Google Cloud NetApp Volumes Flex Service Level

Blog by Hrishi Keremane, principal product manager, Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, NetApp, Inc.

We are excited to share with you the upcoming general availability of an addition to our Google Cloud storage services: the Flex service level in Google Cloud NetApp Volumes.

The Flex service level will be released in the 2Q24 and will be available in 15 Google Cloud regions.

Since its introduction in August 2023, Google Cloud NetApp Volumes has offered enterprise-grade file storage to customers who choose a fully managed file service.

Built on NetApp Ontap technology and operated by Google Cloud, it supports diverse workloads by offering a range of service levels:

Standard. This highly available general-purpose storage service with advanced data management capabilities offers 16MB/s per terabyte. This service level is recommended for file shares, VMs, and development and testing environments.
Premium. This elevated performance tier with highly available high-performance storage with advanced data management capabilities offers 64MB/s per terabyte. It’s for file shares, VMs, and databases.
Extreme. Our highest performance level provides highly available, low-latency, high-throughput storage with advanced data management capabilities, delivering 128MB/s per terabyte. It’s recommended for OLTP high-performance databases and low-latency applications.

In response to customer feedback, we identified some key areas for enhancement in Google Cloud NetApp Volumes service levels, including:

Smaller volume size. To better suit certain workloads, smaller volume sizes than the existing minimum of 100GB must be supported.
Burst performance. Some volumes within a storage pool must be able to temporarily require and sustain higher performance levels.
Zone failure protection. The volumes should be accessible in the event one of the zones becomes unavailable.

Innovating together, the NetApp and Google Cloud teams developed a new service level to meet these needs. We are proud to offer the Flex service level, which adds a fourth tier to the existing three Google Cloud NetApp Volumes service levels.

Flex service level advantage
Flex is the culmination of Ontap software technologies that are fine-tuned for Google Cloud’s cutting-edge hardware. This synergy empowers users to handle an array of use cases while maintaining all the enterprise-grade data management features they rely on.

Key features of Flex service level
To better meet customers’ needs, the Flex service level enhancements include:

Versatile volume sizing. Create volumes that range from a petite 1GB to a hefty 100TB.
Flexible storage pools. Configure storage pools in a range from 1 to 200TB.
Shared performance. Achieve shared performance capabilities of up to 1GB/s, contingent on your pool size.

Regional availability. Get enhanced data availability to protect against zonal outages within a region.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes Flex service level provides: 

Fully managed cloud storage service. Deploy file storage without the hassle of infrastructure setup.
Multiprotocol file system support. Get file access for both Windows and Linux file systems.
Scalability. Benefit from rapid scaling to hundreds of volumes with the ability to dynamically resize volumes up and down.
Volume replication. Asynchronous data replication to a different region enhances your application protection. 
Google Cloud user experience. Get secure integration with Google Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM), Google Cloud APIs, the Google Cloud CLI (gcloud CLI), and the Google Cloud console with extended integration into the Google Cloud portfolio of services.
Security. Secure by design, Google Cloud NetApp Volumes includes network security, access control, and data encryption at rest.

Soon you can check out the Flex service level for yourself. Google Cloud NetApp Volumes Flex service will be available in 15 regions in Q2 2024 and extended to all Google Cloud regions by 3Q24.

Advance your cloud strategy
Google Cloud NetApp Volumes will continue to evolve to serve more use cases for you, whether you’re expanding your cloud usage for new workloads or just starting your cloud journey. You get a platform for migrating all your enterprise workloads no matter what their capacity or performance needs are, all without the need for refactoring.

This blog post was coauthored with Dan Eawaz, product manager, Google Cloud.