Harnessing the Power of Flexibility and Efficiency in Cloud Migrations

Co-Author: David Tanigawa

In today’s rapidly evolving IT landscape, managing data effectively across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments is essential for organizations striving for agility, security, and cost efficiency. Our cloud migration journey at NetApp IT highlights the transformative advantages of leveraging NetApp ONTAP storage systems. Through this journey, we seamlessly integrated our existing infrastructure with cloud solutions, showcasing the flexibility, mobility, and efficiency ONTAP brings to modern IT environments. 

Historically, NetApp IT operated primarily within on-premises environments, transitioning from 7-Mode to the advanced clustered ONTAP. As cloud technologies gained prominence, we embraced solutions like Cloud Volumes ONTAP (CVO) and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP (FSx for ONTAP) to deploy instances across AWS and Azure. This enabled us to harness the cloud’s power for internal Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offerings.  
  
As part of our Firefly Project, we successfully migrated over 150 applications from on-premises storage clusters to FSx for ONTAP in AWS. Using SnapMirror for seamless data replication, we ensured an efficient migration process while maintaining data integrity.  
  
This migration was not a one-size-fits-all approach—it was thoughtfully tailored to workload characteristics such as data size, performance requirements, and cost-effectiveness. For example:  

•   Applications with massive datasets, like AutoSupport, were retained on-premises to optimize costs.
•  Other applications transitioned to the cloud, benefiting from scalability and flexibility.  
    
  With FSx for ONTAP, we leveraged advanced features like thin provisioning, deduplication, and compression to maintain high performance for active workloads while minimizing costs for less frequently accessed data. This strategic workload placement underscores the essence of our cloud-smart strategy. 

NetApp ONTAP was pivotal in our migration success, providing consistent performance across on-premises and cloud environments. This ensured a seamless transition with minimal disruption, enabling confident workload migrations.  
  
Our teams efficiently migrated data between environments using SnapMirror, orchestrated through BlueXP. BlueXP’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface streamlined complex migrations, saving time and reducing the risk of human error. 

A significant advantage of running ONTAP in the cloud is its robust data protection capabilities. With features such as: 

• Ransomware protection and tamper-proof snapshots, 
• Compliance tools like SnapLock, and  
• Efficient storage solutions like data deduplication and thin provisioning  

We were able to maintain both security and efficiency. These capabilities are especially critical in cloud environments, where optimizing storage usage directly impacts costs. 

One key takeaway from our cloud migration experience has been ONTAP’s unmatched flexibility. By decoupling storage management from specific operating systems or environments, ONTAP empowers us to:  

• Choose the optimal environment—scalable cloud platforms or controlled on-premises systems—based on workload needs. 
• Maintain responsiveness to the ever-changing demands of our business. 

This flexibility ensures our IT operations remain agile, resilient, and aligned with organizational goals. 

As we continue migrating applications to FSx for ONTAP, we track key metrics such as cost optimization and operational efficiencies. These insights refine our cloud strategy, ensuring we maximize resources while maintaining the agility required by modern IT operations.  
  
NetApp ONTAP’s flexibility and efficiency have been pivotal in achieving our IT goals and delivering value to the business. As we expand our cloud footprint, we will continue to leverage ONTAP’s capabilities to drive innovation, efficiency, and resilience across our IT landscape.