I happened to be in Sunnyvale at NetApp headquarters this week and was pleasantly surprised to find out that Cloud Field Day 3 was going to also be in town.

So, I decided to crash the party and LIVE BLOG!!!

(I did this a while back for Storage Field Day, too)

I also did a podcast recently with Stephen Foskett about Storage Field Day:

You can watch the video recording here:

http://techfieldday.com/appearance/netapp-presents-at-cloud-field-day-3/

You can also read this blog along with the recording to re-enact the live-ness. Kinda like watching the Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon.

4:18PM PST – The start

Foskett kicks it off and we begin with Erik Hrafnsson, co-founder of Greenqloud, which NetApp acquired back in 2017. He looks a bit like Thor, which is awesome, because Thor is the god of thunder. And lightning. Which comes from… clouds.

He’s also Icelandic, so I’m probably stereotyping a bit here… (Yes I know Thor is Norse)

4:22PM PST

Erik hates corporations. But he likes NetApp. He’s a fan of the data fabric and where they’re taking cloud.

4:27PM PST

Erik is now flying the Jolly Roger on his slide deck. I believe this is him and Greenqloud taking over.

4:28PM PST

Greeqloud is a way to make the Data Fabric tangible and real, by way of orchestrating multi-cloud environments.

Also, simplification. Lots of features and components (threads?) in the fabric to tie together. Pun intended.

4:31PM PST

Erik just named dropped Cloud Control. There’s a podcast for that. 🙂

4:33PM PST

Now we’re going into ONTAP Cloud and Cloud Volumes. Guess what? There’s a podcast for that, too! (I promise I won’t keep plugging the podcast, but as Keith Townsend just mentioned, not everyone knows what ONTAP is)

4:37PM PST

Erik pointing out that ONTAP in the cloud out-performs AWS in some cases, and can be more cost effective.

Plus, you get cool stuff like instant snapshots/restores.

4:40PM PST

What’s in a name? Erik explains why cloud volumes, ONTAP cloud, etc.

Common names mean NetApp will be… multi-cloud!

4:43PM PST

Demo time!

Fun fact: Demo is short for “demonstration.” Demonstration contains the word “demon.” Demo can also be a way to say “demolition.” When dealing with live demos, these words are all interchangeable.

I believe Erik is tempting the live demo fates here. Godspeed.

4:48PM PST

So far, so good. Live demo going smoothly. Erik must actually be Thor.

*checks over shoulder for lightning strike*

4:51PM PST

Multiprotocol NAS volumes in the cloud! Erik did commit the cardinal sin of saying “CIFS” in the presence of Stephen Foskett, but because Erik is Thor, Foskett has no recourse.

4:55PM PST

Question was posed about NPS (NetApp Private Storage) and whether it still exists and if this replaces it. Yes, it still exists. No, it doesn’t replace it. Find out more about it here:

https://www.netapp.com/us/products/cloud-storage/private-storage-cloud.aspx

5:01PM PST

Roadmap alert! Erik says “with high confidence” that you’re going to be able to know where in the world your data is. It’s like Waldo, for data.

5:05PM PST

Erik is mounting via NFS. I like this guy.

The cool part is that the orchestration will formulate the NFS mount options to best optimize performance based on the application.

5:07PM PST

Michelle Laverick asks how this isn’t just a storage array in the cloud. I’m sad to say…

5:16PM PST

Part of simplicity has to do with not having to think. Application-based storage provisioning in the cloud removes the thought process behind having to decide how to provision.

5:21PM PST

FIO RACE!

Cloud Volumes took 52s to complete the same test that EFS took 16.5 minutes to finish. I guess calling it a “race” was being generous.

5:32PM PST

Uh oh. Another live demo. This time, CLOUD SYNC!

Current status: clutching rosary beads.

5:34PM PST

You wouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Why would you put all your data in one bucket? NetApp Cloud Sync allows you to move freely between clouds.

5:43PM PST

Erik is building a GitLab cluster right now. Looking forward to having FlexGroup volumes being a part of this story in the future.

5:47PM PST

Ooh… container orchestration in the cloud using Kubernetes! Fancy schmancy!

5:50PM EST

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY WE ARE A DATA MANAGEMENT COMPANY!

5:56PM EST

All done here! The CFD delegates don’t seem to be breaking out the pitchforks, so we’ll call that a win!