Setting up the FSx for ONTAP file system

The Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP documentation contains instructions for setting up a file share by using the Quick create or Standard create options in the AWS Management Console. This guide includes additional recommendations and guidance for enterprises that need to support HPC workloads and Active Directory integration.

For instructions on creating an FSx for ONTAP file system in the AWS Management Console, see Creating FSx for ONTAP file systems. For each section, note the following setup recommendations and considerations for enterprise environments.

File system details section

1. For Deployment type, choose one of the following:

   • Choose Multi-AZ for production workloads. This option helps maintain data availability in the event that an Availability Zone is inaccessible.

   • Choose Single-AZ for disaster recovery purposes, for non-production workloads, or for workloads that have replication already built into the application layer and do not require additional storage-level redundancy. This option is cost-effective for these types of workloads.

   For more information and recommendations about configuring the deployment type, see Best practices for choosing an Availability Zone deployment option in the Best practices section of this guide.

2. For Provisioned SSD IOPS, choose one of the following:

   • Choose Automatic if you want Amazon FSx to automatically provision 3 IOPS per GiB of SSD storage, up to up to a maximum of 160,000 SSD IOPS per file system.

   • Choose User-provisioned mode if you want to specify the number of IOPS. If you provision a higher level of IOPS, you pay for the average IOPS provisioned above your included rate for the month, measured in IOPS-months.

   For more information, see Storage capacity and IOPS, Considerations when updating storage and IOPS, and Impact of storage capacity on performance in the FSx for ONTAP documentation.

Default storage virtual machine configuration section

1. For Root volume security style, choose one of the following:

   • Choose Unix if you plan to access the file system mainly from Linux-based clients (NFS protocol).

   • Choose NTFS if you plan to access the file system mainly from Windows-based clients (SMB protocol)

   • Choose Mixed if you plan to access the file system equally from Linux-based and Windows-based clients. This is an advanced setting.

   For more information about these settings, see What the security styles and their effects are (NetApp documentation).

2. For Active Directory, choose Join an Active Directory.

3. For NetBIOS name, enter the NetBIOS name of the Active Directory computer object that will be created for your SVM. This is often the same as the SVM name but can be different. The NetBIOS name cannot exceed 15 characters.

4. For Active Directory domain name, enter the fully qualified domain name of your Active Directory. The domain name cannot exceed 255 characters.

5. For DNS server IP addresses, enter the IPv4 addresses of the DNS servers for your domain. You can enter up to three IP addresses.

6. For Service account username and Service account password, enter the username and password of the service account in your existing Active Directory. This is the service account that you previously set up in Provisioning an Active Directory service account in this guide.

7. For Organization Unit (OU), enter the distinguished path name of the organizational unit to which you want to join your file system.

8. For Delegated file system administrators group, enter name of the group in your Active Directory that can administer your file system. The default group is Domain Admins.

Default volume configuration section

1. For Volume name, enter a name for the volume. The name cannot exceed 203 characters, and alphanumeric and underscore (_) characters are accepted.

2. For Junction path, enter the location within the file system where you want to mount the volume. The name must have a leading forward slash, such as /vol1. For more information, see the Amazon FSx resources section of this guide.

3. For Volume size, enter the storage capacity of your volume, in mebibyte (MiB). Enter any whole number in the range of 20–104857600 (100 TiB).

4. For Storage efficiency, choose whether to enable storage efficiency features, such as deduplication, compression, and compaction. For more information, see Storage efficiency in the FSx for ONTAP documentation. If these efficiency features are compatible with your HPC workload, we recommend them in enterprise environments.

5. For Capacity pool tiering policy, choose a tiering policy for the volume. For more information and recommendations about tiering policies, see Best practices for storage tiers and tiering policies in the Best practices section of this guide.