About Data ONTAP

Data ONTAP features

Data ONTAP provides the following features:

Network file service
Multiprotocol file and block sharing
Data storage management
Data organization management
Data access management
Data migration management
Data protection
System management
AutoSupport

Network file service

Data ONTAP enables users on client workstations (or hosts) to create, delete, modify, and access files or blocks stored on the storage system.

Storage systems can be deployed in network attached storage (NAS) and storage area network (SAN) environments for accessing a full range of enterprise data for users on a variety of platforms. Storage systems can be fabric-attached, network-attached, or direct-attached to support NFS, CIFS, HTTP, and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) for file access, and Internet SCSI (iSCSI) for block-storage access, all over TCP/IP, as well as SCSI over Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) for block-storage access, depending on your specific data storage and data management needs.

Client workstations are connected to the storage system through direct-attached or TCP/IP network-attached connections, or through FCP, fabric-attached connections. For information about configuring a storage system in a network-attached storage (NAS) network, see the System Configuration Guide and the Network Management Guide. For information about configuring a storage system in a storage area network (SAN) fabric, see the Compatibility and Configuration Guide for NetApp's FCP and iSCSI Products and your Block Access Management Guide.

Multiprotocol file and block sharing

Clients can use the following protocols to access data on the storage system:

NFS (Network File System)--used by UNIX systems
(PC)NFS (Personal Computer NFS)--used by PCs to access NFS
CIFS (Common Internet File System)--used by Windows clients
FTP (File Transfer Protocol)--used for file access and retrieval
HTTP (Hypertext Transmission Protocol)--used by the World Wide Web and corporate intranets
WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning)-- used by HTTP clients for distributed web content authoring operations
FCP (Fibre Channel Protocol)--used for block access in storage area networks
iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface)--used for block access in storage area networks

Files written using one protocol are accessible to clients of any protocol, provided that system licenses and permissions allow it. For example, an NFS client can access a file created by a CIFS client, and a CIFS client can access a file created by an NFS client. Blocks written using one protocol can also be accessed by clients using the other protocol.

For information about NAS file access protocols, see the File Access and Protocols Management Guide.

For information about SAN block access protocols, see the Block Access Management Guide.

Data storage management

Data ONTAP stores data on disks in disk shelves connected to storage systems. Disks are organized into redundant array of independent disks (RAID) groups. RAID groups are organized into plexes, and plexes are organized into aggregates. These topics are explained in detail in the Storage Management Guide.

For SharedStorage^TM storage systems, you can attach two to four systems to a common set of disk drives. For information, see the Storage Management Guide.

Note
For information about managing disks connected to V-Series systems, see the V-Series Software Setup, Installation, and Management Guide.

Data organization management

Data ONTAP organizes the data in user- and system-files, and directories, in file systems called volumes, optionally in qtrees, and optionally, in LUNs (Logical Unit Numbers) in SAN environments. Aggregates provide the physical storage to contain volumes. These topics are explained in detail in the Storage Management Guide. LUNs are described in detail in the Block Access Management Guide for your protocol.

When Data ONTAP is installed on an storage system at the factory, a root volume is configured as /vol/vol0, which contains system files in the /etc directory. For more information about the root volume, see Understanding the Root Volume.

Data access management

Data ONTAP manages access to data by performing the following operations:

Checks file access permissions against file access requests.
Checks write operations against file and disk usage quotas that you set.
These topics are explained in detail in the File Access and Protocols Management Guide.
Takes Snapshot^TM copies and makes them available so that users can access deleted or overwritten files. Snapshot copies are read-only copies of the entire file system.
Snapshot copy is explained in detail in the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.

Data migration management

Data ONTAP manages data migration by means of the following features:

Snapshot copy
Asynchronous mirroring
Synchronous mirroring
Backup to tape
Aggregate copy
Volume copy
FlexClone volume

Data protection

Storage systems provide a wide range of data protection features, as described in the following table.

Feature	Description
`aggr copy`	This is fast block copy of data stored in aggregates; it enables you to copy blocks of stored system data from one aggregate to another. For information about aggregates and `aggr copy`, see the Storage Management Guide.
MetroCluster	MetroCluster enhances SyncMirror® functionality for disaster recovery by providing continuous volume mirroring over 500-meter to 30-kilometer distances. For information about disaster protection using MetroCluster, see the Cluster Installation and Management Guide.
NDMP (Network Data Management Protocol)	NDMP support enables third-party applications that use NDMP to manage tape backup operations of system data. The `ndmpcopy` command carries out NDMP-compliant backups and restores. Security login restricts access to NDMP operations. For information about NDMP, see the Data Protection Tape Backup and Recovery Guide.
NVFAIL	The `nvfail` option provides protection against data corruption by nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) failures. For information about NVFAIL, see the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
SnapLock^TM software (license required)	SnapLock provides an alternative to traditional optical WORM (write-once-read-many) storage systems for nonrewritable data. For information about SnapLock, see the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
SnapMirror® software (license required)	System-to-system Snapshot copy mirroring enables you to mirror Snapshot copies on one storage system to a partner system. Should the original storage system be disabled, this ensures quick restoration of data from the point of the last Snapshot copy. For information about SnapMirror, see the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
SnapRestore® software (license required)	The SnapRestore feature performs fast restoration of backed-up data on request from Snapshot copies on an entire volume. For information about SnapRestore, see the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
Snapshot copy software	Snapshot copy software allows you to create manual or automatically scheduled multiple backups (or Snapshot copies) of data using a minimal amount of additional disk space at no performance cost. For information about how Data ONTAP organizes and manages data, see the chapters on aggregate management and volume management in the Storage Management Guide. For information about Snapshot copy, see the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
SnapVault® software (license required)	SnapVault combines Snapshot copy schedules and Qtree SnapMirror (QSM) to provide disk-based data protection for NetApp storage systems. You can also install the Open Systems SnapVault agent on non-NetApp storage systems. This allows SnapVault to back up and restore data to those systems also. Using SnapVault, you can periodically replicate selected Snapshot copies from multiple client NetApp storage systems to a common Snapshot copy on the SnapVault server. The Snapshot copies on the server become the backups. You decide when to dump data from the SnapVault server to tape. As a result, you avoid the bandwidth limitations of tape drives, you restore data faster, and you don't need to perform full dumps from primary storage, so you don't need to schedule a backup window. For information about SnapVault, see the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
SyncMirror® (cluster configuration required)	The SyncMirror software performs real-time RAID-level--that is, RAID4 or RAID-DP^TM (RAID double-parity)--mirroring of data to two separate plexes that are physically connected to the same storage system head. If there is an unrecoverable disk error on one plex, the storage system automatically switches access to the mirrored plex. For information about supported RAID levels and plexes, see the Storage Management Guide. For information about SyncMirror, see the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
Tape backup and restore	Tape backup `dump` and `restore` commands enable you to back up system or SnapVault Snapshot copies to tape. Because the Snapshot copy rather than the active file system is backed up to tape, the storage system can continue its normal functions while the tape backup is occurring. For information about tape backup, see the Data Protection Tape Backup and Recovery Guide.
virus scan support	Data ONTAP provides support for third-party-scanning software for files accessed by CIFS clients. For information about virus protection for CIFS, see the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.
`vol copy`	This is fast block copy of data stored in volumes; it enables you to copy blocks of stored system data from one volume to another. For information about volumes and `vol copy`, see the Data Protection Online Backup and Recovery Guide.

Storage system management

Data ONTAP provides a full suite of storage system management commands that allows you to monitor storage system activities and performance. You can use Data ONTAP to

Manage network connections
Manage adapters
Manage protocols
Configure pairs of storage systems into clusters for failover
Configure SharedStorage storage systems into a community
Manage storage
Dump data to tape and restore it to the storage system
Mirror volumes (synchronously and asynchronously)
Create vFiler^TM units. For information about vFiler units, see the MultiStore Management Guide

For information about all Data ONTAP commands, see the Commands: Manual Page Reference, Volume 1 and Commands: Manual Page Reference, Volume 2.

AutoSupport

Data ONTAP provides the AutoSupport feature, which automatically sends AutoSupport Mail notifications about storage system problems to technical support and up to five designated recipients. For more information about AutoSupport, see Using AutoSupport.