MTV Storage Offloading NetApp - CoE Lab

[rguske]

Since MTV 2.9, Storage Offloading is in Tech-Preview and many vendors are working on their supportability.
Relevant resource: https://github.com/kubev2v/forklift/tree/main/cmd/vsphere-copy-offload-populator

Storage offloading is using the vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI) feature in order to run the xcopy operation on the ESXi level.

I checked the current status in the CoE lab:

[root@ucs-blade-server-3:/vmfs/volumes] esxcli storage nfs list
Volume Name    Host        Share          Vmknic  Accessible  Mounted  Connections  Read-Only   isPE  Hardware Acceleration
-------------  ----------  -------------  ------  ----------  -------  -----------  ---------  -----  ---------------------
shared-netapp  10.32.97.1  /coe_vsphere1  None          true     true            1      false  false  Not Supported
coe-iso        10.32.97.1  /coe_iso       None          true     true            1      false  false  Not Supported
[root@ucs-blade-server-3:/vmfs/volumes] vmkfstools -Ph /vmfs/volumes/shared-netapp
NFS-1.00 (Raw Major Version: 0) file system spanning 1 partitions.
File system label (if any): shared-netapp
Mode: public
Capacity 5 TB, 3.4 TB available, file block size 4 KB, max supported file size 16.0 TB
Disk Block Size: 512/512/0
UUID: 38064d7b-80ac0f76-0000-000000000000
Partitions spanned (on "notDCS"):
        nfs:38064d7b-80ac0f76
NAS VAAI Supported: NO
Is Native Snapshot Capable: NO

It isn't supported (installed): NAS VAAI Supported: NO

This is due to the not installed VIB (VMware Installation Bundle):

[root@ucs-blade-server-3:/vmfs/volumes] esxcli software vib list | grep NetApp

I suggest installing it in order to run validated tests. Here's the official NetApp doc: https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/ontap-tools-vmware-vsphere-10/configure/install-nfs-vaai-plug-in.html

[rguske]

ESXi CLI commands for the VAAI:
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/334407/esxcli-commands-for-vaai-operations.html

[rguske]

Update! NetApp is not using XCOPY for the operation anymore. They've provided a dedicated technology which is called shift-toolkit.

[rbo]

As far as i know: shift-toolkit is right now only available for windows. Might be available as container image (linux) with one of the next trident versions.

[rguske]

"As far as you know" 😆 NetApp told us this earlier today!