FAQ

What does thin provisioned mean in regards to FSx for ONTAP volumes?

Generally speaking, thin provisioned means that the system uses virtualization technologies to show more resources as available than are actually provisioned. It is like the cash reserve in a bank—the amount of money physically kept in a bank is less than the total amount of the bank accounts. When you create a volume in Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, the storage is not reserved in advance. Its size gradually increases as you add data to it. For more information, see FSx for ONTAP storage tiers.

What protocols are supported by FSx for ONTAP?

FSx for ONTAP file systems can be accessed through Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB), and Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) protocols. For more information, see Accessing data in the FSx for ONTAP documentation.

I'm using FSx for ONTAP in a Windows environment. Are there any prerequisites to enable integration with Active Directory?

Yes, you need to create a service account on the Active Directory domain. For more information, see Provisioning an Active Directory service account in this guide. You also need to ensure proper network connectivity. When setting up the file system, don't forget to specify the organizational unit (OU) that you want to join. For more information, see Prerequisites for joining an SVM to a self-managed Microsoft AD in the FSx for ONTAP documentation.

Can I change the volume tiering policy?

Yes, you can change the tiering policy at any time. For more information, see Setting a volume's tiering policy in the Amazon FSx documentation.

Tiering policy and write operations on the file system are not working, and metrics show >98% SSD storage tier utilization. What should I do?

All tiering functionality and write operations stop when the SSD storage tier is at or above 98% utilization. For more information, see Tiering thresholds in the Amazon FSx documentation. To resume operations, increase the amount of SSD storage capacity. Consider changing the tiering policy to retain less data in the SSD tier. For more information, see Managing volume storage capacity and Setting a volume's tiering policy in the Amazon FSx documentation.

Does Multi-AZ deployment support active-active configuration?

No, Multi-AZ deployment is an active-passive configuration. For more information, see Best practices for choosing an Availability Zone deployment option in this guide.

Is the pricing the same for Single-AZ and Multi-AZ deployments of FSx for ONTAP?

No, Multi-AZ configuration costs about the double of the Single-AZ configuration. For Single-AZ deployments, there are changes for cross-AZ traffic. For more information, see Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP Pricing.