The NetApp plugin for VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension enables sovereign cloud customers to more cost-effectively store, secure, protect, and preserve Jan 14, 2019 · Lee Levenson. Networking Settings. My best practices. Best Practices and What's New for VMware vSphere and NetApp ONTAP [BRK-1360-3] Learn about the latest best practices, including new NFS 4. Aug 14, 2023 · Best practice guide for Microsoft SQL Server with ONTAP Best Practices Guide for Microsoft SQL Server with NetApp EF-Series Open Source Databases Automated PostgreSQL HA Deployment and DR in AWS FSx/EC2 MySQL Database on NetApp ONTAP SnapCenter for Databases SnapCenter Oracle Clone Lifecycle The following best practices are recommended by NetApp for solution configurations described in this white paper: Large aggregate. Oct 31, 2011 · For a NFS volume that holds only a single VMDK of say a 500GB data volume for a file server then I only leave 10%. Jan 16, 2024 · NetApp is the only storage vendor that provides consistent operations for guest-connected storage and VMware datastores, regardless of whether they are deployed on-premises or in the public cloud. Sections cover hardware selection, ESXi and virtual machines, guest operating systems, and virtual infrastructure management. ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere includes the VASA Provider for ONTAP, which provides the integration point for a VMware vCenter to leverage vVols based storage. 1 GbE ports are the minimum. Oct 18, 2023 · Two-node stretched HA (MetroCluster SDS) best practices. Oct 25, 2012 · *) SIOC, best practise vs Datastore clusters, number of LUNS and how they are distributed on aggregates *) How to use Vmware VASA with Netapp systems *) Vmware VASA, will it give Vmware hints like "these LUNs/NFS Volumes are on the same disk/aggregate and adjust SIOC accordingly" *) Netapp SSD vs vSphere SSD support, best practices. ea. The Configure iSCSI Ports dialog box opens. Sep 8, 2015 · I'd like to know what the best practice for the IOPS value in VMware's Round-Robin multipath policy please? I've read NetApp document "TR-4068 v2. 7mode. Mar 16, 2012 · 2012-03-20 12:40 PM. May 26, 2022 · Complete step-by-step instructions for how to build a NetApp lab for free on your laptop. When you enable NetApp thin-provisioned LUNs, NetApp recommends deploying these LUNs in FlexVol® volumes that are also thin provisioned with a capacity that is 2x the size of the LUN. Specify the default folder to store the VM and its disk as the CIFS share. 0 when you ceate LUN. Isolated hosts are rare in a properly architected environment, given the built-in redundancy of most modern designs. This ensures that only data not previously replicated to the DR volume gets replicated. For more information about VMware vSphere, see the VMware vSphere website. As a result, there are few clear best practices for configuring an Oracle database on NetApp storage. 5 U1. Failure to adhere to these best practices may have a negative impact on performance. You can mix NFS and SAN, but the SAN protocols should not be mixed within a site. Doing so sets the default path as the CIFS share for the Hyper-V storage. This technical report gives an overview and best practices for using larger aggregates and the recommended procedures to expand 32-bit aggregates to 64-bit aggregates in place nondisruptively. This level of consistency is made possible by leveraging ONTAP, which is built upon 20+ years of engineering development. Mar 12, 2012 · Is there some best practices for backup and restore (VMFS size or type, VM, when to do them, impacts) The best practices related to VMWare are Oct 19, 2021 · Right-click the host, and then select Actions > NetApp VSC > Set Recommended Values. VMWare and SnapDrive already do this automatically. What is the best practice ? I thought, make 2 subnets and configure 2 lifs per node with each subnets ? On each nodes, one port is connected to one switch and the other one to the second switch . For all your limit questions: https://configmax. Connect the host and storage ports to the same network. Steps. This best practice document was created to share my production experience in architecting, implementing, and managing many ONTAP 7-Mode HA pairs and over 30 ONTAP SAN clusters. Mar 19, 2012 · Hello, Agumadavalli provided some good answers but I thought I would expand on them a little; Is there some best practices for backup and restore (VMFS size or type, VM, when to do them, impacts) This depends a little on the VMware snapshot option. The best practice is to create at least two per node, but no more than necessary. In some cases when it's only a single type of disk, we'd have 60 15K disks in one aggregate and 60 in other (assigned to each controller respectively). vmware. By deploying a LUN in this manner, the FlexVol volume acts merely as a quota. Oct 19, 2023 · Two-node stretched HA (MetroCluster SDS) best practices. NetApp has been providing advanced storage features to VMware ESX solutions since the product began shipping in 2001. Map export policy to Volume. Volume administration. . Eliminate any single point of failure. In certain circumstances, VMware ignores this limit, causing failures in tasks that send I/O requests larger than 2MB to the SolidFire cluster, such as backup jobs. 1. This year we purchased 3040 NAS gateways with ALL extra options (sNapp -everything). Description: This book provides tips that help administrators maximize the performance of VMware vSphere 7. Modern & Cloud-Connected All-Flash For vSphere 8. In the drop-down list, select the port you want to configure, and then click Next. Sep 28, 2021 · NetApp SolidFire FC nodes support a max I/O size of 2MB; the nodes advertise this requirement to Fibre Channel initiators during the login process. 2 days ago · Best practice guide for Microsoft SQL Server with ONTAP Best Practices Guide for Microsoft SQL Server with NetApp EF-Series Open Source Databases Automated PostgreSQL HA Deployment and DR in AWS FSx/EC2 MySQL Database on NetApp ONTAP SnapCenter for Databases SnapCenter Oracle Clone Lifecycle Apr 25, 2008 · Netapp best practices the starting offset must be divisible by 4096. Collection of separate PDF docs. This technical report reviews the best practices for implementing VMware Virtual Infrastructures on Network Appliance fabric-attached storage (FAS) systems. The idea here is that more spindles gives us the most performance. May 13, 2024 · Failure to adhere to these best practices may have a negative impact on performance. This means that when Azure VMware Solution is deployed, customer's Oct 16, 2008 · I think this thread is the best read I have read all year. Mar 14, 2013 · Tuning for best practices. During that time, NetApp has developed Apr 25, 2024 · To configure Hyper-V storage on the NetApp CIFS share, complete the following steps: Open Hyper-V Manager from the Tools section of Server Manager. When we first set up VMWare ESX 3 on the SAN, there wasn't too many suggestions from the VMWare engineers, or our Storage Vendor (Sun). We also talk about common mistakes and how to troubleshoot SAN fabrics and NFS-based networking. NAS storage management. Create a dedicated FlexVol for host boot LUNs. Feb 5, 2012 · NetApp recently published an update to our storage best practices for VMware® that highlights the new capabilities of VMware vSphere® 5 and NetApp® Data ONTAP® 8. NetApp began working with VMware to support vSphere APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) for vSphere 5 in 2012. Tier4 is testdev and non-production stuff, Tier3 is important stuff, Tier2 is very important stuff, and Tier1 is CR Oct 20, 2008 · Please keep in mind that using space reservations is only one method of handling snapshot blocks with LUNs. Nov 16, 2010 · I am a best practice kind of guy, but am also willing to try new things if the technical theory is proven beneficial. When you deploy the ONTAP tools Open Virtualization Jun 16, 2020 · Create a SVM with the NFS protocol. So I'm reaching out to the community on this one. 3. 10 GbE or faster ports are best. Create an export policy. How do backup play into this? If I want to backup a lun I am assuming more smaller luns is better than one big lun??? The information in this document is distributed AS IS and the use of this information or the implementation of any recommendations or techniques herein is a customer's responsibility and depends on the customer's ability to evaluate and integrate them into the customer's operational environment. Then you don't need to worry about SAN zones or LUNs (although you might not be able to get your storage engineer on board with this as it would put him/her Jul 31, 2008 · Oh I forgot your last question. Basic guidelines: Each LUN in a separate volume. 15K SAS disks in one aggregate, SATA in another. – November 7, 2023 – NetApp ® (NASDAQ: NTAP), a global cloud-led, data centric software company, today announced NetApp StorageGRID for VMware Sovereign Cloud. ”. We spend a lot of time testing systems with a variety of workloads and base our recommendations on that experience as well as experience of our customers. That’s pretty much it. It is a NetApp plug-in that plugs into VMware vSphere, and it allows you to manage your ONTAP storage for vSphere from the vSphere client. VMware vSphere Foundation. There is an extra caveat when using virtual guest tagging (VGT) and two-node clusters. It gives you the ease of administration. ). NIC aggregation, teaming, and failover ONTAP Select supports a single 10Gb link for two-node clusters; however, it is a NetApp best practice to have hardware redundancy through NIC aggregation or NIC teaming on both the internal and the external networks of the The prescribed AFF SAN configurations are described in detail in TR-4480: AFF FAS SAN Optimized Configuration. Feb 8, 2017 · Deliver Availability for the Always-On Enterprise with this configuration and best practices guide for Veeam Backup & Replication 9. The following are the top known issues, workarounds, and best practices for ESX/ESXi NFS clients when used with NetApp FAS controllers running Data ONTAP 7-Mode or clustered Data ONTAP: Known Issues and Workarounds: Intermittent NFS APDs on the VMware ESXi 5. Dec 12, 2010 · ESXi Hosts with NetApp, Hosts Utility and Best Practices for vmware VMware vSphere Solution Overview. Jan 2, 2013 · Use our recommendations (I hate the phrase "Best Practice") to configure the storage to begin with, then address issues as they arise. This document provides the NetApp® XCP best-practice guidelines and a test-scenario-based migration solution. I've reviewed TR-3749 but ultimately don't know what the best settings or practices should be. Download PDF. For ONTAP in particular, these tools include Active IQ Unified Manager alerts for abnormal Snapshot copy and volume growth rates and loss in storage efficiency. 13. Jul 14, 2009 · Brendan, We absolutely plan to have discussions about the best ways to integrate NetApp and vSphere at VMworld. Figure 3) Abnormal storage efficiency alert provided by Active IQ Unified Manager. Question #2: I prefer to split all my VMs up by assigning them to Tiers. There are two possible workarounds: Mar 28, 2024 · ONTAP delivers an enterprise-class security and performance solution for your Microsoft SQL Server databases while also providing world-class tools to manage your environment. 0" and cannot find an answer in there. Jun 22, 2009 · Yes -- completely complementary (VMware thin provisioning and dedup). 1 datastore support, how to get the best results from your FlexGroup backed datastores, high performance with NVMe/FC, and new vVols features including NVMe and improved replication support. NetApp has native or built-in tools to help you detect ransomware early. Azure NetApp Files provides a high-performance, scalable, and secure storage service for running mission-critical applications and workloads in Azure. 5 Update 1, the ESXi host intermittently loses Apr 25, 2024 · The following sections outline the deployment best practices with ONTAP and VMware SRM. ifconfig e0a flowcontrol send. vSphere needs ONTAP 7. Many customers prefer using vol autogroup or snap autodelete or a combination of those along with provisioning some level of extra space in the volume to handle deltas. During this time, NetApp has developed operational guidelines for storage arrays running Data ONTAP® and ESX/ESXi Server. Cluster administration. TR-4067 provides basic concepts, support information, configuration tips, and best practices for NFS in NetApp ONTAP. Aug 31, 2009 · Brendan, We absolutely plan to have discussions about the best ways to integrate NetApp and vSphere at VMworld. This early VASA Provider allowed for the definition of storage capabilities in a profile that could be used to filter datastores when provisioning and for checking compliance with the policy afterwards. However, some of the communication uses less common ports. These techniques, which are described in this report, have been documented and are referred to as “best practices. In the NetApp Recommended Settings dialog box, ensure that all of the options are selected, and then click OK. A large aggregate was created for each storage controller (54 disks). VMware vCenter Server VMware vCenter Server provides unified management of all hosts and VMs Nov 7, 2023 · SAN JOSE, Calif. In VMware vSphere, use of 10GbE is supported. 0, Update 3. Create a volume. I base these tiers off of our BCP/DR Plan's Business Impact Analysis. To isolate storage traffic from other networking traffic, it is considered best practice to use either dedicated switches or VLANs for your NFS and iSCSI ESX server traffic. By staying within the prescriptions outlined in TR-4480, storage professionals are able to optimize SAN performance, making sure of consistent low-latency performance with fast failover and givebacks. Authentication and access control. NetApp recommends the following backup best practices: When SnapCenter is deployed to create Snapshot copies for backups, turn off the Snapshot schedule for the FlexVol that host VMs and application data. flackbox. This knowledge is based on real-world experiences of iSCSI deployments that I’ve encountered over the years. Mar 11, 2024 · Known deployments of NetApp storage include everything from a virtualized environment of approximately 6,000 databases running under VMware ESX to a single-instance data warehouse currently sized at 996TB and growing. The test-scenario-based section covers customer use cases and their Introduction. Without VSC, setting these parameters is a manual process that has to be done on each host. 3,330 Views. Set up, upgrade and revert ONTAP. To see all port settings, click the Show more port settings link on the right of the dialog box. It is best to connect to the same switches. Best Practices: When creating a LUN and a Volume container, it is highly recommended to take the proposed size of the LUN and add 5GB ( +space needed for overwrites and snapshots ), as a size for the containing volume. Port Setting. iSCSI SVM created on the ASA with network connectivity to the ESXi hosts. First, Virtual Storage Console (VSC) is used to manage vSphere with ONTAP since it provides a single integrated admin interface. VMware vSphere with ONTAP Best Practices. com/netapp-simulat VMware administrators can easily view NetApp storage systems configured for use in the virtual infrastructure; identify the physical VMware ESX or ESXi hosts connected to each storage system; and verify that the host bus adapter (HBA) timeout, NFS tunable, and multipath configuration settings reflect NetApp best practices. VMware vSphere is a virtualization platform for centrally managing a large number of virtualized servers and networks running on the ESXi hypervisor. We're planning to have 12 demos in our booth, and all the authors (Vaughn, Mike, Larry and Peter) will be in the booth and around the show all week. From a best practices perspective, leave powered on is the recommended isolation response setting for the majority of environments. SAN protocols should be homogeneous for each site. In vSphere, there are three ways to use Aug 5, 2010 · Ajay, you should stick to TR-3749, best practices for vSphere. Protection can range from virtual machines (VMs) residing on a single, replicated datastore to all the VMs in a datacenter and includes protection for the operating systems and applications running in Die Kombination von VMware und NetApp ist schon seit sehr langer Zeit ein Paradebeispiel für die technische Integration und Zusammenarbeit zweier an sich unabhängiger Hersteller. When running the ESXi 5. Latest Version : February 28, 2022. SnapMirror Asynchronous replicates data using native ONTAP snapshots to create a static image of the volume and/or changes since the last SnapMirror snapshot. When designing a new storage cluster and datastore, there are a few best practices that you should keep in mind: Define Your Workload: Before you start designing your storage cluster, it Apr 5, 2024 · A best practice is to use ONTAP tools to create your test datastore, since it is doing all the datastore automation as directed by SRM. Select the highest speed ports available. You can maximize the performance of the network by selecting specific configuration values. Diese Integration funktioniert extrem gut - wir zeigen, wie. vSphere 8. This document was used as reference material Sep 14, 2010 · Description: This white paper describes solution architecture and best practices for deploying IBM DB2 databases on Linux in a VMware vSphere environment running on servers equipped with Intel processors and connected to NetApp unified storage. VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols) with NetApp ONTAP. Snapshots : Snapshot from Vmware or « snapshot from NetApp thru consistent snapshot »? The snapshot from Vmware is stable but manually you have to create it but if you want to schedule then use the SMVI which will quiesce and take the snapshot which is stable, consistent and doesn't disrupt any services. can put in the /etc/rc at the end of each ifconfig. You must ensure that the host multipathing and best practice settings are correct so that the ESXi Feb 12, 2012 · also you can run. Jul 9, 2024 · OpenShift on VMware vSphere. You can find this information by running msinfo within your VM and looking at the Storage>Disk>Partition Starting Offset. I hope i can make me understand. To achieve the best results with NetApp storage, a number of parameters on each ESXi host have to be tuned. VSC requires the ports in Table 6 to be open between the Client, vCenter Server, and VSC server. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. When creating datastores for VMware clusters with the plug-in, select the cluster rather than a single ESX server. Configure any addirional any storage efficiencies or data protection. Before you create a MetroCluster SDS, use the ONTAP Deploy connectivity checker to make sure that the network latency between the two data centers falls within the acceptable range. Space Guarantee:None. NIC aggregation, teaming, and failover ONTAP Select supports a single 10Gb link for two-node clusters; however, it is a NetApp best practice to have hardware redundancy through NIC aggregation or NIC teaming on both the internal and the external networks of the Best practices for modern SAN _ TR-4080 | NetApp. use multiple VMkernel network interfaces on different network subnets that use NIC teaming when multiple virtual switches are used. For example, you can use FCP in site A, and iSCSI in site B. Network management. if you use ifgrp or vif make sure you run the command in seperate lines in a make sense order. com. 0 cluster (vCenter appliance, and ESXi hosts). Jan 2, 2013 · Typically we'll create large aggregates based on a homogeneous disk type. This updated technical report (TR) covers a number of new capabilities from VMware such as Storage DRS, Storage I/O Control, and updated vStorage APIs, as well as an enhanced set of capabilities in Data ONTAP and the Virtual Jul 14, 2009 · Brendan, We absolutely plan to have discussions about the best ways to integrate NetApp and vSphere at VMworld. * Use ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere (the most important best practice): Use ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere to provision datastores because it simplifies the management of export policies automatically. Autogrow:Enabled (If snapshots are enabled, it depends what is it (LUN) used for -SQL/EXCH/ORCL/Databases etc, if snapshots are managed by ONTAP. I run a 3rd party backup util and some free space is necessary if you snap a vm for either a backup or manually in virtual center. For larger than 1TB NFS volumes I generally use 10% free space and this has been fine so far. 2+ ports per host. Azure NetApp Files is an enterprise storage service that offers an ideal landing zone component in Azure to accelerate and simplify the migration of various workload categories. usually you will se a VM setting of 32256 which is incorrect. Optimize operations with NetApp storage for VMware vSphere: best practices [1019-3] 20231h 9m 38sMovie. This document and the information contained Apr 25, 2024 · Virtual Volumes (vVols) overview. Ethernet networks vary greatly in performance. The minimum NIC speed should be 1GbE. Select the configuration port settings, and then click Next. SAN storage management. The following are best practices for implementing block protocols for VM storage with vSphere and ONTAP. NetApp ONTAP provides enterprise-class block storage for VMware vSphere using iSCSI, Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP, or FC for short), and NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF). Oct 16, 2008 · Tim, If I had a set of FAS3040s with an "everything" license I'd consider looking at using NFS to access your tiered datastores instead of FC. The vCenter Web Client displays the task progress. 1 or above btw. NetApp has been providing advanced storage features to VMware ESX®-based solutions since the product began shipping in 2001. if i am not mistaken. Best Practices – Admin Interface. VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) provides business continuity and disaster recovery protection for VMware virtual environments. 5 in a NetApp environment. You should set up your iSCSI configuration with high-availability (HA) pairs that attach directly to your iSCSI SAN hosts or that Aug 7, 2008 · Question #1 was answered by other posts. Also be sure to install Virtual Storage Console 2. Test results from performance and scalability tests performed under DSS and OLTP workloads are also VMware recommends aligning the isolation response to business requirements and physical constraints. Vaughn, Peter and Larry each have te Feb 24, 2010 · Hi, I'm trying to get a consise configuration for setting up a FC Volume and LUN for a VMware ESX 4 datastore. Sep 18, 2023 · In this article. Feb 12, 2012 · I just got a couple of new NetApp 3270 filers running 8. At the current mome Nov 13, 2012 · NetApp Storage Best Practices for VMware VSphere says the following. Learn about new features like “nconnect” for VMware datastores to This technical report describes the steps needed to configure iSCSI integration with VMware in an NetApp E-Series system. Almost 70% of the calls that come into NetApp Support related to VMware are solved by applying these settings. 0 which serves as a host utils replacement for vSphere 4. 13 (VASA provider enabled by default). esp. S3 object storage management. Create at least one SAN LIF on each node per SVM you intend to use. And you configure your array connections in the software initiator, similar to iSCSI. NetApp assumes that the reader has working knowledge of the following: The scope of this best practices section is limited to technical design based on the design SAN (FC, FCoE, NVMe/FC, iSCSI), RDM. Version 9. For snapshots on the lun system use volume free space. NetApp has been providing advanced storage features to VMware solutions since 2001. 1RC2 and I am building a new vSphere 5 environment but I want to make sure I am following all the best practices and best configuration for this setup. net port show -fields flowcontrol-admin <--- this will show status on all ports in the cluster. The recommended offset offset value is 32768. Both thin provisioning and dedup can help with the "empty space" inside most VMDK's (as empty space dedups quite well after all) but only dedup will handle the duplicate files across multiple vmdk's (OS data, etc. We're looking to leverage "thin provisioning" but not sure if this is the right approach or Apr 28, 2023 · Backup best practices. Best . How SnapMirror replicates volumes and volume changes. 5 provides new levels of NetApp integration to orchestrate Data ONTAP, create application-consistent backups and enable fast recovery from NetApp storage snapshots. Turn off snap reserve on volume (snap reserve 0) when you use snapshots on LUN System dont use that space. If the host application manages 'data-recovery', at the host-side, and netapp snaps aren't needed, then disable snapshots) Jun 21, 2023 · For example, you enable software-based initiators, just like with iSCSI. You can deploy these me Apr 26, 2023 · 974 Views. 2+ ports per disk shelf. In VSC Backup and recovery you can do a backu Mar 12, 2012 · 2. SVM layout and segmentation for SMT With ONTAP, the concept of the storage virtual machine (SVM) provides strict segmentation in secure multitenant environments. Apr 25, 2024 · Use ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere (the most important best practice): Use ONTAP tools for VMware vSphere to provision datastores because it simplifies management of export policies automatically. 2 days ago · Azure VMware Solution is a hybrid cloud service that allows for fully functioning VMware SDDCs within the Microsoft Azure public cloud. This solution guide provides guidelines and best practices for architecting, deploying, and managing VMware View virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions on NetApp storage systems. NetApp provides many best practices and solutions for a robust virtualization environment both on-premises and in the cloud. Best practices is on lun wizard in VSC when you provision datastor or on SystemManager 2. Likewise, all the same best practices around VMkernel port allocation, IP subnetting, VLAN configurations, and network setup are all identical between iSCSI and NVMe/TCP. Select the Hyper-V server and click Hyper-V Settings. Learn best practices for SAN and NFS workloads with VMware vSphere. The RAID group size was set to 18, an optimal setting for the OLTP workload. Jun 22, 2009 · What are the best practices / recommendations for using dedupe with VMware ESX LUNs? Can dedupe be used together with VMware thin provisioning, or Jun 22, 2009 · Yes -- completely complementary (VMware thin provisioning and dedup). Azure VMware Solution is a first-party solution fully managed and supported by Microsoft, verified by VMware leveraging Azure infrastructure. It facilitates key functions such as VM provisioning, vMotion operation, High Availability (HA), Distributed Resource Scheduler It is contrary to 'normal' networking redundancy. These best practices cover the migration workflow for on premises as well as cloud, XCP file-system analytics, troubleshooting, and performance tuning of the XCP tool. I follow TR-3749 when setting up VMware storage on NetApp implementing the 3 standard NFS volumes to place the VM's on, 1 for the operating system\application directories, 1 for Feb 28, 2022 · Publisher : VMware. Nov 24, 2022 · This Netapp is connected to 2 switchs (VPC Nexus). The vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) is the powerful centralized management system and single pane of glass for vSphere that enables administrators to effectively operate ESXi clusters. Start the NFS service (Don’t forget this!) Create a LIF and tie it back to the NFS SVM. The Filers are also running some LUN's for my Exchange environment (will be) and our CIFS share. Apr 18, 2024 · The following components were used in this solution: NetApp All-Flash SAN Array A400 with ONTAP 9. ONTAP Tools for VMware vSphere 9. NetApp SnapCenter is used for VM and database backups. This rule of thumb is recommended all the way up to 1TB for the size of a LUN. This updated technical report (TR) covers a number of new capabilities from VMware such as Storage DRS, Storage I/O Control, and updated vStorage APIs, as well as an enhanced set of capabilities in Data ONTAP and the Virtual The Virtual Storage Console uses standard protocols to communicate between the vSphere Client, vCenter Server, VSC server, and NetApp storage controllers. Download my free ebook here: https://www. Virtual Volumes (vVols) are a VMware object type that corresponds to a Virtual Machine (VM) disk, its snapshots, and fast clones. This technical report provides an overview of the block protocols in ONTAP 9 data management software as well as best-practice recommendations. yy cc gz dj rj gh hx gn ep mu