Today NetApp has dropped some huge news on the storage industry on Day 1 of NetApp Insight 2016 – An entirely refreshed FAS and All-Flash FAS (AFF) Portfolio and ONTAP 9.1!

There is almost too much in here for one post, but I’ll get to the major highlights:

Introducing the FAS2600 – The next gen mid-range hybrid platform.

 

NetApp’s new FAS2600 is anything but entry level. The successor to the hugely popular FAS2500 series of hybrid-arrays the FAS2600 cranks the entry-level up to 11. Let’s start with what the platform is really all about – Speed. And lots of it. According to NetApp, this beast will be 3x the performance of the previous FAS2500 line. With these new specs I don’t doubt it:

• 12 CPU cores: 3x more physical cores compared to FAS2500
• 64GB memory: ~2x more memory compared to FAS2500
• 8GB NVMEM: 2x more NVMEM compared to FAS2500

Published performance stats have the FAS2600 pushing over 100,000 4k NFS IOPs and 4GBps. How’s that for entry level?

Published specs are as follows vs. the FAS2552 which it’s replacing:

Let’s take a look at the back of the new FAS2600:

Some of the enhancements here are: Mini-SAS running at 12GB. Two dedicated 10GB SFP+ ports for the cluster network, and four 16GB/10Gbe UTA2 ports.

Take a closer look:

Oh yeah, one more thing. Every FAS2600 comes with 1TB of NVMe on board as FlashCache! Now every system in the field will get all the flashy goodness with some NVMe. More to come on the FAS2600 when I get my hands on one.

Introducing the FAS8200 – The Evolution of Enterprise Hybrid FAS

Gone are the days of having four models of FAS8000 to choose from. NetApp is simplifying their product lineup with the single model FAS8200. A three rack unit high dual controller chassis that will scream with performance. Check out the new specs vs the FAS8040, which we expect the FAS8200 to slot into in terms of list price:

• ~50% performance improvement
• 32 CPU cores: 2 times more cores
• 256GB memory: 4 times more memory
• Onboard NVMe M.2 flash (Love this)
• 4 mini-SAS3 ports for external storage
• 2 dedicated 10GbE cluster interconnect ports
• 4 UTA2 16Gb FC or 10GbE ports; also supports GbE
• 2 10GbE Base-T ports
• PCIe Gen3 architecture

The published specs vs. a FAS8040

Let’s take a look at the back of the FAS8200

Some of the enhancements here are the four mini-SAS connections, 2 dedicated 10GBe ports for the cluster network and the 4 16GB FC/10Gbe UTA2 ports.

My thoughts:

This is going to be the most popular controller for the mid-range and most enterprise customers. They shaved 3U off the 8040/8060/8080 which is always nice. The performance on this box is going to be very competitive in the market.

 

Introducing the FAS9000 – AKA “The  Beast!”

Ok, now for something totally unexpected from NetApp – An entirely new platform unlike anything we have ever seen! The FAS9000! Whoa, where do we begin on this thing. It’s an entirely new concept from NetApp. A completely modular chassis where every component can be swapped out individually. That means the the CPU controllers have been entirely decoupled from I/O modules and NVRAM.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Single model: FAS9000
• Modular RAS focused architecture
• I/O slots separate from controllers
• Individually pluggable and serviceable I/O modules
• Hot-swap capable after ONTAP® enhancements
• Based on latest Intel Broadwell 18-core processors
• Uses NVMe-connected SSDs for onboard flash
• Up to 50% performance increase over FAS8080 EX
• Enhanced I/O capabilities, higher throughput adapters
• 40GbE, 32Gb FC
• Full 12Gb SAS connectivity to external drives
• In-band ACP support
• ~50% performance improvement
• 72 CPU cores: 80% more cores
• 1024GB memory: 4x increase
• DDR4 memory
• 64GB NVRAM: 2x more NVRAM
• High-speed HA interconnect, 80Gb bandwidth
• Onboard NVMe-attached SSD flash
• Enhanced I/O layout
• I/O slots outside processor module
• PCIe Gen3 slots, X16 wide lanes for each I/O slot
• 10 I/O slots per controller (plus 2 NVMe slots)

Take a look at the back of the FAS9000

Front View

Here are some specs of the FAS9000 compared to the previous top end FAS8080. A nice bump in all categories. This should satisfy the largest of enterprise workloads.

Let’s talk performance

Let’s compare the new gear’s performance vs the generation be replaced:

 

 

I think these numbers speak for themselves. NetApp is really pushing the bar upwards on what a hybrid-array is capable of. Nice Work NetApp.

More NetApp Innovation – 40GBe and 32GB FC

On the heals of becoming the first storage vendor to offer 15.3 TB SSDs in their All-Flash Arrays, NetApp is first to market with 40GB Ethernet and 32GB FC Support!

32GB FC Notes:

• NetApp is launching 32Gb FC target adapter in ONTAP 9.1
• Will be supported in currently shipping FAS/AFF80x0 controllers
• Also supported in new FAS & AFF platforms (FAS8200, FAS9000, AFF A300, AFF A700)
• Provides FC target connectivity for end-to-end 32Gb FC installs
• FC Initiator support a possible candidate for a future ONTAP release
• Shipped with two short wave length SFP+ optics included

40GBe Notes:

• NetApp is launching 40GbE adapter in ONTAP 9.1
• Supported in new FAS & AFF platforms
• FAS8200, FAS9000, AFF A300, AFF A700
• Provides end to end 40GbE support from host to storage backend
• 40Gb to 40GbE connection or fan out to 4 x 10GbE connections
• QSFP+ Passive Copper and extended Short Reach(eSR) cables

Next Gen All Flash FAS –A300 and A700

Today NetApp has also announced new distinct naming conventions for the “AFF” All-Flash hardware lineup – The A300 and A700

The A300 is essentially the FAS8200 and the A700 is the FAS9000 with new bezels.

A300 Front View

A700 Front View

The hardware specs match the FAS8200 and FAS9000 systems.

 

Let’s take a look at the performance of this hardware in the all flash configurations:

NetApp is estimating that the A300 can produce 50% higher throughput that an AFF8040, and the A700 100% improvement in IOPs at half the latency of a AFF8080. Not a bad step up in performance.

 

ONTAP 9.1 – What’s New

Stay tuned for more blog posts on a full breakdown of what’s new in ONTAP 9.1. For now here are some of the key highlights in the 9.1 release:

Update: ONTAP 9.1RC1 now available to download from NetApp Here: http://mysupport.netapp.com/NOW/download/software/ontap/9.1RC1/

Along with support for the new gen of hardware are two huge new features – Volume based encryption and “FlexGroups”.

NetApp Volume Encryption

Finally! Encryption on FAS and AFF arrays that do not require special disk drives!

Key Features:

• Software encrypt any volume, any disk, any system
• FAS, AFF, and ONTAP® Select
• Lower cost: no need for hardware self-encrypting drives
• More granular: volume level
• Onboard key manager
• Leverage storage efficiency features
• Deduplication, compression, compaction
• Future proof encryption solution
• Software updates will keep the algorithms up to date

Some Additional Note on the new Volume Encryption Feature:

Unique protection for every data volume
• XTS-AES-256 data encryption key per volume
• Node root and SVM root volumes are not encrypted

$0 license required to enable NVE
• Encryption keys are stored and protected by Onboard Key Manager (OKM) – OKM included with ONTAP 9 at no cost

Supported platforms:
• AFF8000 and new AFF platforms
• FAS8000, FAS6280/90, and new FAS platforms
• Encrypting an existing volume
• Re-keying and decrypting a volume is done via a volume move operation
• FIPS 140-2 Level 2 compliance
• NetApp Storage Encryption (NSE) systems and external KMIP server still required

NetApp FlexGroups: massively scalable, high-performance data container

If you’re familiar with NetApp’s seldom used feature called “Infinite Volume” you will instantly recognize what NetApp is trying to do with FlexGroups. FlexGroups basically fix all the shortcomings of Infinite Volume and add a whole lot more to the picture.

The goal of FlexGroups is to create a Single Name Space that meets the following goals:

• Linear scale for performance and capacity
• Scales to 20PB and 400 billion files
• Operational simplicity
• Single mount point with automated load and space distribution
• Consistent high performance
• Predictable, consistent low latency
• All-flash containers
• Leading resiliency
• ONTAP® nondisruptive operations
• Flexibility to scale as you grow
• 6x performance gain
• 50% lower cost compared to nearest competitor
• Inline efficiency guarantees with AFF

FlexGroup — Target Industries and Workloads

• Software Dev
• Software build environments
• Product design
• Product Dev/PLM
• Life Sciences
• Semiconductor logic design and physical design workflows
• Seismic processing and interpretation
• Rendering and post production
• Genomics scanning/ingest, sequencing, interpretation/visualization

More to come of this feature as we get our hands on it in our labs.

That’s it for now folks! Stay tuned for the latest updates coming out of NetApp Insight 2016!