The cost savings analysis for Microsoft SQL Server on-premises storage has been enhanced to provide a consolidated storage solution for several database hosts on one FSx for ONTAP file system. This consolidation optimizes storage costs by reducing the number of file systems required for multiple database hosts, leading to improved cost savings.

Explore savings for detected hosts on Microsoft SQL Server on-premises

The well-architected analysis includes four new sub assessments for the storage configuration analysis for Oracle: dNFS enablement, dNFS consistent IP resolution, dNFS configuration file, and dNFS nosharecache. These assessments relate to enabling and setting up Direct NFS (dNFS) for your Oracle environment, which bypasses the host NFS client and performs NFS file operations directly on an NFS server, improving I/O performance and decreasing the load on the host and the storage system because I/O is performed more efficiently.

Implement well-architected database configurations in Workload Factory

The NetApp Workload Factory home page includes a Focus tile where well-architected issues and FSx for ONTAP Emergency Management System (EMS) events appear for your workloads. From there, you can navigate to the Storage workload to view the well-architected status or the events of all FSx for ONTAP file systems in your storage environment.

Workload Factory supports replicating on-premises ONTAP data to the cloud for integration with AWS GenAI, ML, and analytics. You can replicate your on-premises data to an NFS or SMB/CIFS volume using an S3 access point.

Replicate on-premises data using an S3 access point

Several enhancements have been made to the S3 access point management capabilities in the Storage workload for NetApp Workload Factory. You can input network configuration details for your S3 access points and add S3 access point tags. Additional enhancements include the ability to view S3 bucket details and perform more actions for managing S3 access points.

Workload Factory analyzes your FSx for ONTAP file systems for the following configurations:

Three new cards have been added to the Block devices tab in the Storage workload to provide quick insights into block device usage and protection status:

NetApp Workload Factory supports creating and managing initiator groups (igroups) for block storage in FSx for ONTAP file systems. Initiator groups connect block devices (LUNs) to the compute resources that are allowed to access them, providing a permission layer for block storage in SAN environments.

Workload Factory now provides automated well-architected analysis for your Amazon Elastic VMware Service (EVS) environments. Daily scans identify configuration misalignments and offer detailed remediation recommendations to help you maintain optimal operations, security, and cost efficiency.

Scans are performed using AWS APIs—no vSphere credentials or vCenter connectivity required. Results are available in the new Well-architected status tab within your EVS environment details.

This release includes insights for:

Implement well-architected configurations

NetApp Workload Factory includes the well-architected assessment for Elastic VMware Service (EVS) workloads, and adds new configurations for Storage and Database workloads.

New permissions have been added to the Storage workload for enhancements to managing S3 access points.

Permissions reference change log

You can now configure up to five custom filters on the EDA dashboard based on your AWS tags. Each custom filter includes a label name, AWS tag key, and a selection type (single or multi-selection).

Multi-selection allows you to select multiple values simultaneously, while single selection restricts you to one value at a time. Custom filters appear in the order you configure them, making it easy to organize your most frequently used filters.

If you don't configure custom filters, the default filters (file system, volume type, and time range) remain available so you can continue to view and interact with your dashboards.

Learn more about configuring custom filters.

The dashboard now offers two viewing modes: Total view and Volume view. The Total view displays aggregated metrics across all volumes, while the Volume view shows individual performance for the top 10 volumes over time.

In Volume view, interactive hover tooltips provide detailed information for each volume, including volume name, metrics, and time-specific values. When the same volumes appear across multiple components, consistent color coding makes it easier to track specific volumes across different metrics.

Learn more about viewing volume details.

Latency analysis enables you to monitor volume read and write latency across your FSx for ONTAP file systems. You can configure customizable warning and critical event thresholds to proactively identify performance bottlenecks before they impact your EDA workloads.

The latency events table displays all warning and critical events enabling you to monitor volume performance and identify volumes that require optimization.

This feature requires AWS credentials and is accessible from the Latency menu in the EDA dashboard.

Learn more about latency analysis.

Workload Factory analyzes your FSx for ONTAP file systems for the following configurations:

View the well-architected status of your FSx for ONTAP file systems

The Workload Factory console home page embeds the Ask me AI assistant, enabling you to ask questions about your own storage estate, get personalized insights directly from your environment, and refer to previous conversations. You can interact with Ask me to understand your workloads, troubleshoot issues, and learn more about Workload Factory — all without leaving the console.

Lambda links that are used to connect between your Workload Factory account and one or more FSx for ONTAP file systems to perform advanced ONTAP operations, now use the IAM user principal for resource-based policy permissions. This change provides better alignment with industry best practices for AWS resource access.

A new Analysis screen has been added to the Storage menu. From this screen, you can use the AI analyzer for FSx for ONTAP EMS events feature.

The following enhancements have been made for block devices.

The Workload Factory console home page embeds the Ask me AI assistant, enabling you to ask questions about your own storage estate, get personalized insights directly from your environment, and refer to previous conversations. You can interact with Ask me to understand your workloads, troubleshoot issues, and learn more about Workload Factory — all without leaving the console.

The Workload Factory console home page embeds the Ask me AI assistant, enabling you to ask questions about your own storage estate, get personalized insights directly from your environment, and refer to previous conversations. You can interact with Ask me to understand your workloads, troubleshoot issues, and learn more about Workload Factory — all without leaving the console.

The Workload Factory console home page embeds the Ask me AI assistant, enabling you to ask questions about your own storage estate, get personalized insights directly from your environment, and refer to previous conversations. You can interact with Ask me to understand your workloads, troubleshoot issues, and learn more about Workload Factory — all without leaving the console.

Workload Factory for Builders is now Workload Factory for EDA. The name change reflects the focus on electronic design automation (EDA) workloads.

Workload Factory for EDA helps you optimize FSx for ONTAP across multiple file systems. You can optimize for performance and reduce operational costs by automating storage parameters, analyzing performance constraints, and get insights on EDA projects. Workload Factory for EDA is designed to integrate with your Infrastructure as Code (IaC) frameworks.

The Workload Factory console home page embeds the Ask me AI assistant, enabling you to ask questions about your own storage estate, get personalized insights directly from your environment, and refer to previous conversations. You can interact with Ask me to understand your workloads, troubleshoot issues, and learn more about Workload Factory — all without leaving the console.

Workload Factory for Databases includes three new Active Directory (AD) fields when deploying Microsoft SQL Server using the Advanced create option. These enhancements let you to specify Active Directory join preferences and use a managed service account.

The new AD fields are:

Deploy Microsoft SQL Server

NetApp Workload Factory supports AWS S3 access points for your FSx for ONTAP file systems. You can create volumes using S3 access points, assign S3 access points to an existing volume, and manage S3 access points from the Workload Factory console. Using an S3 access point, you can access file data residing on SMB/CIFS or NFS volumes via the AWS S3 APIs. This allows you to integrate your existing data with GenAI, ML, and analytics from AWS services that support S3 access points.

Manage your block devices more effectively with the newly introduced block device support in NetApp Workload Factory. This feature allows you to view details and increase capacity for iSCSI LUNs, providing enhanced flexibility for your storage needs.

Manage block devices in Workload Factory

Workload factory analyzes your FSx for ONTAP file systems for the following configurations:

View the well-architected status of your FSx for ONTAP file systems

NetApp Workload Factory introduces an AI-powered analyzer for ONTAP Event Management System (EMS) events. This feature helps you quickly identify and troubleshoot issues by providing insights and recommendations based on the analysis of EMS event data.

Analyze EMS events in Workload Factory

You can monitor cost and usage trends for your FSx for ONTAP file systems directly from the NetApp Workload Factory console. This feature provides storage consumption and cost metrics as well as itemized costs, helping you optimize your resource allocation and budget planning.

Track costs for FSx for ONTAP file systems in Workload Factory

Easily manage your FSx tags for a file system directly from the NetApp Workload Factory console. This feature allows you to add, edit, or remove tags, enabling better organization and categorization of your FSx for ONTAP file systems.

Manage FSx tags in Workload Factory

You can increase and decrease capacity for cache volumes from the Workload Factory console.

Manage cache volumes in Workload Factory

Two new calculator features improve the cost savings analysis when running multiple instances with EBS storage so that you can save more by switching to FSx for ONTAP.

Explore savings for detected EBS hosts

You can download an Excel report of the well-architected dashboard. The report provides the well-architected status for the database resource and recommendations for all resource configurations, including sub-configurations for operating system and ONTAP.

The Agentic AI-powered error log analyzer is available for Oracle databases. The feature leverages advanced machine learning algorithms to automatically detect and analyze errors in log files. This tool aims to streamline the troubleshooting process by providing developers with actionable insights and recommendations based on the patterns it identifies in the logs.

Learn more about the Agentic AI-powered error log analyzer

The well-architected analysis includes two new storage sizing configurations. The analysis assesses and fixes configuration issues related to swap space allocation and file system headroom for existing Oracle database deployments.

Implement well-architected database configurations in Workload Factory

You can now explore the value of different deployment options for your cloud migration, optimize the efforts invested in solution evaluation, and deep dive into solutions that have the potential to deliver value and savings in the cloud.

You can also review the vCPU core savings that can be achieved by using FSx for ONTAP for an EVS deployment.

Explore savings for Amazon Elastic VMware Service with NetApp Workload Factory

The FSx for ONTAP EMS events analyzer uses the following Amazon Bedrock permissions in the operations and remediation permission policy to fetch events data for the Storage workload.

Permissions reference change log