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Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP

Create a block device for a file system in NetApp Workload Factory

Contributors netapp-rlithman
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Create block devices to support your line of business (LOB) application requirements.

About this task

Only FlexVol volumes are supported for block devices in NetApp Workload Factory. You can create block devices using the iSCSI protocol.

The block size must be smaller than the available FlexVol volume size.

Before you begin
Steps

  1. Log in using one of the console experiences.

  2. In the Storage tile, select Go to Storage.

  3. From the Storage menu, select FSx for ONTAP.

  4. From FSx for ONTAP, select the Block devices tab.

  5. Select Create block device.

  6. Under Volume details, do the following:

    1. Volume name: Select one of the following options.

      • Create a new volume and enter the name of the volume.

      • Select an existing volume.

    2. Storage VM: Select a storage VM.

    3. Volume style: The default volume style is FlexVol.

    4. Volume size: Enter the size of the volume and select the unit. The maximum size per FlexVol volume is 100 TiB.

    5. Volume autogrow: Optionally, enable volume autogrow to allow the volume to automatically increase in size when it reaches capacity. The maximum growth size is 300 TiB.

    6. Tags: Optionally, add tags to help organize and categorize your block device.

  7. Under Block device details, do the following:

    1. Block device name: Enter a name for the block device.

    2. Block device size: Enter the size of the block device and select the unit. The block device size must be smaller than the available volume size.

  8. Under Access, do the following:

    1. iSCSI configuration: Select one of the following options.

      • Create new initiator group: Provide the host operating system, initiator group name, and add one or more iSCSI qualified name (IQN) host initiators.

      • Map existing initiator group: Select an existing initiator group, provide the host operating system, and select one or more iSCSI qualified name (IQN) host initiators.

  9. Under Efficiency and protection, do the following:

    1. Storage efficiency: Enabled by default. Select to disable the feature.

      ONTAP achieves storage efficiency using deduplication and compression features. Deduplication eliminates duplicate data blocks. Data compression compresses the data blocks to reduce the amount of physical storage that is required.

    2. Snapshot policy: Select the snapshot policy to specify the frequency and retention of snapshots.

      The following are default policies from AWS. To display existing snapshot policies, you must link:associate a link.

      default

      This policy automatically creates snapshots on the following schedule, with the oldest snapshot copies deleted to make room for newer copies:

      • A maximum of six hourly snapshots taken five minutes past the hour.

      • A maximum of two daily snapshots taken Monday through Saturday at 10 minutes after midnight.

      • A maximum of two weekly snapshots taken every Sunday at 15 minutes after midnight.

        Note Snapshot times are based on the file system's time zone, which defaults to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). For information about changing the time zone, refer to Displaying and setting the system time zone in the NetApp Support documentation.
      default-1weekly

      This policy works in the same way as the default policy, except that it only retains one snapshot from the weekly schedule.

      none

      This policy doesn't take any snapshots. You can assign this policy to volumes to prevent automatic snapshots from being taken.

    3. Tiering policy: Select the tiering policy for the data stored in the volume.

      Balanced (Auto) is the default tiering policy when creating a volume using the Workload Factory console. For more information about volume tiering policies, refer to Volume storage capacity in AWS FSx for NetApp ONTAP documentation. Note that Workload Factory uses use-case based names in the Workload Factory console for tiering policies and includes FSx for ONTAP tiering policy names in parentheses.

    4. ARP/AI: NetApp Autonomous Ransomware Protection with AI (ARP/AI) is enabled by default when a link is associated with the file system. Learn more about ARP/AI. Accept the statement to proceed.

      If the feature is unavailable, it is because of one of the following reasons:

  10. Select Create.

Related information

Manage the block devices for an FSx for ONTAP file system