NetApp & AWS extend FSx for ONTAP support to Amazon EVS
NetApp and Amazon Web Services have announced that Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP is now a supported external storage option for the Amazon Elastic VMware Service (Amazon EVS).
The development means customers can run VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) directly within their Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), supporting the migration and management of critical VMware workloads to the cloud, while maintaining their existing data management workflows.
With the inclusion of Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP as a storage option for Amazon EVS, organisations are able to leverage NetApp's data management and protection in the AWS environment. This is set to simplify and accelerate the migration of workloads to AWS, without requiring applications to be re-platformed or re-factored.
Migration and efficiency
Migrating business-critical workloads to the cloud is frequently seen as a way to remove legacy infrastructure, lower operational costs, and fulfil business timelines. However, doing so requires effective data strategies to manage risks related to costs, IT complexity, and fragmented services. NetApp is currently the only enterprise storage solution provider with a first-party storage service natively built on AWS, which allows customers to accelerate workloads in the cloud by using technologies designed specifically for the AWS ecosystem.
According to NetApp, customers have reported reductions in costs of up to 50 percent after adopting Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP. By integrating FSx for ONTAP with their VMware environments, organisations can take advantage of Intelligent Data Infrastructure to improve migration planning and lower total cost of ownership through built-in management capabilities.
"Customers utilizing Amazon EVS with FSx for ONTAP can now enjoy the same data efficiency, protection, and automation they trust on-premises," said Pravjit Tiwana, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Storage at NetApp. "Through our collaboration with AWS, we're making it easier to move critical workloads to the cloud and manage them at scale."
New capabilities
NetApp has released several new features to further support customers managing advanced workloads in the cloud. Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP now supports Amazon EVS, which is designed to simplify deployments and provide a ready-to-use VCF environment on AWS. VMware administrators migrating to AWS can use the same VCF tools present in their on-premises setups. FSx for ONTAP as an external storage solution in the Amazon EVS environment brings data management and protection features intended to reduce overhead, lower costs, and bolster cyber resilience.
Additionally, the migration advisor feature within BlueXP workload factory for AWS now supports Amazon EVS workloads. This tool automates the discovery of on-premises virtual machines, provisioning of FSx for ONTAP, and placement of datastores in Amazon EVS, aiming to simplify and speed up migration processes.
BlueXP disaster recovery for VMware has been expanded to integrate with Amazon EVS, utilising FSx for ONTAP as a disaster recovery target. Supported datastore configurations include both file-based (NFS) and block-based (VMFS using iSCSI) protocols. This aims to provide customers with flexible and efficient disaster recovery solutions.
Ransomware protection
NetApp has also enhanced ransomware protection for workloads running on Amazon EVS. The ONTAP autonomous ransomware protection (ARP) for FSx for ONTAP monitors and responds to ransomware events in real time, while BlueXP ransomware protection service extends orchestration capabilities for customers seeking to improve their defence against such threats. According to NetApp, enabling these features in AWS aims to protect customer data and limit downtime through proactive detection at the storage layer across hybrid cloud environments.
Partner support
Xtravirt, a NetApp Preferred Partner and AWS partner, expressed support for the announcement, stating that it will benefit businesses seeking to move VMware workloads to the public cloud.
"Enabling support for FSx for ONTAP on Amazon EVS gives customers more granular control over the data powering some of their most important workloads," said Robin Gardner, CCO at Xtravirt. "Customers will be able access NetApp's advanced data management functionality to reduce the overhead of managing virtual environments and more efficiently and securely manage hybrid deployments."
NetApp maintains that while no ransomware detection or prevention system can guarantee complete safety, its technology serves as an important additional layer of defence for customers deploying critical workloads on AWS.
