How to: Upgrade NetApp ONTAP Simulator 9.1 to 9.2

For my tests and lab activities it’s always important to work with the latest version of software products. As the NetApp ONTAP simulator usually comes some times after the GA I decided to upgrade the simulator with the regular GA package and want to share here how to do it.

Before you start you need to:
– download the latest ONTAP 9.2 build
– make sure your root aggregate and root volume has enough free space
– disable snapshot scheduling and reserve on vol0 (yes, the vol0 on the node)
– The guide is for a single-node simulator

Synology 1517+: Disk, Volume and Network Configuration

After releasing the first post on my new DS1517+ some days ago its time now to move forward and talk about the Disk, Volume and Network Configuration to complete the initial setup and be ready for data. FYI, the screenshots are a mix of english one (from Synology guides) and german ones (as my system is installed in german language, not translated).

Synology 1517+: Initial setup

As my Homelab is growing and the data explodes it was time to replace my private NAS system with a new one. As my current one, a Synology DS213j, works since 3 years without any problem it was clear for me to look at Synology again. I love the features they offer esp. the Cloud Station and the Surveillance Station as well as the multi-protocol support are key for me in my lab. And as they recently added their own Virtualization layer called “Virtual DSM” it was also clear that I will go for a model supporting it. After some research the decision was made that the new one will be the DS1517+, Synology’s new 5-bay flagship. As disks I’m using the Seagate IronWolf 4TB NAS disks. FYI, the screenshots are a mix of english one (from Synology guides) and german ones (as my system is installed in german language, not translated).

This blog post is the first of a new series showing you the initial as well as some advanced setup of the Synology. The planned posts are:
1. Initial setup – this post
2. Disk, Volume and Network Configuration
3. User, Folder/Share Configuration
4. CloudStation Configuration
5. Surveillance Station
6. A first look into Virtual DSM

FlexPod goes SolidFire: FlexPod SF

Being at Cisco Live in Las Vegas last week I was glad that I had the chance to join the FlexPod SF launch happening on June 22nd. Unfortunately, I forgot to make some pictures but I want to tell you some details on the new FlexPod.

According to IDC, FlexPod® is the #1 worldwide fastest growing integrated infrastructure and certified reference (source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Converged Systems Tracker 2017 Q1) with a revenue growth rate of 26.1%. The other two vendors in the top three of market share saw their revenues decline. FlexPod SF is the first scale-out converged infrastructure solution in the industry, allowing customers to incrementally add storage as they consume it.

Since FlexPod was started in 2010 the validated Cisco + NetApp solution had great success and shows some amazing numbers:

In 2015 NetApp then acquired SolidFire to grow their All-Flash Leadership and to offer a Scale-out storage system for the Next-Generation, Application-Centric data center.

And now, 2 years later FlexPod & SolidFire get together and the FlexPod SF is born.

The new FlexPod comes with Cisco UCS B-Series M4 Blades and Nexus 9k switching and contains the SF9608 storage nodes which can get up to 300000 IOPS in a 4-node cluster.
The design is fully validated and can be implemented like the regular FlexPod installations. Looking at the high-level design picture it is similar to what we already see and install since years so there won’t be a big need to learn everything from scratch again which is another plus point here.
The backend runs end-to-end iSCSI and depending on the B-Series Blade configuration you can run a 10G or 40G environment.

The SF9608 Node itself runs on Cisco UCS C220 M4 Hardware and comes with the following hardware:
– CPU: 2 x 2.6GHz CPU (E5-2640v3)
– Memory: 256 GB RAM
– 8 x 960GB SSD drives (non-SED)
– 7.6TB raw capacity (per node)

As mentioned before the solution runs iSCSI all the way and offers all benefits and features SolidFire had build-in. Esp. the QoS policies to define min. as well as max. performance for dedicated data streams is one of my favorite feature. It also helps to avoid “Noisy Neighbors” by setting limits for these workloads. Below you can find a performance chart before SolidFire QoS was enabled and after it was enabled:
QoS disabled:
QoS enabled:

Overall I like the fact that the FlexPod Family is growing, not only in revenue but also with new family members. I’m looking forward to see the FlexPod SF in action (ok I saw it at Cisco Live already) and to talk to customers using it to get some feedback.

That’s me done for now, need to board the flight back home. I hope you like the post and look forward to see u again on my blog or receive your feedback.