Increasing SSD storage capacity dynamically - FSx for ONTAP

Increasing SSD storage capacity dynamically

You can use the following solution to dynamically increase the SSD storage capacity of an FSx for ONTAP file system when the amount of used SSD storage capacity exceeds a threshold that you specify. This AWS CloudFormation template automatically deploys all of the components that are required to define the storage capacity threshold, the Amazon CloudWatch alarm based on this threshold, and the AWS Lambda function that increases the file system’s storage capacity.

The solution automatically deploys all of the components needed, and uses the following parameters:

  • Your FSx for ONTAP file system ID.

  • The used SSD storage capacity threshold (numerical value). This is the percentage at which the CloudWatch alarm will be triggered.

  • The percentage by which to increase the storage capacity (%).

  • The email address used to receive scaling notifications.

Architecture overview

Deploying this solution builds the following resources in the AWS Cloud.

Architecture diagram of the solution to automatically increase the storage capacity of an FSx for ONTAP file system.

The diagram illustrates the following steps:

  1. The AWS CloudFormation template deploys a CloudWatch alarm, an AWS Lambda function, an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) queue, and all required AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles. The IAM role gives the Lambda function permission to invoke the Amazon FSx API operations.

  2. CloudWatch triggers an alarm when the file system’s used storage capacity exceeds the specified threshold, and sends a message to the Amazon SNS queue. An alarm is triggered only when the file system’s used capacity exceeds the threshold continuously for a 5-minute period.

  3. The solution then triggers the Lambda function that is subscribed to this Amazon SNS topic.

  4. The Lambda function calculates the new file system storage capacity based on the specified percent increase value and sets the new file system storage capacity.

  5. The original CloudWatch alarm state and results of the Lambda function operations are sent to the Amazon SNS queue.

To receive notifications about the actions that are performed as a response to the CloudWatch alarm, you must confirm the Amazon SNS topic subscription by following the link provided in the Subscription Confirmation email.

AWS CloudFormation template

This solution uses AWS CloudFormation to automate deploying the components that are used to automatically increase the storage capacity of an FSx for ONTAP file system. To use this solution, download the FSxOntapDynamicStorageScaling AWS CloudFormation template.

The template uses the Parameters described as follows. Review the template parameters and their default values, and modify them for the needs of your file system.

FileSystemId

No default value. The ID of the file system for which you want to automatically increase the storage capacity.

LowFreeDataStorageCapacityThreshold

No default value. Specifies the used storage capacity threshold at which to trigger an alarm and automatically increase the file system's storage capacity, specified in percentage (%) of the file system's current storage capacity. The file system is considered to have low free storage capacity when the used storage exceeds this threshold.

EmailAddress

No default value. Specifies the email address to use for the SNS subscription and receives the storage capacity threshold alerts.

PercentIncrease

Default is 20%. Specifies the amount by which to increase the storage capacity, expressed as a percentage of the current storage capacity.

Note

Storage scaling is attempted once every time the CloudWatch alarm enters the ALARM state. If your SSD storage capacity utilization remains above the threshold after a storage scaling operation is attempted, the storage scaling operation isn't attempted again.

MaxFSxSizeinGiB

Default is 196608. Specifies the maximum supported storage capacity for the SSD storage.

Automated deployment with AWS CloudFormation

The following procedure configures and deploys an AWS CloudFormation stack to automatically increase the storage capacity of an FSx for ONTAP file system. It takes a few minutes to deploy. For more information about creating a CloudFormation stack, see Creating a stack on the AWS CloudFormation console in the AWS CloudFormation User Guide.

Note

Implementing this solution incurs billing for the associated AWS services. For more information, see the pricing details pages for those services.

Before you start, you must have the ID of the Amazon FSx file system that's running in the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) in your AWS account. For more information about creating Amazon FSx resources, see Getting started with Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP.

To launch the automatic storage capacity increase solution stack
  1. Download the FSxOntapDynamicStorageScaling AWS CloudFormation template.

    Note

    Amazon FSx is currently only available in specific AWS Regions. You must launch this solution in an AWS Region where Amazon FSx is available. For more information, see Amazon FSx endpoints and quotas in the AWS General Reference.

  2. From the AWS CloudFormation console, choose Create stack > With new resources.

  3. Choose Template is ready. In the Specify template section, choose Upload a template file and upload the template that you downloaded.

  4. In Specify stack details, enter the values for your automatic storage capacity increase solution.

    The values entered for the Specify stack details page for the CloudFormation template
  5. Enter a Stack name.

  6. For Parameters, review the parameters for the template and modify them to meet the needs of your file system. Then choose Next.

    Note

    To receive email notifications when scaling is attempted by this CloudFormation template, confirm the SNS subscription email that you receive after deploying the template.

  7. Enter the Options settings that you want for your custom solution, and then choose Next.

  8. For Review, review and confirm the solution settings. You must select the check box acknowledging that the template creates IAM resources.

  9. Choose Create to deploy the stack.

You can view the status of the stack in the AWS CloudFormation console in the Status column. You should see a status of CREATE_COMPLETE in a few minutes.

Updating the stack

After the stack is created, you can update it by using the same template and providing new values for the parameters. For more information, see Updating stacks directly in the AWS CloudFormation User Guide.