8

  • m5.16xlarge

M5a series

  • m5a.2xlarge

  • m5a.16xlarge

M5d series

  • m5d.8xlarge

  • m5d.12xlarge

M5dn series

  • m5dn.4xlarge

  • m5dn.12xlarge

  • m5dn.24xlarge 7

M5n series

  • m5n.2xlarge

M6id series

  • m6id.xlarge 9

  • m6id.2xlarge 9

  • m6id.4xlarge 9

  • m6id.8xlarge 9

  • m6id.16xlarge 7,9

  • m6id.32xlarge 7,9

M6idn series

  • m6idn.xlarge 9

  • m6idn.2xlarge 9

  • m6idn.4xlarge 9

  • m6idn.8xlarge 9

  • m6idn.16xlarge 7,9

  • m6idn.32xlarge 9

R5 series

  • r5.xlarge 8

  • r5.2xlarge 8

  • r5.8xlarge

  • r5.12xlarge 6

R5d series

  • r5d.2xlarge

Supported disk types

  • General Purpose SSD (gp3 and gp2) 3,5

  • Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) 3

  • Throughput Optimized HDD (st1) 4

Cold data tiering to S3

Not supported

Supported

  1. For an HA pair, the capacity limit is for the entire HA pair. It's not per node. For example, if you use the PAYGO Premium license, you can have up to 368 TiB of capacity between both nodes.

  2. For some configurations, disk limits prevent you from reaching the capacity limit by using disks alone. In those cases, you can reach the capacity limit by tiering inactive data to object storage. For information about disk limits, refer to storage limits.

    With capacity-based licensing, each Cloud Volumes ONTAP system supports tiering to object storage. The total tiered capacity can scale up to the cloud provider's bucket limit. While the license does not impose capacity restrictions, you should follow the FabricPool Best Practices to ensure optimal performance, reliability, and cost efficiency when configuring and managing tiering.

  3. Enhanced write performance is enabled when using SSDs with all Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations, except for PAYGO Explore.

  4. Tiering data to object storage isn't recommended when using Throughput Optimized HDDs (st1).

  5. Cloud Volumes ONTAP configurations in AWS Local Zones support only the General Purpose SSD (gp2) disk type. No other disk types are supported in AWS Local Zones.

  6. The r5.12xlarge instance type has a known limitation with supportability. If a node unexpectedly reboots due to a panic, the system might not collect core files used to troubleshoot and root cause the problem. The customer accepts the risks and limited support terms and bears all support responsibility if this condition occurs. This limitation affects newly deployed HA pairs and HA pairs upgraded from 9.8. The limitation does not affect newly deployed single-node systems.

  7. While these EC2 instance types support more than 64 vCPUs, Cloud Volumes ONTAP supports up to 64 vCPUs.

  8. AWS Local Zones are supported in the following EC2 instance type families with sizes xlarge to 4xlarge: M5, C5, C5d, R5, and R5d. You should refer to AWS for the latest and complete details about supported EC2 instance types in Local Zones.

    High write speed isn't supported with these instance types in AWS Local Zones.

  9. These instance types require ONTAP 9.16.1 GA or later.

c4, m4, and r4 instances no longer supported

Cloud Volumes ONTAP no longer supports the c4, m4, and r4 EC2 instance types in AWS.

If your system runs on a c4, m4, or r4 instance, change it to a c5, m5, or r5 instance before you upgrade to this release.

Learn how to change the EC2 instance type for Cloud Volumes ONTAP.

For more information, refer to the following resources:

Support for Flash Cache and high write speed

The following table identifies which supported EC2 instance types support Flash Cache and high write speed.

Supported instance Flash Cache High write speed

c5.9xlarge

Not supported

Supported

c5.18xlarge

Not supported

Supported

c5a.12xlarge

Not supported

Supported

c5d.4xlarge

Supported

Supported

c5d.9xlarge

Supported

Supported

c5d.18xlarge

Supported

Supported

c5n.9xlarge

Not supported

Supported

c5n.18xlarge

Not supported

Supported

m5.xlarge

Not supported

Supported (single node only)

m5.2xlarge

Not supported

Supported

m5.4xlarge

Not supported

Supported

m5.16xlarge

Not supported

Supported

m5a.2xlarge

Not supported

Supported

m5a.16xlarge

Not supported

Supported

m5d.8xlarge

Supported

Supported

m5d.12xlarge

Supported

Supported

m5dn.4xlarge

Supported

Supported

m5dn.12xlarge

Supported

Supported

m5dn.24xlarge

Supported

Supported

m5n.2xlarge

Not supported

Supported

m6id.xlarge

Supported *

Supported (single node only)

m6id.2xlarge

Supported *

Supported

m6id.4xlarge

Supported

Supported

m6id.8xlarge

Supported

Supported

m6id.16xlarge

Supported

Supported

m6id.32xlarge

Supported

Supported

m6idn.xlarge

Supported *

Supported (single node only)

m6idn.2xlarge

Supported *

Supported

m6idn.4xlarge

Supported

Supported

m6idn.8xlarge

Supported

Supported

m6idn.16xlarge

Supported

Supported

m6idn.32xlarge

Supported

Supported

r5.xlarge

Not supported

Supported (single node only)

r5.2xlarge

Not supported

Supported

r5.8xlarge

Not supported

Supported

r5.12xlarge

Not supported

Supported

r5d.2xlarge

Supported

Supported

* Flash Cache is supported on m6id.xlarge, m6id.2xlarge, m6idn.xlarge, and m6idn.2xlarge. However, these instance types have fewer than 16 core processors and are not recommended for high-performance or memory-intensive workloads. Under heavy load, they may restart due to memory constraints. To avoid this, use an instance type with a higher core count and larger memory.

The following notes provide general guidance about supported instance behavior and deployment options.

  • Some instance types include local NVMe storage, which Cloud Volumes ONTAP uses as Flash Cache. Flash Cache speeds access to data through real-time intelligent caching of recently read user data and NetApp metadata. It's effective for random read-intensive workloads, including databases, email, and file services. Compression must be disabled on all volumes to take advantage of the Flash Cache performance improvements. Learn more about Flash Cache.

  • Cloud Volumes ONTAP supports high write speed with all supported instance types when using a single-node system. When using an HA pair, high write speed is supported only with supported instance types. Learn more about choosing a write speed.

  • When you choose an EC2 instance type, you can specify whether it is a shared instance or a dedicated instance.

Supported regions

For AWS region support, see Cloud Volumes Global Regions.

Related information