Clarification on Azure NetApp File Storage with Cool Access Tier

Question

Hello Experts,

My organization is planning to leverage Azure NetApp File Storage with cool access. I have reviewed the documentation, but I need your assistance with a few specific questions:

Assuming we have an Azure NetApp capacity pool of 4TB with Ultra service level and cool access tier, where 2TB is in the hot tier and 2TB in the cool tier, will the total throughput be (128*4) Mbps?

In this scenario, if the hot volume utilization reaches 100%, will tiering to the cool tier still occur?

Will the customer have direct access to the data stored in the cool tier (Azure Storage account)?

1. Where will the cool tier (Azure Storage account) be created? Will it be part of the same AZ where the NetApp service is created?

Does the service back up data stored in the cool tier?

I appreciate your insights and guidance on this.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Answer 1

Hello Sunil,

Responding your question one at a time:

• Where 2TB is in the hot tier and 2TB in the cool tier, will the total throughput be (1284) Mbps?* the throughput would indeed be calculated as 128 MiB/s×4 TiB=512 MiB/s. So, the total throughput would be 512 MiB/s, which is approximately 4096 Mbps
• The hot volume utilization reaches 100%, will tiering to the cool tier still occur? Yes, tiering to the cool tier will still occur even if the hot volume utilization reaches 100%. The tiering process is designed to move inactive data to the cool tier to free up space in the hot tier.
• Will the customer have direct access to the data stored in the cool tier (Azure Storage account)? No, customers do not have direct access to the data stored in the cool tier (Azure Storage account). The data tiered to the cool tier is managed by the Azure NetApp Files service, and access to this data is abstracted away from the customer. This means that while the data is stored in Azure Blob Storage, customers interact with it through the Azure NetApp Files interface, not directly through the Azure Storage account.
• Where will the cool tier (Azure Storage account) be created? Will it be part of the same AZ where the NetApp service is created? The cool tier (Azure Storage account) for Azure NetApp Files is created in the same region as the NetApp service but not necessarily in the same Availability Zone (AZ), As I know the the exact AZ within the region may differ.
• Does the service back up data stored in the cool tier? The service does not automatically back up data stored in the cool tier. You would need to implement your own backup strategy if required.

References:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-netapp-files/cool-access-introduction
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-netapp-files/manage-cool-access?tabs=standard
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-netapp-files/azure-netapp-files-service-levels
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-netapp-files/backup-requirements-considerations

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Regards,

Luis