The diagram that displays initiator groups for block devices on the Manage Client Access page now includes more details for hosts. When you hover over a host in the diagram, host details appear, including the host name, instance ID, workload type, region, and iSCSI Qualified Name (IQN).

The new email design provides more details and context for configuration issues detected by Workload Factory. The email includes the number of analyzed resources, how many have warning or critical issues, and what those issues are. The email also links to the FSx for ONTAP well-architected dashboard so you can address issues right away.

Workload Factory provides enhanced guidance within the user interface for migrating storage VMs. This includes step-by-step instructions and a test run before committing the migration to production.

Learn more about storage VM migration

When a large number of related replication lag events occur, Workload Factory automatically consolidates them into a single email notification so you won't get overwhelmed by notifications.

You can now turn on automatic capacity management notifications to try out the feature before asking Workload Factory to manage your capacity automatically. You'll be notified when your file system is running low on capacity.

You can now see client throughput recommendation and automation decision points. Hover over a decision point to view details, such as the current and recommended SKU or breached metrics in time window (%).

Workload Factory now lets you use your own Amazon Bedrock setup for workload tagging classification. You can provide your own Bedrock endpoint and credentials so that classification requests run through your own Bedrock configuration.

The well-architected dashboard now includes recommendations for your database configurations, allowing you to assess and optimize your setup based on best practices. The first configurations included in the dashboard are:

Select the main menu in the Workload Factory console, and then select Well-architected to find the well-architected dashboard.

The EVS TCO calculator now supports AWS i7i.metal-24xl and i7i.metal-48xl EC2 instances as cluster hosts. Compared to i4i.metal configurations, i7i.metal-24xl instances lower the EVS starting cost by about 33% for compute and 25% for vSAN storage.

The calculator compares all instance types and automatically selects the lowest-cost option. A new comparison section displays EVS host configurations side by side, making it easier to choose the best setup for your needs.

Calculate estimated savings for EVS

You can now see when your custom dashboard metrics were last updated and manually refresh them. Hover over Refresh data to view the last Updated date and time.

Select Refresh data to start a new scan. A banner confirms that the scan has started, and the button is disabled until the scan finishes.

When new data is available, select Load it now in the notification banner to update the dashboard.

Both Refresh data and Load it now create data collection events in Tracker.

Learn how to refresh custom dashboard data

Custom dashboards now ask you to choose one or more regions if your request does not include them. Dashboard data is limited to the regions you select.

Learn how to create a custom dashboard

The CloudFormation template and Terraform code for creating links now use an IAM policy instead of inline Lambda permissions.

Learn how to create a link

You can now use Tracker to review changes to AI agent settings and, in read-write mode, each approval request, including the agent's question and the user's answer.

Resource changes made through Workload Factory APIs are logged by the Workload Factory service that performs the operation.

Learn about audit and tracking for agent actions

Workload Factory has updated Codebox output for link creation by replacing inline Lambda permissions with the IAM policy for the CloudFormation template and Terraform.

You can now view the additional volume details Volume type (RW/DP), Volume style (FlexVol and FlexGroup) in the Detailed latency analysis page.

For volumes with a latency alert, you can now check whether the file system was under enough pressure to affect performance when the event occurred. You can view CloudWatch data from the 40 minutes before the event and follow a link to the file system for further investigation.

Learn about analyzing latency trends.

You can now see client throughput recommendation and automation decision points. Hover over a decision point to view details, such as the current and recommended SKU or breached metrics in time window (%).

Learn about decision points.

You can now select Run analysis again to launch a new latency analysis for a volume and refresh the results on demand.

Learn about analyzing latency issues.

Workload Factory now includes another option on the AI settings page that lets customers use their own Amazon Bedrock instance.

This option is available under customer-managed Bedrock for AI tools and is supported by all Workload Factory AI services.

After you connect, Workload Factory lets you know whether the connection was successful.

Learn about managing AI features

Custom dashboards now make it easier to manage your work.

You can edit dashboards directly from the catalog, including metrics, charts, and time ranges.

When you edit a dashboard, Workload Factory reopens the chat with your previous prompts and messages. You can then update the dashboard, save your changes, or restore the previous version.

Only the dashboard creator can edit the dashboard. While you are editing, other users cannot see your changes until you save them.

The dashboard catalog now includes more filters to help you quickly find dashboards based on category and status.

If your administrator disables AI features or your monthly credit limit is reached, dashboard creation and editing are disabled.

Learn about custom dashboards

Create a custom dashboard

Manage custom dashboards

Troubleshoot custom dashboards

Workload Factory now detects more AWS services for workload tagging, expanding support for resources that can be tagged. It can now find Amazon EKS and Amazon WorkSpaces resources and include them in the tagging system so they are available for tagging.

The cost dashboard now includes a cost executive summary section that provides an overview of your organization's spending, helping you quickly understand and manage costs. Ask Me, the AI assistant for Workload Factory, can provide additional insights and recommendations based on your cost data. You can interact with Ask Me to get detailed explanations and suggestions for optimizing your costs.

In addition, you can filter the cost data by one or more file systems and one or more volumes within a file system. When filters are applied, Workload Factory displays:

All cost information comes directly from the AWS Cost Explorer API except for file system and volume-level cost allocation; Workload Factory estimates file system- and volume-level cost allocation.

You can access the well-architected dashboard from the main menu in the Workload Factory console and from within a file system. To find the well-architected dashboard from the main menu, select the main menu and then select Well-architected.

Workload Factory now includes the following configurations in the well-architected analysis for FSx for ONTAP file systems:

Learn more about best practice recommendations for your FSx for ONTAP file systems.

Volumes explorer is a central place in the Workload Factory console where you can view and manage all your volumes across different file systems. It provides detailed information about each volume, including its performance, usage, and protection status. The enhancements for this release include workload selection, volume latency display, and ARP/AI status for volumes.

When the status of a replication relationship is unhealthy, Workload Factory sends an email notification every 24 hours while the relationship remains unhealthy. Reminder notifications stop when the relationship returns to a healthy state.

Workload Factory supports two types of ONTAP credentials for an FSx for ONTAP file system: primary and restricted. By default, a file system uses the primary ONTAP credentials. We use restricted credentials only for AI operations (AIOps) like Rule builder, Custom dashboards, and Ask Me, our AI assistant. Now you can add your own credentials, using either a username and password or a secret ARN, to restrict access for AIOps features.

Manage ONTAP credentials for an FSx for ONTAP file system

Workload Factory now includes a Workloads field in volume creation so that you can select the workload to associate with the volume. This ensures that the volume is optimized for the intended workload from the moment it is created.

Create a volume in the Workload Factory console

Workload Factory now recognizes the preferred FlexCache write mode for volumes and recommends changing it if necessary to optimize performance.

All link documentation is now covered in the Workload Factory setup and administration documentation. You can still refer to the Learn about NetApp Workload Factory links from the Workload Factory FSx for ONTAP documentation and find links to the relevant pages in the setup and administration documentation.

Learn more about configuring links in the Workload Factory console.

Workload Factory now supports finding connections between hosts and storage across multiple AWS regions as part of the workload tagging service. It can identify and link hosts and storage resources across regions, including mapping IP addresses between regions, so host-to-storage relationships are tagged and classified correctly.

Workload Factory now more accurately identifies and classifies workloads and hosts in the workload tagging service. Updated detection methods reduce misclassification and provide more accurate tagging and classification results.

Workload Factory now gives you a clearer view of your file systems in the interface. You can view SSD capacity and throughput usage trends, workload summaries, and detailed configuration information directly from the file system overview. Workload Factory now more accurately identifies and classifies workloads and hosts in the workload tagging service. Updated detection methods reduce misclassification and provide more accurate tagging and classification results.

Workload Factory for Databases supports multiple file systems per a single Microsoft SQL Server instance. You can register multiple file systems in a SQL Server instance, and fix one configuration issue for multiple file systems in a SQL Server instance at the same time.

Workload Factory AIOps uses AI to analyze your environment and recommend improvements. If you approve, it can also take actions using the credentials and permissions you set up. AI agents analyze your environment, helping you find risks, improve workloads, and troubleshoot issues in Workload Factory and Slack.

Access AI agents in the new Explore Agents section in Ask Me. By default, agents run in read-only mode and provide recommendations and analysis.

Use Agents settings to control how agents work. You can:

These additional controls give you more visibility and oversight. In read-write mode, agents must get your approval before making changes to AWS, ONTAP, or supported APIs. You can also choose how much detail to see in responses, including information about the agent's reasoning and, in Slack, its tool activity.

Agents also support multi-account environments and easier setup. A single agent can securely work across multiple AWS accounts using multiple credentials.

Learn about AI agents

Manage agents settings

You can now tailor a prompt in Ask Me chat to create scheduled tasks. Use scheduled tasks to ask Ask Me to run recurring checks and send updates in chat based on the schedule you define.

Example prompts:

Learn more about Ask Me

Ask Me now supports FSx for ONTAP and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes. Use the same chat experience to get answers and insights across your supported storage environments.

Learn more about Ask Me

NetApp Console notifications are now enabled by default. NetApp Console users will automatically receive Workload Factory notifications without additional configuration.

Workload Factory notifications

Workload Factory now reminds you to complete link association after you successfully add credentials. While credentials enable resource discovery, advanced ONTAP features require link association with the discovered file systems. You'll receive the email notification once a week on Monday. After you complete the link association, the notifications stop.

Workload Factory now alerts you when a Lambda link is not using the latest available image. If automatic upgrades are not supported for a link, the notification shows when a newer version is available.

You can view upgrade instructions from the Links page. The instructions explain how to manually update the Lambda link image and enable automatic upgrades when available. Keeping links up to date gives you access to the latest features, fixes known issues, and applies recent security updates.

You also get an alert in the FSx for ONTAP dashboard when a newer link version is available for a link that does not support automatic upgrades.

SSD capacity management notifications now include detailed error messages for troubleshooting automation failures. Notifications are sent for successful capacity increases, errors during increase operations, capacity check failures, threshold warnings, and recommendations. Error details include specific failure reasons such as missing permissions, concurrent updates in progress, AWS cooldown periods, or CloudWatch metric retrieval issues.

Learn about SSD capacity management.

Latency analysis graphs now support a 1-week time frame in addition to existing options (1 hour, 3 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 72 hours). Use the week view to identify longer-term patterns and trends in volume latency behavior.

Learn about latency trend analysis.

Workload Factory now gives you a clearer view of your file systems in the interface. You can view SSD capacity and throughput usage trends, workload summaries, and detailed configuration information directly from the file system overview.

The diagram that displays initiator groups for block devices on the Manage Client Access page now includes more details for hosts. When you hover over a host in the diagram, host details appear, including the host name, instance ID, workload type, region, and iSCSI Qualified Name (IQN).

The cost dashboard now includes a cost executive summary section that provides an overview of your organization's spending, helping you quickly understand and manage costs. Ask Me, the AI assistant for Workload Factory, can provide additional insights and recommendations based on your cost data. You can interact with Ask Me to get detailed explanations and suggestions for optimizing your costs.

In addition, you can filter the cost data by one or more file systems and one or more volumes within a file system. When filters are applied, Workload Factory displays:

All cost information comes directly from the AWS Cost Explorer API except for file system and volume-level cost allocation; Workload Factory estimates file system- and volume-level cost allocation.

You can access the well-architected dashboard from the main menu in the Workload Factory console and from within a file system. To find the well-architected dashboard from the main menu, select the main menu and then select Well-architected.

Workload Factory now includes the following configurations in the well-architected analysis for FSx for ONTAP file systems:

Learn more about best practice recommendations for your FSx for ONTAP file systems.

Volumes explorer is a central place in the Workload Factory console where you can view and manage all your volumes across different file systems. It provides detailed information about each volume, including its performance, usage, and protection status. The enhancements for this release include workload selection, volume latency display, and ARP/AI status for volumes.

When the status of a replication relationship is unhealthy, Workload Factory sends an email notification every 24 hours while the relationship remains unhealthy. Reminder notifications stop when the relationship returns to a healthy state.

Workload Factory supports two types of ONTAP credentials for an FSx for ONTAP file system: primary and restricted. By default, a file system uses the primary ONTAP credentials. We use restricted credentials only for AI operations (AIOps) like Rule builder, Custom dashboards, and Ask Me, our AI assistant. Now you can add your own credentials, using either a username and password or a secret ARN, to restrict access for AIOps features.

Manage ONTAP credentials for an FSx for ONTAP file system

Workload Factory now includes a Workloads field in volume creation so that you can select the workload to associate with the volume. This ensures that the volume is optimized for the intended workload from the moment it is created.

Create a volume in the Workload Factory console

Workload Factory now recognizes the preferred FlexCache write mode for volumes and recommends changing it if necessary to optimize performance.

Workload Factory now reminds you to complete link association after you successfully add credentials. While credentials enable resource discovery, advanced ONTAP features require link association with the discovered file systems. You'll receive the email notification once a week on Monday. After you complete the link association, the notifications stop.

Configure notifications in the Workload Factory console

All link documentation is now covered in the Workload Factory setup and administration documentation. You can still refer to the Learn about NetApp Workload Factory links from the Workload Factory FSx for ONTAP documentation and find links to the relevant pages in the setup and administration documentation.

Learn more about configuring links in the Workload Factory console.

You can now create links directly from the Links page in the Administration menu, in addition to the FSx for ONTAP inventory page and the file system overview page.

Learn more about creating links.

You can compare various cost components of running Microsoft SQL Server workloads like storage, compute, SQL license, snapshots, and clones for your database workloads on FSx for ONTAP file systems against Elastic Block Store (EBS), FSx for Windows File Server, and on-premises storage using only view, planning, and analysis permissions.

Workload Factory improves the onboarding experience for credentials and links, making it easier to get started. After you create your account and log in, select Get started in any workload tile, for example Storage, and the next page takes you through the setup process step by step.

All volume actions are directly available from Volumes explorer for one or more volumes. This makes it quicker to perform volume-level operations. Volume actions include modifying volume settings, managing snapshots, and doing other volume tasks without leaving Volumes explorer. You can also access these actions from the Volumes tab in the FSx for ONTAP file system overview.