Google Cloud NetApp Volumes FAQs

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes is a fully managed, cloud-based data storage service in Google Cloud that offers advanced data management capabilities and highly scalable performance.

Powered by NetApp's industry-leading ONTAP^® data management software and storage management technology, NetApp Volumes is a Google Cloud service that is directly sold, billed, managed, and supported by Google Cloud.

NetApp Volumes lets you run block and file-based workloads in Google Cloud. It has built-in support for iSCSI, Network File System (NFS) and Server Message Block (SMB) protocols, so you can move to Google Cloud without needing to re-architect your applications. Experience always available storage for all your applications.

NetApp Volumes offers four service levels: Flex, Standard, Premium, and Extreme. Performance, features, and capabilities vary by service level.

Fully managed storage services

NetApp Volumes is a fault-tolerant, scalable storage platform for creating a cloud-based system that you can access with standard (iSCSI, NFS or SMB) protocols. With its high-performance capabilities, NetApp Volumes delivers enterprise-level network-attached storage solutions on Google Cloud that are similar to an on-premises experience.

Enterprise applications

Rehost applications that are deployed on premises to NetApp Volumes. NetApp Volumes continues to preserve core capabilities for block and file storage workflows including a subset of traditional and bespoke enterprise applications that typically don't require refactoring.

Google Cloud VMware Engine storage

Google Cloud supports VMware vSphere workloads with Google Cloud VMware Engine. Private clouds built with Google Cloud VMware Engine often need additional storage to either directly attach to a single VM, or as datastores for multiple VMs with large or high-performance storage requirements.

Persistent storage for stateful Google Kubernetes Engine applications

NetApp Volumes provides fast, reliable, and persistent storage for your stateful applications that run on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Red Hat OpenShift, and all other self-managed Kubernetes distributions running in Google Cloud.

Databases

Use NetApp Volumes to quickly access primary databases or for rapid creation of snapshot copies of open source or enterprise databases.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes features multiprotocol support for iSCSI, NFSv3, NFSv4.1, NFSv4.2, and SMB 2.1, 3.0, and 3.1.1 protocols.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes is managed through the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud APIs, and Terraform. Billing is managed through your Cloud Billing account and support is provided based on your Cloud Customer Care tier.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes satisfies a variety of compliance standards, and additional regulatory compliance work is ongoing. NetApp Volumes also supports Assured Workloads for regional controls across Google Cloud regions.

The NetApp Volumes service implements Google Cloud controls for Assured Workloads to provide control over the location of customer data and NetApp personnel access to the data. NetApp applies cryptographic controls and has configured detailed logging and threat monitoring across the Google Cloud resources used. While Google cannot provide their sovereign guarantee with key access justifications, NetApp follows the same control practices for data stored in NetApp Volumes.

NetApp Volumes provides fully managed NFS and SMB remote file systems, and iSCSI volumes as a service. You can move your data from on-premises file solutions to NetApp Volumes using any file transfer service, such as NetApp XCP or robocopy. If you are moving data from an on-premises ONTAP system, NetApp Volumes supports data migration using the NetApp SnapMirror^® feature (only NFS and SMB volumes are supported at this time).

NetApp Volumes pricing is based on the following elements:

• Storage pool capacity: Google Cloud charges based on provisioned or allocated storage capacity, even if it isn't assigned to volumes.
• Service level: Flex, Standard, Premium, or Extreme.
• Region: The location where your storage pool is provisioned.
• Performance: Volumes in the Flex service level support provisioning performance and capacity independently. Performance is charged by throughput and IOPS provisioned.
• Auto-Tiering: Infrequently accessed volume data is tiered to low-cost storage and charged at a lower price.
• Backups: charged by capacity backed up and usage fee.
• Data replication: charged by frequency and capacity of data replicated between regions.

NetApp Volumes provides spend-based committed use discounts (CUDs) for your predictable storage needs to help keep costs low on your necessary resources. CUDs can be used for your storage pool capacity in Flex, Standard, Premium, or Extreme service levels at heavily discounted prices.

Standard, Premium, and Extreme service levels are available in 14 Google Cloud regions. The Flex service level is available in 42 Google Cloud regions. Visit the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes locations page for complete information about zones, regions, and multi-regions.

You will find NetApp Volumes under Storage services on Google Cloud Console. Enable the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes API and you are ready to start with as small as 1TiB storage pool in a region of your choice. You can find additional information on how to use NetApp Volumes for your applications in the technical documentation.