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 Network File System (NFS), Server Message Block (SMB), iSCSI, NVMe/TCP, and S3 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 multiple service levels: Flex Unified, Standard, Premium, and Extreme. Performance, features, capabilities, and regions 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 (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, NVMe/TCP, and S3) 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.

EDA workloads

NetApp Volumes directly addresses the unique challenges and demands of modern chip design workflows. As a fully managed, high-performance file storage solution, it enables EDA teams to seamlessly manage massive data volumes and deliver exceptional throughput — all while maintaining exceptional availability, performance, and reliability.

Databases

Use NetApp Volumes to quickly access primary databases or for rapid creation of snapshot copies of open source or enterprise databases. NetApp Volumes offers enterprise performance for production databases, built-in high availability and resiliency, and seamless migrations without 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.

Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes and Trident CSI driver for Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization are fully supported on Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated and OpenShift Container Platform running in Google Cloud. This solution enables organizations to run both VMs and containers on the same platform in the cloud with simplified operations and seamless scalability.

Persistent storage for stateful Kubernetes 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 self-managed Kubernetes distributions running in Google Cloud.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes features multiprotocol support for iSCSI, NVMe/TCP, NFSv3, NFSv4.1, NFSv4.2, and SMB 2.1, 3.0, and 3.1.1, and S3 protocols.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes is managed through the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud SDK (CLI), 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 protects your data with built-in security, backup, and recovery capabilities. Enterprise-grade security includes IAM access controls, encryption at rest and in transit, and support for customer-managed encryption keys.

For data protection, it combines NetApp Snapshot™ copies, integrated backups, and cross-zone and cross-region replication to safeguard against ransomware, accidental deletion, and infrastructure failures while enabling fast recovery.

For advanced cyber resiliency, the NetApp Console Ransomware Resilience integration adds AI-driven ransomware detection, automated protection actions, immutable snapshots, and backup integration to help detect attacks early and recover data quickly.

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 NVMe/TCP and iSCSI volumes as a service. You can move your data from on-premises file solutions to NetApp Volumes using the free NetApp Data Migrator tool or 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.

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 Unified, Flex File, Standard, Premium, or Extreme.
• Region: The location where your storage pool is provisioned.
• Performance: Volumes in the Flex service levels 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 Unified service level is available in 16 Google Cloud regions and Flex File is in 42 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.