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What's new in StorageGRID 12.0

Contributors netapp-lhalbert netapp-pcarriga netapp-maireadn netapp-perveilerk
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This release of StorageGRID introduces the following features and functional changes.

Appliances

  • Storage capacity and cost efficiency have increased significantly.

  • Automated drive firmware upgrades enhance system reliability and reduce maintenance overhead.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)

  • Branch buckets allow point-in-time versions of buckets that facilitate faster ransomware recovery and isolated datasets for testing and experimentation.

  • An S3 caching layer enhances performance for AI/ML training.

Capacity

StorageGRID now supports one trillion objects, which is more than double the previous limit. Refer to the NetApp Fusion tool to size and design StorageGRID.

Cassandra updates

StorageGRID now uses a newer version of Cassandra for metadata storage. This version of Cassandra uses disk space more efficiently to store more metadata.

After you upgrade from StorageGRID 11.9 to 12.0, a metadata format update will occur in the background for one to three days. During this time, certain maintenance procedures that involve metadata streaming, such as expansion, will be disabled.

Refer to Upgrade other nodes.

Federation

  • You can now import up to 100 federated users into StorageGRID.

  • You can now modify the default region for S3 buckets. This capability provides greater flexibility in managing data locale and compliance.

  • You can now configure cross-grid replication between buckets with S3 Object Lock enabled. Refer to Cross-grid replication with S3 Object Lock.

    NetApp recommends using this feature only between StorageGRID 12.0 source and destination buckets. However, this feature is supported between StorageGRID 11.9 source buckets with S3 Object Lock disabled and StorageGRID 12.0 destination buckets with S3 Object Lock enabled.

Manageability

  • Improved decommission procedure reduces time and complexity to enhance operational efficiency.

  • Improved behavior for strong-global consistency provides site failure tolerance for client requests when grids have three or more sites.

    • New installations of StorageGRID 12.0 and later will default to using Quorum semantics when strong-global consistency is set.

    • If you upgrade from StorageGRID 11.9 to StorageGRID 12.0, upgraded grids will keep the previous behavior for strong-global consistency.

Note If you need to revert to the previous behavior for strong-global consistency, refer to Configuring StorageGRID Quorum semantics for strong-global consistency for instructions.

  • The ability to initiate log uploads to AutoSupport helps enhance support responsiveness.

  • Reduced appliance reboot time minimizes downtime to improve overall system availability.

  • The ability to move the ADC service to another Storage Node increases flexibility and resilience in managing Storage Nodes that host the ADC service. You can move the ADC service before you decommission a Storage Node or convert a Storage Node to a data-only node.

  • To maximize data storage capacity, you can convert a Storage Node to a data-only node, which causes the metadata on that node to be migrated to combined or metadata-only Storage Nodes.

  • The ability for any Admin Node to recover any other node (except the primary Admin Node) enhances system recovery and fault tolerance, improving overall reliability.

  • Users can now use an S3 bucket to store audit logs for a long period of time.

Security

  • Stronger data encryption and integrity protection provide improved security and performance.

  • Increased security of stored passwords reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

  • SSH is blocked by default to enhance security while allowing controlled access.

Tenant groups

  • You can now configure a new S3 trust policy to support the AssumeRole API. The AssumeRole function provides short-term credentials for enhanced security and flexible access control.

  • Per-bucket object count quota allows for better control and management of storage resources.

User interface

  • Dark theme and system theme settings are available in the User menu of the Grid Manager and Tenant Manager.

  • The Audit and syslog server page, renamed Log management, has been refactored, with additions for storing logs in a system bucket for backup purposes.

  • The legacy Grid Topology page was removed. Over the past several StorageGRID releases, the operations and metrics available from that page were migrated to other pages in the Grid Manager, particularly to the Nodes page.